Building at the Frontier: Hypergrowth Startup Operator Panel
Thu, 8 Oct 2026, 18:00
New York, United States
Free
Originally organized by CORE. Join CORE & Bleecker Street for a fireside chat with operators at some of the top AI startups today, ranging from engineers and researchers to business strategists and marketing leads. Hear about what it's like to build and operate at the AI frontier. Whether you're aiming for a top startup after graduation or simply want to learn how the best operators think and work, this is a rare chance to hear it firsthand. Come ready with questions! Meet the speakers: Brian Zhou, Engineer @ Cognition Brian graduated from Princeton in May with a degree in Computer Science and now builds AI tools for federal customers at Cognition. His work spans product, ML infrastructure, and forward-deployed engineering. Previously, he wrote Starlink's wifi telemetry system at SpaceX as a founding member of the Aviation team. About Cognition: Cognition is the company behind Devin, the first fully autonomous AI software engineer, and one of the fastest-growing companies in AI coding. Johnathan Bridges, Founding Marketing @ Antimetal Johnathan recently joined Antimetal as a founding marketer after nearly two years of working in Growth at Tennr. A Stanford grad (and former Class President), he'll talk about choosing a startup, taking on early leadership, and building a brand from zero. About Antimetal: Antimetal is building an autonomous AI system for managing software in production that diagnoses and fixes infrastructure issues so engineering teams can focus on building. Matt Garcia, Business Operations & Strategy Lead @ Tennr Matt works on Business Operations & Strategy at Tennr, contributing across revenue strategy, process optimization, special projects, and more. Matt joined Tennr after 2.5 years at McKinsey. A Brown grad, he'll speak to what ops and strategy look like inside a fast-scaling company and what it’s really like to take the leap from strategy consulting to a startup. About Tennr: Tennr uses AI to automate referrals, ensure payor-ready documentation, boost conversions, and cut denials, helping providers get patients from referral to treatment faster. Meet the hosts: Justine Mach, President @ CORE … Venue: Columbia University, New York, US. Registration is handled by the original organizer. Original event and organizer: https://luma.com/m2o3zerh