GenAI Builders Meetup Singapore — AI Founders Lunch (ft. Aspire)

30 AI founders. One lunch. Everyone gets 60 seconds before anyone networks.

It's SFF week. Your inbox is full of invitations to receptions with a few hundred people, a panel you'll half-listen to, and a buffet line where someone pitches you their agency.

You go anyway. You meet six people at random. You collect a stack of cards. And you follow up with… none of them.

Be honest. How many of those evenings changed anything for your company?

Here's the thing. Getting unstuck isn't about knowing more people. It's about finding the right five: the founders who hit your exact problem six months ago, or are hitting it right now.

So we built this lunch around one simple rule.

Before anyone networks, everyone introduces themselves.

How it works

1. A short welcome from GenAI Fund and Aspire. No sales pitches. That's a rule for everyone, including us.

2. The round-robin. Every founder gets about 60 seconds. Two things only: what you're building and for whom, and the one thing you need right now.

3. Open networking over light bites. Now you're not guessing. You heard the founder who needs a logistics design partner. The CTO who just hired two AI engineers. The CEO who's taking her product into Indonesia next quarter. You know exactly who to walk up to.

You're back at your desk by 2pm. It's a lunch hour you were going to eat anyway, in the CBD.

Bring one sharp ask

The round-robin is only as good as the asks. Vague ones ("just here to connect!") get vague results. Specific ones get intros. A few examples, by stage:

• 🌱 Pre-product: "I'm validating AI scheduling for clinics. I need three clinic operators to interview."
• 🧪 Running pilots: "We have two enterprise pilots. Converting them to paid is where we're stuck. Who's done it?"
• 📈 Revenue: "We're expanding to Vietnam in Q1. I want 20 minutes with anyone who's set up there."
• 🧑‍💻 Hiring: "We need our first ML engineer and keep losing candidates at the offer stage."

You don't need traction to have a good ask. You just need to know what's blocking you.

Who'll be in the room

AI startup founders and C-level leaders: CEOs, CTOs and co-founders building AI products, from idea stage to Series A and beyond. About 30 seats, curated, so every person in the round-robin is someone worth hearing.

We're hosted by Aspire, the finance platform it says 50,000+ businesses trust. The team is opening their Cecil Street office to us and covering lunch. Expect a short sharing from Aspire (speaker to be announced).

This is the latest edition of the GenAI Builders Meetup Series, run by GenAI Fund.

This is for you if…

• ✅ You're a founder, co-founder or C-level leader at an AI startup
• ✅ You can say what you're building in one sentence (or you're about to find out you can)
• ✅ You'll ask for something specific, and you'll help when you hear an ask you can answer
• ✅ You'd rather have three real conversations than thirty handshakes

It's probably not for you if…

• ❌ You're here to sell services to founders. We'll kindly decline.
• ❌ You want a keynote to sit through. There's no stage and no panel.
• ❌ You're a developer or builder rather than a founder. Come to our 19 Nov evening edition with Twilio instead. It's built for you.

"Okay, but…"

"I don't have traction yet."
Good. Some of the most useful asks come from idea-stage founders. We screen for founders who are building, not for revenue.

"Is this a pitch event? Will investors be there?"
No pitching and no stage. This is a founders' room. If someone in it can help you raise, the round-robin is how you'll find out.

"It's SFF week. I'm slammed."
That's exactly why it's two hours at lunch, in the CBD, and you're out by 2pm. Skip one reception this week instead.

"Will Aspire try to sell me something?"
Aspire is hosting and will share briefly. The agenda is the room, and the no-sales-pitch rule applies to everyone.

"Why is registration reviewed?"
To keep it a room of founders. Tell us what you're building and what you need. It takes about two minutes, and we read every one.

"I'm in town from KL / Jakarta / Ho Chi Minh City for SFF."
Perfect. Register with the country you operate in.

Event details

📅 Friday, 20 November 2026
🕛 12:00–2:00 PM SGT
📍 TBC , Singapore (exact address shared with approved guests)
🍽️ Light bites, courtesy of Aspire
💸 Free. Registration is reviewed; about 30 seats.

Request your seat above. Tell us what you're building and the one thing you need. We'll email you either way.

Hosted by GenAI Fund at Aspire. Part of the GenAI Builders Meetup Series.