🌴 The LA Grind: Week of January 12th

Upcoming events, venture deals, LA opportunities, and more in Los Angeles this week.

Author

Justin Gordon
January 12, 2026

👋 I’m Justin. I run The LA Grind and scout for Headline. I’ve lived in LA since 2018, earned my MBA from USC (✌️), and I’m probably out running when I’m not writing this.

Happy Monday! If you missed it, I published a 2025 review last week that received some amazing responses. Probably because 2025 was the hardest year of my life, but built the foundation for what’s next.

Looking for sponsors: I’m hosting a series of upcoming events in LA and SF for the startup and tech community. Sponsors get in-person exposure plus shoutouts in this newsletter and on social. These include:

  • 1/20 (LA) - Founder Dinner

  • 1/22 (SF) - Founder Dinner

  • 1/23 (SF) - Coffee Mixer

  • 1/27 (LA) - Startup Community Mixer

  • 1/29 (LA) - Q&A w/ Marlon Nichols of MaC Venture Capital

  • 1/30 (LA) - Poker Night

  • 2/8 (LA) - Super Bowl Watch Party

  • 2/12 (LA) - NBA All-Star Weekend Dinner Party

Reply to this email if you’d like to sponsor and I’ll send more details!

Let’s get to it.

Clear Peak Accounting is a CPA firm with experience across top accounting firms and high-growth startups, helping founders, tech employees, and investors stay tax-compliant and plan proactively.

They support individuals and businesses with tax return preparation, outsourced accounting, and year-round tax planning – especially around R&D credits, equity compensation (ISOs, NSOs, RSUs, ESPPs), entity structuring (including new side hustles), and exit events, among many other areas.

If you want a CPA who’s responsive, tech-forward, and focused on strategy (not just filing), they’re onboarding a limited number of clients for tax season. Book a complimentary consult here or email [email protected].

Upcoming Events

⭐️ Featured Event ⭐️

Want your event featured here with a longer blurb? Sign up here.

🌴 Upcoming Events I’m Hosting 🌴 

🗓️ January 13: Members Coffee Meetup. Santa Monica. 8 - 9:30 am.

🗓️ January 20: Pre-Seed to Series A Founders Dinner. Sponsored by Venice Inc., the design company of California. FULL.

🗓️ January 21: Members Coffee & Co-Working. Hollywood. 8 am - 12 pm.

🗓️ January 27: Startup Community Mixer. Santa Monica. 6 - 8 pm.

🗓️ January 30: Members Poker Night. Hollywood. 6 - 11 pm.

🗓️ February 1: Startup Community Basketball. DTLA. 10:30 am - 12:30 pm.

🗓️ February 7: LA Startup Community Hike. West Hollywood. 8 - 9:30 am.

🗓️ February 8: The LA Grind Super Bowl Party. Hollywood. 3 - 8 pm.

👋 This Week 👋 

Want to submit an event for consideration in the next edition? Fill out this form.

LA Grind Club

A few weeks back, we took a bunch of founders to the LA Rams game. Who got priority access? LA Grind Club members.

We have multiple member experiences happening every month, from coffee meetups and co-working to Go-Kart racing and happy hours, where you’ll meet people like:

  • A venture-backed founder who just raised a multi-million dollar seed round

  • A bootstrapped founder doing hundreds of thousands in revenue and another doing millions

  • An investor who has made 100+ investments into athletes, creators, and entrepreneurs

  • Operators and executives with experience at public companies and high-growth startups

60 members and growing. Join us!

Top 5 LA Startup & VC Firm Jobs

Investment Opportunity

Know a founder or investor in Los Angeles who is raising capital or searching for a co-founder? Reply to this email with more details that I could share in this newsletter for 8,000+ founders, investors, and operators.

The LA Grind’s first Community Partner is Marc Hankin of HPL Law!

Marc advises inventors and high-growth teams on patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and licensing. Before your next fundraise, launch, or M&A chat, know where you stand by talking with Marc, who you can reach at [email protected].

Marc can often be found at startup events in LA and has been one of the biggest supporters of The LA Grind since its inception!

PureSpectrum, a market research technology company, received an investment from TA Associates.

Spiro Medical, a medtech company developing a pulmonary neuromodulation system (PNM) for the treatment of asthma, raised $67M in Series A funding in a round led by Andera Partners, Omega Funds and Sherpa Healthcare Partners.

Cambium Biomaterials, a developer of advanced materials for defense, aerospace, and other high-performance sectors, raised a $100M Series B led by 8VC.

Send any fundraising news for LA-based companies or funds, including your own, to [email protected].

Featured Location

Girl & The Goat. A lively DTLA spot serving bold, globally inspired small plates meant for sharing, with a fun, high-energy vibe.

Fun Events

See you next week,

Justin

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