🌴 Ambition update: new speakers, sponsors, and more

👋 I’m Justin. I run The LA Grind and The SF Grind and scout for Headline.

Happy Friday! 

Two weeks ago, I announced Ambition, the one-day startup summit happening on September 24th, 2026, in Santa Monica. The response has been solid, and I wanted to share an update as I'm building this in public.

New Speakers: In addition to Mehul Nariyawala, Co-Founder of Matic Robots (Most recently raised a $60M Series C, building the world’s most advanced floor cleaner), we’ve added two new speakers since the launch announcement!

• Tyler Denk, founder of beehiiv ($50M raised, tens of millions in ARR), the platform I use and love. He’ll be speaking at our Day Zero VIP dinner the night before, on September 23rd, open to speakers, VIP ticketholders, and Headline & Presenting Sponsors.

• ​Dee Murthy, Co-Founder of Ghost, an AI-native distribution platform for the best brands in the world, that has raised $95M, most recently a $40M Series C. He’s also a co-host of the Group Chat Podcast, an incredibly popular show about business, tech, pop culture, and sports.

More speakers are in the works and will be announced over the coming weeks.

This summit is small on purpose, limited to 150 people, giving attendees a chance to actually meet each other in addition to learning from some incredible speakers.

Confirmed Sponsors: This summit doesn’t happen without the support of sponsors. We’ve got our first two lined up, but space for more, including one Presenting Sponsor. Reply to this email if seriously interested in sponsoring Ambition and I’ll send over the one-pager.

• Bailey Glasser LLP helps founders, operators, and investors build profitable companies and stay protected. Their corporate team supports early-stage and growing businesses with formation, fundraising, contracts, and deals, and if problems arise, their trial lawyers handle commercial disputes, partnership issues, IP and trade-secret matters, and more.

• Venice Inc. is a world-class design studio that partners with early-stage founders to bring their product and go-to-market design visions to life. I’m working with Jeff and his team on the design for Ambition and can’t wait to show you all!

We’ve already sold 15 tickets to Ambition, from partners at venture firms to VC-backed and bootstrapped founders to high-level operators, including three people coming from outside of Los Angeles. We’re very early, but I’m really excited about how the attendee list is shaping up.

Early Bird pricing is still live, we have a limited number of tickets for service providers, and also a limited number of VIP tickets.

Apply to join: https://luma.com/ambition2026

See you soon!

Justin