Ever wonder what it's like to be in the right room at the right time? On September 18 in San Francisco, The Room Podcast's Inside Summit brings together founders, investors, operators, and industry leaders across the startup ecosystem to highlight what is coming next in the world of emerging tech.
Hosted by The Room Podcast, the one-day event features quality onsite networking opportunities, exciting pop-ups, and a packed program of candid fireside chats and thought-provoking panels. Inside Summit attendees will join 200 of the most ambitious leaders shaping the future of technology for a day of community and connection.
We sat down with Claudia Laurie, Co-Founder and Co-Host of The Room Podcast, to discuss the AI trends creating buzz on the agenda, can't-miss experiences they're planning onsite, and why San Francisco remains at the forefront of the emerging tech scene.
Want to be in the room with the next generation of startup founders? Get your ticket today and take 25% off your ticket using the code CRED25. Register here.
What excites you the most about this year's conference?
Claudia: San Francisco feels so different right now. So many people are moving here, starting companies, building—and while everyone's heads down doing the work, there needs to be a space for San Francisco's next generation of builders to actually come up for some air and find each other. What I’m most excited about is to meet the newcomers to San Francisco. They’re so energized to be in this new environment already. And then to be in a room amongst startup founders in San Francisco and see what that community is like… that’s really exciting for me.
Your 2025 event brought together founders, funders, and operators to discuss both high-level and tactical topics around tech. What emerging tech trends are you starting to see and want to feature more on stage?
Claudia: A few things are genuinely on our radar:
Physical AI is one: the economics, sensors, models, and deployment maturity are all converging at once.
Agentic payments is another. The teams building here are focused on how agents get trusted to do real work in highly regulated environments. Payments is one of the first domains where "agentic" becomes measurable in actual revenue, cost, and risk outcomes. That specificity is what makes it compelling.
Outside of panel topics, we're really leaning into the fireside format this year. The AI cycle has created a ton of chatter. Firesides are where you actually get to how the best builders think under pressure, what they got wrong, what they'd do differently. That compressed learning is what people come back for.
What lessons from past events are you carrying forward into this year—and what's evolving?
Claudia: Our first year, we leaned pretty heavily into programming. Great content, but not enough room to just breathe and connect. So we're doubling down on what worked and building in more space for that—come co-work for the morning, grab a coffee, let things happen organically.
We're also bringing back our DTC market and adding more experiential pieces throughout the day. The goal is that this feels less like a conference and more like a really well-curated day you happened to spend with the right people.
Who would benefit the most from attending Inside Summit?
Claudia: Three types of people:
Founders who want to meet customers, get in front of investors or find their next hire.
Operators who want to plug into what’s really going on at the edge, whether that be tools, companies, ideas they can take back to their teams. I
Investors who want to get ahead of the emerging companies coming up in San Francisco before it’s obvious.
Lastly, teams that are looking to hire the best talent would really benefit from Inside Summit. If you’re building, scaling or backing the next wave of tech, this room is for you.
What makes a great Inside Summit speaker?
Claudia: It really depends on the panel or subject matter, but the one thing every speaker we've had in common is a genuine story and a sharp point of view. We're not looking for polished keynote machines. We want people with firsthand experience who can actually say something specific and true about where their space is going.
If you've lived it, built through it, or made a call that didn't go according to plan and learned something real from it, that's interesting to us.
What are you looking for when someone reaches out about speaking and what misses the mark?
Claudia: When we get inbound, the people who immediately stand out have two things: a distinctive backstory and a clear, specific perspective on where their ecosystem is heading. What doesn't land is when someone pitches themselves as an expert in a broad topic without a real angle. We’re not programming a generic “AI is changing everything” panel. We want the person who has a specific, maybe even slightly contrarian view on how it's changing things and why it matters today.
What is something you wish more attendees knew about when attending Inside Summit? Any hidden gems or can't-miss experiences onsite?
Claudia: People think it’s going to be a full day of sitting and listening to talks, and honestly it’s really not. Yes, the content is great, but the coffee is incredible, the food is legit, and there are pop-ups all day long that make it worth showing up early and staying late. And the venue is so beautiful this year. Our DTC market is probably the biggest hidden gem—don't sleep on it.
What is one thing you want people to take away from attending Inside Summit?
Claudia: It’s a really awesome time to be in San Francisco right now: building, investing, operating, hiring. It’s genuinely a special moment. And that they belong in that room. That's it. If someone walks away feeling like they found their people and/or their passion, we did our job.
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