Weekly Brunches with Workshops: From Algebra to Building AI Kitchen and Navigating Investment Dynamics and Terms
This event is part of the Weekly Brunches with Workshops series. Read more about the programme here.
Entrepreneurial talk: Startup Legal Playbook: Navigating Investment Dynamics and Terms with Ylan Steiner (Orrick)
Startup environments vary significantly across regions, shaped by individual frameworks and VC practices. The structure of VC funds themselves and the typical protections they require influence how entrepreneurs and investors navigate funding negotiations and growth strategies. Drawing on practical experience, this session will offer insights into some of the critical factors shaping start-up ecosystems and the legal and commercial terms shaping the journey from founding to scaling a business.
Ylan Steiner is a partner and leading private equity advisor at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Technology Companies Group), specialising in venture and growth financings, management buyouts, secondary transactions, and related exits. With a background in computer software programming, he combines his passion for technology with extensive experience advising both tech companies and their investors. His practice encompasses advising financial investors and growth companies across the media, life sciences, healthcare, financial institutions, and energy sectors. Ylan has been consistently recognised as a leading venture capital advisor in both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. He also serves on the Practitioners Advisory Board for the University of Cambridge's Master's Degree in Corporate Law.
Technical talk: From Algebra to Building AI Kitchen with Henry Setiawan (Amazon)
How can applying the mindset of algebra be used to build the state-of-the-art AI kitchen?
Henry Setiawan is a technology leader and entrepreneur specializing in AI innovation. As Principal Engineer at Amazon, he leads the "AI Kitchen" team behind Amazon Rufus, an intelligent shopping assistant using advanced language models. He previously held leadership roles at Google, working on Cloud, YouTube, and Google Brain projects. At Microsoft Research, he contributed to the Bing Search Engine and Project Adam, pioneering distributed systems for deep learning. He co-founded Canotic Inc. (now super.ai), an AI startup democratising artificial intelligence. Henry serves as an advisor and mentor for organizations like AI Singapore and Madrona Venture Labs. With a PhD in Computer Science and an MBA from MIT, he combines technical expertise with business acumen, focusing on distributed systems and machine learning.
The brunches are enabled by:
WHEN: Friday, 14 February 2025
1-2 PM: Brunch in King’s Hall
2-3 PM: Workshops
* Entrepreneurial workshop in Provost's Drawing Room
* Technical workshop in Seminar Room
3 PM onwards: Optional informal discussion in the Turing Room, the E-Lab co-working space
WHERE: King’s College, Cambridge
TICKETS: Workshop registration opens on the Monday before each event. Brunch signups open on the following Tuesday or Wednesday via our WhatsApp group chat.