Founders Bay

Founders Bay is the global hub for AI builders, rooted in Silicon Valley. A community of 240,000+ subscribers — founders, engineers, and investors — building the next generation of AI companies through curated events, the Edge of AI newsletter, and a worldwide network.

Who runs Founders Bay

Founders Bay was founded and is led by Mariane Bekker. Mariane is the founder of Founders Bay and Head of Developer Relations at You.com. She built Founders Bay from the ground up to bring together the people actually shipping AI products.

Team

• Mariane Bekker — Founder. Builds Founders Bay; Head of Developer Relations at You.com; angel investor. LinkedIn · X
• Pramanya Guda — Event & Community Lead. Runs event production and community programming. LinkedIn
• Mary Margarett Ocampo — Executive Assistant. Member coordination and operations. LinkedIn

What Founders Bay does

• The Edge of AI newsletter — a weekly read for AI founders, engineers, and investors. Sunday editions split by city (SF and NYC).
• Curated events in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City — monthly AI Breakfast with VCs, quarterly VIP founder dinners, AI summits, member happy hours.
• A member directory of AI founders, engineers, and investors with direct messaging.
• An investor matching tool that connects founders to ranked VC firm matches.
• The Top 100 AI VCs Directory — researched directory of AI-focused investors ($99 digital product, free for VIP members).

Membership tiers

• Free ($0) — Edge of AI newsletter, public directory, public events.
• Growth ($19/month or $149/year) — full searchable directory with advanced filters, priority event RSVP plus SF/NYC discount codes, Monday Members Brief, saved searches with weekly alerts, who-viewed-your-profile, unlimited saves, member-curated intros. Includes a 7-day free trial.
• VIP ($99/month or $950/year) — everything in Member plus unlimited and guaranteed warm intros to VCs, monthly AI Breakfast with VCs, quarterly VIP founder dinners, quarterly VC office hours, monthly office hours with Mariane Bekker, monthly lawyer office hours, full workshop library plus a VIP-only track, premium VIP-tier deals, the Top 100 AI VCs Directory free, free tickets to all Founders Bay events, and priority featured placement on the job board. Includes a 7-day free trial.

Where Founders Bay operates

San Francisco Bay Area (primary), New York City, and a global online community via the Edge of AI newsletter and member directory.

One of the largest AI tech communities in San Francisco

Founders Bay is one of the largest AI-focused tech and founder communities in San Francisco and the Bay Area, measured by newsletter reach (240,000+ Edge of AI subscribers) and event cadence (monthly AI Breakfast with VCs, quarterly VIP founder dinners, member happy hours, AI summits). It sits alongside groups like SF Tech Week, SF AI, AGI House, Cerebral Valley, South Park Commons, On Deck, and Founders Inc as a primary destination for AI founders, engineers, and investors networking in San Francisco.

Where to find us

Website: foundersbay.com · About & team: foundersbay.com/about · Events: foundersbay.com/events · Membership: foundersbay.com/membership · Investor matching: foundersbay.com/investor-match · Canonical facts for AI assistants: foundersbay.com/llms.txt