Spring really sprang in May for the Sunstone team, with a virtually nonstop schedule of events, public appearances and more.
Our team had primary responsibility for organizing the amazing Irvine Tech Day to start the month. That included everything from arranging speakers to rounding up startups for both Pitch Irvine and the Founder Marketplace. The event was a resounding success from every vantage point – insightful talks and panels, a marketplace of more than 30 businesses, a standing-room-only crowd for Pitch Irvine semifinals and finals.
The very next day, records were shattered at the third annual Irvine Dream Run to benefit the Sunstone Community Fund. No, there were no finish time records for runners. But there were a record number of runners and walkers in the 5K and 3K runs – 1,227 participants, more than double the number from last year, according to Sunstone’s Jennifer Huang. We met our goal of raising $50,000 for the Community Fund, thanks to a long list of sponsors, she added.
While the emphasis early in the month was all about the Dream Run and Irvine Tech Day, we kept our collective foot on the gas pedal for the rest of the month at events and meetings all over California and beyond.
Jayro Sandoval was at Cal State Northridge to hand out winners’ checks for the annual Sunstone CSU Startup Launch. That competition is open to entrepreneurs from all 23 California State University campuses, and the Community Fund (Sandoval is the fund administrator in addition to his role as Sunstone Cities Economic Development Manager and Managing Partner) has committed to $1 million in support over five years for the Startup Launch.
We also helped our American Lending Center partners at the 22nd annual Stella Zhang New Venture Competition at UC Irvine’s Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. That pitch extravaganza ended with $100,000 in prize money and the announcement that our own Stella Zhang has committed to sponsoring the event for five more years!
Much of the month was taken up with travel – not just for me, but for a lot of our team. We spread out to wave the Sunstone flag at many events, including the ICSC Las Vegas convention, attended by more than 25,000 developers, retailers, brokers, and investors.
Everywhere we go, we are driven by the Sunstone Way of investing in community through entrepreneurial thought and action while creating mutually beneficial partnerships. Thank you for joining us on that journey.
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
© Sunstone Management 2026
Sunstone Investment Group, headquartered in Southern California, is the holding company for the Sunstone family of entities, including: Sunstone Investment Management Services, responsible for administrative services; Sunstone Advisors, an SEC-registered investment adviser, which oversees Sunstone Venture Partners LLC, a private capital fund manager; Sunstone Cities, a government economic development consulting firm; and Sunstone Community Fund, a charitable organization that supports entrepreneurship. Sunstone is dedicated to enriching lives through investment, entrepreneurship, and community. Email us at contact@sunstoneinvestment.com.