Tech Week LogoLos Angeles, October 12 - October 18
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LA Tech Week 2026

touch grass, get paid: how creators turn taste into an irl business

Hosted by Butter

When
3:00 – 4:30 PM
Where
Culver City
Format
Panel / Fireside Chat and Roundtable / Workshop
touch grass, get paid: how creators turn taste into an irl business artwork

/ About this event

The only creator event this week that isn't about online attention. This one's about what happens when you meet the people who follow you.

Everyone's calling offline the next big thing. Nobody's telling you how to actually start hosting, fill your plans, charge for them, or keep it going past the 3rd month.

The good ones don't just happen. Someone decided who's in the group, who gets introduced to who, and what happens in the first 10 minutes when nobody knows anyone. Curating it, pulling it together, making sure people actually connect. That's taste, and it's a skill. It's the part of the creator economy that can't happen on a screen, and it's the bit nobody teaches.

It's also a real business. 15 people paying $50 to eat dinner with you doesn't need a brand deal, an algorithm, or 100K followers. Most people who could do it have never tried.

So we're asking people who do.

Duy Nguyen — co-founder of Koreatown Run Club, a handful of friends in 2016 that became one of the most recognised running communities in the world. He also founded Long Distance, a publication and creative consultancy rooted in running culture. His whole thing is how you build partnerships, events and businesses around a community without turning the community into the product.

Camille Mejia — founder of Pickle N Tequila, an LA pickleball social club she runs alongside a full-time job, with a loyal following and events that sell out in under 3 minutes. She's also a creator, making content about how to build a social club.

One more creator announced soon.

Then we build. Everyone leaves with something real on the calendar: a dinner, a run, a screening, whatever yours is. You'll need your phone and about 10 mins.

This is for you if you've got an audience and no idea what to do with it in person. Or you've been meaning to start a thing for a year. Or you already host and want to charge for it without it feeling weird.

I'm Sam, one of Butter's founders — I'll be there the whole time :)

Butter is where you turn your wants into plans with strangers — weeknight dinners, afternoon pickleball, silent book clubs. We're building the OS for the real-world creator economy, turning anyone with an idea into a host who gets paid for it. Live in LA at joinbutter.co.

This event is a part of #LATechWeek—a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com.

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