Unfiltered: AMA with Tim Porter of Madrona

We're sitting down with Tim Porter, managing director at Madrona Venture Group, for a candid, off-the-record conversation about how early-stage investment decisions actually get made. Tim works closely with founders building in software, cloud infrastructure, and emerging technologies, so he has a front-row seat to how investor conviction forms — and where it quietly falls apart. We'll also dig into how AI is changing what it takes to build a company — including how Tim thinks about moats and founder-market fit differently for AI startups than he did even six months ago — and how that's reshaping what investors actually look for. Our own managing director, Yifan Zhang, will lead the conversation and ask the questions founders don't usually get to hear answered in public. Expect an investor-to-investor conversation with straight talk on what actually drives decisions, what gets missed, and real examples of when things go wrong. Agenda: 3pm to 330pm: Networking 330pm to 430pm: AMA with Tim + Q&A 430pm to 5pm: Networking