Join a curated group of founders, operators, and investors for a private dinner exploring how AI is transforming operationally complex businesses - from investment strategy and value creation to execution across day-to-day operations.
Speakers
Evening Agenda:
6:30–7:00pm | Welcome Reception
7:00pm onward | Seated dinner with perspectives from industry leaders, followed by curated small-group discussions
Speakers:
Marc Manara (OpenAI) – What leading founders and investors are actually doing with AI today, where adoption is headed, and the biggest opportunities still ahead.
Andrew Smith (Savory Fund) – How AI is changing private equity value creation and transforming operations across restaurant and consumer businesses.
Blake Modersitzki (Pelion) – An investor’s perspective on identifying enduring AI companies and what separates signal from noise in today’s market.
Max Brenner (WithCoverage) – Practical lessons from building an AI-native company in a traditional, services-heavy industry.
Tim Miller (Ninja Kidz Action Parks) – Scaling one of the country’s fastest-growing family entertainment brands and where AI is creating leverage across the business.
Greg Levesque (Strider Technologies) – How AI and advanced analytics are reshaping economic security, and where nation-state risk is showing up inside companies that don't expect it.
Attendees: 100+ senior investors and operators across leading firms and companies. Full RSVP list will be shared in advance.
Space is limited. RSVP required.
Marc Manara
Head of Startups @ OpenAI
Marc is the Head of Startups at OpenAI, where he works with many of the world’s fastest-growing companies and investors on adopting AI at scale. Prior to OpenAI, he led startup partnerships at AWS, co-founded Farm Hill, and held roles spanning engineering and investing at Appian and Acumen.
Andrew Smith
Managing Partner & Co-Founder @ Savory Fund
Andrew is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Savory, partnering with founders of proven restaurant brands to help them scale into leading regional chains. Over the past 18 years, he has owned and operated more than 600 restaurants generating $3.75B+ in revenue. An EY Entrepreneur of the Year award recipient, he has helped Savory raise $400M across three funds, deploy $300M in structured debt, and develop $450M+ in restaurant real estate. Prior to Savory, he founded three technology companies, each with a successful exit.
Blake Modersitzki
Managing Partner @ Pelion Venture Partners
Blake is the Managing Partner at Pelion , where he has spent more than 20 years investing in category-defining technology companies, including Cloudflare, Red Hat, Domo, Riverbed, and Fusion-io. Previously, he led Novell Ventures, and was recently inducted into the Silicon Slopes Hall of Fame for his impact on Utah’s technology and venture ecosystem.
Max Brenner
Co-Founder & CEO @ WithCoverage
Max is the Co-founder & CEO of WithCoverage, a modern insurance and risk platform backed by Sequoia and Khosla Ventures ($42M+ raised). Previously he disrupted the financial advisory industry and built Compound into a $3B+ AUM digital family office platform.
Tim Miller
Co-Founder @ Ninja Kidz Action Parks
Tim is Co-Founder of Ninja Kidz Action Parks, one of the fastest-growing family entertainment brands in the country. Inspired by the hit Ninja Kidz TV franchise, Tim has helped scale the business to 30+ locations, bringing immersive, active entertainment to families nationwide.
Greg Levesque
CEO & Co-Founder @ Strider Technologies
Greg is the CEO and Co-Founder of Strider Technologies, a strategic intelligence company that helps governments and Fortune 500 companies identify and respond to nation-state-sponsored risks. A leading expert on economic statecraft, he has testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and previously co-founded Pointe Bello, a strategic intelligence firm. Greg and his twin brother Eric founded Strider in 2019, growing it to nearly 350 employees across 16 countries.
~100+ founders, senior operators, and experienced PE/growth investors, all actively thinking about how AI impacts their businesses and portfolios
Brief, practical insights from founders currently deploying AI—focused on where they’re seeing real impact, what’s working, and where they’re investing
Attendees will receive the RSVP list ahead of the event and can indicate who they’d like to meet. Dinner tables are intentionally curated to facilitate relevant, peer-level conversations
Discussion centered on how AI is being applied across operationally complex, asset-heavy businesses—not abstract use cases or early-stage experimentation