PORTIONS OF THIS EVENT WILL BE LIVE-STREAMED AND RECORDED

Pitch to enterprise buyers at SF’s premier AI monetization event for a chance to win $100K in cash to grow your business.

10 founders.

1 stage.

$100,000 on the line.

And a panel of enterprise AI buyers who don’t sugarcoat feedback.

Chargebee is a leading billing and monetization platform powering thousands of hypergrowth AI, SaaS, and D2C companies, and Beelieve ’26 is our flagship AI monetization event, where the operators building and scaling today’s most innovative companies come to share what’s actually working.

On April 15-16, 2026 at Fort Mason, San Francisco, join AI luminaries and tech leaders like Benedict Evans, Geoffrey Moore (bestselling author of Crossing the Chasm), and executives from AirOps, Gorgias, Reforge, Vercel, Zoom, and more for two days of sharp insights, practical frameworks, and honest conversations about building and scaling AI-era business models.

On Thursday, April 16, we’re closing out Beelieve's main session content with high stakes at this $100,000 AI Startup Pitch-Off Contest, in partnership with The Founder Initiative. 10 founders will pitch for 2 minutes each; (plus 1 minute for questions), to a panel of real enterprise AI buyers. The winner will walk away with $100K in cash.

By requesting to join this AI Startup Pitch-Off Contest, founders will gain full access to Beelieve on April 15-16. Not ready to pitch? Grab a ticket here to attend Beelieve, watch the competition, and network with hundreds of builders.

ENTERPRISE BUYER PANEL

Gong's Chief Evangelist at Gong, Udi Ledergor - https://www.linkedin.com/in/udiledergor/
Okta's VP, Accounting Operations and Finance Transformation, Leslie Hui - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-hui-5b17482b/
NVIDIA's Director of IT Engineering, Jon Fernandez - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernandezjon/
Cribl's CTO, Ledion Bitincka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ledion/
Chargebee's Chief Marketing Officer and Founder of Brightback, Guy Marion - https://www.linkedin.com/in/guymarion
Superhuman's CTO, Loïc Houssier - https://www.linkedin.com/in/houssier/
Chargebee's SVP, Global Business Technology, Lior Golan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lior-golan-mba-pmp-csm-0887b14/

Pre-Vote Judges --> thank you for helping us select the top 10 startups to pitch tomorrow!

Rohan Puranik, Cowboy Ventures

Phuong Mai, Quiet Capital

Jonah Midanik, Forum Ventures

Adarsh Mittal, NVIDIA

Vaibhav Soni, Atlassian

Nick Heudecker, Cribl

Rao Adavikolanu, Rocketlane

stephen hedlund, Rillet

Gary Pope, Contour Aviation

Andy Scollan, Jasper

Guy Koelewijn, Zendesk

Ishan Gupta, AWS

Anwesha Roy, TikTok

Haseeb Khan, Amazon

Jamie O'Dwyer, Zendesk

Sam Teden, Anthos Capital

Riley Rodgers, Valia Ventures

Srilakshmi Bharadwaj, Linkedin

Denise Quashie, Zendesk

AGENDA (THURSDAY, APRIL 16):

5:00 pm: Doors open
5:30 pm: Welcome, judge introductions, & Pitch-Off Contest begins
7:15 pm: Winner awarded $100,000 prize
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Happy Hour

THE PRIZE:

$100,000 cash prize from Chargebee
Free product credits from Chargebee and other solutions
Marketing and public recognition

HOW DO I APPLY TO THE $100,000 PITCH-OFF CONTEST?

Register for this event by clicking "Register" above
Check your email for your registration confirmation
Complete the application form that will be linked in the confirmation email by Monday, April 13 at 11:59pm PT!

WHO WILL BE SELECTED?

Ten (10) applicants will be selected ahead of the event by Chargebee and notified that they will be presenting live at the Pitch-Off event to compete for the $100,000 prize.

Applications close Monday, April 13 at 11:59pm PT! Contestants will be notified by email that they will be pitching at the event by Tuesday, April 14 at 11:59pm PT!

WHAT ARE THE JUDGING CRITERIA?

The judging panel will be composed of engineering, GTM, & finance executives from leading companies. The judges will select the winner based on your 2-minute live demo pitch. They will review things like:

Your articulation of your customer's pain point
How your product demo solves that pain
Your pricing and monetization model

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO COMPETE?

To be eligible, you must be the founder or co-founder of a startup that is:

Pre-Series A funding
Have a product in production with live customers and/or design partners
The founder/co-founder must be ready to deliver a 2-minute pitch personally during the event

See Contest Official Rules for more details.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS:

Chargebee is a leading billing and monetization platform powering thousands of hypergrowth AI, SaaS, and D2C companies. From usage-based pricing to subscriptions and complex recurring models, we help modern businesses turn great products into scalable revenue engines.

Apply for Chargebee’s startup offer: https://www.chargebee.com/startups

Auth0 is an adaptable authentication and authorization platform that helps you secure your apps and AI agents. It delivers convenience, privacy, and security so you can focus on building a great UX.

One year of Auth0 free for startups: https://auth0.com/startups/profiles

Superhuman Mail for Startups: Start, scale, and stay ahead with Superhuman Mail.

1-year free on business plan: https://superhuman.com/products/mail/startups

The Founder Initiative is a podcast & event community to help founders hit product market-fit, drive durable growth, and get funded faster.

$100K AI Startup Pitch-Off @ Chargebee Beelieve '26