Founder/Fest

Real Founders & Their Stories. Founder/Fest is the Midwest Founders Community’s signature gathering for startup founders across the region. Designed as a relaxed, social experience, Founder/Fest brings founders together to connect, trade stories, and step out of the day-to-day grind of building a company. It blends meaningful conversation with a party-like atmosphere, creating space for honest reflections on what it really takes to build, scale, and sometimes lose a business. There are no formal panels or pitches. Just real conversations, shared experiences, food, drinks, and time with people who understand the founder journey. Founder/Fest is where Midwest founders come together to reconnect, recharge, and celebrate the work they’re doing—together. Our Speaker Lineup: Ivan Rahman of Avistar AI Jorge Reyna of Frilly Stephen Pounds of Vadar Alpha Anu Hoysniemi of AI Adventure Many thanks to our sponsors for making Founder/Fest free & open to all founders: Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Godfrey & Kahn Idea Fund Pilot - Pilot provides outsourced finance and operations support for startups, including bookkeeping, tax, CFO, and COO services. We help early-stage companies scale from Pre-Seed to Series C with accurate financials, operational discipline, and investor-ready insights.