Tue15Sep
Land in San Francisco
EveningFly day. Drop the bags, walk Cayuga, learn the BART rhythm before the first event. Nothing booked on purpose.
Keep the first night empty. Landing a day early is what makes Wed 16 work.
San Francisco · 15–30 September 2026
Two weeks in San Francisco.
Volunteer first.
One primary event every day, a backup in reserve, and a volunteer slot wherever a host will have us. Every pick below comes from the repo's event research.
- Stay
- 1343 Cayuga Ave
- Getting around
- Balboa Park BART · 30–40 min
- Landing
- Tue 15 Sep — no event
- Rhythm
- One primary + one backup a day
- Bring
- Physical ID for AWS Builder Loft
- Optional extension
- Wed 30 Sep — volunteer meetup
The plan, day by day
15–30 September · one primary event a day, a backup behind it.
Wed16Sep
SPC Post-Training Forum — Mercor CEO Brendan Foody
15:00Afternoon, not a 9am. High-signal room, not a 500-person mixer.
Offer door only if they ask — first day is attend, not workfoundercal
Backup17:30
Bay Area Frontier Research Club #23
Dinner plus paper discussion if SPC turns out to be members-only.
foundercalSkip Humongous AI 18:00 (full). Cisco IAM 16:00 is flagged Past Event — recheck; if it is live it becomes the primary (500 Terry A Francois, Mission Bay).
Thu17Sep
Agent Infra — Panel & Network Night
17:00Recurring org (Adam Chan). One message to him also covers Friday's ClawMax. Physical ID needed.
Yes — check-in / QR. Message Adam.foundercal
Backup
tiat CIMC showcase opening
Nonprofit gallery — door and drinks volunteer. Hosts ash, Prince Boucher.
foundercalClash: Agent Infra 17:00 vs tiat evening. Do tiat in the afternoon if the opening is daytime, then the Loft.
Fri18Sep
Pick one, not both. Do not treat Night Hack as 18 Sep — the page still says 24 Jul. Email adrianna@f.inc to confirm; if she says 18 Sep it replaces ClawMax.
Sat19Sep
Hack for Humanity SF
11:00–17:00Civic and volunteer-run; Maria already pointed you at AIC Bay Area.
Yes — check-in and build help. Hosts Liz / AJ / Ash. 18+Luma
Pick one Saturday. If Dream AI puts you on the volunteer roster, staff that and skip H4H as a guest.
Sun20Sep
Mon21Sep
−1 to Waymo with Dmitri Dolgov
14:30Light Monday after two hack days. This is the weakest Luma-native day — re-check 48h out.
Backup17:00
The Korea Playbook for Bay Area Physical AI Founders
Evening alternative if Waymo is closed to non-members.
foundercalTue22Sep
Graphs for Engineering (Neo4j)
17:00Technical, small, and the Loft crew already know you. Physical ID needed.
Yes — check-in if they ask.foundercal
Skip SVAI Hub's 1-year in Menlo Park (70–90 min) unless they want extra hands.
Wed23Sep
Pitch Roast Live — SF debut
18:00 cocktails / 19:00 doorsSF debut of a format that pulls founders and investors into one room.
Ushers — Typeform on the Luma page. Don't ask for a free pitch slot.Luma
Also on: Twilio Assemble 17:00 Mission Rock; SPC Steve Hilton 15:00.
Thu24Sep
Fri25Sep
Cowork Frontier Tower
DayThinnest tech day of the trip. Cowork by day; foundercal's grid jumps 24 → 27 for big builder events.
Must: re-search luma.com/sf and the f.inc calendar on Wed 23. Open Campus often lands on Fridays. WeAreDevelopers is San Jose — skip unless you want the 75 min.
Sat26Sep
The Agent Arena Hackathon (Vultr)
9:00 → Sun 27, 17:00Two-day agent hackathon — the longest single build of the trip.
Apply as volunteer / mentor if builder seats are full.Cerebral Valley
Sun27Sep
Agent Arena — day 2
Day 2Stay with the team if Saturday took you. Otherwise switch to ITCHATHON.
Same crew.Cerebral Valley
Mon28Sep
Pack + one evening — only go if invited
EveningLast full evening. Re-open Luma Monday morning — if a builder night appears, that becomes the event.
Backup12:00
ThinkingAI Agentic Growth Summit
Worth it only if the day is otherwise empty (~60–75 min out).
Luma SFSkip Above the Fog 18:00 — invite-only founder/investor mixer. Don't ask for a pass.
Tue29Sep
The AI Conference Hack Day
9:30Last day, highest concentration of builders. Fits if the flight is in the evening.
Check-in if HackerSquad needs hands.Luma
Calendar block ends 29 Sep. OmFest (Om Malik memorial, Swedish American Hall) is the same day — only if you knew him.
Wed30Sep
AIC SF Chapter Team & Volunteer Get-Together
17:30The actual volunteer meetup — the reason to extend one night.
This one is the volunteer room.AIC
Optional extension. Only if Maria says yes and you add the night.
Before you fly
The messages to send first — work down the list in order.
Stay & getting around
Balboa Park is the BART line into downtown; most venues are 30–40 minutes.
1343 Cayuga Ave
Balboa Park, south of the Mission. BART at Balboa Park gets you downtown in roughly half an hour.
The rhythm
One primary event and one backup each day. Volunteer-shaped picks come first; everything else is a fallback.
What to carry
Physical photo ID for AWS Builder Loft events. Re-open Luma 48 hours before the thin days (Mon 21, Fri 25, Mon 28).