TDK Ventures president Nicolas Sauvage will kick things off after you get your requisite beverages and networking in, as he makes the case for corporate VCs in a conversation with TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos. Sauvage, who leads TDK Ventures’ $500 million effort to invest in early-stage startups, will explain what makes corporate VCs operate differently and what founders should know about what catches his eye in an investment.

And founders on the fence should take note: Sauvage has steered TDK into backing 52 startups and three unicorns — Groq, Ascend Elements, and Silicon Box — during his tenure. TDK will also be hosting and sponsoring this StrictlyVC event, so attendees will get ample opportunity to learn from and get some potential face time with their team.

Then we’ll move to a conversation with Campbell Brown, former CNN host and head of news at Meta who has since made the pivot toward the startup scene as she looks to make AI platforms more trustworthy while more and more people turn to them for advice and information. She’s now the co-founder and CEO of Forum AI, and in the thick of the conversation over how to vet, verify, and sustain the veracity of information provided by LLMs.

And those who are similarly a part of the AI revolution will be excited to hear that Amjad Masad, co-founder and CEO of Replit, is also taking to the stage to share his firsthand experience helping lead a revolution in how software is constructed. The rise of vibe coding has changed the ways many have worked, especially in the Bay Area, and that’s also brought in some potent competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI. Anyone looking for a peek into the future of programming is going to need to join us and stick around for Masad’s talk.