Early-Stage, SEED FOUNDERS THIS IS FOR YOU!

Sharpen your story. Find your community. Build your company.

October 14, 2026 · LA Tech WeeK

The first hour will be all about the pitches — founders taking the stage to present their startups to top LA VCs. Then the lights will drop and the space will transform into an after-hours vibe, where founders, investors, and community come together to connect and celebrate.

This opportunity is for seed founders to get feedback from top VCs including Alpha Edison, Amplify.LA, X, and X Ventures.

Presented by Alpha Edison — the venture firm backing breakthrough ideas and the ambitious founders behind them.

PitchLive.LA  is a live pitch event that will bring together fearless founders and forward-thinking investors for a high-energy night of real storytelling and bold ideas.

JUDGES

  • Partner, Alpha Edison

    Britt is a Partner at Alpha Edison, where she focuses on investments in AI, fintech, and deep tech. She has worked with companies across asset classes to scale.

    She helped launch Alpha Edison nine years ago, where they've invested in over 100 companies. Before joining Alpha Edison, she was an investor at Bain Capital Credit, focusing on middle market companies and distressed situations. There she worked with companies to structure opportunistic capital strategies through both debt and equity. With a passion for financial inclusion, she also worked in corporate development at the fintech startup Funding Circle.

    Britt holds a BS from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School. While at HBS, she launched the women's entrepreneurship initiative called Series W. Britt is originally from Arizona, and you can typically find her outdoors—hiking with her dog Mookie, skiing, playing beach volleyball—or with her head in a book.

  • Founder and Managing Partner, Amplify.LA

    Paul is the founder and Managing Partner of Amplify - which launched in 2012 and has funded 135 companies since its inception. He also has served as a Board Partner at Greycroft for the past 13 years. Previously, he was the founder of the Mailroom Fund — a joint venture between Accel Partners and William Morris Endeavor (where Paul worked for 14 years as EVP and head of Digital).

    Paul has been a member of the Board of Councillors at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC) for the last decade. Also at USC, he is currently an Expert-In-Residence at the Greif Center for Entrepreneurship at USC Marshall School of Business. For each of the past 9 years, Paul has been named to the list of the 500 Most Influential People in Los Angeles by the LA Business Journal.

    Canadian by birth, Paul is an avid sports fan of the Toronto Blue Jays and Raptors and loves to cook and enjoy great food.

  • Principal, Bonfire Ventures

    Jennifer Richard is a Principal at Bonfire Ventures, where she leads seed-stage investments with a focus on Vertical AI, SMB Tech, and Commerce Enablement. She represents Bonfire on the Board of several companies such as Rwazi, Reactiv, Prado and Inveterate.

    Before transitioning into venture capital, Jennifer spent 5 years operating at early stage, venture-backed companies going from 0 to 1. Her career spans building and scaling commerce platforms globally, managing complex logistics, and understanding customers across diverse verticals and geographies. Her expertise in product management and global supply chains has allowed her to drive significant growth for early-stage companies.

    Jennifer holds a BA from Emory University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. She is also a proud Kauffman Fellow. Based in Los Angeles, Jennifer enjoys traveling, playing tennis and wakeboarding when she's not chasing the next great investment opportunity.

  • General Partner, Fika

    TX Zhuo is the general partner of Fika Ventures, focusing on fintech, enterprise software and marketplace opportunities.


    An entrepreneur at heart, TX has been involved with startups since his college days where he started then successfully sold an online college textbook marketplace. After a stint at McKinsey where he was a core member of their financial services and consumer goods practices, he came back to his roots and served as the CFO for an electric vehicle startup, Lit Motors. Thereafter, he worked for Innovation Endeavors, a seed stage venture fund backed by Eric Schmidt. In 2012, he co-founded Karlin Ventures, based in Los Angeles, where he served as the managing partner for 4 years before co-founding Fika Ventures. He is a strong proponent of transparency and efficiency and is constantly on the lookout for new platforms that seek to disrupt old, antiquated industries.

    Once a competitive badminton player who trained 4-5 days a week, he now can be found on the golf course or maxing out his ClassPass account on the weekends. He is also passionate about supporting initiatives that help cancer fighters.

    TX holds an MBA from Stanford and a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Wesleyan University.

Sponsored By:

what to expect

TOP 8

Ahead of the PitchLive.LA event, the top 8 finalists will be announced on September invited to a storytelling development dinner hosted by Gunderson Dettmer, and led by experienced coach, entrepreneur, and education and angel investor, Jason Yeh.

finalists

Finalists selected for their vision and execution will pitch to a panel of top tier VCs live during LA Tech Week, including Alpha Edison, Amplify.LA, Bonfire Ventures, & Fika Ventures.

winner

The winner will receive an investment of $200K and startup services including legal, branding, financial services & marketing.

And bragging rights.

ATTn: founders - you’re invited to sign up for our diligence den!

We’re hosting an exclusive founder-only space designed to cut through the noise. Whether you applied to PitchLive.LA or you’re walking in fresh, you’ll have the chance to sit down with our partner investors for candid, behind-the-scenes feedback on what really matters at the pre-seed and seed stages.

This is an invaluable opportunity to build relationships and walk away with clear next steps to get your company funded.

Presented by ALPHA EDISON & Hosted By Amplify.LA

this is Los Angeles

Not just a city, but a current — of culture, reinvention, and unapologetic ambition.

The world looks to LA for what’s next in technology, storytelling, music, art, fashion and startups.

LA is for the builders in basements, the dreamers who won’t wait their turn,

and the founders brave enough to step into the spotlight and drop the mic.

We don’t just launch companies here.

We launch creative revolutions.

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