Upfront Investor SUmmit

February 25, 2026
Nya Studios

Nya Studios.webp

7:30am

Registration & Breakfast 

8:50am

Welcome & Show Opening

9:00am

Investing at Scale: Coatue Across Public and Private Markets

Thomas Laffont, Coatue
Interviewed by Molly O’Shea

9:35am

Building Power & Compute in Space

Baiju Bhatt, Aetherflux
Interviewed by Vanessa Larco

10:00am

Unplugged: Tom Freston’s Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu

Tom Freston
Interviewed by Jason Hirschhorn

10:25am

Creator-Led Studios: The Future of Storytelling and How to Grow to 163M+ Followers

Dhar Mann, Dhar Mann Studios
Sean Atkins, Dhar Mann Studios
Interviewed by Brent Weinstein

10:55am

Regaining American Supremacy in Energy Through Nuclear

Scott Nolan, General Matter
Interviewed by Jacques Sisteron

11:20am

How Ring Is Core to Amazon's Future

Jamie Siminoff, Ring
Interviewed by Hamet Watt

11:50am

The Rise of the Retail Investor: How Venture is Radically Evolving

Cathie Wood, ARK Invest
Interviewed by Thomas Laffont

12:15pm

Lunch & Networking

1:50pm

Understanding the Sheer Scale of AI's Exponential Growth

Grant Lee, Gamma
Tuhin Srivastava, Baseten
Interviewed by Aditya Agarwal

2:25pm

US Sovereign Wealth: How New Mexico is Driving Domestic Competitiveness

Chris Cassidy, New Mexico State Investment Council
Rob Black, New Mexico Economic Development Department
Interviewed by Nick Kim

2:55pm

What's Coming in Generative Media

Burkay Gur, fal
Interviewed by Steve Jang

3:25pm

Why the US is Poised to Win in Space

Ian Cinnamon, Apex
Dan Roelker, Observable Space
Eric Romo, Impulse Space
Will Bruey, Varda Space Industries

4:00pm

Leading Product at X: The Future of AI and Community

Nikita Bier, X
Interviewed by Aditi Maliwal

4:25pm

Scaling AI with Purpose: How Speed & Mission Can Coexist

Guillermo Rauch, Vercel
Interviewed by Eric Ries

4:55pm

Hard Pivot: What Your Mature Portfolio Can Learn From Handshake's Success

Garrett Lord, Handshake
Interviewed by Nick Kim

5:20pm

Can This Planet Be Unfucked?

Chris Sacca, Lowercarbon Capital
Interviewed by Adam Bain

6:15pm

Dinner & Networking Reception


Thanks to Our 2026 Upfront Summit Sponsors