Think Like a Founder (Chess Not Checkers x Perkins Coie)
Building something meaningful requires more than a single bold move. Instead, it’s a series of calculated steps and long-term bets. Think Like a Founder kicks off our THINK series: intimate conversations with builders where we go in-depth to explore how they think and the steps they’ve taken to turn their long-term vision into reality.
The evening starts with casual chess games, open conversation, light bites and drinks. As the boards fill up, the room shifts from play to perspective, diving into how founders build their companies.
For our first edition, we’re featuring:
Neil Chatterjee, co-founder and CEO of Andrena, the company behind DAWN, a decentralized broadband protocol. DAWN transforms internet connectivity by enabling users to buy and sell bandwidth locally, turning households into mini ISPs. The protocol leverages blockchain technology and wireless mesh networks to create a user-powered internet infrastructure. Chatterjee envisions DAWN as a model that empowers individuals to take ownership of their connectivity, much like solar panels allow homeowners to generate and sell electricity. The company currently serves over 10,000 households across 10 U.S. states.
John Levy, founder of SEEQC (an acronym for scalable energy efficient quantum computing), is pioneering the development of the world’s first fully digital quantum computing platform, designed to integrate seamlessly with existing classical computing infrastructures. It combines classical and quantum technologies to address the efficiency, stability, and cost challenges inherent in traditional quantum systems. SEEQC recently achieved a significant milestone by unveiling the world's first fully digital quantum-classical interface in collaboration with Nvidia, showcased at Nvidia's inaugural Quantum Day during the GTC 2025 conference.
Sponsors:
DAWN is a decentralized wireless network for delivering Internet service. Through the protocol and hardware, property owners or residents have the opportunity to buy and sell Internet capacity in the area around them – empowering users to operate as their own Internet provider.
Drinks are sponsored by Tilden (found via @rueclub). Tilden is a non-alcoholic brand founded by Mariah Wood and Vanessa Royle. They created Tilden to offer sophisticated, ready-to-pour non-alcoholic cocktails that deliver the full sensory experience of a cocktail without alcohol, sugar overload, or artificial ingredients .