/ About this event
[A High-Signal Founder Roundtable on Turning Early Traction into High-Retention SaaS]
About This Event: Achieving initial Product-Market Fit (PMF) is a major milestone, but a leaky bucket will kill even the most promising startup. If your sign-ups and acquisition numbers look great, but user retention and net dollar retention (NDR) are keeping you up at night, this intimate, peer-level roundtable is designed for you.
Join us for an off-the-record working session where we dissect the real mechanics of user habit loops, retention architecture, and churn reduction strategies for modern SaaS/AI products.
What We Will Cover:
Diagnosing the Leaky Bucket: Identifying product friction vs. value realization gaps in the first 30/60/90 days.
Building Habit Loops: Structuring onboarding and product workflows that drive repeated daily/weekly active use.
Data & AI-Driven Retention: Leveraging automated triggers, predictive churn modeling, and high-touch customer success.
Live Founder teardowns: Interactive feedback on participating founders' current churn/retention metrics. Featured Hosts:
Angelina Li: AI SaaS Founder ($1.2M ARR, exit), Startup Mentor, & Venture Strategist.
Lomit Patel: Growth Executive, Author of Lean AI, & Scale-Up Advisor specializing in customer acquisition & lifetime value optimization.
SomaProtype Lab：San Francisco’s premier launchpad for Physical AI and deep-tech hardware, bringing zero-to-one prototypes to life.
Featured Guest Sravya Antharam — Senior Product Manager, Microsoft
Balaji Abhishek With a background spanning technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship, Balaji brings a builder’s perspective to the conversation around how emerging technologies and AI are shaping the next generation of products, creators, and businesses.
Ed IH Tan Ex-Rocket Scientist | Startup Mentor & Venture Partner Bio: Ed IH Tan is an ex-rocket scientist, serial entrepreneur, and seasoned startup mentor & venture partner. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and conducted propulsion research at MIT. With over a decade of hands-on experience advising founders and funds across the San Francisco Bay Area, Ed combines deep engineering expertise with practical strategic planning to help technology ventures scale.
Stacie Chan SVP of GTM & Partnerships, NetMind.AI Stacie Chan is a global technology leader, Stanford alumni, and 2x Generative AI startup co-founder & operator with a proven track record of raising $5.5M and driving successful startup exits. Previously leading product partnerships at Google, she combines a unique background—as an Emmy-nominated actress and award-winning journalist—with deep technical and business acumen to scale AI products from 0 to 1.
Killian Dunne Founder of Telepathic & Stealth Startup Killian Dunne is a mathematician-turned-entrepreneur who holds First Class Honours in Pure Mathematics from The University of Edinburgh. With hands-on engineering experience building rockets and Hyperloop pods, Killian has previously served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Entrepreneur First and CTO at Homeland. Based in San Francisco, he is the founder of Telepathic and is currently building a new stealth venture funded by top-tier investors and prominent founders.
Sravya Antharam Senior Product Manager, Xbox Marketplace at Microsoft Sravya Antharam is a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft with nearly 10 years of experience scaling platform products across Xbox and Azure. A Purdue University alumna, Sravya has built impactful B2B and B2C marketplace and platform solutions that touch millions of users globally. Her work focuses on building monetization and retention infrastructure for developers and driving user adoption from acquisition to activation.
Karnika E. Yashwant (Mr. KEY) Founder & CEO at KEY Difference | Web3 & AI Venture Investor Karnika E. Yashwant (Mr. KEY) is a serial entrepreneur, global speaker, and Web3 pioneer with 18+ years of experience building and scaling technology companies, having become a CEO at age 14.
Bhavana Rana Director, Advisory LOB Marketing at KPMG US | Ex-Senior Director at Nextiva & Talkdesk Bhavana Rana is a revenue-focused B2B marketing leader with over 15 years of experience driving demand and growth across software, financial services, healthcare, and government sectors. Currently serving as Director of Advisory Marketing at KPMG US, she previously held Senior Director of Product Marketing roles at Nextiva and Talkdesk, specializing in AI-powered solutions, CCaaS, and CX strategy. Bhavana is an alumna of the USC Marshall School of Business with a proven track record of scaling multi-vertical GTM strategies globally.
Who Should Attend: Seed or Series A founders who have proven acquisition traction but are struggling with retention/churn. Note: This is an invite-only/approval-required session limited to 15 founders to ensure deep, actionable discussion.
This event is a part of #[SF]TechWeek—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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