Past event · Markets

Founder Showcase: How Seattle AI Founders Won Their First Customers

Name: Founder Showcase: How Seattle AI Founders Won Their First Customers
Start: 2026-10-26T17:00:00.000Z
End: 2026-10-26T20:00:00.000Z
Location: Central Business District

Mon, Oct 26 · 10:00 a.m.PDT

Central Business District · Seattle

Everyone tells early founders to get traction. Almost nobody shows you how the first customer showed up. Seattle AI Week opens with seven founders doing exactly that. How they chose where to sell fir…

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Founder Showcase: How Seattle AI Founders Won Their First Customers

photo: Luma

When

Mon, Oct 26 · 10:00 a.m.Ends 1:00 p.m.PDT

Where

Central Business DistrictSURF Incubator, 999 3rd Ave Ste 700, Seattle, WA 98104, USA

This event has already happened.

When and where

Date and time: Mon, Oct 26 · 10:00 a.m.Ends 1:00 p.m.PDT — local Seattle time
Location: Central Business DistrictSURF Incubator, 999 3rd Ave Ste 700, Seattle, WA 98104, USASeattle

About this event

Everyone tells early founders to get traction. Almost nobody shows you how the first customer showed up.

Seattle AI Week opens with seven founders doing exactly that. How they chose where to sell first. Where their first customers came from. How they closed the first deal. What they would do differently.

It's a panel, not a pitch. No decks. Every founder brings one number, one story, and one line you can steal.

The panels

10:30 AM · Selling to people Carol Grant, Opolo Karthika Shankar, Rosie Trenton Creamer, Data

Core Labs Mina Yoo, ROOL

11:30 AM · Selling to businesses Eva Kapitany, Feedfrwd Lauren Sato, Komyūn Ming Zhang, Open

Secura

Moderated by Louis Newkirk, Timu Marketing.

What you'll take away

Where to sell first. How each founder picked a first market, and what they ruled out.

First customers. The real channel behind their first ten.

The first deal. What almost stopped it, and what closed it.

What they'd stop doing. The one change they'd make if they started tomorrow.