Road to SF Tech Week 🌁

Host: Rachel SF Tech Week (@RachelCreates) with co-host Chris (@csoriano) · Wed, 30 Sep 2026 · 1:36:30 · ~12 speakers

TL;DR

• Rachel and Team One announced their first joint event: Friday, Oct 9, 2–5pm in San Francisco during SF Tech Week — talks, two panels, a fireside, food, swag and two giveaways, RSVP via the pinned Partiful [11:04:00 is not a thing — see 21:06 & 1:21:01].
• Luke (@luke152) previewed his talk: real-world business use cases on Avalanche (loyalty, Toyota's supply chain records) plus agent-focused protocols — reputation scoring via 8004 and x402 for payments [21:47], [1:12:29].
• Team One Africa officially launched as a chapter that day [1:12:29], and Luke listed the week's other stops (West Virginia student event, youth blockchain education in SoCal, Austin meetup) for the FOMO crowd [1:13:59].
• Ms.NFTy laid out Stand with Crypto's get-out-the-vote push — voter hub, endorsed pro-crypto candidates, Crypto Fridays in Koreatown, canvassing in SoCal and Modesto, plus a Tuesday workshop and mixer during SF Tech Week [36:13].
• Adrian Robison finally launched the podcast he's been promising all year — Rachel is episode one, shot in West Hollywood, out within days [43:07].
• Rachel introduced Human Layer, the evolution of her brand into AI/robotics media (ex Machina, Robotico, 11 Labs, humanoid robotics podcast), complete with new merch [49:46].
• Momville plugged the Women of Web3 14-hour space on October 11, with an open speaker sign-up [1:06:28].

Highlights

[14:05] — Dimes (Kevin) on what SF actually feels like right now. As operator of the Howard, he described back-to-back AI takeovers: a Grok launch livestream, a 200-person engineer demo party, Anthropic booked for a two-day build. His take on SF Tech Week itself: it's one of the quieter weeks — no Moscone convention — but the most interesting, full of small teams and startups doing odd, specific things.

[32:18] — "All they're talking about is product." Kevin has watched the city's cycles since 2001 — post-dot-com, post-'08, the 2012–13 squirmishes, up through 2019. What's different about this class of builders is that nobody's asking how to get funding or meet the right people. Teams of three and five, some solo, shipping products he thinks could actually get distribution. He closed with a standing offer: DM him if you're in town, no matter what you're building, and he'll buy you a coffee [34:07].

[25:12] — Van Ho's path from kindergarten teacher to Team One. She came into Avalanche through a company that migrated chains, stayed for the people, and applied to what was then the AVAX DAO from inside a Twitter Space, fully expecting to be rejected and insisting she didn't want to host events. She now MCs the AVAX Summit and has spoken to senators in DC. Chris asked the question that landed it: looking back on all the anxiety, was it worth it? [27:40]

[36:13] — Stand with Crypto's voter machinery. Ms.NFTy walked through the voter hub — verify your registration (she flagged that people who've voted before are finding themselves unregistered), then check where your district's candidates stand on crypto. Chris added the Omaha ambassador's pitch for volunteers and phone banks, and Rachel mentioned she managed a pro-crypto campaign in Berkeley back in 2024, so canvassing this weekend is a return to form [41:06].

[43:07] — The podcast that took nine months to walk past. Adrian confessed he's had a lit podcast studio set up since January and kept saying "I'll just do it tomorrow," with Rachel asking every single week when it was coming. Her impending move out of Southern California was the forcing function; she's episode one. His thesis: skip the anti-AI doomer narrative, talk about things beginning instead of ending, and convert people into believing things are possible [44:02].

[54:47] — Chris's AVAX origin story and the road trip that almost happened. He's been an AVAX user since day one, holds a self-described "disgusting amount" of AVAX NFTs (nearly four digits, depending how you count), and is Degen Yeti Ski Club old. He got about this close to saying forget it, picking up Van Ho and Miggy and driving two days to SF — which spiraled into car karaoke logistics and the image of Miggy, a professional cake seller, throwing cakes out the window [56:32].

[58:40] — The AI optimism/security double act. Adrian described feeding three years of bank statements into an assistant and getting the financial advisor he could never have afforded. Chris immediately layered on the disclaimers — turn off data sharing, be careful with the cute Tamagotchi-style gadgets — and Adrian admitted he'd connected his Gmail, asked the model what it could read, heard "everything, and it's logged," and disconnected on the spot [1:02:21]. They landed on sandboxing, bot-only email addresses, and the through-line from self-hosting to self-custody.

[1:06:28] — Momville on getting more women visible. Rare live appearance from someone who's usually working in the medical field. She's helping run the Women of Web3 space on October 11 — a 14-hour annual event with sponsors including She DAO and Wearables, and a sign-up where you pick your slot. Her point: check your own analytics and you'll notice there are far fewer women in the space than it feels like from inside the group chat.

[1:10:14] — The bucket of coffee. Van Ho's favorite Oklahoma coffee shop is veteran- and woman-owned, staffed in part by the owner's severely autistic son who takes orders, and serves coffee by the 32-ounce bucket. Orders take about five minutes. Rachel added the bucket to her literal bucket list.

[1:33:02] — Chris takes it home. After confessing he'd spent his hiatus wiring his own house for Ethernet and feeling extremely handy about it ("or womanly, because there are multiple people who can do this, not just me"), he closed with the panel's shared credential: everyone here found a way to make a living doing this, and if we can do it, you can. Waldo then explained his thumbs-down was purely a fear of being hunted by Rachel's Tesla [1:35:24].

Topic timeline

Notable quotes

• "There's so many irrational, optimistic, positive people in San Francisco." — Dimes (Kevin) [31:04]
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• "I don't hear these teams constantly talking about how are we gonna go get funding... All they're talking about is product, and it's really refreshing." — Dimes (Kevin) [32:18]
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• "If for nothing else, you know, let me buy you a drink or buy you a cup of coffee and welcome you to the city." — Dimes (Kevin) [34:07]
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• "I was a community member who made it on to a team by just being helpful." — Van Ho [27:52]
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• "I think the future is builders and creators, not employees." — Adrian Robison [45:24]
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• "Just like we say liquidity begets liquidity, data trains data." — Chris [1:05:24]
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Who said what

• Rachel (@RachelCreates) — host; ran the room, pulled the lineup together from Yosemite (and later a Tesla charger at 0%), and used the space to rally RSVPs for the Oct 9 Team One event and introduce Human Layer.
• Chris (@csoriano) — co-host; supplied the AI news synthesis, the agent-fleet evangelism, the security guardrails to go with it, and the closing pep talk.
• Luke (@luke152) — Team One US / global ops; previewed his Oct 9 talk on real business use cases, 8004 reputation and x402 payments, and announced the Team One Africa chapter launch.
• Van Ho (@VanHoVibes) — Team One ops and design; told her origin story, built the event graphic on a one-night turnaround (inspired, it turns out, by a friend's couch art), and read out the full run-of-show when Rachel dropped.
• Dimes / Kevin (@dimesonbase) — operator of the Howard; the room's on-the-ground read of SF, from Grok launch parties to what this generation of builders talks about.
• Ms.NFTy (@MS_NFTy) — Stand with Crypto CA chapter president; voter hub, endorsed candidates, and the packed pre-Tech-Week schedule.
• Adrian Robison (@adrianrobison) — videographer and Tiger Mode Media founder; launched his podcast, argued for AI optimism, and modeled good paranoia about what you connect to it.
• Momville (@cryptomomville) — rare live drop-in; Women of Web3's October 11 space and the case for more visible women in the space.
• Migtoshi.tgn (@MiggyCryptoX) — Team One Oklahoma; building a three-month Chamber of Commerce activation blueprint other members can reuse. Also slinging cakes.
• Waldo (@waldoforrealz) — professional space-supporter; came for Quigley content, stayed for the Tech Week FOMO, left fearing Optimus Prime.
• ThatOneKitty (@ThatOneKitty__) — asked the practical question of the day: will there be a stream for people who can't be in SF?
• Dan (@brokenrealitydh) — popped up to flag Adrian's segment for recapping, and to insist nobody miss the sourdough alpha.

Worth a full listen

• [25:12]–[28:56] — Van Ho's full arc from kindergarten teacher to AVAX Summit MC, and the moment Chris asks whether all the anxiety was worth it. The summary can't carry the warmth in the room.
• [58:40]–[1:06:01] — Adrian and Chris building out the "AI as your unaffordable financial advisor" case and then immediately stress-testing it on data privacy. The most genuinely useful eight minutes of the space.
• [1:17:24]–[1:23:08] — After-hours drift: a livestream scoping negotiation, a swag interrogation, sourdough, pineapple pizza, and Van Ho instituting a one-Bitcoin-per-curse jar against herself.