Berkeley: a forum for the business behind the technology.
AI Founders Connect · Stephens Lounge, UC Berkeley · 20 March 2025
The Berkeley round was organised around a practical sequence: investor–founder networking, a venture-capital panel, AI startup presentations, questions and further discussion.
The programme places company-building questions alongside technical ideas. A founder must be able to explain not only what a product does, but why customers need it, how it will be delivered and what capital is intended to achieve.
A documented programme
The event archive includes a revised venue agreement, startup decks, communications, an Eventbrite attendee export and photography. The organiser's event listing was marked ended when reviewed on 26 September 2026.
The archived attendee export and the organiser-list count each record 41 ticket records for AI Founders Connect’s March 2025 Berkeley round, with $2,455.04 in recorded gross ticket receipts. This is a concrete measure of programme activity, not a separately verified attendance count or an investment result.
The gross receipts are not profit, capital introduced or funding secured by presenting companies. The ticket count must not be described as 41 investors or 41 investment opportunities.
What Westminster takes from this experience
A well-run founder discussion makes uncertainty visible. Product maturity, customer evidence, economics and the next financing milestone can all look different once a presentation becomes a conversation.
For Westminster, this community experience informs the questions asked at the beginning of diligence. It does not replace independent references, financial review, technical assessment or scrutiny of investment terms.
A relationship with the setting, not a borrowed endorsement
The event took place at Stephens Lounge, UC Berkeley. The venue is part of the programme's history; it does not establish university sponsorship of Westminster, an institutional investment relationship or endorsement of the fund.