AI Engineers Presents: Founders to Follow

Join us as we bring together a group of NYC’s most exciting startup founders. This is a unique opportunity for intimate conversations and to hear about their journeys and what excites them about the businesses they are building. Presenting Founders: Dylan Gleicher, Cofounder & Michael Chime, Cofounder & CEO @ Prepared:An AI-powered public safety platform used by 911 centers. The company raised over $130M from investors including a16z, General Catalyst, and First Round, and was acquired by Axon (NASDAQ: AXON) in 2025.Avante Price, CEO & Cofounder @ Posh:Posh enables anyone to build an IRL community based on shared interests, while connecting consumers with the communities of people just like them. The company has raised over $68M from investors including FirstMark Capital, Goodwater Capital, Causeway Ventures, and EPIC Ventures.Jack Sharkey, Co-founder & CTO, @ Whop:Whop is building a platform to service the internet economy. Millions of people are building new products that they are selling guerrilla style on social media and on forums throughout the internet. Whop gives these sellers a sleek storefront that can accept payments, seamlessly deliver digital products, and attract new customers visiting our marketplace. Whop currently handles almost $1B+ in yearly payments with thousands of active merchants.Julien Nakache, Founder & CEO @ Granted (Formerly Medbill)Granted is building an AI-powered product that makes access to healthcare and insurance expertise hundreds of times more efficient and dramatically more human. By transforming the messy, manual work of claims and billing into a proactive, connected product, Granted can finally deliver trusted help - instantly, affordably, and at scale.Sam Kotlove, Cofounder @Smoke AISmoke is an AI workspace that automates the manual tasks running your business so you can focus on delivering great customer experience. While you're doing the work, Smoke handles lead follow-up, content posting, and outreach that keeps new customers coming in.Brett Martin, President & Cofounder @ Fonzi AI:An AI-powered talent marketplace connecting elite engineers with high-growth AI startups and tech companies. Through a fast, structured hiring process called Match Day, Fonzi delivers high-signal, curated introductions between top talent and teams actively building in AI. Backed by investors including Lightspeed Ventures and Charge Ventures. Event Format: A mix of high signal networking and short presentations from six founders, ranging from seed stage to post exit. Each founder will briefly share what they are building, the technical challenges they are tackling, and key business model decisions. Complimentary pizza, soft drinks, beer, & wine will be provided to all attendees! Attendance: This is an invite only event for New York’s top software engineers, venture backed founders, VC investors, and tech operators. Agenda: 6:00pm: Networking with pizza and drinks courtesy of Fonzi AI6:30pm: Pitches x37:00pm: Networking break7:30pm: Pitches x38:00pm: Networking break About the host: Fonzi is a recruiting platform focused exclusively on product and AI engineering hires in NYC and SF. We work with 75+ open roles across the best startups in the city.Hiring?Want intros to startups?