Fathom Founder Summit 2026: Six Roundtables Tackling the Real Problems Builders Face

Fathom Founder Summit 2026 takes place November 4 at SoWa Power Station in Boston, assembling founders, investors, and operators for a full day of direct conversations, hands-on sessions, live pitching, and intimate roundtables designed for substantive debate. The roundtables offer the chance to dig into specifics. Participants can bring their own questions, discuss challenges from their companies, and learn from specialists and peer founders working through similar problems—whether that's enterprise sales, vertical strategy, AI, lean operations, or creating a market category from scratch.

Six roundtables to look forward to at Founder Summit

How to Build Events Strategy Before You Can Afford a Full-Time Events Team

Alexandra Ames, founder and chief event strategist at Blueprint Lab, examines how young companies can leverage events strategically when they lack the budget or staff for a dedicated events function. The session covers selecting the right venues, establishing success metrics, and stretching limited budgets to maximum effect.

Your First Vertical, and It Happens to Be the Hardest One

Chirag Shah, partner at Define Ventures, digs into the tension between market size and market difficulty. Founders working in regulated sectors, dealing with complex procurement processes, or serving niche customer bases can exchange strategies for making that initial major vertical investment succeed.

GraphRAG in Action: Stop Hallucinations with Knowledge Graphs

Shishir Tewari, head of enterprise data engineering at Procore Technologies, addresses one of the biggest obstacles in enterprise AI: reliability. The roundtable explores how knowledge graphs and GraphRAG technology can provide AI systems with richer context, enabling founders to ship products that perform consistently in actual business environments.

The Enterprise AI Playbook: How to Close L'Oreal and Vodafone Before You Raise a Series A

Merve Kitapci, managing partner and CGO of ADIN.AI, lays out the mechanics of landing major enterprise deals early. Covering extended sales cycles, multiple decision-makers, and the credibility boost from high-profile customers, this roundtable is built for founders pitching to large organizations without a mature sales operation.

Build Something We Don't Have a Word for Yet

Andy Tang, partner at Draper Associates, facilitates a conversation for founders creating products that don't fit existing categories. The discussion tackles how to articulate what you've built, sell something without established vocabulary, and help investors see the opportunity when the market itself is still defining the space.

Small but Mighty: How AI Lets Lean Teams Outship the Giants

Linden Tibbets, CEO and founder of IFTTT, examines how smaller teams can harness AI to boost velocity and output without proportional hiring. For founders thinking through hiring decisions, operational efficiency, and structuring companies around AI capabilities, this roundtable explores what lean operations can accomplish in the current environment.

Roundtables are where the agenda becomes a conversation

The real value lies not just in hearing how others solved problems, but in asking the question that applies directly to your business, learning from others at the table, and walking away with actionable ideas. The roundtables represent just one component of the day. The Build and Impact Stages will also address product-market fit, recruiting, founder leadership, capital raising, pitching, and the specifics of building and scaling outside Silicon Valley.

Attendees will hear from established founders including Toast co-founder Steve Fredette, then watch founders test their pitches in the live "So You Think You Can Pitch?" competition. A Networking Lounge powered by Braindate and a closing reception sponsored by Fidelity Private Shares provide additional opportunities to build relationships throughout the day.

Take your seat at Founder Summit

Fathom Founder Summit arrives November 4 at SoWa Power Station in Boston. For a limited time, tickets are available at 25% off, giving you a day in the room with founders, investors, and operators wrestling with the same challenges you face.