🌴 The LA Grind: Week of August 24th

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

Author

Justin Gordon
August 24, 2026

👋 I’m Justin. I run The LA Grind and The SF Grind, host the Ambition Podcast, and scout for Headline.

Happy Monday! I’m in the middle of Ambition Summit planning, which I can’t wait to make happen in exactly a month from today! Also, I just published episode #6 of the Ambition Podcast, on Sam Zemurray, America’s banana king, and I hope you check it out.

Let’s get to it.

What happens when you put 150 ambitious founders, investors, and operators in one room for a full day?

We're about to find out.

On September 24th, Ambition 2026 takes over a private venue in Santa Monica. One day, one room, no filler panels. Speakers include:

  • Shivani Siroya (Tala)

  • Mehul Nariyawala (Matic)

  • Dee Murthy (Ghost)

  • Jessica Chang (Upwards)

  • Shamin Walsh (BAM Ventures)

  • Jo Phillips (Payabli)

  • Dara Ladjevardian (Delphi)

This isn't a massive conference you wander through with a lanyard. It's curated, it's capped at 150, and attendees have already signed up from across the US and as far as Australia.

VIP tickets include an intimate dinner the night before with some of the speakers and as many great people as I can talk into showing up.

Upcoming Events

🌴 Upcoming Events I’m Hosting 🌴  

🗓️ September 2: Members Coffee Meetup. Santa Monica. 8 - 9:30 am.

🗓️ September 8: The LA Grind: LA Startup Community Walk. Manhattan Beach. 4 - 5:30 pm.

🗓️ September 15: Members Dinner. Culver city. 6:15 - 8:15 pm.

🗓️ September 18: The LA Grind: Poker Night. Hollywood. 6 - 11 pm.

👋 This Week 👋  

👀 Events Coming Soon 👀 

Marc Hankin of HPL Law 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!

Top 5 LA Startup & VC Jobs

Structures Design Engineer @ Orbital Operations

Senior Platform Engineer @ Turion Space

Electrical Engineer @ TransAstra Corporation

Hiring?

Feature your job in The LA Grind newsletter or reach out to our partners:

  • RJR Partners: Experts in helping startups scale their teams with high quality hires. Their team is comprised of tech industry veterans, allowing them to source and vet candidates directly through their personal networks. Their industry expertise also enables a deeper understanding of the needs of clients and candidates on a level unmatched by other firms.

  • Relay Human Cloud: Deploy dedicated global teammates. Fully supported, ready fast, no long-term commitment. Relay handles everything behind your teammates so you just manage their work. Every seat comes fully provisioned; your teammates show up ready, supported, and embedded in your workflows from day one.

Additional Opportunities

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 11,000+ founders, investors, and operators.

The Ambition Podcast is a show about the world's most ambitious people from history, and the lessons you can take from their lives and use in your own work and life.

Each episode is deeply researched, built around the definitive biography of one person (or in some cases, two), with dozens of hours spent reading, synthesizing, and pulling out what actually matters.

First episodes of Ambition:

Available now on all podcasting platforms including: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, YouTube, and more.

Ampaire, a provider of hybrid-electric propulsion systems for aircraft, raised a $19M Series B led by DiamondStream Partners.

Castelion, a defense technology company, raised a $1B Series C co-led by JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz, and funds managed by Carlyle.

Renata Medical, a medical technology company dedicated to improving care for children with congenital heart disease (CHD), raised a $25M Series D led by ARCHIMED.

Camo Hospitality, a provider of an infrastructure platform powering hotel-branded room service, raised a $4M Seed round backed by Anthony Lacavera, Rajan Hansji and more.

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

Featured Location

Openaire. A stylish rooftop restaurant in Koreatown, known for its lush greenhouse setting, modern design, and vibrant California-inspired cuisine.

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.