OC Tech Week is a wrap. 54 events, 30 founding partners, and a sold-out opening night at Sunstone with 268 RSVPs. Huge props to co-chairs Tony Crisp of TCVN and former Irvine mayor Farrah Khan (Tony's LinkedIn recap here).
One standout: HexStrike AI's creator showed Claude running pentesting tools to 177 people (on a FRIDAY NIGHT!) at Newport's new Witte Hall.
Check out this week’s profile of local M&A banker Jack, plus Rivian buying a self-driving startup and an underground Sinatra-era steakhouse in Costa Mesa.
👋 Hi, I’m Taylor, a tech founder in Dana Point. I started Tech:OC to follow the local tech scene after moving here from NYC. Reply with OC tech news, events, or with the name of an OC founder we should profile!
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🗓️ Upcoming OC Tech Events
Tue, Oct 27 · The Future of Female Founders: National Association of Women Business Owners
10:00 am - 12:00 pm · Mental Headquarters, Irvine
Tue, Oct 27 · AI Tinkerers OC at Centercode HQ: builder-only demo night
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm · Centercode HQ, Mission Viejo
Wed, Oct 28 · The AI Action Room: leave with 3 working AI automations for your business (a chief of staff, an email checker, and a morning brief), hosted by Ingram Interactive, 12 seats
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm · Ingram Interactive HQ, Irvine
Wed, Oct 28 · Crypto Halloween and Chill: an open meetup diving into DeFi, blockchain security, Web3, and more
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm · Fashion Island food court, Newport Beach
Wed, Oct 28 · Fireside chat with David Perry, serial founder and co-founder of Gaikai (sold to Sony for $380M) and Carro
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm · UCI Paul Merage School of Business (SB2 122), Irvine
Thu, Oct 29 · Women in Tech happy hour at Downtown Disney, hosted by Wonder Women Tech
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm · Downtown Disney District, Anaheim
Thu, Oct 29 · Irvine AI meetup #6 for experienced AI engineers: shipping real products with Claude Cowork, hosted by PlanetDDS's Team Artemis
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm · iQ Smart Center, Irvine
Thu, Oct 29 · EvoNexus Irvine weekly GenAI meetup with Josh Righetti from Anduril on AI, free and open to the public
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm · EvoNexus, Irvine
Fri, Oct 30 · Hyperscale Halloween: Liam Broza's Halloween house party for nerds, costumes encouraged
7:30 pm - 1:00 am · Liam Broza's place, Laguna Niguel
👋 Tech:OC Profile: Jack Robbins of Rockpile Partners
Jack Robbins · Founding Partner, Rockpile Partners
LinkedIn
Jack Robbins guides tech founders through raises and sales
I met Jack for coffee a couple weeks back. It’s rare to find a tech M&A person in Orange County! Jack founded Rockpile Partners to guide tech founders through raising money to fund growth, selling a majority stake to private equity, or selling outright to a strategic buyer.
What do you do now, in one sentence a non-tech person would understand?
I founded an independent advisory firm to guide tech founders through a variety of transactions; whether it's raising money to fund growth, selling a majority stake to a private equity firm, or selling 100% of their shares to a strategic buyer.
What's something you've built, here or before, that you're proud of?
I'm proud to have launched my own advisory firm to support tech founders. I have immense respect for the risk of entrepreneurship that founders take on because I'm on a version of that journey myself.
What would you never hand over to AI?
Building long-term relationships with founders rooted in trust or communicating with investors and buyers during a capital raise or sale process. There are too many nuances to properly positioning a business, especially in tech. That said, AI can be helpful to more commoditized parts of a process such as NDA review.
Who/what in OC has been unusually helpful in building the business, and how?
Folks like Taylor, those in the OC tech ecosystem that are "connectors". The OC tech scene is fairly nascent stage but I find that those in it are eager to connect with each other.
Where do you meet other founders or tech people in OC?
I tend to meet tech founders via my network but other than that I tap into the various tech founder ecosystems (e.g. Octane OC, BLDG Labs etc.). There are a couple VC / growth equity funds that are good connectors as well, namely Okapi Capital and Ankona Capital.
What's a great spot in OC for a coffee or happy hour?
Jedediah Coffee in Laguna Beach. Cool owners and amazing location right by Heisler Park.
Know an OC founder who should be next? Reply with their name and company.
📡 OC Tech and Fun News
Irvine-based Rivian acquired Third Dimension AI, a startup founded in 2024 by Tolga Kart and Piotr Sokolski whose simulation platform uses real-world data to recreate complex driving scenarios in 3D. Rivian says it will accelerate autonomy across its consumer and robotaxi roadmaps.
Advantech, a global leader in edge computing and industrial edge AI, opened its new North American headquarters in Tustin with 400+ guests, including Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard. AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm joined to show off their tech in the new showroom.
A Claude hackathon at EvoNexus in Irvine kicked off OC Tech Week. 20+ teams built for Illumination Health + Home, a homeless-services nonprofit, and ReferralFlow won with an app that speeds up hospital referral approvals for recuperative care. Travis Johnson of AuraPath AI organized it.
TRIBE, a peer group for founders running $1M to $10M companies, is bringing its 2027 founder summit to Irvine Feb 10 to 12. Expect 200+ founders, no pitching, and no name tags.
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey helped launch Warhound, a $200M Texas startup backed by Sequoia, ARK Invest, and 8VC that is bioengineering military working dogs. Costa Mesa's Anduril will equip the dogs with military gear, and the first puppies are due in early 2027.
Fun fact: Toastmasters started in Santa Ana 102 years ago and now has 13,800 clubs. Irvine space company Terran Orbital still runs a club for its team.
Super fun: La Cave in Costa Mesa is a Sinatra-era supper club hidden underground beneath a strip mall. Diners take an elevator down for prime steaks in a dim, red-lit room where a single chef cooks with live music in the corner.
🚗 Worth the Drive
Wed, Oct 28 · Who Are We After AI? Let's Decide Together: a discussion on how AI is reshaping how we work, think, create, and relate to one another
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm · Studio Om, Los Angeles
Wed, Oct 28 · Curious Refuge AI Horror Competition screening and reception: finalists from its 4th annual AI horror film competition
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm · Near East Hollywood, Los Angeles
Fri, Oct 30 · Aerospace Corporation tour: go behind the scenes at its El Segundo headquarters as Aerospace opens 2027 paid summer internships
11:55 am - 5:00 pm · The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo
Until next week,
Taylor Trusty @ Tech:OC