👉 【Take the Founder DNA Quiz】: https://walnut.ai/quiz/founder-archetype

Hi there 👋

It’s Friday.

This week you shipped something. Had a hard conversation. Made a decision with incomplete information. Kept going anyway.

That’s what founders do.

Before you close the laptop and head into the weekend, we built something for you. Not a product update. Not a pitch. Just a question we think every founder deserves an answer to:

Not what are you building. But what kind of founder are you?

🧬 Introducing the Founder DNA Quiz

Think MBTI — but for founders.

We mapped founder identity across 4 dimensions:

• How you create value — are you a Hacker, Hipster, or Hustler?

• How the world sees you — Loud or Stealth?

• Where your credibility comes from — Elite or Indie?

• Why you really started — Impact, Freedom, or Wealth?

36 archetypes in total.

Answer a few questions, paste your LinkedIn URL, and the AI reads your actual professional story, and tells you exactly which one you are. Complete with your strengths, your blind spots, and the co-founder type you probably need.

👉【Take the quiz】: https://walnut.ai/quiz/founder-archetype

🃏 From our community this week

We’ve been watching results come in since we launched, and honestly, it’s been the most entertaining Friday we’ve had in a while.

One founder got Keynote Crusader — “You’ve given the keynote. Written the op-ed. Shaped the narrative. Your newsletter has more subscribers than most startups have users.”

His immediate response? “30 under 30 written all over it.” 😂

I got Revenue Hermit — “Your office is wherever the wifi works. Your boss is no one. You accidentally built the life that venture capitalists pitch on stage but never actually live.”

Building a professional networking platform. Identified as a hermit. Totally fine. Everything is fine. 🙂

Another fun fact is that I see most of people belong to hustlers while the results show half of all the attendees should be hackers.

Hackers always test quietly, never show up.

Why we built this

Most founders can tell you exactly what they’re building.

Far fewer can tell you who they are as a founder. The instincts they default to under pressure, the way they naturally build credibility, the real reason they walked away from a stable career to do this.

We’ve run Agents Meet events at GTC, CES, and a16z Tech Week. We’ve watched thousands of founders introduce themselves. And the most interesting conversations were never about the product. They were about the person behind it.

This quiz is our attempt to surface that. In 3 minutes, on a Friday afternoon.

Your turn

👉【Take the Founder DNA Quiz】: https://walnut.ai/quiz/founder-archetype

Then hit reply and tell me what you got. I read every response.

Happy Friday. You’ve earned this one. 🫶

Nicole

Cofounder @Walnut AI

Hi there 👋

GTC week is loud. Thousands of people, hundreds of sessions, and a calendar that’s impossible to manage. In theory, you’re surrounded by the most interesting people in AI. In practice, you spend most of the week running between panels and awkwardly exchanging LinkedIn QR codes with people you’ll never actually talk to again.

That’s what Agents Meet was built to fix.

👉 Register now for Agents Meet at GTC

🌰 Why We Started Agents Meet

When we were building Walnut AI, we kept running into the same problem: conferences are full of potential — the right co-founder, the right investor, the right customer — but finding them is almost entirely luck. You either stumble into the right conversation, or you don’t.

Agents Meet started as a simple bet: what if your AI agent did the work before you walked in the door?

We ran the first Agents Meet at a16z Tech Week in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, then at CES 2026. Each time, the format was the same — let Walnut AI’s matchmaking engine analyze everyone’s background, goals, and superpowers, then send curated introductions before the event. Skip the small talk. Walk in already knowing who you need to find.

The feedback was consistent: the pre-matched intros led to the conversations people actually remembered.

🤝 What Happens at Agents Meet GTC

This time, we’re bringing it to NVIDIA GTC 2026 in San Jose — one of the most important AI infrastructure events of the year.

Here’s how it works:

• You register and tell us about your background, what you’re working on, and who you’re trying to meet — investor, co-founder, customer, collaborator.

• Walnut AI’s matchmaking engine analyzes the full attendee pool and identifies your top 5 most relevant connections.

• Matches land in your inbox on March 18 at 9AM.

• You meet at your own pace, at your preferred spot or at our offline meetup cafe. No awkward assigned seating. No speed networking buzzers.

We already have nearly 300 people registered — founders, operators, researchers, and investors, all opting in to actually meet each other.

Don’t leave your networking to chance.

👉 Register now for Agents Meet at GTC

Registration closes March 17 at 6PM and requires approval — if you’re going to GTC, don’t wait.

📅 Everything Happening Around GTC 2026

GTC isn’t just the main conference — the real action happens in the side events, dinners, and meetups scattered across San Jose all week. We’ve been tracking them so you don’t have to.

We curated the full list of GTC 2026 side events in one place — happy hours, builder dinners, invite-only roundtables, and more.

👉 Browse the GTC 2026 Event Hub to unlock all the side events

Bookmark it. We’ll keep updating it through the week.

Follow us on LinkedIn and X — and stay tuned for the next Agents Meet city.

See you in San Jose,

Team Walnut AI 🌰

Hi there 👋

GDC has a funny way of turning SF into a giant hallway — everywhere you go, someone’s demoing something. Whether you’re building in AI or just adjacent to it, this week’s calendar is unusually stacked. Here’s what I’d keep on my radar.

Walnut AI has hosted a curated networking event powered by our match making system, with which you could connect with your next partner 👇

📅 Events Worth Your Time

Grace Gong x Lightfield x Sequoia x SVB Dinner

• Date: Mon, March 9

• Location: San Francisco

• Highlight: An intimate dinner for Seed–Series B founders and select VCs. If you’re actively fundraising or want warm introductions in a small-room setting, this is the kind of evening worth clearing your calendar for.

Investor & YC Founders Pre-Demo Day Happy Hour

• Date: Thu, March 12

• Location: San Francisco

• Highlight: A low-key warmup before Demo Day madness — active local VCs, YC founders, and a venue worth the commute. Good signal-to-noise ratio for meeting investors before the formal circus begins.

Harvard & MIT AI Series: Robotics & Physical AI

• Date: Thu, March 12

• Location: San Francisco

• Highlight: Part 2 of 3 in this alumni series, focused on physical intelligence — robotics, sensing, and autonomy. Live demos included. Strong for founders building in or adjacent to the hardware/embodied AI space.

Infinite Worlds: AI, Generative 3D & Game Dev

• Date: Thu, March 12

• Location: San Francisco

• Highlight: Panel and hands-on demos from Tripo AI on how generative AI is reshaping 3D asset pipelines for game studios. Particularly relevant if you’re building tools for creators or game developers.

SPC Demo Night

• Date: Thu, March 12

• Location: San Francisco

• Highlight: Fast demos from South Park Commons members — new AI behaviors, mechanistic interpretability, steering. Always a good room for early technical work and honest feedback.

StartX Fireside with Sam Yam, Co-founder of Patreon

• Date: Thu, March 12

• Location: Palo Alto

• Highlight: Exclusive to StartX founders and alumni. Sam Yam talks serial entrepreneurship and building creator-led businesses — worth the trip down to the Peninsula if you’re in the network.

UGC Mixer @ GDC 26

• Date: Thu, March 12

• Location: Mayes Oyster House, SF

• Highlight: Roblox, UEFN, Minecraft, Horizon Worlds — if you’re building for virtual worlds or the creator economy, this is your crowd.

AI Agents SF #11 — AI Assistants

• Date: Fri, March 13

• Location: Digital Jungle SF, 972 Mission St

• Highlight: Focus on OpenClaw and the state of self-optimizing agents in 2026, including a talk on running a company with 100% agentic workflows. A strong close to the week.

💼 Jobs on WalnutJobs

Curated picks from WalnutJobs this week:

1. Product Manager, Google: https://x.com/gabor/status/2028630794793824561

2. Research Scientist, Google DeepMind: https://x.com/scychan_brains/status/2029258459833876929

3. Research Scientist, Google DeepMind: https://x.com/songyoupeng/status/2029237273490084032

4. Research Scientist, Anthropic: https://x.com/logangraham/status/2028956007565787467

5. Research Engineer, Anthropic: https://x.com/xiaoyiz_uw/status/2029319374365220923

6. Research Intern, Meta: https://x.com/hu_hsu/status/2030055918105411910

7. Research Intern, Apple: https://x.com/zhaisf/status/2030002462552424907

8. AI Researcher, Mercor(Raised $480M): https://x.com/BrendanFoody/status/2030712801812168754

9. AI Engineer, LangChain(Raised $160M): https://x.com/bracesproul/status/2030422552087285801

10. Product, Lila Science(Raised $550M): https://x.com/benkompa/status/2030416686369608063

11. Content Writer, fal.ai(Raised $580M): https://x.com/katiekirsch/status/2030754729479823579

12. R&D, Turing(Raised $225M): https://x.com/jonsidd/status/2030721509879402987

13. Developer Advocate, Mistral AI: https://x.com/sophiamyang/status/2028887174536466769

14. Engineer, Raindrop AI(Raised $15M): https://x.com/benhylak/status/2029024539850752393

15. Designer, Discord: https://x.com/hyumankind/status/2029403760846618840

16. Agent DX Researcher, Modal(Series-B $87M Raised): https://x.com/michaelwaskom/status/2029255355436294337

17. Head of Community, Lovable: https://x.com/cecistalls/status/2029948540630487502

👉 Browse 2000+ AI related roles at WalnutJobs

See you next week,

Watt

Stay connected: LinkedIn · X · App Store · Google Play

Hi there 👋

Here’s something that’s been on my mind: most apps greet you with a feed. Scroll, scroll, scroll. But for a professional networking tool, that felt wrong. When you open Walnut AI, I want you to feel like someone already did the homework — figured out who you should meet, what events matter, and what’s holding your profile back.

That’s exactly what the new Homepage does.

🚀 What’s New: A Smarter Homepage

We rebuilt the Homepage from scratch around one idea: every time you open the app, there should be something actionable waiting for you.

Profile Performance. You now get a real-time dashboard showing how your professional brand is doing — completion score, visitor stats, and specific suggestions on what to improve next. Think of it as a personal brand coach that’s always on.

Weekly Connections. Every Monday, your AI agent delivers 3 curated people worth meeting. Not random suggestions — your Digital Twin has already done the screening. See someone interesting? Start a conversation right from the card.

Daily Events. Every morning, 3 hand-picked events show up on your Homepage — local meetups, conferences, and networking sessions that actually match your interests. No more scrolling through hundreds of listings.

🗺️ Coming Up Next: Agents Meet for GTC 2026

If you tried our Agents Meet at CES, you know the drill — your AI Digital Twin pre-screens thousands of attendees and matches you with the most relevant people before you even arrive. We’re bringing that same playbook to NVIDIA GTC.

More details dropping soon. Stay tuned.

💭 Watt’s Note

My name is Watt, cofounder of Walnut AI. Starting from this episode, every time one of our founding teams will share some thoughts about what we are currently working on. Hope to make friends with any of you who read it.

I’ve been thinking about what “retention” really means for a product like ours. The easy answer is push notifications and reminders. And yes, we built those. But the real answer is: give people a reason to come back.

Every Monday you get new people to meet. Every morning you get new events to attend. Every visit you see how your professional brand is growing. That’s not retention hacking — that’s genuine value on a schedule.

We’re still early. But this is the version of Walnut AI that I always wanted to build.

Want to try the new Homepage? Download Walnut AI with invite code cheese to get started. Already a user? Update the app and let me know what you think.

See you next week.

Watt

Stay connected: LinkedIn · X · App Store · Google Play

Hi there,

Welcome to Eat A Walnut 002! We are thrilled to have you here as we dive into another week of the fastest-moving developments in tech and AI. In this edition, we’re cutting through the noise to share exactly what’s happening in the industry right now, alongside a curated list of high-quality events happening across the SF Bay Area. Plus, for those looking to level up their careers, we’ve hand-picked a few standout positions currently open in the AI space.

Let’s get into it!

What Happened in AI This Week

1. Gemini’s substantial growth

Google’s AI chatbot Gemini has surpassed 750 million MAUs according to the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings. Compared with the reported 650 million MAUs last quarter, there is a substantial growth in a short period.

In comparison, Meta AI has reported nearly 500 million MAUs. However, while Gemini is gaining traction, it still trails behind its biggest rival, ChatGPT, which is estimated to have around 810 million MAUs in late 2025.

2. SpaceX acquired xAI

In a major consolidation of his business interests, Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced on Monday the acquisition of his AI startup, xAI. While financial terms remain under wraps, the merger addresses mounting questions regarding AI development costs and officially propels SpaceX into the trillion-dollar bracket—solidifying its status as the world’s most valuable private company.

3. From OpenClaw to RentAHuman

The most popular topic recently is the “Lobster” Ecosystem. The emerging agentic landscape is forming a closed-loop ecosystem: OpenClaw acts as the "brain" - a local autonomous agent with full system control, Moltbook provides the "social layer" where these agents interact and post independently, and RentAHuman serves as the "physical layer", allowing these digital entities to hire real people to complete real-world tasks. This boom marks a shift from AI as a tool to AI as a self-sufficient workforce that can organize online and "outsource" to the physical world.

High Quality Events You Shouldn’t Miss

There are over 10K events across the world now. People gather together to discuss about technology, startups and the future of AI. Even only in San Francisco, there are average 100+ events every week. So we just curate 5 top events for you to participate, helping you find real values.

👉 All the events are curated via Walnut AI’s smart event searching tool: https://walnut.ai/events (Using invitation code “cheese”, 10K events have been collected across the world)

1. Agentic AI Summit

• Time: Friday, Feb 6 | 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

• Location: Palo Alto, CA

• Highlight: A high-level summit featuring stalwarts from Salesforce, Netflix, Cisco, and PayPal. Focuses on practical strategies for using agentic AI to drive engineering success and product growth.

• Signup Link: https://luma.com/aiproducts

2. Continual Learning Hackathon

• Time: Friday, Feb 6 | 9:30 AM – 7:30 PM

• Location: San Francisco, CA

• Highlight: A one-day sprint to build AI agents and research tools. Features $50k+ in prizes and integrations from Google DeepMind, Intercom, and You.com

• Signup Link: https://luma.com/intercomai

3. WorkOS AI Night w/ The Pragmatic Engineer

• Time: Monday, Feb 9 | 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM

• Location: WorkOS HQ, 660 Market St, San Francisco, CA

• Highlight: A fireside chat and networking night featuring Gergely Orosz (The Pragmatic Engineer) and Michael Grinich (WorkOS). Includes lightning demos from engineers at OpenAI, Perplexity, and Linear, plus pizza and drinks.

• Signup Link: https://luma.com/workos-pragmatic

4. Selling in the Age of AI: Fireside Chat with Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas and Tech GTM Expert Rich Liu

• Time: Tuesday, Feb 10 | 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM

• Location: San Francisco, CA

• Highlight: A high-level discussion on how AI is transforming Go-To-Market strategies. Featuring Aravind Srinivas (CEO of Perplexity) and Rich Liu (experienced GTM leader from Navan, MuleSoft/Salesforce and Meta), focusing on how sales and marketing teams can leverage AI to drive growth and efficiency.

• Signup Link: https://luma.com/vnige8yh

5. 359 Capital x Stripe Founders & Investors Supper Club

• Time: Tuesday, Feb 10 | 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

• Location: San Francisco, CA

• Highlight: An intimate, curated dinner for founders and investors hosted by 359 Capital and Stripe. The evening focuses on high-level networking and discussions regarding the current fundraising climate and scaling fintech and AI ventures.

• Signup Link: https://luma.com/ygioiks3

👉 All the events are curated via Walnut AI’s smart event searching tool: https://walnut.ai/events (Using invitation code “cheese”, 10K events have been collected across the world)

Popular Tech Jobs

The hiring landscape has shifted. Startups are increasingly bypassing traditional job boards to hire directly through their networks. To help you navigate this "hidden job market," we’ve launched the Walnut Jobs account. Below, we’ve curated this week’s high-signal tech opportunities discovered across the platform.

1. Vercel, Design Engineer: https://x.com/JohnPhamous/status/2017396507318882519

2. Brex, Startups Ambassador: https://x.com/shaig/status/2017759694861795795

3. xAI, Designer: https://x.com/mjboswell/status/2018009311155503269

4. Human Archive (YC W26), Machine Learning Engineer(Intern): https://x.com/babugi28/status/2017724072252338627

5. Github, Designer: https://x.com/adrianmg/status/2017380007748973020

6. Google Deepmind, Semiconductor Expert: https://x.com/simonbatzner/status/2017297858911998034

7. Google Deepmind, Lab Automation Engineer: https://x.com/simonbatzner/status/2017297858911998034

8. Microsoft, Researcher(AI and Society): https://x.com/hannawallach/status/2017016209011515691

9. Meta FAIR, Research Scientist(Intern): https://x.com/MariaLomeli_/status/2017205973509701947

10. Notion, Social Media Support Specialist: https://x.com/ishverduzco/status/2016678843353096204

11. Spotify, Research Scientist(Intern): https://x.com/_zhuyuchen/status/2015806018102477074

Stay Connected with Us

If you think our newsletter is helpful to you, feel free to follow us and get more valuable information and recommendations!

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iwalnut-ai

• X: https://x.com/walnutai_

Hi there,

A digital profile shouldn’t just sit there. It should work for you.

Most platforms give you a static page and call it an “identity.” We believe an identity is only half of the equation. To truly succeed in a digital-first world, you need Identity + Intelligence to supercharge your professional networking.

Today, I’m excited to introduce Walnut AI V0.4.6, a major leap forward in moving beyond the “static profile”.

This update gives you a sophisticated engine designed to showcase your brilliance and capture the data that matters. You are more than a collection of past positions. Your new profile is built to communicate your innate talent and future intent—integrating professional experience, unique superpowers, and cross-platform insights into one cohesive narrative, powered by your own personal AI podcast.

📇 Part 1: The Multi-Dimensional Identity

You are more than a collection of history positions. Your new profile is designed to communicate your innate talent and your intent:

• Professional Experience: Move beyond the resume. Curate a high-signal timeline of your career milestones that emphasizes impact over mere titles.

• Superpowers & Goals: Define the “Category of One” skills that make you irreplaceable and broadcast your objectives so the right opportunities find you.

• Integrated Insights: We’ve made it easier for visitors to see the full scope of your work. Walnut AI now syncs with LinkedIn, X, Substack, GitHub, and Medium to pull your latest posts and updates into a single, curated view. No more jumping between tabs—your entire professional narrative is now in one place.

• Personal AI Podcast (Premium): For our Premium users, we’ve launched personal podcasts powered by AI. Our AI doesn’t just read your bio; it crafts a narrative. It generates a professional audio episode that tells your story, explains your goals, and highlights your superpowers. It’s a high-impact way for visitors to hear your brand while they browse.

📩 Part 2: 3 Ways to Share Your Story

Your identity now fits every context. Share your profile with the world to meet more business opportunities. Whether it’s the Brief Card for a quick intro, the Detailed Profile for a deep dive, or the Business Card for instant networking, you always put your best foot forward.

🧠 Part 3: High-Octane Visitor Intelligence

This is where Identity meets Intelligence. Your profile is now backed by a powerful Visitor Analytics Dashboard that turns silent views into actionable data.

• Identify the “Who”: Stop wondering who is looking. Get detailed visitor information, including names, roles, companies and industries.

• Behavioral Statistics: Understand which parts of your profile are resonating. See real-time trends that show exactly how your personal brand is performing.

• Intelligence-Led Networking: Use these insights to follow up with precision. When you know who’s interested, you know who to reach out to.

The professional world moves fast—don't let your profile get left behind. Update to Walnut AI V0.4.6 today with limited invitation code cheese to unlock your Intelligence engine and start networking with intent. We can’t wait to hear what your AI podcast has to say.

Stay Connected with Us

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iwalnut-ai

X: https://x.com/walnutai_

Download from App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/walnut-ai-networking-agent/id6741802675

Download from Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.walnut.walnutx

Best,

The Walnut AI team

On December 19, Walnut AI and Seamate co-hosted “Seamate Crazy Thursday: 2025 Founder Retro & Mixer,” an event designed to bridge the gap between early-stage ideas and global scale.

The highlight of the evening was a keynote by Liming Zhang, Co-founder of 51Talk (NYSE: COE), an MBA Mentor at NYU Stern, and a Coach at Stanford University’s CIEA. Drawing from over two decades of experience, Liming shared the raw, unvarnished truth about building a company that survives market crashes and policy shifts to reach an NYSE IPO.

Entrepreneurship is rarely the polished, linear success story we see in headlines. Even for those who eventually lead a company to a multi-billion dollar exit, the journey often begins in a state of total confusion. Many founders start out lost, pitching a vision to investors and partners that they themselves are still trying to understand. The following insights serve as a masterclass in scale, resilience, and the internal battles every leader must win to survive.

Tip 1: Stay in Day 1

The phrase “Stay Day 1” is easy to say but incredibly difficult to live. The greatest trap for any startup is the Funding Trap. When you secure major rounds from top-tier firms like Sequoia or DCM, it is easy to become arrogant and stop acting like a lean startup. Success creates a dangerous comfort zone, and the “Day 1” mindset is an intentional battle against that natural human tendency toward pride. To truly scale, you must force yourself to stay hungry and humble even when investors are lining up at your door.

Tip 2: Corporate Culture

Startups cannot compete with tech giants on high salaries or fancy offices. The only thing a startup truly owns is its mission. Because you lack the perks of a big corporation, you must attract people who identify with the value you bring to society. However, culture is not a list of values on a wall; it is a living narrative. You must propagate your mission constantly in every meeting and every trip until you believe it from the bottom of your heart.

A powerful example from 51Talk’s history is the story of a terminally ill teacher in the Philippines who insisted on teaching because she did not want her students to “miss her” once she was gone. When your every employee believes in the mission that deeply, the founding team has no excuse to work any less.

Tip 3: Resilience

An egg drops and breaks—that’s fragile. A paper ball drops and doesn’t break—that’s just “durable”. Only a ping-pong ball drops and bounces back higher. That’s resilience. In business, this means turning a crisis into an opportunity for growth.

Strategy 1 - Maintain a Massive Cash Reserve: Financial discipline is survival. While others were investing surplus cash into real estate during the boom years, 51Talk held onto a reserve of over $230M. This allowed the company to survive “black swan” events that killed nearly all of their competitors.

Strategy 2 - The Dunkirk Evacuation: Many companies die because they only know how to attack. When the market shifts, you must know how to retreat without collapsing. If a retreat is handled poorly, it becomes a total collapse where you lose your best talent and assets.

Strategy 3 - Overseas Explore as Plan B: You must explore new markets and alternative plans while your company is at its most vibrant stage. Liming’s team began exploring overseas market expansion a year before major domestic policy shifts happened; you cannot wait until the disaster is already at your door to start looking for an exit.

Tip 4: Focus on Your Core Competency

It is tempting to pivot your product just because a competitor looks more “premium.” At one point, the board pressured 51Talk to abandon their Filipino teacher model for a North American one to match rivals. However, the data told a different story. North American teachers suffered from time-zone fatigue and taught far less frequently. Filipino teachers taught 15 lessons a month compared to the competition’s six. In online education, high frequency is the real driver of learning quality. By sticking to the logic that worked for their specific model rather than chasing prestige, they maintained a 75 percent gross margin and built a more effective platform.

Tip 5: Self Development

An enterprise can only grow as fast as its leader grows. As a company scales from 0 to an IPO, the bottleneck is rarely the market or the technology; it is the founder’s self-reflection and personal evolution. If you do not push yourself to grow, your company will stall. To evaluate your leadership, you must ask yourself two soul-searching questions: Do your employees truly want to stay with you, and do they actually want to become the type of leader you are? If the answer to either is no, your personal growth is the missing link in your company’s scale.

As we look toward a future dominated by AI and global competition, these pillars remain more relevant than ever. Whether you are navigating low-moat industries where speed is your only weapon or managing the high API costs of a new AI venture, remember that talent density must always exceed business complexity. If you can move faster than the market without creating internal friction, your DNA will naturally grow to meet the needs of the business. Scale is not just about a growing user base; it is about the resilient, mission-driven foundation you build today.

Walnut Smart Event Search

While things are winding down for the Christmas break, the post-New Year rush is fast approaching! CES is just around the corner, and the calendar is already packed with high-value side events. Use Walnut Smart Event Search to explore over 50 CES events and networking opportunities!

👉 Check here: https://walnut.ai/events (invitation code: test02)

Yesterday’s panel brought together the most effective minds in modern growth, and the consensus was clear: the prevailing myths of instant virality and singular-channel reliance are dead. True, scalable growth is a result of strategic engineering, founder-led authenticity, and an unyielding focus on user behavior.

Here are the key takeaways—your playbook for building the next stage of growth:

1. Engineering a Multi-Stage Growth Flywheel

• The Viral Social Media Post to SEO Pipeline: Tianwei demonstrated this flawlessly. Her initial strategy was to use the X posts to rapidly validate the MVP. Once validation was achieved, the focus immediately shifted to SEO. She stressed the necessity of a meticulous, line-by-line adherence to Google’s guidelines, which ultimately secured 1.5M monthly organic search volume within only 1 year—the foundation for long-term, low-cost customer acquisition.

• Seeding the Market with Scarcity: Aimee executed a sophisticated pre-launch maneuver. Instead of waiting for a public beta, she onboarded many KOLs to test the MVP. This wasn’t merely for product feedback; it was a deliberate strategy to create market FOMO and social proof before the public launch, ensuring high-intent demand upon release.

• Founders as the Ultimate Content Engine: Ying delivered a compelling counterpoint to data-only marketing. While data optimizes, authentic storytelling converts. She argued that founders must be the face of their initial growth—building in public via platforms like TikTok and Instagram—to forge a human connection that cold, performance-based advertising can never replicate.

2. The Mechanics: Virality as a Product of Volume and Value

Virality is not a stroke of luck. Instead, it is a measurable, volume-based process requiring a fundamental understanding of product value and platform mechanics.

• Success in high-velocity content is a numbers game. To achieve 30 million views, you must be prepared to post thousands of videos.

• The content that goes truly viral adheres to the formula: Virality = Utility + Emotion. A product’s core utility (problem-solving) is the baseline, but the emotional component (making the user feel something—amusement, surprise, or profound insight) is the catalyst for exponential sharing.

• Success hinges on deep respect for the platform’s “critique rules.” Neglecting a platform’s established norms (e.g., the critical 3-second hook on TikTok) will result in content being suppressed by the algorithm, regardless of its quality.

3. The Brutal Truth of Product-Market Fit

How do you distinguish between product-market fit and mere user tolerance? The ultimate signals are behavioral and financial.

• Retention as the Foundation: Retention metrics vary by sector, but they serve as the uncompromising reality check. For categories with high utility (Ed-Tech, Tools), the floor for success is 80-90% retention. For high-churn, high-volume segments like entertainment, 40% is the green light for expansion.

• The Sound of Success: Silence from your user base is the ultimate danger sign—it indicates churn has already occurred. Active, vocal complaints on channels like Discord or dedicated forums are a positive signal. It means users need the product and are invested enough to demand its improvement.

• The Ultimate Wallet Vote: While positive feedback is encouraging, the only definitive signal for PMF is a credit card swipe. Even a discounted or introductory payment represents a commitment that validates the product’s perceived worth more than any survey or “nice job” email.

4. The Data Trap: Watching the Hands, Not the Mouth

Customers are often poor reporters of their own future behavior. Growth leaders must prioritize observed behavior over stated intentions.

• Behavioral Data Trumps Surveys: Ignore what users say they will do in surveys. The only reliable data is behavioral data: Did they click the feature? Did they return the next day? Prioritize the analysis of on-platform actions.

• The Live Observation Test: Instead of lengthy interviews, the most valuable method is the live test. Hand the user a prototype and watch them navigate it without guidance. Their genuine struggles and workflow are more insightful in five minutes than hours of verbal feedback.

• Filtering the Noise: Rigorous feedback filtering is essential. If the input is not coming from your Ideal Customer Profile or a proven power user, it should be categorized as noise and disregarded.

5. Co-Founder Dynamics: The Pilot Project Principle

The founding relationship is the most critical hiring decision. It cannot be made over superficial interactions.

• The Crucible of a Pilot Project: It is strongly advised against co-founder selection based on coffee chats or resumes. The only reliable test is to work together on a pilot project. This allows you to observe temperaments, crisis management skills, and execution styles under genuine pressure.

• Find Your Tribe: Founders looking for partners should look beyond LinkedIn cold outreach. Attend niche hackathons and community events where interests and values are pre-aligned. This shared context is a better predictor of long-term compatibility.

• Founders Own the Initial Framework: Before hiring an expensive growth team, founders must first figure out the core growth framework themselves. You are the first growth marketer. Hiring too early only outsources a problem you don’t yet understand.

Ready to put these insights into action? Don’t miss the complete, 60-minute discussion, and connect with the Walnut AI community for continuous growth strategies.

Watch the Full Panel:

About Walnut AI

Walnut AI is a human-centered AI company dedicated to empowering professionals to thrive in an increasingly complex landscape. We leverage advanced multi-agent AI agents to create and facilitate valuable connections and business opportunities, transforming how you network and grow your career.

We are currently in a closed beta phase, and have launched the following features:

• Smart Event Search: Use AI to filter through 6,000+ global tech events to instantly identify the networking opportunities.

• AI-Powered Business Card Scanner: Effortlessly upload and instantly recognize business cards in seconds, ensuring no valuable contact is ever lost.

• Dynamic Professional Identity: Generate a polished, AI-optimized personal profile that effectively communicates your expertise and value.

Try the Beta Today: Download the Walnut AI app now on the Apple App Store and Google Play using the limited invitation code: test02.

Follow Walnut AI for More: Stay ahead with executive insights

• Official Website: https://walnut.ai

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iwalnut-ai

• X (Twitter): https://x.com/walnutai_

• Walnut AI Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/JfPoQH7hf5bKtDGRkF4Yjj

  Subscribe now

Are you an AI founder or executive wasting precious time searching for relevant industry connections? Stop guessing where to network. Success requires high-value connections and strategic learning. We built Smart Event Search to eliminate the manual labor and bring the right opportunities to you, instantly.

Smart Event Search aggregates 3,000+ events across multiple platforms. We give you the power of AI to find exactly what you need.

👉 Try it here: https://walnut.ai/events (invitation code: test02)

Walnut Salon Event

Speaking of the right events, join us for the most relevant panel for your AI business right now. If your product is struggling with user conversion, hitting revenue roadblocks, or suffering from diminishing returns on old tactics, this free event is your essential next step.

Join us for an exclusive panel featuring top founders and executives who have successfully navigated the challenges you face—from achieving $1M ARR in a year to scaling user bases to 1 Billion.

👉 Sign up here: https://luma.com/j4rwr0tt

What You Will Get:

This isn’t just theory—it’s a deep dive into the practical strategies that build profitable AI companies. Attendees will walk away with an actionable blueprint, including:

• PMF Confidence: Gain crucial insights on how to avoid common pitfalls during PMF exploration, ensuring you build the right product for the right audience from day one.

• Top-of-Funnel Mastery: Discover the exact methods used to scale user acquisition, including how to leverage SEO and organic strategies to drive your MAU to 1 million and beyond.

• Conversion Optimization: Learn precise tactics to significantly increase your product’s conversion rate, turning curious users into paying customers.

• Product-Led Growth Strategy: Uncover advanced PLG frameworks essential for achieving 10x growth, maximizing product loops, and driving revenue efficiently.

• Team Building for Scale: Get expert guidance on structuring and hiring effective growth and sales teams tailored specifically for the different stages of startup development, from 0-to-1 through hyper-scale.

Event Details

• When: Dec. 10 (Wednesday) 5:30 – 8:30 PM (PST)

• Where: AWS Builder Loft SF(Please bring a physical ID)

• Cost: Free

Spaces are limited. Stop struggling with guesswork and secure the playbook for your next massive growth leap.

👉 Sign up here to secure your FREE spot: https://luma.com/j4rwr0tt

👉 Sign up here: https://luma.com/j4rwr0tt

Are you frustrated by building a “perfect” product only to see 10 users try and leave?Do you have strong user growth, but revenue is barely moving?Are you stuck at a growth plateau where your previous tactics no longer work?

​If these questions hit home, you need more than just hope—you need a proven playbook.

​Join this exclusive panel with top founders and executives from YC, StartX, Meta, Tiktok! Uncover the hard-won strategies to master your GTM and ignite profitable, sustainable growth for your AI application. Stop struggling with vanity metrics and start building a breakthrough business.

Speakers:

• ​Tianwei Yue: Cofounder and CEO of Mathos Al(YC W24; StartX), Forbes 30U30, CMU Alumni. Grew Mathos Al to 1.5M MAU and $1M ARR within a year.

• Jiajing Dai: Meta AI Product Manager, previously leading LinkedIn user acquisition, premium analytics growth, Tesla GTM in China. Grew LinkedIn user base from 800M to 1B, premium analytics from $700M to $1.5B, drove the first profitable quarter at Tesla. Part-time content creator, grew my channel “JJ never sleeps” from 0 to 200K followers.

• Amiee Yang: AGTM Agency Founder, ex-Lovart Cofounder. Specialize in 0-1 GTM for AI consumer products. Helped AI startups achieve early traction through organic growth, paid media, influencer marketing, and community building in the global market.

• Yinan Gu: Executive Coach for Founders & Global Leaders; Ex-startup Founder and CEO, closed $65M+ in tech sales; raised $1.5M on Shark Tank China; and led go-to-market from scratch across the U.S. and Asia

​Moderated by Wendi Yin: Serial founder, ex-TikTok Strategy, Tencent Games

👉 Sign up here: https://luma.com/j4rwr0tt

What You Will Get

This isn’t just theory—it’s a deep dive into the practical strategies that build profitable AI companies. Attendees will walk away with an actionable blueprint, including:

• PMF Confidence: Gain crucial insights on how to avoid common pitfalls during PMF exploration, ensuring you build the right product for the right audience from day one.

• Top-of-Funnel Mastery: Discover the exact methods used to scale user acquisition, including how to leverage SEO and organic strategies to drive your MAU to 1 million and beyond.

• Conversion Optimization: Learn precise tactics to significantly increase your product’s conversion rate, turning curious users into paying customers.

• Product-Led Growth Strategy: Uncover advanced PLG frameworks essential for achieving 10x growth, maximizing product loops, and driving revenue efficiently.

• Team Building for Scale: Get expert guidance on structuring and hiring effective growth and sales teams tailored specifically for the different stages of startup development, from 0-to-1 through hyper-scale.

Event Details

• When: Dec. 10(Wednesday) 5:30 - 8:30 PM

• Where: AWS Builder Loft SF

• Cost: Free

• Agenda:

  • 5:30 – 6:15 PM: Check-in & Networking with Pizzas and Beverages

  • 6:15 – 7:30 PM: Panel Discussion and Q&A

  • 7:30 – 8:30 PM: Networking

This is a rare opportunity to get direct, actionable guidance from the founders and executives who have successfully navigated the same challenges you face—from achieving rapid $1M ARR growth to scaling user bases to the billions. Don’t let your potential stall at the plateau. Spaces are limited for this free event at the AWS Builder Loft SF. Stop struggling with guesswork and secure the playbook for your next massive growth leap.

We are looking forward to connecting with you!

👉 Sign up here: https://luma.com/j4rwr0tt

Happy weekend! Are you planning your event schedule for next week and lining up people you’d like to meet?

Thank you for your patience and interest in Walnut AI. We are a team committed to developing reliable, AI-powered solutions that empower professionals. We are excited to invite a small, dedicated group of users to be the first to experience our core suite of productivity features—the foundation upon which we are building something much bigger for your future.

Try Walnut AI

Here is a look at the three features you will gain access to in the beta:

1. Smart Event Search

Stop wasting time searching. Start attending the right events. We aggregate 7000+ events across multiple platforms, and you can then use the powerful AI search feature to look up events based on topic, industry, location, or even complex criteria like “networking opportunities for data scientists in San Francisco next week.” Walnut agent will also give you the specific reasons!

2. The All-in-One Bio with Personal Podcast

We want to give you a comprehensive, unique professional identity that makes a lasting impression. Easily build your detailed personal profile covering your experience and interests. Then, use the built-in Podcast feature to create a short, introductory podcast right on your bio page, allowing you to share your story instantly with new contacts.

3. Business Card Scanner for Quick Connection Management

Note: You can only scan business cards on iOS and Android, PC is used for view.

To seamlessly manage your network without the headache of manual entry or keeping paper business cards. Use your phone to scan a business card, and the information will be instantly digitized in 1 second and stored in your Walnut AI Connection, where you can then easily organize, tag, and follow up with new contacts.

🌰 How to use Walnut AI?

Step 1: Go to https://walnut.ai/events

Step 2: Click login button

Step 3: Choose one signup method and enter invitation code test02

Step 4: After finishing signup process, you could set up your profile, smartly search events and manage connections with Walnut AI.

Unlock Your Smart Event Search

Walnut AI is also available on iOS App Store and Android Google Play. Feel free to check more on our mobile version.

🎁 Your Exclusive Beta Access & Premium Gift

For this round of beta test, we are providing 100 spots with the invitation code test02

Besides, as a sincere thank you for joining us early, you could claim a FREE month of our Premium tier(50 spots) in the Discord Community, completely free of charge. No credit card is required.

Check the announcements channel in the Discord, and the coupon code will be displayed in this channel.

Please note that you should use this coupon code to upgrade premium on Website version when checking out. Then, no matter which platform you are using, you will unlock the Walnut premium features.

Claim Your Free Premium Coupon

We look forward to welcoming you and seeing how Walnut AI can enhance your professional life.

Sincerely,

Watt

Hi Walnut friends,

Tech Week in San Francisco and Los Angeles wrapped up yesterday, bringing together over 2,000 cutting-edge events and thousands of industry professionals—from founders and investors to technical experts and startup enthusiasts. It was a whirlwind of knowledge, panels, and innovations, offering everyone an unmatched glimpse into the future of tech and AI.

We met many incredible people who shared how inspired and even overwhelmed they felt by the wealth of insights and connections. This is exactly why we created Agents Meet.

Agents Meet is Walnut AI’s signature event series where we create a digital twin for every participant—reflecting their experiences, goals, and unique strengths. These AI-driven agents then engage in insightful conversations, uncovering shared backgrounds and interests to recommend your top 5 most meaningful connections.

Because in today’s AI era, we believe one genuine connection trumps ten random business cards ❤️

Thank you to everyone who joined us in San Francisco and Los Angeles—or both! You are what made these meetups special.

San Francisco

We had over 500 signups and 150+ attendees at Joe & The Juice, a cozy spot perfect for relaxed conversations and new friendships. One attendee, traveling all the way from Europe, remarked on the vibrant startup ecosystem fueling the city—a sentiment we wholeheartedly share.

Our fresh new swag got wonderful feedback(Huge kudos to our designer Cara✨). And have you noticed? Walnut AI has a new color palette! I still have some tote bags—find me at an event and they’re yours!

Plus, I’ll always remember the humorous, interesting, and smart faces you signed—it truly makes me feel like we’re much closer than just acquaintances.

Los Angeles

LA gave us a different vibe, with its focus on consumer tech and innovation. From connecting with creators and many consumer tech startup founders, the energy here is unmistakably vibrant. By the beach in Santa Monica, creativity flows freely.

Big thanks to a16z for hosting this amazing Tech Week that kept us at the forefront of AI trends and insights.

Stay tuned—there are more Agents Meet events coming, including at TechCrunch Disrupt. The Tech Week story doesn’t end here. Neither does Walnut AI’s journey.

Looking forward to connecting with you all soon!

Connect with us:

Linkedin

X(Twitter)

Walnut AI Community

Official Website

Hey Walnut Friends,

We’ve missed you! 🫶

Remember the energy at our Agents Meet Event during NY Tech Week? Your incredible feedback showed us we were onto something special.

Now, we’re leveling up.

This time, we’re bringing Agents Meet to SF Tech Week & LA Tech Week—and we’re not stopping at just online connections.

Here’s what’s new:

✨ AI-Powered Matchmaking – Our intelligent agents will connect you with the right people before you even arrive

🤝 In-Person Meetups – Break out of the digital bubble and build real relationships face-to-face

🌟 Expanded Network – Connect with innovators, builders, and fellow tech enthusiasts across two major tech hubs

Whether you’re looking to find your next co-founder, discover collaboration opportunities, or simply expand your network with like-minded people, this is your moment.

📍 San Francisco Event

Join us in the heart of innovation! Expect intimate conversations, curated introductions, and the chance to connect with SF’s most dynamic builders and creators.

• Date: October 6th

• Time: 2pm - 4pm

• Location: SOMA

Sign up for SF event

📍 Los Angeles Event

West Coast vibes meet tech innovation! Whether you’re in entertainment tech, creative industries, or building the next big thing, this is your community.

• Date: October 13th

• Time: 2pm - 4pm

• Location: Santa Monica

Sign up for LA event

Ready to make meaningful connections? Sign up now!

Spots are limited, and these events fill up fast. Secure your place today!

See you there,
The Walnut Team ❤️

We've all been there – walking away from a major conference with a pocket full of business cards and a phone full of new contacts, but somehow missing those truly meaningful connections that could transform our professional development. The networking fatigue is real, and despite meeting dozens of people, we often struggle to identify who could become genuine collaborators, mentors, or business partners.

That's exactly why we created "Grow Together: Meet Your Next Partner in Success" – our first experimental virtual matchmaking event during NY Tech Week. Instead of leaving connections to chance encounters at crowded booths or rushed coffee chats, we wanted to use AI to thoughtfully connect professionals based on complementary goals, expertise, and genuine mutual value. The results exceeded our expectations: we recommended nearly 4,000 targeted matches for over 700 professionals, creating opportunities for meaningful relationships that might never have formed otherwise.

The response to our inaugural event has been incredibly encouraging. We've received feedback from participants who discovered potential clients, and formed partnerships that are already moving their businesses forward. These stories remind us why we started this initiative – to cut through the noise of traditional networking and create genuine value.

However, we know this is just the beginning. As our first event of this kind, we're committed to continuous improvement. We want to refine our matching algorithms, enhance the user experience, and ensure every participant walks away with connections that truly matter to their professional journey. Your insights are invaluable in helping us build something even better.

We'd love to hear from you. Your feedback will directly shape how we evolve this platform to serve our community better. Click here to participate in our post-event survey and share your insights:

👉 Post-event Survey

Stay Connected

Want to continue the conversation or stay updated on future events? Connect with us:

• LinkedIn

• X (Twitter)

Thank you again for being part of this journey. Together, we're building the future of meaningful professional networking ❤️

Hi there,

How about your New York Tech Week so far?

The Power of Intentional Connections

You know the feeling – flying from conference to conference, collecting hundreds of business cards, filling your calendar to exhaustion, only to realize weeks later that none of those connections led anywhere meaningful.

That's exactly why we created "Grow Together: Meet Your Next Partner in Success" at the start of Tech Week. Instead of more surface-level networking, we wanted to give you 5 high-quality connections that could actually transform your business journey.

Time to Take Action

It's been 3 days since you received your matches. Have you reached out yet?

If not, don't worry – you're not alone. But here's the thing: your matches are probably just as excited to connect with you as you are with them.

Smart Connection Strategies

1. Personalize Your Outreach Reference the common ground we identified in your match profiles. Mention shared interests, complementary skills, or similar challenges you're both facing.

2. Time It Right Early mornings often work best – people are less overwhelmed before their day fills up with meetings and events.

3. Suggest a Real Meeting If you're both in New York, propose an in-person coffee or lunch. Face-to-face connections always leave stronger impressions than digital ones.

👉 Sample LinkedIn Message: "Hi [Name], we were matched through Walnut AI’s match making event, based on our shared interest in [specific area]. I'd love to connect and perhaps grab coffee while we're both in NYC this week. Are you free for a quick chat?"

We Want to Hear From You

Your experience matters to us. We're constantly improving our matching process and would love your feedback:

• How accurate were your matches? Did they align with what you were looking for?

• What format would work better? We're considering hosting in-person meetups to facilitate direct connections in the future.

• What other features would enhance your experience? We believe events should create lasting friendships and partnerships, not just fleeting encounters.

Stay Connected

🔗 LinkedIn Tips: Check out our latest post with more connection strategies: How to build valuable connections via events efficiently?

👥 Community Group: Join our professional community where members connect and share opportunities: WhatsApp Group

🚀 Early Access: Our MVP launches soon! Join the waitlist for exclusive early access: https://walnut.ai

Thank you for being part of this journey with us. 🫶

Hey Walnut friends!

New York Tech Week is just days away, and we couldn't be more excited to see you there!

As you know, Tech Week began as a bold social experiment in LA. In our post-COVID world, this gathering has become something special—bringing together founders, investors, and innovators from across the globe. After tons of virtual meetings, there's nothing quite like connecting face-to-face again.

But here's the thing: with thousands of attendees, how do you find your people? The cofounders, investors, or lifelong friends who could change everything?

That's where we come in.

We're hosting an experimental matchmaking event powered by AI. Simply share your background, what you're seeking, and what you bring to the table—our fine-tuned model will connect you with the most relevant people at Tech Week.

Sign up for Event

The details:

Signup closes: June 1 at 6:00 PM

Matches delivered: June 2 at 8:00 AM

Current signups: 700+ and growing

This is your last chance to join—and to invite friends who'll be at Tech Week. The larger our network, the better your matches!

Surprise: Everyone who signs up gets exclusive early access to our MVP launching next week. Find the most valuable events and connect with attendees who matter most to your journey.

Ready to turn New York Tech Week into your most connected week yet?

See you in New York! ❤️

Events—whether conferences, meetups, or networking sessions—are goldmines for building meaningful professional relationships. But in many conditions, people just wander in the venue, not knowing who to talk and what to discuss.

To truly maximize the value of industry events, you need a strategy that spans before, during, and after the event. Here’s how to turn event attendance into lasting, impactful connections.

1. Before the Event: Prepare to Stand Out

• Research the Event: Understand the organizer, sponsors, and speakers. This will give you context about the event’s purpose and the type of attendees it attracts. Usually event organizers will put the information on the event page.

• Set Clear Goals: Are you looking for mentorship, collaboration opportunities, or simply expanding your network? Define your objectives to stay focused.

• Identify Your Targets: Based on your goal, look up the attendee list or research potential attendees on LinkedIn. Pinpoint who you want to connect with—industry leaders, or peers with shared interests. Most event platforms have clunky search features right now. Walnut AI simplifies it with AI powered natural language search, making attendee info easy to find and saving you time.

• Prepare Your Pitch: Have a concise and compelling introduction ready. Highlight what makes you unique and what you’re looking to achieve. You can also research your target’s interests beforehand, making it easier to find natural conversation starters and break the ice.

2. During the Event: Be Strategic and Genuine

• Connect with the Host: Event organizers often have access to check-in lists (e.g., via tools like Luma). Politely ask if your target attendees have arrived and if they can introduce you.

• Leverage the Check-In List: If the event uses a digital check-in tool, review the list to identify who’s present and prioritize your interactions.

• Be Observant: If you can’t find your targets, don’t hesitate to look around and strike up conversations with others. Sometimes, the best connections come from unexpected encounters.

• Engage Authentically: Ask thoughtful questions, listen actively, and show genuine interest in others. Avoid hard-selling yourself—focus on building rapport. From my conversations with investors and entrepreneurs, I’ve learned it’s better to stand out through your ideas and personality, not by pushing your product. Be memorable, not salesy.

• Exchange Contact Information: Use LinkedIn QR codes, digital business cards, or other messaging applications to quickly save contact details. Sometimes the connection in the venue is not good, so maybe you could prepare some NFC cards to help solve such issues.

3. After the Event: Follow Up and Nurture Relationships

• Curate Your Contacts: Organize the contacts you’ve collected immediately after the event. Use tools like:

  • HubSpot CRM to track interactions and set reminders for follow-ups.

  • LinkedIn to send personalized connection requests referencing your conversation.

  • Notion to customize your contact management experience, making it more appropriate for your business.

  • Walnut AI to exchange contacts, curate the list and check the source information by one-click.

• Follow Up Promptly: Send a thoughtful message within 24 hours. Mention something specific from your conversation or your shared experience and interests to make it memorable.

  • “It was great discussing [topic] with you at [event]. I’d love to continue the conversation—let’s connect!”

  • “I’m so happy to hear that you love bouldering and have reached the V10 level! We should definitely boulder together next time.”

• Add Value: Share an article, introduce them to someone in your network, or offer insights related to their work. Building a connection is about giving, not just taking.

• Stay Consistent: Keep the relationship alive by engaging with their content, checking in periodically, or inviting them to future events.

Events are more than just opportunities to collect business cards—they’re chances to build relationships that can transform your career or business. By preparing strategically, engaging authentically, and following up consistently, you can turn event attendance into a powerful networking tool. Of course, many products can make this process much smoother. Be sure to leverage their strengths.

Do you have any additional tips for boosting professional networking at events? Feel free to share them in the comments!