🌴 The LA Grind: Week of November 24th

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

Author

Justin Gordon
November 24, 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.

Exciting news many of you have seen on social media… I announced last week that I’m starting The SF Grind!

I’m planning for the first edition to go out next week and I’ll be making more trips up to SF to host events for the startup community there as well.

Excited to see where this all goes and with The LA Grind turning six months old last week and approaching 7,000 subscribers, it felt like the right time to expand.

There is a lot to do in LA, I’ll still be hosting lots of events here and I’m working on expanding to a second weekly edition, but SF was always a place I was curious about expanding into for this media + events concept.

I’m also looking for a launch sponsor for The SF Grind, and I have a few December newsletter slots open for The LA Grind if you want to reach this audience.

As I expand into SF, I want to make sure the LA Grind continues to improve. Quick question:

If I add a 2nd weekly edition to The LA Grind, what should it focus on?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

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 ⭐️

I’m organizing a curated Founders Retreat for February 2026 at an amazing location in Temecula. It’ll be an opportunity for founders to build meaningful relationships, talk tactics and strategies, and unwind in a relaxed setting with other ambitious builders. Request to join. 

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

🌴 Upcoming Events I’m Hosting 🌴 

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

🗓️ December 4: Curated Pre-Seed to Series A Founder Dinner. Hollywood. 7-9 pm. Sponsored by Rho.

🗓️ December 11: Startup Community Holiday Party. Hollywood. 7 - 10 pm.

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

👋 This Week 👋 

🗓️ November 24-26: Startup Village. Joshua Tree.

🗓️ November 26: Los Angeles Entrepreneur Networking Event. Marina del Rey. 7 - 9 pm.

🗓️ November 26: Cars & Capital. Mid-City. 7 - 11 pm.

👀 Coming Soon 👀 

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

Featured Jobs

Relay Human Cloud is looking for a Senior Director of Marketing. Respond to this email if interested (The role is not yet posted), and I can send you more details.

Amphibian, an innovation lab founded by former Google Moonshots product manager Evan Rapoport, is hiring a Founding CEO for NatureMe to take their MVP and scale it into a global movement that helps people enjoy nature more through mindfulness and observation. Learn more and apply. 

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 6,500+ 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!

Perelel has raised $27M from Prelude Growth Partners, with participation from existing investors Unilever Ventures, Willow Growth Partners, and Selva Ventures. The doctor-founded company will use the funding to expand from prenatal supplements into a women’s health company serving multiple life stages.

Orion, a provider of a personalized smart mattress, raised $17.5M in seed funding. Backers included Mucker Capital, Lead VC (Adidas Family Office), Browder Capital, Family Fund, Hawke Ventures, Breaktrail Ventures, Intuition VC and more.

Big Rentals, an equipment rental platform modernizing the $80+ billion U.S. equipment rental industry, raised $2.8M in seed funding in a round led by SNAK Venture Partners.

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

Featured Location

Juliet. Stylish French brasserie in Culver City with elegant, Jeremiah-Brent–designed interiors and a Paris-meets-L.A. vibe, serving polished French-inspired dishes and great cocktails.

Fun Events

See you next week,

Justin

P.S. Want to connect?

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