BasisTech Demo Day

About Event
Presenting Startups
Agenda
Founders

About Event

We are gathering founders, investors, operators, and academics to find new partnerships, collaborations, and market opportunities. Our one day program will include discussion, presentations, and demos by leaders in enterprise data platforms, applied machine vision, fraud detection, threat intelligence, and dual-use technologies.

Our evolving program will include multiple networking opportunities and lunch by our in-house chef Rodrigo Blanco. In the morning we will focus on the founder’s journey with a keynote and panel composed of founders who achieved strong exits, with a few startup spotlights. In the afternoon we will host more startups in a demo showcase and hold breakout discussions focusing on Japan, dual use tech, and specific startups.

To close out the event Gerry Sussman will give a talk on why programming is still fun.

Presenting Startups

Agenda

Time

Description

9:00 AM

Doors Open

9:30 AM

Breakfast and networking

10:30 AM

Welcome and keynote

John Harthorne, founder of MassChallenge and Two Lanterns Venture Capital, will deliver a keynote on building organizations that help founders turn bold ideas into real-world impact.

11:00 AM

Startup Spotlight

Rapid pitches by Helix Carbon, Leela AI, LOOKOUT, Multitude Insights, and Stochastic.More than a dozen companies will exhibit and demo in our AREA 51 event space, creating opportunities to explore new ideas and connect with founders. A standing lunch by our in-house chef, Rodrigo Blanco, will be served throughout the session.

11:30 AM

Panel Discussion

12:00 PM

Lunch, demo floor, and networking

More than a dozen companies will exhibit and demo in our AREA 51 event space, creating opportunities to explore new ideas and connect with founders. A standing lunch by our in-house chef, Rodrigo Blanco, will be served throughout the session.

2:00 PM

Breakout Sessions

Breakout sessions will offer a closer look at ideas, technologies, and founder perspectives. Some sessions will be led by startups sharing their work, while others will focus on topics including doing business in Japan and building dual-use technology.

4:00 PM

Bonus Program: Gerry Sussman Talk

Professor Gerald J. Sussman is a pioneer in teaching electrical engineering, computer science, and physics. He has been involved in artificial intelligence research at MIT since 1964, with work spanning programming languages, computer architecture, circuit design, and human problem-solving strategies in science and engineering. He is widely known as a co-author of the influential textbook Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs and as a co-inventor of the Scheme programming language.

He earned both his S.B. (1968) and Ph.D. (1973) in mathematics from MIT under the supervision of AI pioneer Seymour Papert.

Over his career, he has received numerous honors for his contributions to computer science and education, including the ACM Karl Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award and the IEEE Taylor L. Booth Education Award. Professor Sussman will present his thoughts on how and why, despite the rise of agentic coding, programming is still fun.