One Way Summit: The Flagship Event for Immigrant Entrepreneurship

💫 The One Way Summit is the flagship event for global founders.

2026 features star speakers from* OpenAI, Google, Slack, Duolingo, Mercury, Liquid AI, NFX, Y Combinator* and more.

Last year’s Summit exceeded all expectations: 500 exceptional founders, investors and innovators came together to hear world-class speakers tell their stories.

🌆 This year, we're going even bigger:

• The #1 conference for immigrant innovators
• 1,000+ attendees
• 30+ countries partnering
• Startup Grind-run startup competition

Join us across a star-studded program featuring globally renowned founders and VCs.

• Main stage | Featuring Severin Hacker (Duolingo), Cal Henderson (Slack), Anna Makanju (OpenAI Foundation) and more
• International startup competition | Powered by Startup Grind
• Expert-led sessions | World experts share their insights

🌎 This is the community for people from anywhere and everywhere who choose to make the US their home, and are unstoppable in their mission.

🎟️ We sold out early last year - Buy your tickets before they're gone 🎟️

🎉 Submit a side event proposal and be part of the program.

Agenda

Wednesday, October 28 (Day 1)

9:00 AM Registration & Coffee

9:45 AM Welcome & Opening Remarks

10:00 AM Fireside Chat: How AI is Changing Education: A Conversation with the CEO of Horowitz Andreessen Academy

10:45 AM Panel: Building the Workplace in the Age of AI

11:30 AM Panel: VCs on the Immigrant Edge

12:15 PM Lunch Break

2:00 PM Panel: What Fintech Still Hasn’t Solved

2:45 PM Coffee Break

3:30 PM Panel: Navigating Immigration Uncertainty & Visa Challenges

4:15 PM Closing Keynote

***

Thursday, October 29 (Day 2)

8:00 AM Breakfast, Coffee & Networking in the Rincon Center

9:00 AM Registration

10:00 AM Panel: Building the Infrastructure of Intelligence

10:45 AM Panel: AI and The New Social Contract

11:30 AM Panel: Hiring Global Talent: A Strategic Edge in Challenging Times

12:15 PM Lunch Break

2:00 PM Panel: Investing in the Impossible: The 2027 Playbook

2:45 PM Coffee Break

3:15 PM Startup Grind Pitch Competition: The Final

4:15 PM Closing Fireside Chat: They Said No. We Built It Anyway. A Conversation with E!'s Larry Namer

4:45 PM Closing Remarks

5:00 PM Happy Hour

🏆 Exciting news – our Pitch Competition agenda is now live! 🏆

Inaugurating: One Way Summit International Pitch – Powered by Startup Grind 🔥

🌍 Early-stage international founders will compete during the summit main event on Weds October 28 (day 1).

📍 Find us in the 1st Floor Auditorium, Commonwealth Club.

11 - 12 PM Fintech

12 - 1 PM B2B

1 - 2 PM Lunch break

2 - 3 PM Consumer Tech

3 - 4 PM Deeptech

4 - 5 PM Healthtech

🚀 Up to 100 startups will pitch on stage.

⏰ 2 minutes.

🗣️ No deck.

🌍 Just outstanding international founders showcasing their tech.

Judges include VCs from Acorn Pacific Ventures, MS&AD, Tau Ventures, as well as a former editor of TechCrunch and former CEO of Issuu.

🛏️ Hotels

We have partner discounts at the following hotels

• Superhero Hotel - *San Francisco's founder hotel affiliated with Frontier Tower *- 825 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94109
• Hotel Griffon - *comfort closest to the venue - *155 Steuart Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Refund, Privacy & Media Release Policies

• Refund requests must be submitted no later than 14 days before the event date.
• Refunds will not be issued for requests made within 14 days of the event.
• Sponsor Data Sharing & Opt-Out - By registering for the One Way Summit (“Event”), you acknowledge that the organizers may share limited attendee information (such as name, company, title, and email) with Event sponsors for the purpose of post-Event follow-up. You may opt out of sponsor data sharing at any time by emailing info@onewaysummit.com. If you opt out, the organizers will not share your personal information with any sponsors.
• Media Release (Photo, Audio, and Video Consent) - By attending the Event, you understand and agree that the organizers may capture photographs, audio recordings, and video footage during the Event. You grant the organizers a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free right to use, reproduce, publish, or distribute such media for promotional, marketing, archival, and educational purposes related to the Event or future One Way Ventures programming. If you prefer not to appear in recorded media, please notify the registration desk upon arrival so that reasonable efforts can be made to accommodate your request; however, the organizers cannot guarantee that you will not be incidentally captured in wide-angle or crowd footage.

This is a smoke-free event pursuant to SF Health Code Article 19L.

More at https://www.onewaysummit.com/