The AI Native Startup: How to Scale to $100M with 10 People and 1000s of AI Agents
ANNOUNCEMENT: PANEL FEATURES
We’re excited to share the expert voices joining Midstage Institute for Thursday’s AI-native startup workshop. These leaders bring years of experience at the forefront of scaling startups and building with AI:
Shashank Srivastava, Head of Product-AI at Latent AI
Shashank is a product leader with 15+ years in AI and cloud infrastructure. He heads product strategy at Latent AI, delivering tools that let customers build, optimize, and deploy edge-ready models. Previously, he led generative-AI products at Smarsh, built Amazon’s Lookout for Metrics (and helped launch Titan and Bedrock), and held senior roles at VMware, Adecco, and TIBCO. Shashank holds an MBA from Kellogg and an MS in Computer Science from RIT.Join Roland Siebelink, founder of Midstage Institute and trusted advisor to 75+ high-growth startups, for an exclusive, high-impact session on what it takes to build and scale an AI-native startup from day one.
Rijk van Zanten, Co-founder & CTO of Directus
Rijk is the Co-founder and CTO of Directus, one of the most widely adopted headless CMS platforms globally. Rijk leads the platform’s technical architecture and long-term product vision—including its modular approach to AI. Rijk van Zanten’s approach to AI is pragmatic, community-driven, and focused on giving users the tools to integrate the latest AI capabilities as they emerge.
Vince Jeong, Co-founder & CEO of Sparkwise
Vince is the Co-founder and CEO of Sparkwise, a seed-stage SaaS startup that uses AI to automate high-impact team workshops—no facilitators needed. Sparkwise is already trusted by organizations like Google, Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, the DMV, and several top consulting firms. Prior to Sparkwise, Vince worked at McKinsey, leading large-scale transformation and capability-building projects for the Fortune 500.
AI-native companies are rewriting the startup playbook. In this hands-on talk, you’ll learn:
Why AI-native startups are unlocking unprecedented capital efficiency
How to eliminate scaling bottlenecks with autonomous agent workflows
Why legacy competitors can’t match the agility of AI-powered orgs
How to design your team and tech stack for lean, fast growth
What top VCs look for in AI-native companies—and how to stand out
You’ll walk away with practical tools:
Company Architecture: Map your ideal human–AI team structure
Sample Scorecard: Build KPIs for human + AI talent
North Star Plan: Get everyone aligned and moving fast
Ongoing Alignment: Keep your agent fleets in sync and on mission
Who should attend?
Seed to Series B founders leapfrogging the market
Growth teams shifting to AI-powered org design
Investors spotting the next unicorns in training
Anyone passionate about prompt engineering at scale
This is your edge. The AI-native playbook is being written now. Get ahead of the curve—or risk being left behind.
🔗 Secure your seat while spots last. To manage attendance, we are charging a fee of $1 per seat. 100% of the proceeds will go to local nonprofit Community Tech NY (CTNY), who is doing incredible work to lower the digital divide by increasing access to internet infrastructure in New York City. We are also offering a sliding scale option if you would like to contribute that way!