Courtyard by Marriott Austin Pflugerville and Pflugerville Conference Center
Venture Pfest 2026 concludes with a day focused on innovation, experimentation, problem-solving, and celebrating entrepreneurs who are ready to turn ideas into impact.
Ideas to Impact: Innovate & Inspire begins by examining the forces changing today’s marketplace. During Signals of Shift: Capturing Opportunity in Change, attendees will explore how economic, cultural, and technological changes influence customer behavior and learn to identify emerging risks and opportunities for their businesses.
The program then moves from observation to implementation with From Problem to Prompt: Solving Business Challenges, a practical session showing entrepreneurs how AI and automation can be applied to real business problems. Participants will work toward leaving with a usable prompt, workflow, process, or solution they can continue developing.
Next, From Assumption to Evidence: Test, Learn & Improve introduces a human-centered approach to innovation. Participants will explore how to create simple prototypes, gather feedback, test assumptions, and use evidence to determine what should improve next.
Lunch, networking, and office hours provide additional opportunities to connect with business professionals, entrepreneurs, and community resources.
The afternoon culminates with the Founders Showcase: Venture Pfest Pitch Competition, where up to 10 entrepreneurs will take the stage to present their businesses. Each entrepreneur will deliver a five-minute pitch followed by questions from the judges.
Attendees will have an opportunity to connect with participating founders and cast their vote for the People’s Choice award while judging takes place. The day concludes with the Pitch Competition Awards and Venture Pfest closing remarks celebrating the entrepreneurs, ideas, partnerships, and connections built throughout the week.
Topics include: emerging trends, innovation, AI, automation, problem-solving, prototyping, customer feedback, experimentation, entrepreneurship, office hours, networking, and the Venture Pfest Pitch Competition.
During this event, we’ll cover:
- Identifying market, economic, cultural, and technology shifts
- Recognizing emerging opportunities and risks
- Using AI and automation to solve real business challenges
- Creating practical prompts, workflows, and processes
- Turning assumptions into ideas that can be tested
- Building simple prototypes and gathering customer feedback
- Using evidence to improve products, services, and business ideas
- Connecting directly with business experts during office hours
- Learning from entrepreneurs during the Founders Showcase
- Experiencing the Venture Pfest Pitch Competition and awards