/ About this event
## **💡 What's the Ugly Truth**
Most founder events reward polish. This one rewards honesty.
The ugly truth is that builders are carrying plenty they do not say out loud: botched launches, weird cofounder tension, customers who ghosted, demos that broke, features nobody used, investor meetings that felt like improv, and the quiet doubt that shows up after everyone else logs off.
This is an open mic and mixer for tech founders and builders who want the real room. Short stories, sharp lessons, and zero startup theater.
## **🎯 Why You Should Attend**
- Share or hear the raw story behind a build, launch, pivot, or failure. - Meet other founders and builders through honesty, not job titles. - Get fast signal on what people are actually struggling with. - Leave with better connections because the room skipped the fake part. - Perfect for LA Tech Week attendees who want something more useful than another surface-level mixer.
## **🙋 Who's Getting In This Room**
- Tech founders, technical builders, product people, engineers, designers, and operators. - First-time founders figuring it out in public. - Repeat founders with scars and better jokes. - Builders looking for collaborators, customers, community, or sanity. - Investors and ecosystem folks who know how to listen before pitching.
## **🎤 Who's Taking the Stage**
Open mic format. Recommended structure:
- 6 to 8 founder/builder stories. - 5 to 7 minutes each. - Each speaker shares one ugly moment, what broke, what they learned, and what changed after. - Optional closer: a rapid-fire “hard lesson I wish I knew sooner” round.
## **💬 What's On the Table**
- The launch that flopped. - The feature that nobody wanted. - The cofounder conversation people avoid until too late. - The customer discovery lesson that hurt. - The investor meeting that changed the strategy. - The weird emotional tax of building while pretending everything is fine.
This event is a part of #LATechWeek, a week of events hosted by the top founders, funds, and companies to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com.
