Founders You Should Know
“What’s the one startup you would quit your job to join?”
We posed this question to some of the top investors and operators in Silicon Valley – and we’ve got answers.
If you're curious to know what they’re saying and you’re a builder (e.g. engineer/PM/biz-ops/ops/etc.) with a strong interest in under-the-radar startups, this event is for you.
Think wine, cheese, curated people to meet, and a punchy 60-minute show called “Founders You Should Know” to hear from promising startups you should consider joining.
Apply for the next FYSK in May in SF
Space is limited to 100. We’ll prioritize referrals from people we already know and trust, but don’t hesitate to apply even if you don’t know anyone in our communities yet
Want to nominate a founder?
If you’re a startup and you want to share your story on stage, please find someone who knows you well to nominate you.
If you're an investor, nominate your favorite startup — the one you tell all your friends to join.
Note: Startups cannot nominate themselves. We’ll prioritize nominations from trusted referrals in our network.
Why we do this
We believe there’s something unique and magical about connecting with people in real life: seeing how their eyes light up when they talk about what they’re building, and hearing the excitement in their voice when they share their story.
FOR TALENT
It’s a bit scary to commit your time all day, every day, to working at a startup, to building something that doesn’t yet exist in the world, which could be highly impactful and life-transforming, but – could also, despite everyone’s best efforts, fail. It is such a high conviction bet, and there’s no guarantee of success, but what really matters in your career is working alongside leaders and teams you trust and respect.
This is what makes it worth being in the room to meet these founders — to hear in their words – why you might want to join them. This moment is created for you to make these connections in real life, so you can ask these founders all your hard questions and get to know them – not as job descriptions, or bullet points on a job board, or tweetstorms from their investors, – but as real people you might connect with, vibe with, believe in, and even possibly work with.
FOR FOUNDERS
You’ve just raised a fresh round of funding and you’re busy in ways you never anticipated. Recruiting a talented team is high on your list of priorities — but where do you find the best people?
Great talent always connects with new opportunities through their trusted people networks. At “Founders You Should Know,” we curate the audience for you. You’ll meet our friends and friends-of-friends: ex-Stripe alums, Stanford Business school graduates, Renaissance Collective members, CMU alums, South Park Commons fellows, and more.
Best of all? We know you’re busy and we’ve tailored this event to be both high fidelity and hyper efficient. You prepare an info-dense 5 minute pitch—enough to provide intrigue and catalyze conversations. During the event itself, we’ll provide lots of time for informal mingling, so you can start building those relationships in-person. Share your story, meet great people, and leave with new connections — it’s that simple.
What Attendees are Saying
"Founders You Should Know was the most valuable event I attended when I was looking for a new role. After watching the presentations, I found a few organizations I was interested in joining then had the chance to meet their CEOs and learn more. I fell in love with a company and their founder and was able to land my dream job because of FYSK! I couldn't be happier that I attended or happier with how it turned out!"
- First onboarding specialist at Superhuman
***************************
“I attended the FYSK showcase on a whim and I met Clarence Chio, the CTO of Unit21, at the event. I ended up applying for a role with them shortly thereafter. I just started as a PM there about a month ago and have been incredibly happy and fulfilled in my new position. I would never have discovered Unit21 or met Clarence in person without FYSK — this was quite literally life changing for me!”
- Former cofounder of a YC-backed startup
***************************
“Not only does it give you the inside scoop of the”whisper network” in tech, but it was literally the only networking event I've been to that felt authentic & truly productive. Rather than the usual bragging about their amazingness, instead this was just the founders up there talking about what they do and sharing how you might fit into the needs of their team. No sad navigating of LinkedIn…just a birds eye view into the company's brain.
I would say it was I didn't think such a thing was possible but honestly, it was amazing people doing impressive things while remaining approachable & likeable."
- Director, NFT marketplace startup
***************************
“The best startup event I’ve ever attended.”
- Senior PM, Google
***************************
“A really amazing event with impressive founders and great people. Would love to attend again."
- COO, Series A startup
***************************
“Absolutely amazing. The startup pre-filtering was the most valuable part to me. I was able to meet many talented founders, and like-minded people who are also looking for startup jobs. Thank you for organizing this!"
- Senior software engineer, FAANG company
***************************
“OMG. I am just blown away at how brilliantly you executed the FYSK event. My jaw is hanging open even now. You delivered an insane amount of value in such a short period of time.”
- 2x founder and investor
***************************
“These get better every time! Love the space, food, agenda, and company :)”
- Senior PM, Series E startup
***************************
“FYSK felt intimate, energizing, and exhilarating. I am so pumped and inspired to work alongside these leaders and shape their product.”
- Stanford Graduate School of Business grad
What Founders Are Saying
“We got more recruiting leads from this event than any other single hiring event I've been to. The quality of hires we made from the FYSK event saved me hundreds of hours on interviews, sourcing, and pitch calls — and I’m not even sure we would have been able to reach the quality of talent that congregated in that room. Especially useful for hiring ambitious and entrepreneurial product managers and engineers!”
- Clarence Chio, founder of Unit21
***************************
“Founders You Should Know was a fantastic way to get Locket in front of potential engineers and operators. The biggest differentiator versus other events was the level to which Jen sweated the details to make sure our presentation was compelling. She organized a dinner before the event to meet other founders, meticulously curated invitees, and even set up one-on-one sessions with me to practice my pitch. I couldn't recommend participating as a founder enough — anyone would be lucky to have Jen and the Founders You Should Know team on their side!”
- Matt Moss, founder of Locket
***************************
“It's rare for an event to curate such a high-talent audience. The team really knows how to organize and bring together the best of the best engineers and operators in tech. If you're a founder, highly recommend being a part of this community!”
- Kevin Xu, founder of Afterhour
***************************
“FYSK is a high quality in person event that brings the energy. It is an environment that links quality startups with talented individuals and fosters meaningful connections. If you get the chance to attend or be a part of this community I'd highly recommend it. It's simply THE BEST!"
- Kate Dewald, founder of Oncue
***************************
"If you're a founder, find a way to get onto FYSK! It's an amazing event with top notch organizers and sponsors. The FYSK team runs their event perfectly down to the last detail, and attendees are diverse and highly selective. It's one of the rare occasions where you get to present to 80 smart people in one room. I have no doubt that you could easily find your best engineers/operators at FYSK."
- Jess Ko, founder of Playbook
***************************
"This event is put together extremely well — hard stop. Jen and FYSK team put so much thought into every single thing, from venue to timing to content, and it pays off. I met incredible founders and incredible talent, had a ton of fun, and really hope to attend again!"
- Laura Del Beccaro, founder of Sora
***************************
“Amazing in-person opportunity to connect with incredible engineers, designers, and business operators. Jen and the team ran a tight ship and curated an incredible community. Any early stage company should jump on this!”
- Sarah Jacobson, founder of Fairstreet
***************************
“FYSK brought together a spirited, inspiring, diverse, and talented community. Both nights flew by. Loved the energizing conversations and the selective community that Jen has built. The pre-event dinner was a great opportunity to meet some amazing founders, and the FYSK mentors were great sources of tailored feedback and advice. Just hours after the event, our inboxes were flooded with exceptional inbound recruits. The quality of attendees was superb, and I would recommend FYSK to any founder!”
- Mary Yap, founder of Lithos
***************************
“Great event! Very well organized and solid people. I've already gotten several engineers and operators from the event following up for roles at AtoB. Would highly recommend FYSK to other founders.”
- Harshita Arora, founder of AtoB
***************************
"The people I met at the Founders You Should Know Event brought with them a unique sense of curiosity, kindness, and ambition. These are the types of people I admire and would love to work with."
- Jordan Gonen, founder of Compound
***************************
“Founders You Should Know brought together amazingly talented and inspiring folks. It was such a great space to meet potential hires!”
- Susie Totten, founder of Partnerbeat
***************************
“Probably the highest leverage recruiting activity (apart from Twitter) we've done at Synthesis. Many exceptionally talented people that would be otherwise very difficult to find.”
- Chrisman Frank, founder of Synthesis
***************************
“I highly recommend any founder, angel, or person interested in startup jobs attend FYSK. I met so many awesome people in a short period of time! This has been the best event I attended this year.”
- Travis McPeak, founder of Resourcely
***************************
"Just an electrifying atmosphere — the density of talent and inspiration at FYSK reminded me of just how special SF still is."
- Dennis Xu, founder of Mem
***************************
“Presenting at FYSK was an incredible return on time invested. I don't think I've ever seen so many qualified candidates in a room, and they're all open to learning more about early stage startup opportunities. It's a no-brainer if you can snag an invite!”
- May Habib, founder of Writer
***************************
“Jen has a superpower to make networking and recruiting fun, energizing, and non-transactional. FYSK was an incredible opportunity to meet extremely talented and passionate founders, builders, and operators.”
- Alexa Grabell, founder of Pocus
***************************
"Jen was really thoughtful hosting the Founders You Should Know Event. The pre-pitch coaching sessions were helpful and it was a great opportunity to share open roles at our startup with operators and engineers. The program was run very efficiently and the quality of participants was high."
- Jackie, founder of LogicLoop
© 2022 FYSK