Inside the First Annual Artemis Hunters Summit

May 22, 2025

By The Artemis Fund
The Artemis Fund believes technology can create prosperity for all. With offices in New York, Texas, Massachusetts, and Nevada, Artemis leads seed rounds for companies creating resilient families, individuals, and businesses across the US.
Earlier this month, we hosted the first-ever Artemis Hunters Summit in Los Angeles.
Over the course of three days, we convened Artemis portfolio founders, outstanding LA-based founders, and select co-investors for inspiring conversations, candid insights, and meaningful connections. Our goal was simple: to create a space where the Artemis community felt more connected, energized, and grounded.
We have the pleasure of working with so many amazing founders and investors. We knew if we brought them all together magic would happen, and we weren’t disappointed.
First, we kicked things off with our VC & Founder Welcome Reception on a perfect California evening- complete with cocktails, great conversations, and aura readings.

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Our full day of sessions designed for Artemis founders kicked off with a fireside chat featuring Jeff Glueck, CEO of Artemis portfolio company Salvo Health, and former CEO of Foursquare. Jeff challenged the idea of servant leadership, urging founders to take full ownership of their company’s direction while still listening deeply and supporting their teams.
He also spoke about navigating uncertainty with balance, referencing the Stockdale Paradox: the ability to hold unshakable optimism about your company’s future while confronting the harsh realities of the present. Founders must be clear-eyed and confident, demanding without panicking, and grounded without losing hope.

In our Startup Finance Deep Dive with fractional CFO Alisha Loos, founders gained tactical insight into common missteps and how to course correct early:
Don’t waste capital where there isn’t scale
Don’t hire too early in the wrong place
Don’t wait too long to adjust burn
Surprise of the day — Alisha made finance fun!

In a candid and tactical conversation on brand building, we heard from Jessica Williams (Shopify), Daria Shapovalova (DRESSX), and Kait Stephens (Brij). They covered everything from audience targeting across platforms to optimizing content for AI, to balancing a founder’s personal voice with the company brand.
Platform strategy matters: Match your content to where your audience lives. That’s LinkedIn for B2B, TikTok for Gen Z, and Reddit for technical communities.
Be AI-aware: From blog structure to distribution channels, content should be built with search and AI crawlers in mind.
Personal + brand balance: Let your founder voice enhance, not compete with, your company narrative.

In a fireside chat with Liza Nebel, Founder & CEO of BlueOcean AI, we heard how her team has mandated AI adoption across workflows, allowing them to accelerate engineer development timelines from one week to one day. She reminded us that fast action and founder health are not mutually exclusive:
“When in doubt, there is no doubt. Act fast.” — Sometimes it’s better to make the best decision possible with the available data rather than waiting for complete certainty.
“You can give so much to everyone, except yourself.” — It’s incredibly important to spend more time investing in self-care, both mental and physical, amidst the demands of entrepreneurship.

Melissa Mash, Founder & CEO of Dagne Dover, closed out the day with a powerful reflection on values-based leadership.
“Less best, nothing else.” — It’s not worth doing something if it’s not done really well. Aim for excellence rather than perfection.
“Work only with nice people.” — culture isn’t negotiable.
“Use your platform for good.” — from sustainable practices to prioritizing self-care, she reminded us that the founder journey is long, and protecting your energy is essential.

We capped the Summit with a session led by Amanda Baudier, holistic coach for startup founders. We learned about some of the most common mental loops founders experience:
Urgency: “If I don’t act now, I’ll never get another chance.”
Control: “I cannot rest until every variable is accounted for.”
Catastrophizing: Unconsciously assuming worst-case scenarios
Overthinking: Analysis paralysis preventing decisive action
And reframes on working through times of uncertainty:
Uncertainty creates space for creativity and breakthrough
Clarity comes through action, not just thinking
Focus on the 20% possibility of success rather than 80% chance of failure
View adaptation as strength rather than compromise
Amanda reminded us that we are all high achievers, hunting for greatness, and doing incredibly hard things. When the yoga teacher says, “do the plank or don’t do the plank” we are doing the plank :)

The Artemis Hunters Summit was a reminder of what makes our community special: honest conversation, generous wisdom, and an unwavering commitment to building companies with intention.

Bonus: we gathered an Artemis recommended reading list from our founders during the event-
Founder Brand, recommended by Kait Stephens, Founder & CEO of Brij
A Man’s Search for Meaning, recommended by Yuliya Tarasava, Co-Founder & COO of CNote
Good to Great, recommended by Jeff Glueck, Founder & CEO of Salvo Health
Experimentation Machine, recommended by Jeff Glueck, Founder & CEO of Salvo Health
Obviously Awesome, recommended by Katy Schuck, Co-Founder & COO of reelist
We’d like to thank our amazing sponsors, Amazon, Cooley, Hunton Andrews Kurth, Insperity, and Carta, for making this event possible. We’re grateful to everyone who joined us, and are looking forward to reconvening for the second annual Artemis Hunters Summit in 2026.
We believe once in a generation companies will be built by unexpected founders. If that sounds like you, pitch us here!

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