Goal: $1M–$10M in orders by ~July 2026. Pre-silicon chip startup. FPGA dev kits + NRE + silicon LOIs with deposits.
Product: Transformer-optimized edge AI inference chip. <5W, <$10/chip, 20x Jetson Orin Nano, PyTorch-native. FPGA prototype shipping now via GitHub. First silicon Q1 2026 (GlobalFoundries 12nm).
Target segments: humanoid/industrial robotics, defense drones/autonomy, AVs, edge vision, wearables.
Three unmissable shows + continuous Bay Area presence. Budget $150–250k for booth/travel, assume ~10 qualified deals emerge per major show.
| Priority | Event | Dates | Location | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | AUVSI XPONENTIAL + AUVSI Defense + MDEX | May 11–14, 2026 | Detroit | 8,500 attendees, 550 exhibitors, XPO+ Launcher Startup Pavilion, co-located DoD buyers. Anduril / Shield AI / AeroVironment / Skydio / Red Cat / Kratos all here. Single-venue path to $5M+ in defense NRE. |
| P0 | SOF Week | May 18–21, 2026 | Tampa, FL | USSOCOM + Global SOF Foundation. SOCOM signs OTAs fast. Small-biz booths ≤600 sq ft. Waitlist now; partner-booth fallback via QinetiQ / Parsons / SOFWERX. |
| P1 | Reindustrialize Summit | June 16–17, 2026 | Detroit | Palantir / Lockheed / Honeywell circuit. Manufacturing + defense + dual-use chip angle plays well here. High-signal attendees, smaller than XPONENTIAL. |
Everything else = continuous Bay Area presence (below).
- When/Where: May 11–14, Huntington Place Detroit
- Format: Exhibits May 12–14; conference May 11
- Relevant Apex customers on floor: Anduril, Shield AI, Skydio, AeroVironment, Red Cat/Teal, Brinc, Kratos, General Atomics, L3Harris, Parry Labs, Saronic, HavocAI, Vatn
- Play: Book XPO+ Launcher Startup Pavilion ($5–15k). Bring FPGA demo running Gemma 3 1B at 2x Jetson Orin perf. Pre-book 20+ buyer meetings via AUVSI match system.
- URL: xponential.org
- When/Where: May 18–21, Tampa Convention Center
- Organizer: USSOCOM + Global SOF Foundation
- Why: SOCOM buys faster than any other combatant command. OTAs, SBIR Phase III sole-source.
- Play: Exhibitor waitlist (sofweekexhibitops@wearemci.com). If closed, co-exhibit with SOFWERX partner or Parsons. Pitch: 5W chip for SOF tactical drones, handhelds.
- URL: sofweek.org
- When/Where: June 16–17, Detroit
- Angle: GlobalFoundries 12nm = US-domestic silicon = core reindustrialization narrative. Lean in hard.
- Attendee mix: Hadrian, Castelion, Apex (space), Applied Intuition founders, DIU officials, Palantir/Anduril execs.
- URL: reindustrialize.com
| Event | Dates | Location | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Chips 2026 | Aug 23–25 | Stanford Memorial Auditorium | Submit a short talk / poster on Transformer-optimized kernel architecture. Competitor intel (Etched, Groq, Tenstorrent, Rebellions all attend). Recruiting + VC. |
| ADAS & AV Tech Expo San Jose | Aug 27–28 | San Jose | AV/ADAS Tier 1s + Applied Intuition + Zoox + Wayve sales engineers. |
| Commercial UAV Expo | Sep 1–3 | Las Vegas (Caesars Forum) | Energy, inspection, delivery drone OEMs. Mid-market ($100k–1M) orders faster close than DoD. |
| Embedded World North America | Sep 22–24 | (likely Austin or Phoenix) | "Embedded AI" and "SoC & Silicon Design" tracks. Arduino/ST/NXP ecosystem. Dev-kit sales. |
| ROSCon Global 2026 | Sep 22–24 | Toronto | ROS 2 community, middleware integrators. Hand out FPGA eval boards. |
| IROS 2026 | Sep 28–Oct 1 | Pittsburgh | Academic + applied robotics. CMU / Allegheny defense cluster. |
| AI Conference 2026 | Sep 29–Oct 1 | SF | Edge/on-device track, Cerebras/hardware presence. |
| AV Tech Expo NA | Oct 27–29 | Novi, Michigan | Big-3 automaker autonomy divs. |
| CoRL 2026 | Nov 9–12 | Austin | Robot-learning academics → Skild, Physical Intelligence, Covariant, 1X research leads. |
| Cerebral Valley AI Summit | Nov 12 | SF | Invite-only. Beg intro via advisor at The Bot Company / any a16z contact. |
| Humanoids Summit SV | Dec 2026 | Computer History Museum, Mountain View | 2,000 attendees, 60 exhibitors. Apptronik, Agility, Sanctuary, Fourier, XPeng, GDM all speak. Apply to speak now. |
| CES 2026 | ~Jan 6–10, 2027 | Las Vegas | Consumer-facing OEMs; iRobot, Samsung, Meta. |
| NVIDIA GTC 2027 | ~March 2027 | San Jose | Competitor home turf — still worth a side-event. |
- DIU (Defense Innovation Unit) — Mountain View office. Book 1:1. They route to specific program offices (AI/ML, Autonomy, Human Systems).
- AFWERX / SpaceWERX — SBIR Phase II: $1.7M; direct-to-Phase-II possible with partner.
- xTechSearch (Army) — prize-based competitions, fast funding.
- NSIN / National Security Innovation Network — university + startup matchmaking.
- Anduril AI Grand Prix — drone racing comp April–Sep 2026, $500k pool. Enter as a team or sponsor with free FPGA boards as prize. Huge brand play with Anduril.
- Global SOF Foundation regional events — smaller than SOF Week, cheaper to exhibit.
- AUSA Annual Meeting — Oct 12–14, DC (Army).
- Navy League Sea-Air-Space — April 2026 (likely already passed this cycle).
- I/ITSEC — Dec 1–5, Orlando. Training/sim; Wayve + autonomy sims.
- Embedded Vision Summit — May 20–22, Santa Clara. CV-focused chip evals.
- Edge AI Foundation events — formerly tinyML. Monthly virtual + annual in-person.
- Design Automation Conference (DAC) — June/July, SF. EDA + chip design. Cadence alumni territory (Apex core team ex-Cadence → huge warm net).
- Chip Letter / Tenstorrent / Groq / Etched founder circuits — track on X for pop-up events.
| Meetup | Cadence | Venue | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Robotics Meetup | Monthly | Frontier Tower (995 Market St, SF) | Luma: luma.com/monthly-robotics-meetup-january-2026 — builders, engineers, founders at intersection of robotics+AI. |
| ROS By-The-Bay | Monthly | Varies SV | Only ROS-dedicated meetup in Bay. Runs "NVIDIA GTC Special Edition" after-parties. meetup.com/silicon-valley-robotics |
| BARA (Bay Area Robotics Association) | Quarterly members-only | SV | Launched 2026. Corporates + roboticists + investors + startups. Humanoid + industrial + mobility focus. Get qualified-org membership. |
| Silicon Valley Robotics | Monthly | SV | Umbrella org, runs ROS By-The-Bay. Andra Keay. |
| AI Tinkerers SF | Monthly | Rotating SF venues | Lightning demos + networking. Bring FPGA demo. sf.aitinkerers.org |
| SF AI Meetup (SFBay AI) | Biweekly | Rotating | meetup.com/sfbay-ai |
| SV AI/ML/CV Meetup | Monthly | Menlo Park / SV | meetup.com/san-francisco-augmented-reality-and-computer-vision-meetup |
| Smart Living SV — AI Hardware & Robotics Summit + Expo | Jan 10, 2026 (annual) | SV | Post-CES landing pad. |
| Venue | Address | Who hangs | How to get in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Tower | 995 Market St, SF | 16 floors, robotics + AI builders. Founding memberships $190/mo. | Apply — robotics floor is active. |
| AGI House (SF) | Twin Peaks mansion | AI researchers, OpenAI/Anthropic/xAI alumni. Backed by Schmidt, Andreessen, D'Angelo. | Invite-only. Apply at agihouse.ai — pitch edge-inference angle (AGI-on-device). |
| AGI House Hackathons | Weekly | Rotating topics | Sponsor one with FPGA-board prizes. |
| Genesis House / The Commons / HF0 | SF | Founder residencies | HF0 (Hacker Fellowship Zero) — apply as founder. |
| South Park | SoMa | a16z HQ area; American Dynamism partners walk this block | Coffee at Caffe Centro, schedule investor drop-ins. |
| Cerebral Valley | Hayes Valley | AI hacker house cluster; Newcomer's turf | Newcomer dinners — pitch Eric Newcomer for coverage. |
- Shack15 (Ferry Building, SF) — a16z / defense-tech overlap. Weekly events.
- The Battery (SF) — private club, VC/founder heavy. Get a member to host.
- Mission Rock / Spark Social (SF) — Anduril SF folk, Applied Intuition.
- Bluestone Lane Palo Alto / University Cafe — Stanford EE/CS + VCs.
- Philz Coffee (Middlefield, Palo Alto) — robotics startup corridor.
- Buck's of Woodside — old-school VC breakfast (AD/defense-skew).
- Rosewood Sand Hill bar — Thursday VC night.
- Pallet (SF Dogpatch) — robotics/hardware makers, Other Machine Co / Glowforge crowd.
- Figure AI (Sunnyvale) — office visits, Humanoids Summit, BARA. Chase Brett Adcock; Head of Engineering via LinkedIn + BARA.
- 1X Technologies — CES, Humanoids Summit, home-robot events. Eric Jang active on X.
- Agility Robotics — Amazon re:MARS (if revived), Manifest (logistics), RoboBusiness.
- Apptronik — SXSW Austin, SV Humanoids Summit, Mercedes supplier days.
- Physical Intelligence (π) — academic circuit (CoRL, RSS, ICRA). Karol Hausman ex-GDM. SF office — cold email + arXiv paper response angle.
- Skild AI — CMU + SV split. IROS Pittsburgh 2026 = home game.
- The Bot Company — Apex advisor already inside. Direct warm intro. Do this Week 1.
- Boston Dynamics / Hyundai — IROS, ICRA. Hyundai Innovation Center CA.
- Anduril — XPONENTIAL, SOF Week, AUSA, American Dynamism Summit, their own AI Grand Prix. Costa Mesa HQ + SF office (Mission Rock).
- Shield AI — XPONENTIAL, SOF Week, DIU Mountain View. San Diego HQ.
- Skydio — XPONENTIAL, Commercial UAV Expo. Redwood City HQ.
- Saronic — SOF Week, Sea-Air-Space, American Dynamism. Austin HQ.
- HavocAI / Vatn Systems — SOF Week, USNI conferences.
- Kratos / General Atomics — AUSA, AFA Warfare Symposium.
- Palantir — American Dynamism, Reindustrialize, AIPcon.
- Anduril AI Grand Prix — sponsor with FPGA prize pool = brand + direct Anduril exec access.
- Wayve — AV Tech Expo San Jose, CVPR. UK HQ; US office in Mountain View.
- Applied Intuition — American Dynamism, AV Tech Expo. Mountain View.
- Kodiak / Gatik — ACT Expo, trucking shows.
- Zoox — closed; via Amazon channels. Foster City HQ walk-in territory.
- Symbotic / Dexterity / Path / Pickle — Modex (March), ProMat, Manifest (Feb).
- RoboBusiness / Robotics Summit & Expo — Boston, spring 2026.
- iRobot, Roborock, Ecovacs — CES, IFA Berlin.
- Meta Reality Labs / EssilorLuxottica — AWE (Augmented World Expo) June 2026 Long Beach.
- Verkada / Rhombus — ISC West Las Vegas April (may have passed).
- Host an Apex dinner in SF during XPONENTIAL / SOF Week preview weeks. Invite 15 robotics + defense heads. $10k all-in. At least one NRE conversation closes.
- FPGA dev-board giveaway at AGI House hackathon — judges include Physical Intelligence / Skild researchers. Technical credibility compounds.
- Co-sponsor Humanoids Summit side-party Dec 2026 — $25–50k = every humanoid founder in one room.
- Anduril AI Grand Prix prize sponsor ($20k FPGA boards) = direct Palmer Luckey / Christian Brose face time.
- BARA member-only capital/industry session — Feb/May 2026. Members-only vetted intros.
- Cerebral Valley Summit invite chase — via Newcomer (Eric Newcomer Substack DM) or Volley cohosts.
Week 1 (now):
- Warm intro to The Bot Company via advisor.
- DM Hasan's Tesla alumni → Figure, Apptronik, Physical Intelligence.
- Apply XPO+ Launcher (AUVSI) + SOF Week waitlist.
- Join BARA, Frontier Tower, Silicon Valley Robotics.
Week 2–3:
- Schedule DIU Mountain View meeting.
- Contact SOFWERX for SOF Week co-exhibit.
- File SBIR Phase II prep with Anduril/Shield as prime.
- Ship FPGA eval boards to 5 target CTOs (Figure, 1X, Skydio, Wayve, Physical Intelligence).
Week 4 (early May):
- Dry-run demo at ROS By-The-Bay + AI Tinkerers.
- Pre-book 20+ meetings at XPONENTIAL.
May 11–14 — XPONENTIAL Detroit. Target: 3 signed LOIs, 10 NRE conversations.
May 18–21 — SOF Week Tampa. Target: 2 SOCOM introductions, 1 SBIR Phase III route.
Late May / early June: close follow-ups, send proposals.
June 16–17 — Reindustrialize Detroit. Target: manufacturing + dual-use buyers.
July: close $1M–$10M bundle — NRE + dev-kit volume + silicon deposits.
- Clearpath Robotics — 2026 conferences guide
- AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2026
- SOF Week 2026
- Reindustrialize Summit
- a16z American Dynamism Summit 2026
- Hot Chips 2026
- Humanoids Summit SV
- Commercial UAV Expo
- ROSCon 2026 Toronto
- CoRL 2026 Austin
- Embedded World NA 2026
- BARA — Bay Area Robotics Association
- ROS By-The-Bay
- Monthly Robotics Meetup (Frontier Tower)
- AI Tinkerers SF
- AGI House
- Cerebral Valley AI Summit
- Anduril AI Grand Prix
- NVIDIA GTC 2026 recap
Companion list — 100 target customers (organized by tier)
TIER 1 — Fast $ (defense, drone, DoD-adjacent)
TIER 2 — Humanoid / GP robotics
TIER 3 — Industrial / warehouse
TIER 4 — AV / ADAS / autonomy
TIER 5 — Drones / delivery / consumer robots
TIER 6 — Wearables / smart glasses / cams
TIER 7 — Medical / scientific edge
Event coverage map — which show reaches which target
Warm-intro path priority (Week 1)
Deal structures to stack to $10M in 90 days
Stack any 3–5 = $10M target hit.