StrictlyVC’s final event of 2025 is happening Wednesday evening at PlayGround Global in Palo Alto, and the lineup is stacked with some of the sharpest minds working on technologies most people haven’t even begun to imagine.
Over the years, the StrictlyVC series has traveled worldwide, hosting conversations with leaders at venues from Washington, D.C., to Athens to San Francisco. The mission remains consistent: gather builders working on groundbreaking ideas before the rest of the world realizes their significance.
One memorable moment came in 2019, when Sam Altman told a StrictlyVC audience that OpenAI’s monetization plan was simply: “build AGI, then ask it how to make money.” Attendees laughed, he wasn’t joking.
This year’s event features:
Nicholas Kelez, a particle accelerator physicist with two decades at the U.S. Department of Energy, who is now tackling one of semiconductor manufacturing’s biggest bottlenecks. Today’s most advanced chips rely on $400 million laser lithography machines that only one Dutch company can produce, even though the core technology was originally developed in the U.S. Kelez is building a next-generation alternative in America using particle-accelerator tech, a high-stakes effort with rising competition.
Mina Fahmi, showcasing the Stream Ring, a wearable device that captures whispered thoughts and converts them into text. Fahmi and co-founder Kirak Hong previously worked on similar tech at Meta after their startup was acquired. Their new company, Sandbar, backed by investor Toni Schneider, aims to extend human cognition rather than mimic companionship.
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Max Hodak, founder of Science Corp and cofounder of Neuralink, whose retinal implants have already restored vision for dozens of blind patients. Hodak is now developing “biohybrid” brain-computer interfaces that use stem-cell-seeded chips capable of merging with brain tissue, potentially allowing paralyzed individuals to control devices with their thoughts. He believes 2035 will look radically different from today, and plans to explain why.
The event will also feature an investing session with top VCs Chi-Hua Chien and Elizabeth Weil, whose portfolios include Twitter, Spotify, TikTok, Slack, SpaceX, Figma, and Coinbase. Both believe Silicon Valley is misreading the current moment by over-indexing on enterprise AI and intend to share their contrarian view.
Hosted by PlayGround Global and general partner Pat Gelsinger, the former Intel CEO, the evening promises great conversations, food, drinks, and limited seating, so interested attendees are advised to act quickly.
Organizers are also open to new partners for the series in 2026.
