What You'll Learn:

• How to give a concise, yet compelling, elevator pitch

• What investors are looking for in a startup pitch

• Specific advice and feedback on your pitch and startup ideas

If you have a startup idea or a growing company and you want to expand your network in Chicago, then join us for the in-person 'Founder Night Out' event. At this informal networking event, you can connect with other early-stage entrepreneurs, startup mentors, and advisors from the Founder Institute network. Socialize over drinks with potential co-founders, advisors, mentors and partners. Most of all, get away from the computer and have fun!

Join us for an exclusive session where resilience meets strategy!

​Armando Vera Carvajal, a seasoned entrepreneur and thought leader, will share the mental frameworks and mindset shifts that separate successful founders from the rest. This isn't just theory—it's battle-tested wisdom from the trenches of building, scaling, and leading ventures through uncertainty.

Startup ecosystems don't fail because founders lack ideas, they fail because cities keep mistaking press releases for progress. Begging and intriguing thought exercise: If investors wouldn't fund your ecosystem as a startup, why would they fund your startups? This panel brings together three leading voices in economic development to tackle the uncomfortable truth about venture capital and entrepreneurship: money follows opportunity, it doesn't create it. We're going to cut through the theater and talk about what actually matters.

Expect a candid, sometimes provocative, conversation about the weakest links in economic development so that we can work together to overcome them for entrepreneurs and investors — exploring some programs and policies that can actually fix those challenges.

We're excited to host Gildre's August Speed-Networking event! We want to make sure everyone has the chance to continue to connect with amazing individuals across the globe.

NachoNacho.com - The B2B SaaS & AI + Services Marketplace, Deel, Shopline, Ancient, OneSixOne Ventures, and Emerging LA are hosting this exclusive Founder + Investor happy hour event (includes sponsored open bar and food) alongside key high-profile brands and VC firms. This is part of our NachoTuesday series, which includes in-person events as well as online thought leadership C-Suite interviews (https://nachonacho.com/nachotuesday). The location is secret and will be shared with approved guests only!

​Join Executive Mentor, Henri Schauffler in the October Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Top of the Funnel: Discovering Why You May Be Wasting Time Talking To People Who Will Never Buy"".

Learn how to prepare for your first professional fundraising round with Gust’s COO. Key strategies, compliance & equity insights for founders.

NachoNacho.com - The B2B SaaS & AI + Services Marketplace, Deel, Ancient, Shopline, Zeni.ai, OneSixOne Ventures, Posha Private Chef, and Kaminitz Law are hosting this exclusive Founder + Investor happy hour event (includes sponsored open bar and food provided by the Posha Kitchen Robot Chef!) alongside key high-profile brands and VC firms. This is part of our NachoTuesday series, which includes in-person events as well as online thought leadership C-Suite interviews (https://nachonacho.com/nachotuesday). The location is secret and will be shared with approved guests only!

​EXCLUSIVE GILDRE MASTERCLASS: The Hypergrowth Blueprint - How to Blitzscale with Chris Yeh

​Join us for an extraordinary opportunity to learn directly from Chris Yeh, co-author of the bestselling "Blitzscaling" and trusted advisor to Reid Hoffman and countless Silicon Valley legends.

Learn how to prepare for your first professional fundraising round with Gust’s COO. Key strategies, compliance & equity insights for founders.

​Welcome to Gildre's Founder Fireside! This event is a casual, intimate gathering where founders come together to share the highs and lows of their entrepreneurial journeys. In this open forum, we invite everyone to connect, reflect, and offer insights on the real-world challenges they face daily, from scaling their businesses, managing teams, and navigating personal growth along with work-life balance.

Raising funding is more than pitching, it's about being truly ready for investors. At this live AMA, Marta Marrucco, founder of Smart Founder, shares insider matchmaking insights on what makes startups stand out to investors. She'll answer questions on preparing financial models, refining your pitch, and building relationships that lead to funding. If you want to understand how to attract investors by being investment-ready, don't miss this event.

We're excited to host Gildre's August Speed-Networking event! We want to make sure everyone has the chance to continue to connect with amazing individuals across the globe.

Learn how you can use a financial model to create confidence when presenting your startup to potential investors. Nail your presentation and close more checks.

If you have a startup idea or a growing company and you want to expand your network in Chicago, then join us for the in-person 'Founder Night Out' event. At this informal networking event, you can connect with other early-stage entrepreneurs, startup mentors, and advisors from the Founder Institute network. Socialize over drinks with potential co-founders, advisors, mentors and partners. Most of all, get away from the computer and have fun!

NachoNacho - The B2B SaaS & AI + Services Marketplace, Deel, Gunderson Dettmer, and GPT Trainer are hosting this exclusive Founder + Investor happy hour event alongside key high-profile brands and VC firms. This networking event will be exclusively for SaaS & AI Founders, C-Suites, investors, tech media, and tech leaders (partnership leaders are definitely welcome, too). This event will include sponsored drinks, but not food. Please grab a bite to eat before or after the event.

​Join Executive Mentor, Henri Schauffler in the September Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Designing Your Repeatable Sales Engine: Discovering Why You're Not Closing At The Rate You Need".

​In his first roundtable event for 2025, these sessions will help members set benchmarks and hold each other accountable for goals while mastering fundamental sales elements.

Do you want to ask questions to startup investors about fundraising in a friendly, judgment-free environment? Are you looking to raise funding in the future, and want to learn what investors look for and how they evaluate potential investments? Then join us for this live, interactive Q&A event featuring Rich Maloy, Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures.

Learn how a great financial model can show you how much capital you should raise, and exactly when to raise it. Get better insights and make better decisions for your startup.

Join Executive Mentor, Diana Stepner in the August Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Scaling with Purpose".

​In her fourth roundtable event for 2025, these sessions will help members set benchmarks and hold each other accountable for goals while mastering fundamental product elements.

The event will start by providing guidelines to create a compelling elevator pitch, and then attendees will have the opportunity to share their pitch with other entrepreneurs, advisors, and investors at virtual tables for instant feedback. Even if you don't want to share your pitch, you can still join to hear other startup ideas and witness how the experts review a pitch.

​Join us for an essential executive workshop that could save your startup. Poor cash flow management remains the #1 killer of startups—but it doesn't have to be yours.

​Featured Speaker: Logan Burchett, Founder of Forecastr
Logan brings deep expertise in financial modeling and cash flow optimization, having helped countless startups navigate their most challenging financial periods and emerge stronger.

We're excited to host Gildre's August Speed-Networking event! We want to make sure everyone has the chance to continue to connect with amazing individuals across the globe.

Forget the recycled LinkedIn fluff.

We're not holding anything back in this one. I’m sharing real growth strategies that are working right now to book hundreds of demos per month:

• How to send 100k cold emails/month and hit inbox

• How to manipulate LLMs like Grok with Generative Engine Optimization

• How to book 50+ demos using advanced relationship mapping

• How to poach your competitors affiliates at scale

Due to its unpredictable nature and constantly evolving best practices, teaching the art of entrepreneurship presents a great challenge for educators. Since 2009 the Founder Institute has empowered thousands of first-time founders to launch successful companies across 6 continents, learning many pertinent lessons about entrepreneurial education along the way. On this live and interactive event, Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder & CEO of Founder Institute) will share some of the best practices the global accelerator uses to inspire and empower new entrepreneurs worldwide.

Propellant Ventures is pleased to provide an engaging virtual discussion to talk about innovation in the Renewable Energy industry. We will kick-off the event with a Breakout Room so attendees can get to know one another.

​Join us for an intimate and transformative session with Armando Vera Carvajal, who turned his immigrant experience into entrepreneurial triumph as CEO of Hangtight. In this exclusive Gildre event, Armando will share the mindset strategies and resilience frameworks that enabled him to navigate challenges, acquire competitor technology, and build a thriving social planning platform.

​Join Executive Mentor, Diana Stepner in the July Gildre Innovation Roundtable Session: "Product Leadership in High-Growth Environments".

​In her third roundtable event for 2025, these sessions will help members set benchmarks and hold each other accountable for goals while mastering fundamental product elements.