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Events
Summits, mixers, pitch nights and partner-led events across our network. Pick a city. Drop in.
Somebody in this room is stuck on what you solved last year. Startup networking in Chicago where being useful is the whole point.
You don't need permission to enter the startup world. You need one working session.
The way into a founding team isn't an application — it's being visibly useful to someone who's stuck. This evening is built exactly for that: founders bring the problems they can't crack, and the room works on them together, five people at a time.
Pricing, first hires, distribution, retention, churn — the things you've already solved at your job are exactly what's on the board tonight. Being the person who unlocks that conversation is how operators end up as co-founders, advisors and first hires.
And you bring your own problem too: everyone here is both client and consultant. Yours can be "should I leave my job for a startup" — that's a real problem and the room has opinions worth hearing.
Everyone submits one problem before the event, so the board is full when you arrive. The room votes, tables form — five people, one problem at a time. Two minutes to explain it, three minutes of questions only, eight minutes while the table works on it out loud and the author takes notes without defending.
Halfway through, a second vote: the problems that didn't make the first round get their turn.
Doors at 7, structured part done by 9:10, bar open after. Home when you want.
Near the end the host asks who still has no answer, and the room finds them a contact — by name, out loud.
You mark who you'd work with, we connect when it's mutual, within 48 hours. No cold lists, no awkward follow-ups.
After booking you'll get a three-minute form in our Mini App: your problem in one line, some context, how long it's been unresolved. Only submitted problems make the board.
Hosted by Andrew Krylow. He greets every guest at the door, seats you at the right table, and makes the introductions.
a curated room, two working sessions, mutual matches within 48 hours.
a room full of investors. Some evenings have angels and scouts, some don't — better you know before you buy.
Three rules said out loud:
Registration required. Contacts saved through the Ascent Valley Mini App inside Telegram — no new account.
Ascent Valley — a founder and investor ecosystem across 20+ cities. IDEA → PROCESS → RESULT.
Times in America/Chicago
Check in with the QR code, grab a drink, find your problem on the board.
Three rules, sixty seconds. Then we work.
Forty seconds each, standing: name, what you're building, the problem you brought.
One vote each. The problems the room cares about become the tables.
Tables of five. Two minutes, three minutes, eight minutes, two minutes.
The problems that didn't make it get their turn. New table, new problem.
Who helped you tonight — out loud. Then mark who you'd work with again.
Who still has no answer? The room finds them a contact. Then the bar stays open.
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