Investors, here's how to attend the showcase
How we keep the room high-trust, high-signal, and engineer-first
đ Engineers: RSVP to our Jan. 28th showcase to meet the next batch of breakout founders.
We get this question a lot: âIâm an investor⊠I come to your showcase?â The short answer: yes, with one condition.
Our showcases are built for engineers. The room works because itâs high-signal and optimized for real conversations between founders and top technical talent. To keep it that way, weâre intentional about whoâs in the room.
The rule to get into the show
If youâre an investor and want to attend the showcase, we ask that you help us get three great engineers in the room.
Hereâs how it works:
Encourage engineers to apply to the community and list you as a referral
Once three of your referred engineers are accepted, weâll send you a ticket
Pro tip: Share the showcase in communities youâre part ofâSlack channels, alumni groups, email lists, etc.âto reach talented engineers you think would be a great fit.
The process ensures every investor in the room is helping maintain a high-quality experience. If you canât name three engineers youâd trust in a curated technical room, this probably isnât the right event for you. If you can, this rule should be pretty straightforward.
Sample Messaging to Use
Hereâs a message you can easily copy + paste into an alum/community group:
If youâre exploring startup jobs & are looking for a high-signal way to meet founders in person, I recommend attending the Founders You Should Know startup showcase on Jan 28th in SF.
Inflecting founders share their stories and then hang around to chat 1:1 with engineers. They focus on featuring founders just as they break out: they featured Anthropic at their Series A, Cursor at their seed, Kalshi when they were at their Series B, etc. Engineers at these shows got to meet the founders + join these teams early.
Apply to join at foundersysk.com & put me down as a referral for expedited review.
Why We Do It This Way
Most startup events donât work like this. Walk into a typical demo day or networking event and the room is often 60% investors, 30% founders, and maybe 10% engineers. The energy becomes transactional, and engineers, if they show up at all, often leave early.
We flip that ratio. Our room is majority engineersâpeople who build things, evaluate technical decisions, and care about how something actually works. The result is stronger conversations and a different kind of energy.
When investors help surface strong engineers:
Founders meet higher-quality candidates
Engineers discover companies they actually want to join
The showcase stays high-trust and high-signal
This keeps the event aligned with its purpose: helping breakout founders meet exceptional engineers at the right moment. Itâs the simplest way to preserve what makes the event work and why founders, engineers, and investors keep coming back.