Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
Join DRIPBL at Venture Café Phoenix for an engaging conversation on how our community can inspire, mentor, and empower the next generation of innovators. Discover how students are transforming real-world challenges into research, inventions, startups, and meaningful impact—and learn how educators, entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, and industry leaders can play a role in that journey.
Whether you're looking to mentor young innovators, collaborate on research, support STEM education, or build partnerships, this is an opportunity to connect with like-minded changemakers and help shape the future of innovation—starting in the classroom and extending into the startup ecosystem. Come network, collaborate, and explore how you can work with DRIPBL and VENTURE CAFE to build Arizona's innovation pipeline, one student at a time.
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
AI is redefining what is possible in breast cancer care—turning complex data into sharper insights, more personalized treatment and more informed decisions at pivotal moments. Realizing that promise will take more than technology; it will require clinicians, innovators, investors and patient advocates working together to move breakthroughs from possibility to practice.
Join Venture Café Phoenix and SimBioSys for a dynamic Breast Cancer Awareness Month conversation exploring how AI is transforming breast cancer care—and the collaboration needed to shape what comes next.
Moderated by Terri Ouellette, host of ABC15’s Sonoran Living, the panel will bring together leaders spanning healthcare AI, biotechnology, breast surgical oncology, venture capital and patient advocacy to explore:
* Where AI and innovation can address the greatest unmet needs in breast cancer care
* How new technologies are advancing personalized treatment, clinical decision-making and patient understanding
* What it takes to move a breakthrough from development into everyday clinical practice
* Why collaboration among clinicians, innovators, investors, health systems and advocates is essential
* How Arizona’s growing innovation ecosystem can help shape the future of cancer care
Whether you work in healthcare, technology, research, investment or patient advocacy—or simply want to understand how AI is reshaping cancer care—join us for an evening of bold ideas, meaningful connections and a shared vision for better breast cancer care.
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
The future of healthcare is becoming more connected, personalized, and proactive. Join Venture Café Phoenix for a Thursday Gathering exploring how wearable technology and artificial intelligence are transforming the way we monitor health, detect potential issues, and make better-informed decisions about our well-being.
Hear from innovators, entrepreneurs, and healthcare technology leaders who are developing the next generation of wearable devices and AI-powered solutions. From smart sensors and continuous health monitoring to predictive analytics and personalized insights, discover how emerging technologies are moving healthcare beyond the traditional clinical setting and into our everyday lives.
Whether you’re building in health tech, exploring AI, working in healthcare, investing in innovation, or simply curious about what’s next, this gathering offers an opportunity to learn, connect, and explore the possibilities shaping the future of healthcare.
Get the inside scoop from the behind-the-scenes team that pulls off mega events like the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, and the upcoming NBA All-Star Game! Join the City of Phoenix events team for the events focused panel featuring key partners who help bring downtown to life during these major moments. Come hear stories, insights, and behind-the-scenes magic that make these events unforgettable!
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
Most owners spend years building something without ever asking the most important question: What do I actually want from this?
This session brings everything together. Using the frameworks from the prior five sessions, you'll map your real options:
- Scale it
- Step back
- Transfer it, or
- Buy something
We'll show you how to build a 90-day plan aligned with where you actually want to go. No generic advice, no pressure to decide. Just clarity on where your business stands, what it's worth in its current state, and which move creates the most options.
Your endgame is your choice. This session helps you make it real.
Speakers:
- Erik Schlesinger, CEO, Build Scale Prosper
- Malcom Marzett, CEO & Founder, MZT:1990
Programming In Partnership with: Build, Scale, Prosper
Be sure to pre-register for this event to recive the google meet link via email.
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
The Colorado River has helped shape the growth and prosperity of Arizona and the Southwest, but the river is entering a consequential new chapter.
Join us at Venture Café Phoenix for a timely conversation with Terry Goddard, President of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board of Directors, exploring the current state of the Colorado River, the challenges and decisions ahead, and what they mean for Arizona’s water future.
With major decisions about the future management of the Colorado River underway, water remains one of the most important issues shaping Arizona’s communities, economy, agriculture, and continued growth. President Goddard will share insights into the role of the Central Arizona Project, the realities facing the Colorado River system today, and how Arizona is preparing for the future.
Designed for a broad community audience, this session will help make a complex and often technical issue more accessible while providing an opportunity to hear directly from one of Arizona’s water leaders.
The presentation will be followed by audience Q&A.
In Partnership with Power48 Extend EV
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
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
In Partnership with Club Lumen and The Morning Rave™
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor:
For operators ready to build something bigger, acquisition is one of the most powerful and most misunderstood tools available.
Organic growth is slow. The right acquisition compresses years into months.
This session breaks down how sophisticated buyers evaluate targets, structure deals, and integrate businesses without destroying the value they paid for. We connect the succession crisis directly to the acquisition opportunity: the thousands of Arizona businesses at a crossroads, and the right buyer with the right framework creates wins for sellers, employees, communities, and investors alike.
This is where the series comes full circle, from understanding the problem to becoming part of the solution.
Speakers:
- Erik Schlesinger, CEO, Build Scale Prosper
- Malcom Marzett, CEO & Founder, MZT:1990
Programming In Partnership with: Build, Scale, Prosper
Be sure to pre-register for this event to recive the google meet link via email.
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
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
In Partnership with Club Lumen and The Morning Rave™
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor:
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
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
In Partnership with Club Lumen and The Morning Rave™
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor:
Founder-driven growth feels like an asset. To a buyer, it's a liability.
If your business runs on your relationships, your business isn't scalable. It's personal. And personal doesn't transfer.
In this session, we'll show you how to distinguish between growth that depends on you and growth that compounds without you.
You'll draft a one-page growth engine your team can run, improve, and own.
Speakers:
- Erik Schlesinger, CEO, Build Scale Prosper
- Malcom Marzett, CEO & Founder, MZT:1990
Programming In Partnership with: Build, Scale, Prosper
Be sure to pre-register for this event to recive the google meet link via email.
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
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
In Partnership with Club Lumen and The Morning Rave™
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor:
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
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
In Partnership with Club Lumen and The Morning Rave™
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor:
In a crowded market, competing harder is not a strategy. It's exhaustion with a business card.
Blue Ocean Strategy is one of the most powerful frameworks for helping Main Street and lower middle market businesses stop fighting over the same customers and start creating a Blue Ocean where competition is irrelevant.
This session adapts that framework to the reality of running a small or mid-sized business. It's practical, specific, and actionable.
You'll identify the customer segments, niches, or offers that reduce price pressure, attract better buyers, and build the kind of differentiation that holds up in due diligence and commands a premium at exit.
Speakers:
- Erik Schlesinger, CEO, Build Scale Prosper
- Malcom Marzett, CEO & Founder, MZT:1990
Programming In Partnership with: Build, Scale, Prosper
Be sure to pre-register for this event to recive the google meet link via email.
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
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 Legacy Sponsor:
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
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
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor:
If the business slows down or stops when you do, you don't own a business. You own a job with overhead.
Owner dependency and key-person risk are the single biggest valuation killers in Main Street and lower middle market businesses, and most owners don't see them clearly until they're sitting across from a buyer who does.
This session helps you find exactly where that risk is hiding in your business, understand how it shows up in due diligence and deal structures, and build a 90-day plan to start transferring critical responsibilities before it costs you.
You'll leave with a clear picture of your dependency risk and one concrete move to start dismantling it.
Speakers:
- Erik Schlesinger, CEO, Build Scale Prosper
- Malcom Marzett, CEO & Founder MZT:1990
Programming In Partnership with: Build, Scale, Prosper
Be sure to pre-register for this event to recive the google meet link via email.
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
You've built something real. The question is whether a buyer, investor, or successor would see it the same way you do, or whether they'd see something fragile.
Most owners measure success by revenue and growth. Sophisticated buyers measure something different: transferability, scalability, and risk. The gap between those two lenses is where valuation gets destroyed, and deals fall apart.
In this session, we introduce a framework to help you score and map your business against the eight drivers that create real enterprise value.
You'll leave knowing exactly where your business stands and what to fix first.
Speakers:
- Erik Schlesinger, CEO, Build Scale Prosper
- Malcom Marzett, CEO & Founder, MZT:1990
Programming In Partnership with: Build, Scale, Prosper
Be sure to pre-register for this event to recive the google meet link via email.
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
Venture Café Phoenix will be closed on Thursday, July 2nd.
If you were planning to stop by and will miss us, we’ve got you covered—our newly launched Venture Café Phoenix podcast just went live. You can catch stories, conversations, and ecosystem highlights anytime here: Venture Café Phoenix Podcast
Please join us for the return of the Extraordinary Summer Series on Thursday, July 9th!
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
In Partnership with Club Lumen and The Morning Rave™
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor: The City of Phoenix
Explore how international collaboration accelerates biotech innovation during this dynamic global showcase featuring emerging companies from Taiwan and Australia. In a series of rapid-fire presentations, biotech leaders will share breakthrough technologies, innovative therapeutic approaches, and advancements shaping the future of healthcare and clinical research.
The session will highlight opportunities for cross-border partnerships, commercialization, and clinical trial collaboration among organizations across the U.S., Taiwan, and Australia. Attendees will gain insight into each region’s innovation ecosystem, regulatory landscape, and growing role in advancing global clinical development.
Sponsored by Legacy Sponsor:
Food and Networking Sponsored by:
Innovation often begins with a challenge that seems impossible to solve. In healthcare, those breakthroughs can transform, and save lives.
This week at Venture Café Phoenix, we'll explore how innovation moves from idea to impact through advancements in cardiac intervention and medical technology. Join W. L. Gore & Associates as they share how engineering, clinical science, and physician collaboration are driving new approaches to treating structural heart conditions through minimally invasive therapies.
Beyond healthcare innovation, the evening will also celebrate the power of human-centered problem-solving across industries. From entrepreneurs showcasing products developed across Sub-Saharan Africa, to hands-on innovation through LEGO® Serious Play®, to candid conversations about leadership, resilience, and building sustainable businesses, this week's gathering highlights the many ways people are creating solutions to complex challenges.
Whether you're a founder, researcher, healthcare professional, student, investor, or curious community member, join us to connect with innovators who are reimagining what's possible, and building a healthier, stronger future through collaboration and creativity.
What if sound could help grow healthier plants, increase food production, conserve water, and reshape the future of agriculture? This immersive evening explores the emerging intersection of sound, music, plant science, technology, and sustainability. Through live demonstrations, conversations with innovators, and real-world applications, discover how frequencies and sonic environments are being used to influence plant growth, improve yields, and spark new possibilities for food systems and environmental innovation. From scientific research to experimental gardening and entrepreneurial opportunity, join the VCPHX Community for a fascinating look at how sound may become one of the next tools transforming the way we grow.