Fund or Fold: How VCs Actually Decide
Picture: The AI Collective

Pitch In 3 weeks

December
Wednesday
17:30–19:30 2026 · San Francisco time

Fund or Fold How VCs Actually Decide

Where
Not stated
Host
The AI Collective
Entry
Free
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Who you meetThe people on the listing, and what the host tells us about the room.

  • The AI Collective Host
  • Vik Ghai Host
  • Sunil Grover Host
Investors In the room The host says so
The format Founders pitch Pitch
Sign-up Apply, the host picks Free

AboutIn the host's words.

To get into AWS Builder Loft: register on the AWS Builder Center event page and bring a physical government photo ID.

Every founder has been passed on by an investor. Tonight you get to do the passing.

6 real seed startups go up on screen. 1 slide per startup. No long decks. Just what matters: what they do, who’s buying, and how fast they’re growing.

You vote fund or fold.

Then VCs tell you live what they’d actually do and why. Every fold gets an answer: the metric that would flip it to a fund.

What you’ll learn

How VCs make a call in the first few minutesWhich numbers investors look at first and which they skipWhy two good investors can land in opposite places on the same dealThe one metric that turns a fold into a fund

Agenda

5:30 PM Doors open6:00 PM Welcome from G2C Ventures and AI Collective6:15 PM Fund or Fold: 6 deals, room votes, VC verdicts, then the reveal7:15 PM Networking7:30 PM Event ends

Who should come

Founders raising now or in 2027Builders thinking about starting somethingAngels and investors who want to test their instincts

Want to present?

We're picking 6 startups from the people in the room. Say yes on the registration form and share your deck or answer 5 quick questions.

Important

Bring a valid physical government-issued photo ID. Digital IDs are not accepted.

Please be advised: Unfortunately, space is very limited at these community events and we can not always accept everyone we would like to. If you are not accepted to this event, please keep applying! We appreciate your application tremendously and we are looking forward to seeing you at a future event very soon!

The AI Collective is a global non-profit building the human layer for the AI era. We unite 200,000+ leaders, builders, and stakeholders across 100+ forums worldwide to democratize the frontier, build trust, and coordinate how society navigates the rapid acceleration of technological progress.

G2C Ventures is an early-stage enterprise AI fund in Palo Alto backing founders who build systems that deliver outcomes, not just software.

All attendees and organizers at events affiliated with The AI Collective agree to our privacy policy and are subject to our code of conduct.

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