🌴 The LA Grind: Week of September 7th

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

Author

Justin Gordon
September 07, 2026

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

Happy Monday! We’re less than 3 weeks away from the Ambition Summit and pricing goes up on September 9th! We’ve got a great group of attendees forming, from venture-backed founders to investors managing millions of dollars, to operators at some very interesting companies, and more. Apply to join today.

Want your brand at the Ambition Summit? I'm looking for a few more sponsors, plus CPG brands who want to get food or drinks in front of 150 founders, operators, and investors, and products for speaker and attendee gifts. Reply and I'll send details.

Let’s get to it.

A note from a fellow member: Shawn Gold, long-time LA Grind member, CMO of Relay Human Cloud, 25 years hiring for startups in LA.

I know the tradeoff: the hire you need versus the runway you have. Relay solves it. Dedicated, full-time team members from Asia and Latin America at roughly 75% below US rates, month to month. Not freelancers. Not outsourcing. 100% dedicated people, managed by you, in your standups, on your systems. Developers, accountants, marketing, ops, AI-capable talent. SOC-verified, Dallas-based.

Questions? Message me directly. [email protected]

Upcoming Events

🌴 Upcoming Events I’m Hosting 🌴  

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

🗓️ September 10: Pitch and Run (Weekly run club). Beverly Hills. 7 - 8:15 am.

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

🗓️ September 17: Pitch and Run (Weekly run club). Beverly Hills. 7 - 8:15 am.

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

🗓️ September 29: Members Coffee. Santa Monica. 8 - 9:30 am.

🗓️ September 30: Seed to Series A Founder & VC Dinner. Sponsored by Fidelity Private Shares. West Side. 6:30 - 8:30 pm. Room for another sponsor. Reply to this email if interested.

🗓️ October 12: Beachfront Founder and Investor Dinner for LA Tech Week. Santa Monica. Sponsored by Ardas. 6 - 9 pm. Limited capacity. Room for more sponsors. Reply if interested.

🗓️ October 27: Members Dinner. West Hollywood. 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

👋 This Week 👋  

👀 Events Coming Soon 👀 

🗓️ September 23: Startup Arena. Santa Monica. 5 - 9 pm.

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.

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

FPGA Enginer @ Turion Space

Product Engineer @ Karat Platform

Mechanical Engineer/Designer @ Olympian Motors

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.

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.

Atorie, an AI-powered luxury fashion and consumer marketplace startup, raised a $9.5M Seed round backed by a16z speedrun, Night Capital and more.

Archive, a provider of an AI-native creator marketing platform, raised an undisclosed amount led by Anti Fund and Florida Funders.

JetZero, a provider of all-wing commercial and defense aircraft, raised $100M in debt funding backed by Pinegrove Credit Partners alongside Silicon Valley Bank.

Saviynt, a leading identity security company, raised a $700M Series B led by KKR.

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

Featured Location

Cecconi’s. A chic Italian restaurant on Melrose Avenue, known for its elegant interiors, leafy garden, handmade pasta, and lively West Hollywood atmosphere.

Fun Events

See you next week,

Justin

P.S. Want to connect?

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