6/25 GenAI Sharing & Networking w/ John Whaley - Taipei
Are you thinking about starting your entrepreneurial journey but aren't sure where to begin? Or are you a successful serial entrepreneur? Meet John Whaley, a 3x cybersecurity founder and the founder of Inception Studio (nonprofit accelerator).
Join us for an invite only special session with John Whaley, John will share his entrepreneurial experiences and insights into AI.
Short bio of John Whaley
Founder of Inception Studio, helping its founders start 22 venture-backed startups that have collectively raised over $60M, consisting over 70% repeat founders, with 30% already having successful exits.
3x Cybersecurity Founder (Redcoat AI, UnifyID, Moka5)
Instructor at Stanford: CS 224G, Apps With LLMs Inside (Winter 2024)
Agenda
19:00-19:30 Check-In & Free Taiwanese Food (humble and limited, come earlier)
19:30-19:40 Quick Introduction of John Whaley
19:40-20:00 Sharing - Generative AI Startup Ecosystem Overview in Silicon Valley
20:00-20:30 Panel discussion - How to Build a Successful Startup in the Era of AI
20:30-20:45 Q&A
20:45-21:30 Networking
Who are we looking for?
Founders: Built or building exciting start-ups.
Technical builders: Build things (start-up, capstone project, open source projects, etc.) quickly.
Academia: Professors, who have a strong passion for their research and studies.
Others: Anyone who's interested in AI.
Why Benson is hosting this event?
I recently traveled to the Bay Area for AI summits, demo days, and parties, and I was amazed by the quality of startups and innovators I encountered. Top talents are leaving big tech companies to ride the wave of GenAI, building stuff people want with the new disruptive technology.
We are at a pivotal moment in history with the emergence of generative AI. No one fully understands its capabilities yet, but it’s widely agreed they will be important. This is a prime time for builders to explore these systems' edges and capabilities. Mastering this technology will be a superpower for the next few years. There are no books or courses on this yet, so the best way to learn is by building something real.
NOW it's the time for Taiwan
Taiwanese possess strong construction capabilities, high resilience, and an entrepreneurial spirit. However, I have seen many admirable entrepreneurial predecessors encounter numerous detours in their early ventures due to a lack of sufficient and up-to-date information (compared to Silicon Valley) when it comes to topic selection and execution. This information asymmetry must end, and it must ends now.
Taiwanese have proven their capabilities by building world-class semiconductor companies, and I deeply believe that our potential far exceeds this. Mastering AI technology will become a superpower in the coming years, and Taiwanese people must ride this wave of technological advancement to create something that changes the world.
Notes
It was a last-minute event that I coordinated within a week with John, who is currently traveling in Asia. I am honored to host this event with John and grateful for his participation. Kindly let me know if there's any room for improvements, thank you.