👋 I’m Justin. I run The SF Grind, The LA Grind, and scout for Headline. I live in LA but spend a lot of time in San Francisco meeting founders, hosting gatherings, and enjoying the wonderful city. If I’m not writing this, I’m probably out on a run.
Welcome back to The SF Grind!
Before we dive in, I want to make sure The SF Grind is giving you exactly what you need, so tell me what you’re focused on heading into 2026.
What is your biggest career priority heading into 2026?
Let’s get to it.
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Polsinelli has a strong technology and emerging growth practice supporting founders from formation through fundraising and scale. They work with startups across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and major innovation hubs nationwide.
I’ve personally worked with Ephraim Hintz from their team, and he’s excellent if you ever need a warm intro or trusted guidance on anything legal.
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I’ll be hosting SF events soon! In the meantime, here are the best events I could find happening around the city this week.
👋 This Week in SF 👋
🗓️ December 9: -1 to Microsoft with Kevin Scott. South Beach. 10:30 am - 12 pm.
🗓️ December 9: Future of Product Dinner. SOMA. 6 - 8:30 pm.
🗓️ December 10: AI x Marketing - Job Fair. SOMA. 11:30 am - 3 pm.
🗓️ December 10: Snowflake for Startups Pitch Night. Menlo Park. 4 - 7 pm.
🗓️ December 10: AGI Builders Meetup SF w/ Entrepreneurs First. SOMA. 5:30 - 8 pm.
🗓️ December 10: The AI Collective Tri-Valley | Holiday AI Demo & Mixer. Danville. 5:30 - 8:30.
🗓️ December 10: WorkOS MCP Night - The Holiday Special. NOB Hill. 5:30 - 10 pm.
🗓️ December 10: AI Agents Meetup: Cursor + LangChain. South Beach. 6 - 8:30 pm.
🗓️ December 10: Social Impact SF Holiday Mixer & Resource Night. SOMA. 7 - 10 pm.
🗓️ December 11: Holiday Aperitivos at The Fold Cafe & Art Gallery. Dolores Heights. 5 - 8 pm.
🗓️ December 11: Maximizing the value of reinforcement learning. South Beach. 5- 7:30 pm.
🗓️ December 11: Agents & APIs SF Developer Meetup. Distrito Financiero. 5:30 - 7:30 pm.
🗓️ December 11: 2025 Hardware Holiday Party @ Studio 45. Noe Valley 6:30 - 9:30 pm.
🗓️ December 12: AI Builders Day San Francisco. Distrito Financiero. 9 am - 3 pm.
🗓️ December 13: The Great Log-off: Holiday Edition. Chinatown. 7 - 10 pm.
Want to submit an event for consideration in the next edition? Reply to this email.
Top 5 SF Startup & VC Firm Jobs
Business Development Manager @ Pilot
GTM Business Development @ a16z
Senior Associate, Platform & Impact @ Owl Ventures
Portfolio Engagement Director @ Toyota Ventures
👋 Hiring? Reply to this email to feature your job in this newsletter.
Other Opportunities
Know a founder or investor in SF who is raising capital or searching for a co-founder? Reply to this email with more details that I could share in this newsletter.
Multifactor, a post-quantum security platform enabling safe access to online accounts for both humans and AI agents, raised $15M in seed funding in a round led by Nexus Venture Partners.
Quanta, a provider of an accounting platform for startup finances, raised $15M in Series A funding in a round led by Accel.
Guide Labs, a developer of interpretable and auditable AI systems, raised $9M in seed funding led by Initialized Capital.
Lemurian Labs, a provider of a platform that works across any hardware for AI development, raised $28M in Series A funding, including capital previously raised from convertible securities, co-led by Pebblebed Ventures and Hexagon.
Unlimited Industries, an AI-native construction company, raised $12M in Seed funding in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz and CIV.
Autolane, a Palo Alto-based company which specializes in autonomous vehicle infrastructure, raised $7.4M in funding in a round led by Draper Associates and Hyperplane.
Angle Health, a vertically-integrated AI platform for healthcare benefits, raised $134 in Series B funding led by Portage.
Junevity, a biotechnology company extending lifespan and healthspan with cell reprogramming, raised $10M in new funding led by Goldcrest Capital and Godfrey Capital.
Vinci, a Palo Alto-based developer of Physics-Driven AI for hardware design and simulation, emerged from stealth with $46M in total funding. Its Series A round was led by Xora Innovation while its Seed round was led by Eclipse.
Pine, a Palo Alto-based provider of an AI agent for consumers’ digital chores, closed a $25M Series A funding round. Backers included Fortwest Capital.
Raindrop, a provider of a monitoring platform for AI agents, raised $15M in Seed funding in a round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Trial Library, an AI-enabled platform expanding access to clinical trials as a care option, raised $10M in Series A funding co-led by SemperVirens Venture Capital and Next Ventures.
Jeeva AI, a provider of an AI platform that enhances productivity for sales teams, raised $9M in funding in around led by JLL Spark.
Clipbook, a vertical AI platform for strategic communications and public affairs, raised $3.3M in seed funding in a round that was co-led by Mark Cuban, Commonweal Ventures, and Carpenter Capital.
Arcturus, a provider of a volumetric video platform that captures and broadcasts sports action in full 3D, raised $2.3M in seed funding led by LDV Capital.
Featured Location
Charmaine’s Rooftop. A stylish rooftop spot at the SF Proper Hotel, offering craft cocktails, city views, cozy fire pits, and a chic indoor–outdoor lounge vibe.
Fun Events
See you next week,
Justin
P.S. Want to connect? Book a Call.