Yesterday was one of the most memorable days of my life. I hosted the first Ambition Summit after 5 months of prep in a beautiful theater in Santa Monica. There were so many amazing founders, operators, and investors in attendance and the feedback I got was incredible. Thank you to our speakers: Shivani Siroya (Tala), Dee Murthy (Ghost), Mehul Nariyawala (Matic), Jessica Chang (Upwards), Dara Ladjevardian (Delphi), Jo Phillips (Payabli), Rick Smith (Crosscut Ventures), and Shamin Walsh (BAM Ventures). I really appreciated how genuine you all were and everyone appreciated your stories and insights. Thank you to our sponsors who made it possible: DLA Piper, Citizens Private Bank, Venice Inc., Bailey Glasser, Ardas, Tax Hack Accounting Group, and Agora. And thank you to the volunteers, to everyone who flew in, and to every founder, investor, and operator who took a day (Or even a few hours) away from building to be in that room. I launched this in April with one speaker confirmed and a belief that LA deserved an intimate summit built around a high density of quality connections. There are so many ambitious people here building and investing in great companies and I really wanted to bring them together. And with that... We're running it back again next year! The 2027 Ambition Summit is Thursday, September 23rd, 2027, in Los Angeles. I've got a lot of ideas for building on this in year 2 and beyond. Thanks again to everyone who was involved in this first one, it really means a lot to me. Link to apply to the 2027 Ambition Summit is below.

Our attendee list and speaker lineup are stacked. So damn excited for this in less than two days!!

You don't get what you don't ask for, so here goes. 3 days until the Ambition Summit. Great sponsors already on (DLA Piper, Citizens Private Bank, Venice Inc. Bailey Glasser, Ardas, Tax Hack, Agora) Looking for ONLY 1 Presenting Sponsor. Want in? The event: - This Thursday, September 24th, Santa Monica - 100+ founders, operators, and investors signed up - Speakers from Tala, Ghost, Delphi, Matic, Upwards, Payabli, BAM Ventures, Crosscut Ventures - VIP dinner the night before w/ ~20 people Who's in the room: - VC-backed founders who've raised millions - Partners at LA venture funds - Angels and emerging fund managers - Operators at high-growth startups - Founders running profitable, bootstrapped businesses What you get: - Ambition Summit, presented by your company - Stage recognition and projected signage - Dedicated send to The LA Grind and The SF Grind (15K+ subscribers) - Full attendee list before and after - A few tickets plus a seat at Wednesday's VIP dinner with 5 of the 8 speakers Send me an email: [email protected] if interested

Excited to announce the latest Ambition Summit speaker: Rick Smith, Co-Founder of Crosscut Ventures Crosscut is one of the first and longest-enduring early-stage venture capital firms in Los Angeles with deep operational and investing expertise. Rick has decades of investing experience and I can't wait for him to share a glimpse of that on stage! He'll be joining our other amazing speakers: - Shivani Siroya (Tala) - Dee Murthy (Ghost) - Dara Ladjevardian (Delphi) - Mehul Nariyawala (Matic) - Jessica Chang (Upwards) - Jo Phillips (Payabli) - Shamin Walsh (BAM Ventures) Only two weeks left till 150 founders, operators, and investors come together in Santa Monica for the Ambition Summit! Apply to join: luma.com/ambition2026

I hosted a founders' retreat a couple of years ago. We had a founder come speak who sold his company for hundreds of millions of dollars. It was so much fun. But what I loved most about it was the intimate setting of it all. We all came together at a boutique hotel I rented out for the weekend, and we actually had time to chat with each other, to get to know each other. On September 24th, I'm hosting the Ambition Summit, a 150-person startup summit in Santa Monica. And it's purposely in a more intimate setting, a private theater where people actually have an opportunity to meet each other. I put off hosting a summit for a long time, but this version is how I always pictured it. Prices go up on September 9th, grab your ticket while you can and join a bunch of other startup founders, investors, and operators. Apply to join: luma.com/ambition2026

In 5 weeks, I'll be on stage in LA in front of 150 ambitious people. But this almost didn't happen. I had the idea to create a summit a couple of years ago. It just always seemed like way too much work. Too much to figure out. A few months ago, I decided to make it happen, and the Ambition Summit is the biggest risk I've taken since launching The LA Grind. I've spent dozens of hours booking speakers, selling tickets, securing sponsors, and figuring out all of the details. Still a lot of work to be done in the last 5 weeks, but I know it'll all come together. Taking on challenges forces you to grow, to figure things out, to get better. And making it public is a great forcing function for making it happen. I'm very excited for the Ambition Summit, can't wait for everyone to get together, and I just want to make it a great experience for everyone. If you're a startup founder, investor, or operator, I hope you'll join us on September 24th in Santa Monica!

3rd episode of the Ambition Podcast took 35 hours to make: - 14 hours reading, highlighting, and taking notes - 7 hours turning notes into a doc - 7 hours outlining, reviewing, and finalizing - 2.5 hours recording - 4.5 hours editing, video, thumbnail, and publishing Dietrich Mateschitz didn't start Red Bull until he was 40. By the time he died, he had built a $20B+ fortune and a brand with more recognition than almost any on the planet. What I loved most about his story is that he did things HIS way. Episode is available on all podcasting platforms and YouTube: Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5k8… YouTube: youtu.be/bCh7TlFy8Dg?si=mHbM…

Just about two months to go until I host 150 founders, investors, and operators at a summit in Santa Monica. Pushing through these last two months to bring it all together and create an amazing experience for attendees.

The second episode of the Ambition podcast is on the Wright Brothers. They accomplished what many thought impossible and throughout their lives displayed the utmost quality of character. Loved producing this episode. youtu.be/qKym-pS3Dao

Being a founder is just you pushing through rejection after rejection repeatedly to bring your vision to life.

For the last three weeks, I've been quietly working on something new. 80+ hours of research and production across two episodes later, the Ambition Podcast (@AmbitionPod) is live, a show about the world's most ambitious people from history. Episode 1 is about S.I. Newhouse Sr., a billionaire almost no one knew much about. I read an obscure book from 1983 to create the episode on S.I. He started working full-time at 13 and gradually pulled his family out of poverty... but he went way beyond that. He built one of the most powerful publishing empires in American history, Advance Publications. Didn't stop until he died in 1979. The empire still exists today. I love the format of deeply researched podcasts about topics I'm obsessed with. Interviews are great, but some of my favorite shows are solo podcasts or two hosts talking about a subject after having done a great deal of research. I wanted to create my own version. So here we are. Episode 2 is on the Wright Brothers and drops next week. I'm publishing every week or two from here. The show is live on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Would love for you to check out the show and share it with a friend! Apple Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/033HnW… YouTube: youtube.com/@ambitionfm Thank you!

Today is the last day early bird tickets are on sale for Ambition, the 150-person startup summit I'm hosting in Santa Monica on September 24th. Can't believe we're only 3 months away! Apply to join: luma.com/ambition2026