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Thursday Gathering
Extraordinary Summer: Real Founder Stories - July 9
Jul 9, 2026, 4:30 PM - 7:00 PM MST

This summer at Venture Café Phoenix, we’re inviting you to go on a journey with us, into the real, unfiltered stories of entrepreneurship.

Launching June 25th and running weekly through September 3rd, our Founder Journeys Summer Series will feature a different founder from our community each week in an intimate fireside chat format, moderated by the Venture Café Phoenix team.

Together, we’ll explore how they got started, the challenges they’ve faced, where they found funding, and what they’re building next. But beyond the startup story, we’ll go deeper, into the role community has played in shaping their path.

We’ll ask founders how engaging with Venture Café has impacted their journey, where they are today because of those connections, and what support has mattered most along the way. And just as importantly, we’ll explore how they want to give back, how they can support the broader ecosystem as it continues to grow.

This series is designed to be a two-way conversation between founders and community: learning from those building in real time, and strengthening the network that helps them (and all of us) move forward together.

Sponsored by: Extraordinary Network

Sessions
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4:30 PM - 5:30 PM MST
Book Signing: Meet the Authors of Death of a Job and Foresight 2030
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5:30 PM - 5:40 PM MST
Welcome to Venture Café Phoenix - Orientation Session
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5:45 PM - 7:00 PM MST
Founder Fireside Chat: Futurist Mike Johns & Strategist Doug Griffen
Speakers
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Douglas Griffen
Founder
Advanced Strategy Center
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Michael johns
Author
Death of a Job
Location
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