Founders Live NYC
About the event
**PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ATTENDEES MUST [REGISTER ON OUR LUMA PAGE](https://luma.com/founderslive-new-york-city-2026-10)**
Founders Live New York City is Back for October! Founders Live is NYC’s premier networking event for early-stage startups and part of the [global Founders Live community](https://www.founderslive.com/). Our monthly pitch competition welcomes anyone interested in New York City’s startup ecosystem, including founders, investors, operators, students, and more. The format is simple: ▸ 5 founders ▸ 99-second pitches ▸ 4 minute audience Q&A ▸ Your votes decide the winner Attendees are invited to arrive with friends and coworkers up to an hour before (doors at 6:00) for networking and included refreshments.
Presenting Founders
Our October presenters will be announced shortly. ▸Interested in pitching at this or a future event? [Apply here!](https://www.founderslive.com/pitch) ▸Know someone who should pitch? [Open The Door](https://www.founderslive.com/open)
Winners
The winner of the pitch competition will receive the following: ▸ [Front Row membership](https://www.founderslive.com/frontrow) with unlimited access to Backstage Intelligence and the Backchannel community. ▸Founders Live Booster Pack, featuring over $1,000,000 in cash savings on 100+ essential apps and services for startups. ▸An appearance in the[ ](https://www.founderslive.com/primetime)[Founders Live Prime Time](https://www.founderslive.com/primetime) regional qualifiers with a chance to advance to our Prime Time global livestream tournament.
Our Partners
▸ Venue Sponsor: [Belong](https://belongnyc.com/) is a premium, beautifully designed "third space" and urban oasis in the heart of SoHo (218 Lafayette St.). Bridging the gap between work, travel, and lifestyle, the venue offers versatile coworking spaces, private meeting rooms, and high-end amenities like luxury shower suites and luggage storage. It serves as the perfect city-center haven for remote workers, travelers, and professionals looking to work, connect, and refresh in an elegant, inspiring environment.
▸ Presenting Sponsor Success as an early-stage founder isn't just about finding people to invest in your ideas; it's about building a team that can help you move them forward. Without an existing network, it's not always clear where to get started, though. We know because we've done it.
Venture Scale is the premier online space for the startup community. We're helping founders like you find the investors, advisors, and operators that can accelerate their growth. Create a free profile at venturescale.com to get started.
▸ Supporting Sponsor [Lovable](https://lovable.dev) is the AI app builder letting anyone turn a plain-English idea into a real, working product—frontend, backend, and database included—powering everything from scrappy side projects to apps built by teams at Klarna and Uber.  [Pensato](https://pensato.ai/founders-live/?=utm_source=founderslive&utm_medium=luma&utm_campaign=backstage) is a secure layer for local AI, checking every request going in, tracing every answer coming out, and keeping a person accountable throughout, across any industry, workflow, or team. [Get a free AI Governance Readiness Evaluation](https://pensato.ai/founders-live/?=utm_source=founderslive&utm_medium=luma&utm_campaign=backstage): know where your local AI stands before the audience votes.
Enter the Pitch Video Challenge!
This is your chance to share your story in a 99-second pitch video. Prizes start at 250 votes. [Get notified when entries open for the 2026 edition!](https://www.founderslive.com/pitch-video-challenge)
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