StrictlyVC events deliver exclusive insider VC content while fostering meaningful connections among top investors and entrepreneurs. Join us for an evening of intimate interviews and impactful conversations with industry heavy hitters—brought to you in partnership with Mayfield, a venture capital firm with a 55-year legacy of partnering with founders from day zero and supporting them with unwavering commitment and founder-to-founder expertise.
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Exclusive VC insights and networking at StrictlyVC
Mix and mingle — cocktail parties with killer content
StrictlyVC events deliver exclusive insider content from Silicon Valley and the global venture scene. If you’re an investor looking to mingle with your peers and watch some killer content, this event is for you. Get the inside scoop directly from sources you can trust. Previous events included interviews with Sam Altman (Open AI), Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz), Katie Haun (Haun Ventures), Hans Tung (GGV Capital), and many more!
Baiju Bhatt is the Founder and CEO of Aetherflux, a U.S. aerospace company delivering energy to planet Earth with space solar power. He Co-Founded Robinhood in 2013 to democratize finance for all. Today, Robinhood is a publicly-traded company with more than 20 million customers, and he still serves on the Board. Mr. Bhatt holds a B.S. in Physics and an M.S. in Mathematics from Stanford University.
Why Baiju Bhatt Is Betting on Space-Based Solar Power
As the co-founder of Robinhood, Baiju Bhatt helped redefine how millions of people interact with trading and investing. Now he’s setting his sights even higher — literally — with Aetherflux, a new venture aiming to harness solar power in space. In this chat, Bhatt talks about what drew him to one of the most audacious bets in tech, how building in hard science compares to fintech, and why big risks still matter.
Navin leads Mayfield as Managing Partner. Under his leadership, Mayfield has raised eight U.S. funds and guided over 80 companies to positive outcomes. He has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and has ranked on the Forbes Midas List of Top 100 Tech Investors seventeen times, including being named in the Top Five in 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Navin’s investments have created over $120 billion in equity value and over 40,000 jobs.
During his venture capital career, Navin has invested in over 60 companies, of which 18 have gone public and 27 have been acquired. Navin was one of the earliest Silicon Valley investors to leverage the promise of tech in India. He is Vice Chair of the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund and advisor to Neythri.org.
Navin is an active philanthropist dedicated to supporting education, expanding opportunities for underrepresented communities, and addressing food insecurity.
As an entrepreneur, Navin has co-founded or led three startups including VXtreme: a streaming media platform, acquired by Microsoft to become Windows Media; Rivio/CPA.com: a SaaS provider for small businesses, and iBeam Broadcasting (NASDAQ:IBEM): a streaming media content delivery network. Navin holds an MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a B.Tech degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, where he was honored with the distinguished IIT Alumni Award.
Navin Chaddha has backed over 60 companies that have gone public or been acquired. In this conversation, the longtime Mayfield managing partner shares what he looks for in founders, why emotional resonance still matters in early-stage investing, and where he’s placing his bets in AI and beyond.
Katie Haun is Founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, a global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley that manages billions in investments in digital assets and frontier tech. The firm’s institutional investors include prominent sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, pensions, financial institutions, and other global organizations.
Katie is a sought after board member and personal investor. As Coinbase’s first and longest-serving independent director, she was an early architect of the company’s global regulatory strategy, serving through its IPO and subsequent growth as a publicly traded company. She also served as Chair of the Nomination and Governance and the Audit and Risk Committees. Katie is a personal investor in companies like Anduril, Anthropic, Cerebras (IPO), Coinbase, Cognition, Databricks, Deel, Edison, Figma (IPO), Groq (acquired by NVIDIA), Neko, OpenAI, Physical Intelligence, Replit, Revolut, and SpaceX.
Prior to her venture career, Katie spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. She secured successful jury verdicts in every case she tried and led high-profile prosecutions related to the Silk Road task force, the 2012 Hells Angels murder trial, and the Nuestra Familia prison gang RICO takedown. She also led cyber, corporate, and violent crime investigations in partnership with the FBI, Homeland Security, SEC, and Treasury, and established the DOJ’s first digital currency task force. At headquarters, she held senior positions in the National Security Division and the Attorney General’s office where her portfolio covered antitrust, tax, and national security. Katie represented the DOJ on CFIUS and the FBI Committee that approved all significant national security undercover operations.
She was later recruited as a General Partner to Andreessen Horowitz, where she co-led their blockchain franchise, investing out of three funds with billions under management.
She has testified as an expert on the intersection of technology and regulation before both houses of Congress, and taught at Stanford Business School and Stanford Law School. An honors graduate of Stanford Law School, she clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Katie Haun, founder of Haun Ventures, is a leading voice at the intersection of crypto, policy, and venture capital and will share what it takes to invest with conviction in volatile, high-stakes markets. From her DOJ roots to building a $1.5B+ firm, Katie offers a rare, inside look at navigating regulatory headwinds, backing bold founders, and building trust with LPs across cycles.
Russell is President at Cognition AI, makers of Devin, the first AI software engineer. He previously led the machine learning organization at Scale AI, which acquired his computer vision startup, Helia, in 2020. Before that, Russell was a senior ML Scientist at Tesla Autopilot. He did his MS and BS in Computer Science at Stanford, where he started TreeHacks, Stanford’s hackathon, and was a researcher in the Stanford Vision Lab advised by Fei-Fei Li.
Founders, Funders, and the Next Generation of AI Natives
Ali Partovi has helped launch the careers of a generation of elite founders through Neo. Russell Kaplan is building Cognition, the AI-native company behind Devin, the so-called “AI software engineer.” Together, they unpack what it means to build and back technical talent in the AI age, what young founders often get wrong, and why this moment feels different from past tech waves.
Ali tries to make a career of betting on people smarter than himself. He leads Neo, a mentorship community and VC fund that backed Cursor, Kalshi, Bluesky, & more. He’s also chairman of Sway, a tech platform to reimagine democracy. Ali previously co-founded Code.org, iLike, and LinkExchange. He grew up in Tehran during the war and studied CS at Harvard. He loves climbing, snowboarding, guitar, & puzzles, and is a father of four.
Founders, Funders, and the Next Generation of AI Natives
Ali Partovi has helped launch the careers of a generation of elite founders through Neo. Russell Kaplan is building Cognition, the AI-native company behind Devin, the so-called “AI software engineer.” Together, they unpack what it means to build and back technical talent in the AI age, what young founders often get wrong, and why this moment feels different from past tech waves.
Navin Chaddha has backed over 60 companies that have gone public or been acquired. In this conversation, the longtime Mayfield managing partner shares what he looks for in founders, why emotional resonance still matters in early-stage investing, and where he’s placing his bets in AI and beyond.
6:20PM – 6:40PM
Why Baiju Bhatt Is Betting on Space-Based Solar Power
As the co-founder of Robinhood, Baiju Bhatt helped redefine how millions of people interact with trading and investing. Now he’s setting his sights even higher — literally — with Aetherflux, a new venture aiming to harness solar power in space. In this chat, Bhatt talks about what drew him to one of the most audacious bets in tech, how building in hard science compares to fintech, and why big risks still matter.
6:40PM – 7:05PM
Founders, Funders, and the Next Generation of AI Natives
Ali Partovi has helped launch the careers of a generation of elite founders through Neo. Russell Kaplan is building Cognition, the AI-native company behind Devin, the so-called “AI software engineer.” Together, they unpack what it means to build and back technical talent in the AI age, what young founders often get wrong, and why this moment feels different from past tech waves.
Katie Haun, founder of Haun Ventures, is a leading voice at the intersection of crypto, policy, and venture capital and will share what it takes to invest with conviction in volatile, high-stakes markets. From her DOJ roots to building a $1.5B+ firm, Katie offers a rare, inside look at navigating regulatory headwinds, backing bold founders, and building trust with LPs across cycles.
7:25PM – 9:00PM
More Hors d'Oeuvres/More drinks/More networking!
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Location
The Quad Conference Center
2400-2498, Sand Hill Road Menlo Park, California 94025
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