🌴 The LA Grind: Week of December 1st

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

Author

Justin Gordon
December 01, 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.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I’ve been preparing for the launch of The SF Grind and finally created a landing page for The LA Grind Club. I’m excited to grow both of these along with everything we are building here.

The LA Grind Club is becoming one of the most important parts of what I am building. It is where the real relationships form. Weekly events, small curated groups, and a community of founders, operators, and investors who genuinely want to meet each other.

The new landing page breaks down everything the Club includes, why I built it, and the long term vision. If you have been curious or waiting for the right moment, now is a great time to take a look.

On that note, as I think about expanding what we can do in LA and beyond in 2026, I am exploring the idea of a small community round so the people who benefit most can be part of the build. I would love your perspective.

If I opened a small community round to improve and expand what we do in LA and beyond, would you want to invest?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Let’s get to it.

LA Grind Club

Weekly events. Curated groups. Real relationships for founders, operators, and investors in Los Angeles.

Upcoming Events

⭐️ Featured Event ⭐️

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

🌴 Upcoming Events I’m Hosting 🌴 

🗓️ December 3: K1 Race Night. Culver City. 4:00 - 5:30 pm.

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

🗓️ December 9: Q&A with Arteen Arabshahi of Fika Ventures. Santa Monica. 8 - 10 am. Sponsored by Pilot.

🗓️ December 11: Startup Community Holiday Party. Hollywood. 7 - 10 pm. Sponsored by Bailey & Glasser, LLP and Fidelity.

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

👋 This Week 👋 

🗓️ December 1: Building the New AI Experience Stack. Alhambra. 6:30 - 9:30 pm.

🗓️ December 2-4: Micro Biz Launchpad + OCTP - 3-evening Intensive. Irvine. 6:30 - 9 pm each evening.

🗓️ December 3: Tech Breakfast Club. El Segundo. 9 - 11 am.

🗓️ December 3: Innovating Safety, Empowering Communities. Koreatown. 9:30 am - 2 pm.

🗓️ December 3: Launchpad Session (In-Person). El Segundo. 3 - 4 pm.

🗓️ December 3: THE BR-DGE Holiday Industry Mixer. El Segundo. 5 - 9 pm.

🗓️ December 3: Orrick's LA Happy Hour Series. Venice. 5:30 - 7:30 pm.

🗓️ December 3: AI LA Salon - Demystifying AI Evals w/ Voker. Marina del Rey. 6 - 8:30 pm.

🗓️ December 4: LA UXR Holiday Happy Hour. Culver City. 6 - 8 pm.

🗓️ December 6: Founders Running Club :: LA. Santa Monica. 7 - 9 am.

👀 Coming Soon 👀

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

Top 5 LA Startup & VC Firm Jobs

Co-Founder Opportunity

Aly Aguilar, Founder of Romanticize Collective, an experience-based subscription and growing community dedicated to delivering curated weekly experiences that help people slow down, spark joy, and romanticize the everyday, is looking for a co-founder.

Her ideal co-founder has deep expertise in physical product procurement and supply chain, strategic partnerships, and e-commerce marketing. She’s looking for a partner who can strengthen her operations while helping steward and expand the community at the heart of Romanticize Collective.

Email her directly at [email protected] with a brief intro and any relevant experience if interested. She’d love to meet you.

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 7,000+ 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!

Autonomy, a Santa Monica-based electric vehicle (EV) subscription company, secured $25M in financing provided by Finacity Corporation through SR Alternative Credit.

Find Your Grind, a career exploration platform, raised $5M in Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $8 million. The round was led by Echo Investment Capital.

Rivet, an LA tax preparation firm, raised a $5.1M Seed round led by XYZ Ventures and Susa Ventures.

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

Featured Location

Mirate. Modern Mexican restaurant in Los Feliz with a chic, artful interior and rooftop views, offering inventive, market-driven dishes and a standout agave-focused cocktail program.

Fun Events

See you next week,

Justin

P.S. Want to connect?

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Reply

or to participate.