Tech Week in Los Angeles is officially underway, and that sound you hear is Westside drivers looking for parking. Come on in, losers, we share where we’ve been and what we’ve seen there.
Getting ready for #LAtechweek
For a few lucky founders, Tech Week doesn’t start with a bang, it starts with a blow-dry. Preparationa virtual fashion and beauty startup launched in March 2020 in Raleigh, North Carolina, has opened the doors of its Peer space— rented the West LA home to Tech Week attendees looking for an aesthetic tune-up.
The energy of the company is that of a Better Help or Airbnb, but for the beauty space. The Prept app matches customers with one of the company’s 55 stylists or makeup artists, who design and research custom outfits and beauty looks. For those uninitiated at Sephora, the makeup looks also come with virtual application classes.
On Mondays between 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., the women stroll through the three-story house for hair, makeup, and styling appointments. Preparation staff check in guests on the first floor; vendors, snacks and beautification services are set up on the second. The third floor is reserved for bathrooms, but also ends up serving as a haven for attendees looking to cram in a quick business call between events.
Founded by Nicole Teibel Boyd, Prept moved from the East Coast to Los Angeles about a year ago and relaunched the beta version of its app in February. Millennials are its target audience and the company’s priorities are accessibility, affordability and sustainability. Nicole says Prept considers itself label-agnostic and is happy to work with any brands customers naturally gravitate to.
Tech Week is just Prept’s tenth in-person event. In the two years since its launch, they’ve hosted parties in cities like Atlanta and Indianapolis, but most of their work takes place virtually. However, this part of their business model might be changing. In true Millennial fashion, Prept adheres to a “we say no to nothing” philosophy when it comes to turning down work, and has recently expanded to offering makeup consultation events for employees of companies like Lenovo.
Tech Week attendees are grateful for beauty services, especially after the stress of trying to register for events. One founder says she had trouble finding space, especially at events for female founders. She says she does this by reconnecting with old contacts, but the lack of access makes it difficult to meet new people and network.
CryptoMondays LA
“Are you here for CryptoMondays? asks Kate, one of the organizers. “What’s your crypto vibe?”
It’s the same question she asked all attendees who show up at Clutch, a beloved restaurant in Venice known for its northern Mexican cuisine and weekly outdoor crypto meetups.
Tech Week is temporary, but CryptoMondays are forever. Or at least for the foreseeable future. Originally founded in New York in 2017 by Lou Kerner — who also happens to be one of many attendees at yesterday’s event in Los Angeles — CryptoMondays has thrived. Over the past five years, independent chapters of the Meetup group have sprung up in cities around the world.
Responses to Kate’s introductory line on crypto vibes vary. Tonight’s attendees are builders, consultants, NFT fans, bitcoin investors, founders, Web 3.0 enthusiasts and diners who strolled from the adjacent patio at Clutch to see what’s on. acted.
Online, CryptoMondays describes itself as a “decentralized global community that shares a passion for crypto, blockchain and how it will dramatically change the world.” In person, Kate explains that the group is focused on education and that the meet is for people of all levels of experience and involvement.
As Clutch’s back patio fills up, then overflows into the parking lot, Kate rushes between the attendees, taking on the role of crypto matchmaker. She asks guests about their interests in space, then introduces them to someone she thinks might have complementary goals. The first hour of the event passes in a flurry of networking, discussions of the blockchains people are using, and stray cocktails.
Each week, the LA chapter of CryptoMondays attracts between 50 and 200 nerds at a time. Meetings include a guest speaker, as well as time for participants to meet and ask questions. Over the past few weeks, discussions have focused on crypto DeFi and decentralization and creating your own company. Kate says the group is committed to building community: political views run the gamut, but participants are united by their vision of what technology can do for the future.
Tech Week is a standing room only event, but since the featured speaker, Jess Fourman, speaks only ten minutes, it is not a problem. Music Director, Creative Strategist, and Core Member and Co-Head of the Blu3 Angels Network for Blu3 DAO, Jess advises on seed funding for Web 3 projects. She also discusses her passion project, which uses ledger technology distributive to create the music industry’s first transparent database, with the goal of ensuring that unclaimed royalties reach the artists who rightfully deserve them.
Crypto vibes can vary, but the energy of CryptoMondays is undeniably positive. Going forward, interested parties can get involved with the LA Chapter by attending a meetup and joining their Telegram group. Meetup organizers say they need to add people to the in-person group because – much like Telegram – it has recently been overrun by bots.
From articles on your site
Related articles on the web
Comments are closed.