50 Founders. 3 Golden Skulls. 1 Alpaca. One Community Showing Up for Entrepreneurs
The Californer/10357952

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - Californer -- Fifty founders stepped up to the microphone. Three walked away with Golden Skulls. But at Survivor 14, the real objective was bigger than winning a pitch competition.

It was getting founders into the right room.

Tech Coast Venture Network (TCVN), Southern California's longest standing nonprofit entrepreneur-support organization, brought its signature Survivor startup pitch competition to the TiE Los Angeles Investor Summit 2026, held September 17–18 at the Renaissance Newport Beach Hotel, creating two days of pitches, conversations, introductions and connections between entrepreneurs and the people who can help move their companies forward.

The partnership brought together two entrepreneurship communities around a shared idea: founders need more than stages. They need access.

That philosophy was reflected throughout the TiE Los Angeles Investor Summit, a two-day founder and investor experience designed around practical growth, meaningful networking and reducing the roadblocks between entrepreneurs and opportunity. Survivor 14 became one of the Summit's featured pitch competitions alongside the TiE Women North America & Europe Finals.

One Introduction Can Change a Company

Before the first Survivor pitch, Tony Crisp, President of Tech Coast Venture Network, challenged the room to think differently about what it means to support an entrepreneur.

"Don't just listen for what you like about a founder's pitch. Listen for how you can help them. One introduction can change their business."

That idea represents Survivor's larger mission.

For more than four decades, TCVN has worked to help entrepreneurs become fundable by building relationships between founders, investors, mentors, operators and community leaders.

Survivor compresses that mission into one high-energy experience.

There are no slides in the opening round. No elaborate pitch deck. No long presentation.

Just a founder, a microphone and 30 seconds to make someone care.

And sometimes, 30 seconds is enough to start a relationship that changes what happens next.

50 Founders Took the Mic

Survivor 14 began Thursday with an open-mic Lightning Round, giving founders 30 seconds each to introduce themselves, their companies and the problems they are working to solve.

The format is intentionally simple: give founders a chance to be seen and heard.

Three companies advanced from the Lightning Round to join seven preselected companies in Friday's Final Round.

There, finalists received seven minutes to pitch followed by three minutes of live questions from an investor judging panel.

More on The Californer

• Turn of the Screw: Another $135 Million from Taxpayers in Santa Cruz County Proposed
• Solid Earth's new "Welcome to Real Estate" campaign introduces RealtyID™: Know Before Your Open the Door
• CLARA Analytics Unveils Industry's First End-to-End Agentic Claims Intelligence Platform
• Radio Drive's New Album Walk With Me Delivers Two GRAMMY® Submissions Across Rock and Alternative Categories
• Kaplan Morrell and Attorney Jacqui Condon Selected to Represent Professional Women's Soccer Players in Workers' Compensation Matters

After two days of competition, three founders claimed the Survivor 14 Golden Skulls.

Survivor 14 Champion — Axyo Inc.

Led by Founder and CEO Sandeep Bose, Axyo Inc. builds AI-native planning and early-warning tools for mid-market supply chains.

First Runner-Up — Guidant BioTherapeutics

Led by founder Shreefāl Mehta, Guidant BioTherapeutics is an oncology biotechnology company developing cancer treatments through its proprietary FHAB albumin-binding delivery platform.

Second Runner-Up — Pari Biosciences Inc.

Led by Founder and CEO Shital Tripathi, Pari Biosciences applies AI and synthetic biology to women's health.

More Than a Pitch Competition

The founders who walked away with Golden Skulls were only part of the story.

Across the TiE Los Angeles Investor Summit, entrepreneurs had access to investors, operators and ecosystem leaders through two days of programming, panels, exhibits, networking and pitch opportunities.

The Summit was built around a simple premise: helping founders move forward through access, conversations, visibility, partnerships and capital.

That made Survivor a natural fit.

The collaboration between TCVN and TiE Los Angeles extended that philosophy beyond the competition itself, creating an environment where founders could continue conversations long after they stepped off the Survivor stage.

What the Community Is Saying

Sandeep Bose, Founder & CEO of Axyo Inc., reflected on the experience after winning Survivor 14:

"We also had something to celebrate: Axyo won the TCVN Survivor 14 pitch competition at the summit! It meant a lot to share what we're building and receive that recognition. I'm grateful to be part of a team that makes this challenging journey so much fun."

For Shital Tripathi, Founder & CEO of Pari Biosciences Inc., an unexpected 30-second pitch turned into a podium finish.

"I went to the TiE Los Angeles Investor Summit to pitch for the TiE Women's program, and I came home with the TCVN Survivor 14 trophy. My takeaway: say yes to the room. The 30 seconds you didn't plan for might be the ones that count."

Survivor judge Abdi Sherif, Managing Director of gBETA gener8tor, said:

"One of the strongest pitch events I have had the opportunity to judge and be a part of. I have no doubt that these startups will go on to become category leading companies and become a force for good in the world."

Shankar Ram, Co-Founder of TiE Los Angeles, added:

"Enjoyed the conference, especially TCVN Survivor 14. Honored to be on the judges' panel, thanks for the opportunity."

And Mike Hsieh, Founder of Gumshoe Ventures, offered founders a simple message:

"Thanks for having me, TCVN and TiE Los Angeles, and to all the founders that pitched. Keep going."

Investors Who Showed Up for Founders

More on The Californer

• Pervaziv AI Advances Cortex with 3-Tier Inference Cache Architecture for Faster, Trusted AI Workflows
• ClearSight Therapeutics Receives NIH SBIR Phase I Award for Conjunctivitis and EKC Research
• California: National leaders and lawmakers celebrate Governor Newsom's signature on the most comprehensive data center laws in the nation
• Stockdale Capital Partners Announces Strategic Partnership in AI Platform Zinq AI
• Lunai Bioworks (N A S D A Q: LNAI) Takes Parkinson's Discovery to the Next Level With Exclusive Tanaist Agreement

Survivor 14 was supported by a judging panel spanning the TiE network and Southern California's startup and investment community:

• Maeesha Merchant — EVP, COO & CFO, Colburn
 
• Shankar Ram — Co-Founder, TiE Los Angeles
• Mike Hsieh — Co-Founder, Gumshoe Ventures
 
• Tom Sullivan — COO, AIR2O
• Kannan Ramachandran — President, TiE Phoenix
• Abdi Sherif — Managing Director, gBETA gener8tor

TCVN extends special thanks to the TiE Global Network and TiE Los Angeles for bringing Survivor into the Investor Summit and helping create greater access between founders and the broader investor community.

The collaboration was supported by Venkatesh Sankaran, Jerry Heikens, and Dhaval Kapadia of TiE Los Angeles.

The Alpaca? That's a Longer Story.

Survivor has never looked much like a traditional pitch competition.

Survivor 14 was no exception.

Previous Survivor participants returned to support the next generation of competitors, including Kamola Mir of Lidavex Inc., who shared an update on the company's progress.

Alex D'Jon, founder of BookMeow, also returned.

He brought Hope the alpaca.

Because apparently 50 founders, six judges and three Golden Skulls weren't enough.

Beyond the fun, those returning founders represented something central to TCVN's mission: the relationship doesn't end when the competition does.

Survivor alumni remain part of a growing community of founders helping founders.

Founders First. Relationships Over Transactions. Community Over Competition.

Survivor 14 was made possible by the people who continue to show up for Southern California's entrepreneurship community.

TCVN recognizes Board members Aaron Klein, Lillian Victoria Ng, Miguel Caballero Pinto, Katherine Nguyen, Nick Achee, John Russo, Irzy Collado and Taiga Ryu for helping bring Survivor 14 to life.

Special thanks go to Chris Weber of ONLY ON THE RANCHO for documenting the event, as well as Scott Fox of the Orange County Startup Council, Cynthia West, Ph.D., and Joshua Y. Lee for their continued support of the founder community.

For TCVN, that community represents something larger than any single event.

Next Stop: OC Tech Week

The momentum continues next month with OC Tech Week, bringing together Orange County's technology, startup and innovation communities for a week of independently organized events, conversations and connections across the region.

TCVN invites founders, investors, students, operators and community leaders to participate.

Join OC Tech Week at octechweek.com.

About Tech Coast Venture Network

Founded in 1984, Tech Coast Venture Network (TCVN) is a nonprofit entrepreneurship organization with a mission to help founders become fundable.

TCVN connects entrepreneurs with the relationships, knowledge and opportunities that can help move their companies forward through programs including PitchPolish™, InvestorReady™, Survivor™, Investor Dating Game™, Wingz™ and the Rocky™ Founders Choice Awards.

TCVN is built around three core values:

Founders First. Relationships Over Transactions. Community Over Competition.

Because sometimes the most valuable thing an entrepreneur needs isn't another pitch deck.

It's the right introduction.

Build with us and become a lifetime member at www.tcvn.org/join.