Startup San Diego Week 2025: Building the Binational Future of AI and Innovation
Key Takeaways: Startup San Diego Week 2025
Human-Centered AI Is the Future: Across sessions, leaders stressed that AI’s role is to enhance human creativity and decision-making — not replace it.
Binational Innovation Is San Diego’s Superpower: Cross-border collaboration between San Diego and Tijuana is driving shared talent pipelines, AI research, and sustainable growth.
Data Transparency Builds Trust: Founders agreed that AI adoption depends on clear communication, explainability, and responsible use of data.
Smaller Models, Smarter Devices: Edge computing enables AI-powered home and cleantech devices to operate efficiently, securely, and sustainably.
Community and Mentorship Drive Success: From Carlsbad to UCSD, mentorship, peer networks, and founder collaboration proved as vital as funding in startup growth.
Startup San Diego Week 2025 Highlights a Cross-Border Future for AI and Innovation
San Diego Startup Week 2025 showcased the region’s unique position as a hub for innovation, technology, and collaboration — spanning five days, five locations, and two countries. From Carlsbad’s focus on sustainable growth to UC San Diego’s deep dive into AI’s exponential impact, this year’s event reflected a thriving ecosystem defined by connectivity, creativity, and purpose-driven entrepreneurship.
Hosted across Carlsbad, Mintz, SDSU, ArkusNexus in Tijuana, and UC San Diego, the week brought together founders, investors, educators, and innovators who are collectively shaping the next generation of startups across Southern California and Baja California.
Day 1: Carlsbad — In Our Backyard: First Steps to Growing Sustainable Success
Startup San Diego Week 2025 opened in Carlsbad with a focus on sustainable business growth, community resources, and storytelling as a catalyst for brand success. Founders and operators participated in hands-on workshops, pitch sessions, and mentoring hubs designed to help them refine their strategy and access local resources.
Key sessions included “You Started a Business — Now What?”, led by Kimberly Davis King, which guided early founders through post-launch strategy and leveraging regional support systems. In “Tell Your Story: Elevator Pitch Workshop”, participants honed their startup narratives with peer feedback, while “Ready to Raise” offered legal and financial insights for founders preparing to fundraise — covering everything from clean cap tables to GAAP-compliant accounting.
The day’s highlight, a keynote fireside chat with Dr. Bronner’s COO Michael Milam, explored how one of San Diego’s most iconic brands built a global reputation through ethics, transparency, and sustainable growth.
Panelists emphasized that 10–15% of success lies in technical know-how; the rest comes from understanding what makes you different and building around that advantage.
Tips shared throughout the day:
Build peer-to-peer relationships and seek mentorship early.
Focus on solving what truly differentiates your startup — borrow what’s already proven elsewhere.
Keep your legal and financial foundation clean to avoid future friction when scaling.
Day 2: Mintz — SD Founders Showcase: Connecting Founders and Funders
Day 2 shifted downtown to Mintz for an energetic day of founder showcases and community building, centered around San Diego’s next generation of early-stage startups.
The day began with “How to Find Product-Market Fit”, helping founders test assumptions using lean experimentation and customer feedback. “AI Sales Revolution,” led by Violet Rainwater, demonstrated how artificial intelligence is transforming prospecting, research, and sales execution — empowering small businesses to compete at enterprise scale.
Later, “Seamless Connections: AI-Powered Matchmaking Between Startups and Experts” introduced Simbiosyx, an AI-driven platform from Aquillius, that pairs startups with domain experts in real time. The session reflected the week’s recurring theme: AI as a bridge for human collaboration, not a replacement for it.
The evening’s San Diego Founders Showcase, presented by J.P. Morgan and Mintz, brought together 30+ early-stage companies across digital health, medtech, SaaS, and gaming. Investors and community members filled the space to network, explore demos, and engage directly with the region’s most promising innovators.
Tips shared throughout the day:
Test quickly and cheaply before writing code.
Use AI for connection and context — not just automation.
Refine your story and metrics to align with investor expectations.
Day 3: San Diego State University — Success Isn’t Linear
Midweek, the focus turned to SDSU, where founders, students, and alumni gathered to explore team building, startup funding, and storytelling in the age of AI.
Sessions like “Navigating Your Startup’s Legal Journey with Cooley” and “What Makes a Company Fundable?” broke down the essentials of investor readiness and founder protection. In “Building Your Team & Co-Founder Matching,” attendees found partners and collaborators through interactive activities and one-on-one mentoring powered by the SDSU Lavin Entrepreneurship Center and Techstars San Diego.
The day’s highlight came from StartX’s San Diego Chapter Launch and panel, “Storytelling in the Era of AI,” featuring Steven Dow (UCSD), Zach Perkins (Adobe), Scott Robinson (FreshForm), Nathan Firth (Awsm), and Demian Borba (Pactto). The discussion underscored how creativity, design, and human intuition remain central to effective AI use in content creation and marketing.
SDSU also hosted the Lightweight Intercollegiate Pitch Tournament, spotlighting emerging student founders and underscoring the strong link between San Diego’s academic and entrepreneurial communities.
Tips shared throughout the day:
Prioritize team chemistry as much as product viability.
Align legal structure and ownership early.
Use AI as a creative partner — but keep storytelling human.
Day 4: ArkusNexus (Tijuana) — Baja Innovation: Locally Grown, Globally Known
Day 4 crossed the border into Tijuana, highlighting the binational power of the San Diego–Baja California innovation corridor. The day opened with remarks from ArkusNexus and Startup San Diego, setting the tone for a celebration of cross-border collaboration and technological growth.
In “Building Baja’s Next Generation of AI Talent,” university and industry leaders from CETYS, UABC, and GeeksAcademy discussed how educational programs and bootcamps are preparing the next wave of developers and engineers.
“Pouring Growth: The Technology Behind Baja’s Booming Beverages” showcased the tech behind regional leaders like Cervecería Insurgente, Ramuri, and Dovinto, revealing how data, refrigeration, and precision fermentation are transforming artisanal brewing and winemaking into scalable global operations.
The final panel, “Cross-Cultural Collaboration Between the U.S. and Mexico,” reinforced the importance of shared learning, nearshoring, and trust in expanding opportunities across borders.
Tips shared throughout the day:
Invest in education-to-employment pipelines that cross borders.
Technology can elevate traditional industries without replacing their craft.
Collaboration is the region’s strongest competitive advantage.
Day 5 — UC San Diego: Powering AI’s Exponential Growth
The final day of San Diego Startup Week 2025 transformed UC San Diego’s Design & Innovation Building into a vibrant hub of collaboration, creativity, and exploration. Dozens of sessions, hands-on workshops, networking events, and two major keynotes filled the schedule — each highlighting San Diego’s growing influence in the AI and startup ecosystem.
While many sessions explored topics such as venture funding, go-to-market strategies, and creative entrepreneurship, the panels I attended focused squarely on AI’s real-world impact — from robotics and cleantech to intelligent homes and cognitive computing. Together, they offered a front-row look at how startups are redefining innovation through a blend of data, design, and the human decisions guiding AI. What connected every conversation was a shared conviction: AI is most powerful when it augments human ingenuity, not replaces it.
Session 1 — The Startup Playbook: Perseverance, Focus & Execution
Speakers: Lena Skliarova Mordvinova (Perseverance.ac), Kurling Robinson (Fokus), Sergey Dmitriev (Perseverance.ac / Unusual Concepts)
Moderator: Neal Bloom
Key Theme: After the accelerator, real growth depends on disciplined execution, data-driven feedback, and community accountability.
Highlights:
AI-assisted reflection: Founders use AI to surface daily blind spots and identify where to focus effort each week.
Peer reviews build momentum: Regular peer-to-peer reviews replace top-down mentoring, creating a learning loop and support network.
Know-how vs. differentiation: “Only 10–15 percent is know-how — what makes you different. The rest is what everyone else has already solved.”
Execution over ideas: AI can automate, but consistency, documentation, and focus separate survivors from the rest.
Pro Tips for Founders:
✅ Document daily progress — AI tools can reveal repeating bottlenecks.
✅ Leverage community accountability.
✅ Build complementary teams.
✅ Define your minimum valuable product.
Session 2 — From Smart to Intelligent: AI and the Connected Home
Speakers: Vishal Shah (MAAV Global), Khurram Hussain (IRVINEi)
Moderator: Cheryl Goodman
Key Theme: Homes are moving beyond “smart” commands toward intelligent, context-driven experiences — yet with intelligence comes the critical need for privacy, security, and trust.
Highlights:
Edge over cloud: Processing data locally improves security, speed, and efficiency.
Context awareness: Future homes will interpret behavior and adapt automatically.
Security first: Cybersecurity must be built in from day one.
AI efficiency insight: Running 20 AI prompts consumes the energy of one water bottle.
Design insight: The smartest home is the one that feels natural — not the one that constantly talks back.
Session 3 — Embodied Robotics: Bringing Automation to Life
Speakers: John Black (Brain Corp), Chad Sweet (ModalAI), Hansol Hong (Robolink)
Key Theme: San Diego is becoming a global robotics hub, led by Brain Corp and ModalAI — proving that AI-powered autonomous systems can move from prototype to scale.
Highlights:
Brain Corp’s revolution: From cleaning robots to inventory analytics — automation meets business intelligence.
ModalAI’s edge: Builds GPS-free drones and non-Chinese video systems, making it a trusted U.S. supplier.
Ecosystem advantage: UCSD, SDSU, and Qualcomm alumni form the engineering core of the robotics economy.
Hardware realities: AI-driven testing and predictive diagnostics streamline production.
Session 4 — How AI Is Powering the Next Wave of Cleantech Startups
Speakers: Kyle Codova (AquaPoro Technologies), Robert Zwerling (Znrg Innovations), Karin Burns (San Diego Community Power)
Key Theme: AI is accelerating clean technology innovation — from atmospheric water systems to energy optimization and grid management.
Highlights:
AquaPoro Technologies: Uses AI algorithms to optimize its Atmospheric Low-Moisture Adsorption (ALMA) process.
Znrg Innovations: Developed a plug-in water heater using Immersed Induction™ technology that syncs with smart thermostats.
San Diego Community Power: Formed its first AI policy committee in 2025 to ensure responsible deployment.
Data as a shared resource: Collaboration between utilities and home tech can stabilize the grid.
Session 5 — Connect Cognition: AI, Innovation & Insight
Speakers: James Zanewicz (Connect), Kalen Hall (Informuta), Connor Heffler (Odin Diagnostics), Keith Kaplan (Maykr)
Key Theme: Leaders from science, biotech, and venture capital explored how AI is transforming decision-making, creativity, and trust.
Highlights:
AI in daily workflows: Accelerates research, design, and summaries, while humans retain vision.
Data realities: “The challenge isn’t cleaning data — it’s knowing which data matters.”
Transparency builds trust: Open AI methods sustain credibility in healthcare and science.
Investor perspective: “The most valuable thing on earth is human capital.”
Efficiency as intelligence: “Efficiency is the new intelligence.”
Q&A: Startup San Diego Week 2025
Q1: What made this year’s Startup Week unique?
A: Its cross-border expansion into Tijuana and deep focus on AI’s real-world applications — from robotics to sustainable water systems.
Q2: Which industries stood out this year?
A: Cleantech, AI-driven healthcare, robotics, and sustainable consumer brands led for practical innovation.
Q3: How is AI being used in San Diego startups?
A: Startups showcased AI for forecasting, predictive maintenance, clean energy optimization, and cognitive research — bridging science with business.
Q4: What were the most discussed challenges?
A: Data quality, ethical transparency, and AI infrastructure costs — the growing pains of rapid adoption.
Q5: What’s the biggest takeaway for founders?
A: Start small, stay transparent, and build responsibly — because the startups that align AI with human purpose are shaping the future.
Closing Takeaway
Across the day’s panels, a clear pattern emerged: San Diego’s innovation ecosystem is thriving at the intersection of AI, engineering, and human creativity. Day 5’s discussions showed why the region has quietly become one of the world’s most strategic AI hubs. Startups are pairing cutting-edge models with purpose-driven design — from AquaPoro’s energy-aware water systems to ModalAI’s autonomous drones and Brain Corp’s service robots — all within a community deeply committed to human-centered AI.
The city’s dual academic engines, UCSD and SDSU, combined with the pioneering research of Qualcomm, continue to produce the engineering talent fueling this growth. This ecosystem of founders, mentors, and investors is united by a focus on practical innovation over hype — building solutions that solve real problems while advancing ethical and sustainable AI.
From robots that clean and fly to systems that create water and analyze the mind, the region is proving that responsible innovation can scale.
As the week concluded, one message echoed through every session: the future of AI belongs to those who stay curious, stay transparent, and build technology that moves the world forward — responsibly, collaboratively, and with purpose.
Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant used for research and drafting. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.