TiESV

Palo Alto Tech Talks
2025-11-05 17:30 - 19:30 (Asia/Kolkata)

TiE Silicon Valley University Mentors Webinar: A to Z of Fundraising
2025-11-06 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
As part of the TiE Silicon Valley University Mentors Program Webinar Series, we present a candid session on fundraising for university startups.
Join us for a direct conversation with top VCs who will answer the two most critical questions for founders:
What We Invest In: Get the specifics on their sector focus, check size, and stage.
Instant Pitch Killers: Learn the common mistakes in decks and presentations that lead to an immediate “no.”
This is your chance to cut through the noise and get an insider’s view of what it truly takes to secure funding.
Join us for a direct conversation with top VCs, including:

Akash Pai, Angel Investor & Board member at NuFund Venture Group
Alperen Ozalp, MP, Principal, Alpine Rock Capital
Alicia Castillo Holley, GP &Founder, Wealthing VC Fund
Zoe Samuel, Venture Partner, Starshot Capital

TiE SV University Pitch Competition 2025
2025-11-06 16:00 - 18:00 (Asia/Shanghai)
TiE SV University Pitch Competition 2025
Details to follow

TiE Silicon Valley University Mentors Webinar: Early Stage Fund Raising
2025-11-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Raising capital as an early-stage founder is both exciting and challenging—especially for those spinning out of university labs or research environments. This session in the TiE Silicon Valley University Mentors Program Webinar Series breaks down what truly matters in the earliest phases of fundraising and how founders can effectively position themselves for investor interest.
We’ll talk to two very different early stge investors, an active angel investor and an established VC fund that invests very early, and try to gain some insights to help you on your startup journey.
What You’ll Learn:

How early-stage investors evaluate opportunities
What matters more than the product at the Pre-Seed and Seed stage
How to communicate your value proposition clearly and concisely
The signals founders send—intentionally or unintentionally
Practical steps to prepare before reaching out to investors

Featured Speaker(s):

Phil DiGiacomo, Venrock Ventures
Dhana Pawar, Angel Investor

PA Tech Talks
2025-11-12 17:00 - 20:00 UTC
Animikh Roy, the founder of Wishtales AI, will give a presentation on a radically new approach to multimodal content generation.
This Generative Synchronous Diffusion (GSD) approach solves the fundamental economic and computational bottleneck of current AI.
While standard models (like Sora) are built on cross-attention, which scales at an unviable O(N⁵), Animikh’s proprietary GSD architecture—based on his foundational paper on R-K Diagrams (Harvard Research)—scales at O(5 log N).
This isn’t just a theoretical breakthrough. It actually gives Wishtales AI a 67X inference advantage and a 10-20X model training cost advantage, enabling the world’s first “One-Shot” multimodal platform. Their tool lets creators start with any input (a scribble, a voice note, a photo) and generate complete, production-ready videos (with integrated voice, BGM, and SFX) in minutes.

Mentor Connect Featuring Mike Wood, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) & Critical Named Account Sales, Aliro
2025-11-14 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Kolkata) | TiE Silicon Valley Office, 480 S. California Ave, Suite 201, Palo Alto, CA, 94306, United States
Mentor Connect: 1:1 Founder Sessions with Mike Wood
If you’re focused on finding and validating new markets, launching new products or categories, driving Product-Led Growth (PLG), scaling your go-to-market motion, improving messaging and positioning, or building high-performance product and commercialization teams — this month’s Mentor Connect session is built for you.
Meet Your November Mentor
Mike Wood — Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) & Critical Named Account Sales, Aliro
Mike has led product, marketing, and GTM strategy at companies scaling from early traction to hundreds of millions in ARR, with senior leadership roles at Cisco, VMware / VeloCloud, Akamai, StrataCom (IPO → acquired by Cisco), Apstra (acquired by Juniper), and Versa.
A Silicon Valley operator through-and-through, he focuses on helping founders sharpen market entry, accelerate adoption, and build teams that execute with clarity and momentum.
💡 Apply now to fast-track your growth and gain direct mentorship from Mike.
TiE Silicon Valley’s MentorConnect is a monthly series connecting founders with accomplished leaders in tech, AI, and entrepreneurship for high-impact, no-fluff mentorship.

Funding Fridays
2025-11-18 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Kolkata)
TiE Silicon Valley’s Funding Fridays offers a unique opportunity for startup founders to engage in curated 1:1 meetings with leading investors.
If you’re a founder preparing to raise capital, this is your chance to meet the VCs and explore potential fundraising opportunities:
✅ Pitch directly to an experienced VC
✅ Gain actionable feedback on your fundraising strategy
✅ Build meaningful connections within the investor community
Featured VC: Venky Karnam, General Partner at Shift Left Ventures
Format: In-person 1:1 meetings with the VC
Submit your registration for review and take the next step in your entrepreneurial journey today!

TiE Silicon Valley Angels Office Hours with Shabd Vaid
2025-11-18 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
We’re excited to invite entrepreneurs to meet 1:1 with a member of TiE Silicon Valley Angels — one of the Valley’s most active networks of early-stage investors, serial entrepreneurs, and tech executives.
Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch and engage in candid 1:1 conversations with a seasoned angel investor, receive actionable feedback on their pitch and fundraising strategy, and gain insight into what angel investors look for in early-stage founders.
Date: Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PT
About Shabd Vaid:
Shabd Vaid is a technologist, entrepreneur and an angel investor. He is the Founder, CEO of Portend AI, a startup that is reimagining risk management. Shabd is also the Managing Partner of Crucial VC and invests in early-stage startups. He is a TiE Charter Member and works with TiE Angels Silicon Valley.
Earlier, Shabd was the co-founder of Strikedeck, a company acquired by Medallia. Before Strikedeck, Shabd co-founded companies like Grokr and iStorez. Prior to that, Shabd held senior engineering positions at Responsys, Intel, ABC Technologies and Newgen Software.
If you’re looking to sharpen your pitch, refine your fundraising approach, or better understand the investor mindset, this is your chance to connect directly with one of the Valley’s most experienced angel investors.
Note: This program is designed for new applicants and is not available to current TiE Angels Silicon Valley portfolio companies.

TiE Silicon Valley University Mentors Webinar: Presentation Guidelines
2025-11-20 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
TiE Silicon Valley University Mentors Webinar: Presentation Guidelines
As founders prepare for the TiE Silicon Valley University Mentors Program Pitch Finals, this session is designed to help them refine their storytelling, structure, and delivery. The Presentation Guidelines Webinar will walk founders through best practices for creating high-impact pitch decks, communicating their vision clearly, and presenting with confidence to investors and judges.
Featuring: Preetha Ram, Managing Partner at Pier 70 Ventures and TiE Silicon Valley Board Member
We’ll cover how to organize your presentation for maximum clarity, what key elements investors look for in a pitch, how to balance technical depth with business focus, and practical tips for managing time and Q&A effectively.
This is a hands-on, actionable session aimed at helping founders deliver a clear, concise, and compelling presentation that stands out in the final round.

TiE SV Charter Member Holiday Party
2025-11-21 17:30 - 22:30 (Asia/Kolkata)
TiE SV Charter Member Holiday Party
Date: Nov 21st 2025
Time: 5:30 pm
