Back to Demo Day

Demo Day LA · Recap · August 13, 2026

A scintillating summer night in Venice.

Live pitches, demos, and a fireside chat with 100+ people in the room at BLANKSPACES Venice.

Date
Thursday August 13, 2026
Where
Venice, CA
Format
6 pitches · 1 fireside · 5 investors

01 / The fireside

Between the pitches, a conversation.

Mid-show, the pitches paused and Darren Berkovitz sat down with Jeffrey Chernick for an unscripted conversation. Berkovitz co-founded TeleSign, took it from zero to over $100 million in revenue, sold it for $330 million, and is now building FaceSign.

Guest
Darren Berkovitz
Interviewer
Jeffrey Chernick
one moat is actually team... A small team, a 10-person team that works well effectively without fighting and all this, and with modern tools is the equivalent of like 100-person team five years ago, which is incredible
Darren Berkovitz

02 / The line-up

The cohort.

Billing 6 founders · one mic

  1. Elvina Beck, Deadline
    01 / 06

    Elvina Beck

    Travel

  2. Jue Wang, Kinforce Technologies
    02 / 06

    Jue Wang

    Vehicle Safety

  3. Jesse Luong, Flavr
    03 / 06

    Jesse Luong

    Dating

  4. Pat & Chris White, CarmaCircle
    04 / 06

    Pat & Chris White

    Hiring

  5. Sheng Wang, Zoooom
    05 / 06

    Sheng Wang

    Automotive Fintech

  6. Peter Benos, PlugSecure
    06 / 06

    Peter Benos

    Cybersecurity

03 / The panel

Pitched to investors.

Five investors sat up front for every pitch and gave founders feedback on the spot.

  • Amy Harmon Partner, Innovent Capital
  • Alex Rubalcava Managing Partner, Amplify.LA
  • Jenn Byrne Grit Capital Partners
  • Ross Richmond Founder & Coach, Richmond Fundraising
  • Rachel Horning Business Development, Cooley

04 / The room

One night, start to finish.

The August cohort and Nerdstage team on stage under the Demo Day Los Angeles marquee
Founder pitching on the Demo Day LA stage in front of an orange slide
Elvina Beck pitching Deadline to the Demo Day LA crowd
The hosts on stage between pitch sessions
Nerdstage founder Zach Sekar on the mic
An investor gives live feedback from the audience
The packed room during the fireside chat
Darren Berkovitz on the mic during the fireside chat

05 / Brought to you by

The companies who powered the night.

  • VC Match
    Presenting partner

    VC Match

    Upload your deck and VCMatch builds your target list, ranking 4,000+ VCs by thesis, stage, and check size. Grade your pitch before you send it. 50% off with code NERDNEWS.

    Visit VC Match
  • HR partner
    TriNet

    TriNet

    Intuitive tools to automate HR: time tracking, leave requests, payroll, and benefits, so founders can spend their time on the work that matters.

    Visit TriNet
  • Technology partner
    Willo

    Willo

    Willo builds and automates your business. An AI no-code platform where the agents you build keep the business running after launch.

    Visit Willo
Inquiries Sponsor the next Demo Day

06 / Your turn

Pitch the next one.

Subscribe and you hear about the next Demo Day first. The date and the application link, before anywhere else.

Register for the next Demo Day · Nov 12 About Demo Day Pitch Accelerator