🌴 The LA Grind: Week of November 10th

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

Author

Justin Gordon
November 10, 2025

👋 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.

Before we dive in, I wanted to share that I’m hosting my next founders retreat in February 2026!

This retreat will be for a group of about 7-10 ambitious founders who want to spend a long weekend building relationships, talking strategy and working through problems, learning from peers, and taking a little time to recharge.

More details to come soon, but the event page is officially live, and I’ll likely have room for one or two sponsors to help make it happen.

On that note, before we dive in, I would love your feedback:

If you were to join a founders retreat, what would be your main reason for going?

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Let’s get to it.

A CRM That Finally Clicked for Me

I’d been running The LA Grind on a scrappy Airtable setup. It worked… until it didn’t.

As part of this sponsorship, I tried Clarify. It pulled deals straight from my email and just worked.

For the first time, I’m actually committing to a CRM to set The LA Grind up for what’s next.

Clarify is self-updating: it records calls, enriches contacts, and updates deals automatically, so you can sell, not babysit a system.

Upcoming Events

⭐️ Featured Event ⭐️

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🌴 Upcoming Events I’m Hosting 🌴 

🗓️ November 11: Startup Community Mixer. Santa Monica. 6 - 8 pm. Thanks to Weinberger & Logan PC and JP Consulting Group for sponsoring!

🗓️ November 16: Founders LA Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks Game. Thanks to Weinberger and Logan PC for sponsoring! We’ll have a curated group of founders who get a free ticket to the game thanks to our sponsor! Room for one more sponsor.

🗓️ November 19: Members Coffee Meetup. San Marino. 8 - 9 am.

🗓️ November 19: Members Co-Working. Hollywood. 10:30 am - 1 pm.

🗓️ November 22: LA Startup Community Hike. Hollywood. 8 - 9:30 am.

🗓️ December 3: K1 Race Night. Culver City. 4:30 - 6:30 pm.

🗓️ December 11: Startup Community Holiday Party. Hollywood. 7 - 10 pm. Taking place at a beautiful private residence, this will be one of our biggest events of the year!

🗓️ December 18: Members Poker Night ♣️ 🃏. Hollywood. 6 - 11 pm.

🗓️ February 2026: Founders Retreat. Temecula. 3 nights.

👋 This Week 👋 

🗓️ November 10: LA GenAI Meetup. Pasadena. 5 - 7 pm.

🗓️ November 12: GenJam™ for Impact. Fashion District. 5 - 10 pm.

🗓️ November 12: The Age of Extraction. Downtown LA. 7 pm.

🗓️ November 13: Bio Techies: Life Science Happy Hour. Marina del Rey. 4:30 - 7 pm.

🗓️ November 13: Climate Techies Networking Event - Q4 2025. Marina del Rey. 4:30 - 7 pm.

🗓️ November 14: UCI AI Create Summit. Irvine. 4- 8:30 pm.

🗓️ November 14: Climate Night: Activity + Mixer. Arts District. 6:30 - 9:30 pm.

🗓️ November 15: Ladies Level-Up Brunch. Fashion District. 11 am - 1 pm.

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

Top 5 LA Startup & VC Firm Jobs

Sr. Product Designer @ Karat Financial

Senior Manager, Corporate Finance @ Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.

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 6,000+ 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!

Evotrex, the company behind the world’s first power-generating RV trailer, raised $16M in Pre-A funding in a round led by Xstar Capital and with participation from Unity Ventures, Kylinhall Partners, Vision Plus Capital, and the founders of Anker Innovations.

IDL, an LA based provider of a professional sports league for dance, raised $7M in Seed funding led by Elysian Park Ventures.

Estate Media, the real estate education and entertainment firm co-founded by Griff O’Brien and Josh Flagg, has closed a $1 million seed round as it marks its second anniversary, bringing total funding to $2.65 million.

Zest AI, an AI-powered credit underwriting and lending intelligence platform for banks and credit unions, has closed an oversubscribed, customer-led financing round backed by SchoolsFirst, Members 1st, ORNL, and Truliant credit unions, with additional participation from Citi Ventures.

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

Featured Location

Margot. This chic rooftop spot in Culver City with a Mediterranean-inspired menu and craft cocktails offers stunning 360° views that set the vibe.

Featured Company

Outer. Shoutout to Outer, the Santa Monica-based startup making outdoor furniture you actually want to spend time on. I had co-founder Jiake Liu on my podcast a few years ago and loved hearing how Outer was built. If looking for high-quality outdoor furniture, I highly recommend them.

Fun Events

See you next week,

Justin

P.S. Want to connect?

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