🔦 Spotlight

Every year, stars from Silicon Valley and Hollywood descend on LA-based Upfront Ventures’ annual Upfront Summit. This year was no exception. For the last two days, Upfront hosted over 1,000 attendees and dozens of speakers at the Lot at Formosa in West Hollywood, bringing together the who’s who of entertainment and technology for networking and panel discussions.

This year, panelists ranged from Hollywood celebs Lady Gaga, Cameron Diaz, and Katy Perry, to star athletes Novak Djokovic and Blake Griffin, to tech heavyweights like Chris Dixon of a16z, Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures, and Trae Stephens of Anduril and Founders Fund.

Each panelist (even the Hollywood stars) brought his or her own take on entrepreneurship to the table - for example, Katy Perry gave an inside look at her role at non-alcoholic aperitif company De Soi (“COO - Chief Opinion Officer”) and poured a few glasses for lucky members of the audience.

Novak Djokovic gave the audience an inside look at his Regenesis Pod, which features everything from infrared heating to sound therapy to “crystals” to promote recovery. Not sure if the scientific consensus is aligned to the healing benefits of the pod, but who are we to argue with Novak’s success?

A few other highlights included Costa Mesa-based Anduril’s intimidating and impressive sizzle reel that could have been pulled out of 2008’s Iron Man, and a lively discussion from DC insiders on the upcoming 2024 election, which moderator Brian Goldsmith kicked off with a perfectly sarcastic “who’s excited for a Biden v. Trump rematch this year!?”

After a long two days of networking and hearing from the star-studded speaker lineup, the attendees finished the night off with a rooftop party overlooking the city, complete with hors d’oeuvres, a DJ set, and an amazing view of the city we call home.

Another year of the best party in venture capital - cheers to the team at Upfront and to Upfront Managing Partner and summit maestro, Mark Suster.

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