Lessons from Our Annual Summit (Plus the AI Event Playbook I'm Building for 2026)

Last year, Stage 2 Capital hosted its first large-scale Founder Summit in New York City. 350+ attendees. A mix of Stage 2 LPs and founders. A full day of programming. Speakers, panels, fireside chats, sponsors, swag, and a lot of moving parts in between. We had an 86% attendance rate, which was amazing. But even with all that went right, I learned a ton along the way. (I added a few tips on how I'm using AI for the 2026 event. If you're looking for quick ways to apply AI to your next one, skip ahead to the end.)