Welcome back to the Sunstone Way, and to LA Tech Week!
That’s right, another tech week where Sunstone is a participant and a partner. It’s our third tech week in the last month and a half – first in Glendale, then the inaugural Long Beach Tech Week and now a week-long tech week that spreads all over the greater Los Angeles Basin.
How ‘bout That Last One?
Before we talk about the excitement coming to LA, I have to brag about the impressive first Long Beach Tech Week, hosted by the Long Beach Accelerator. It was a powerful three days of insights and interaction, and hopefully plenty of connections were made.
Hosting the kickoff reception in the Ampaire hangar at the Long Beach Airport was a stroke of genius. Ampaire is on the cutting edge of aviation with its hybrid electric/fuel approach to airplane power, and fits well with the ever-growing Space Beach. An insightful panel with three Space Beach CEOs moderated by Deputy Mayor Lucius Martin kept the sell-out crowd enthralled with stories of how they started and where they are going.
I’ve said many times that California’s true power is the greatest higher education system in the world, and the CSU Demo Day demonstrated again how that works. Sixteen startups from the California State University system pointed the way to the future at the Demo Day organized by the CSULB Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. It says something that Artificial Intelligence is a component of nearly half of these startup companies.
I had the privilege last year to present the Investor of the Year Award to our own John Shen at the annual Long Beach Accelerator Investors and Founders Summit. This year, the entire audience got to benefit from investor insights after the luncheon and awards. The 90-minute panel included Sunstone’s Chief Investment Officer Mike Stone and covered a wide range of topics that entrepreneurs in the room eagerly absorbed.
Many thanks to Long Beach Accelerator CEO Vivian Shimoyama, who had the vision, assembled the team and pulled off the first Long Beach Tech Week. I also have to give props to Sunstone’s Jennifer Huang and the many Sunstone team members who pitched in to make it all happen.
Why It Matters
Tech weeks strengthen communities. They bring together innovators, entrepreneurs and investors in both formal and informal settings. That doesn’t just foster deal-making and idea-sharing, it helps individuals realize they are part of a community, and they don’t have to go it alone.
These expert panels we participate in and sponsor are important sources of insight and inspiration. Sharing experiences helps others with problems they may be facing, provides answers to questions they sometimes didn’t even know they had and – again – let them know they aren’t the first to face difficulties in the community of tech innovation.
Tech weeks help the physical communities hosting them, too. Long Beach shined last week, as Glendale did a few weeks ago. And the many communities in and around Los Angeles will have their chance to shine next week.
City of Angels
An angel investor is someone who invests their own money in a startup or early-stage business. Angel investors can make the difference between early failure and a chance to grow.
It comes as no surprise that angels can be found in the City of Angels – Los Angeles. It should also come as no surprise that the great metropolis of Southern California is home to many entrepreneurs and people looking to help them.
So a week-long tech week with more than 100 events spread over 39 different neighborhoods and municipalities (from Santa Monica to Carson) should come as no surprise. That’s Los Angeles Tech Week, Oct. 13-19 this year.
It is literally impossible to go to everything. But we’ve partnered with two great universities, Pepperdine and USC, to offer two events I’d highly recommend.
First on our calendar is “Who Regulates the Robots? Startups, Ethics, and the AI Wild West.” The panel and networking is a partnership between Sunstone and the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. It takes place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15. To get more information, register here.
Then on Friday, Oct. 17, we’ll be at Marina Del Rey with the USC Viterbi Startup Garage for “The Sky is Not the Limit: All About Aerospace.” This panel will explore the next frontier of flight and space. For more, register here.
Come help us grow the community of innovation and entrepreneurship. Because that’s the Sunstone Way.
And remember, always be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
Sunstone Management, Inc.
To receive a copy of this blog each week, sign up at the link.
Have a comment about this topic, or want to suggest topics for future blogs? Click here.
©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2025