Inside Silicon Valley's Innovation Engine: Capital, Founders, & Technology

The cycle is constant and accelerating. Venture capital flows into emerging technologies, founders build companies around them, and engineers turn those ideas into products. What does this cycle look like from the inside? How do the people driving it decide where to invest, what to build, and who to fund?

Join Cal Alumni of Silicon Valley for an open conversation with fellow Bears working across venture capital, university entrepreneurship, and deep tech. Each will share what they've seen and learned - from evaluating startups and supporting founders to building products at scale. Whether you are a Cal alum, a current student, faculty, or a friend of the Cal community, come for the conversation, stay for the connections.

• Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2026
• Time: 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Location: Morgan Lewis, Palo Alto, CA
• Address: 1400 Page Mill Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94304

Our Speakers:

1. Bryce Gilleland - General Partner, California Innovation Fund

Bryce is a Haas MBA '20 and GP at California Innovation Fund, a UC-focused venture fund investing in startups born from world-leading university research in sustainability, health, and deep tech.

2. Dawn McGee - Executive Director, Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub)

Dawn brings two decades of experience building entrepreneurship ecosystems on university campuses and leads the eHub, the launchpad for the next generation of Haas and Berkeley student founders.

3. Nihar Jindal - Senior Staff Hardware Engineer, Google

Nihar is an IEEE Fellow and WiFi/Bluetooth/UWB/NFC Lead on Google Pixel with a UC Berkeley BS and Stanford PhD, previously at Broadcom, Bell Labs, and Nokia.

4. Andrew Yao (Moderator) - Associate, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP

Andrew advises emerging companies and investors across the tech ecosystem and will guide the conversation as our moderator for the event at Morgan Lewis.

Program:

3:00 - 3:30 p.m.: Arrival and networking

3:30 - 3:35 p.m.: Welcome by Lisa M. Lum, Founder of CASV

3:35 - 4:15 p.m.: Panel discussion

4:15 - 4:30 p.m.: Q&A

4:30 - 5:00 p.m.: Networking

Look forward to seeing you there.

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