Fireside Chat & Happy Hour: Evaluating AI-Native Companies & Beyond
Hosted by Stifel Venture Bank, Resident Company Club, and IAMBIC.
Today’s AI conversations often start - and stall - at surface level. Investors are flooded with pitches that tout LLM integrations, image generation, or plug-and-play tools layered onto standard products. But in a world where access to core models is increasingly commoditized, the next great challenge is depth – and where that depth can be defensible.
What makes a company truly AI-native – not just AI-enhanced? And what can be possible when AI moves beyond the screen and into the physical world?
On July 8th, join Maeve Wang, Co-founder & CEO of IAMBIC, for a fireside chat moderated by David Bell, legendary early-stage investor and former Wharton professor. Known for backing some of the most iconic product-led companies of the last two decades, David brings a sharp investor’s lens to this moment in AI – asking the right questions about depth, defensibility, and full market potential. This conversation will explore:
The difference between AI-enhanced and AI-native products
What defensibility looks like when models are table stakes
How investors should assess depth, integration, and staying power
Why the physical world may be AI’s overlooked frontier
This event is designed primarily for investors, with a happy hour to follow. Founders at the intersection of AI and physical product innovation are also encouraged to attend.
About Stifel
Stifel Financial (NYSE: SF) is a global investment bank, wealth management, and commercial banking institution with $400B+ in AUM. Stifel Bank offers venture and fund banking solutions, including 100% free banking for fund clients, fully insured liquid ICS accounts (up to $275MM FDIC coverage), capital call and management company lines of credit, and venture lending.
About Resident Company Club
Resident builds curated mini-communities for founders, CEOs, CFOs, operators, and investors in NYC. It’s a place for the brightest minds who are passionate about building generational businesses to share knowledge and challenge ideas. Guided by a give-first ethos, our members are committed to supporting and uplifting one another. We host unique events, workshops, Jeffersonian meals, and parties in NYC, facilitating meaningful debates on professional, cultural, and social issues.
About IAMBIC
IAMBIC, recognized as a TIME Best Invention, is redefining footwear with AI-tailored, precision-fit shoes that deliver bespoke-level comfort at scale—solving fit for the 1 in 4 people failed by traditional sizing. IAMBIC’s patent-pending platform combines computer vision, data-driven manufacturing, and 5 years of NSF-funded R&D. With 12 patents pending and sellout product launches to product debuts at the Miami F1 Grand Prix, IAMBIC is setting a new standard for frontier AI.