​YakCon is a week-long interactive tinkering session

​Its two live, collaborative events—Part One (Sunday Jan 8th, 1600-2000 UTC) and Part Two (Sunday Jan 15th, 1600-2000 UTC)—book-end a week of distributed, asynchronous explorations.

​Events include guest speakers, a look at what The Yak Collective was up to in 2022, a glimpse of what's on the horizon for 2023, and breakout activities for some central YC activities, such as the Fermi gym, governance studies and the rover project.

​Session Agendas

• ​YakCon: Part One & Two | Sun 8th & 15th Jan, 1600-2000 UTC

  • ​1600-1620: Intro to YC and Session Orientation

  • ​1620-1700: Kick-Off Speaker(s)

  • ​1700-1720: Break / Mixer

  • ​1720-1755: All-Hands, Track Intros and Activity Reviews/Previews

  • ​1755-1805: Break

  • ​1805-1855: Breakout Activities A

  • ​1855-1905: Break

  • ​1905-1955: Breakout Activities B

  • ​1955-2000: Break

  • ​2000-2010: Closing

• ​YakCon: Async | Monday Jan 9th to Saturday Jan 14th

  • ​Asynchronous explorations led by YC track leads

​Talks

​Productising Machine Learning Research
Killian Butler (LinkedIn, Twitter) at YakCon Part One

​Bio: Kilian is the Head of Product at Papercup. Papercup aims to make the world's media watchable in any language through building an automated media dubbing system that retains the expressivity of the original content. Prior to joining Papercup he worked at startups in several product roles in Dublin, Berlin and London.

​Can Crypto Close the $4 Trillion SME Financing Gap?
Mike Casey (Farcaster, personal site) at YakCon Part Two

​Bio: Mike Casey is the founder of Portico Advisers, a firm that works with entrepreneurs and investors in complex markets facing capital scarcity — whether that's by geography (e.g., Africa) or vertical (e.g., life sciences).

​Previously, Mike advised private equity, sovereign wealth fund, hedge fund, and corporate clients on investments in more than 20 countries. He started his career working on strategy at the U.S. Department of Defense.

​Mike holds an MA in International Relations and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

​Simulation Games Might Be What The World Needs Now
Dan Grover (personal site, LinkedIn) at YakCon Part Two

​Bio: Dan Grover is a product designer, engineer, and entrepreneur. He grew up in Vermont and has lived in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Guangzhou. When he's not working, he's running, reading, traveling, and trying new foods.