10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Aspen
Agenda · 2026
Two days.
Five rooms.
Friday is the job fair and hackathon. Saturday is the main programming — keynotes on the Main stage, with parallel tracks across Aspen, Studio 2/3, Studio 4, and Studio 5/6.
Title Sponsor
Co-host
Current partners
Day 1 — Friday, Aug 21
All day
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Main
Day 2 — Saturday, Aug 22
Morning · Main Stage
8:00 AM
—
Registration & Breakfast
10:00 AM
Main
Fireside: An Immigrant's Journey from Engineer to Venture Capitalist
Bhaskar Ghosh (Partner at 8VC)
10:30 AM
Main
Fireside: The Founder Playbook — Lessons from Building, Scaling, and Surviving
Prabakar Sundarrajan (Founder @ The Fabric; Fmr CSO @ Juniper Networks CMBU)
11:00 AM
Main
Fireside: From Scientist to Founder to Investor: Reinventing Yourself in America
Preetha Ram (MD @ Pier 70 Ventures; Fmr Dean @ Emory University)
11:30 AM · Breakouts
11:30 AM
Aspen
O-1, NIW, EB-1A: Are You Actually Qualified?
Ramiro Roballos (CEO @ Tukki), Daniel Larson (Founder @ Larson Legal), Deshna Desai (Immigration Attorney @ Larson Legal), Evan Law (Immigration Attorney @ Manifest Law), Lahaina Araneta McBeth (Immigration Attorney @ Manifest Law)
11:30 AM
Studio 2/3
Bootstrapped to $1M ARR: How Founders Get There Without VC Money
Nitin Bajaj (Entrepreneur; Host @ INDUStry Show)
11:30 AM
Studio 4
Return-to-India Playbook: Career, Money, Family, and Timing
Nupur Dave (NRI Expert & Author)
11:30 AM
Studio 5/6
Inside the FAANG Hiring Black Box: What Really Gets You Hired
Abhijay Vuyyuru (PM @ YouTube), Jugal Bhatt (AI @ AWS), Shreya Mehta (Career Coach; ex-Uber)
12:15 PM · Breakouts
12:15 PM
Aspen
Alternatives to H-1B: The Visas Nobody Talks About
Erica Harris (Director of Growth @ American Immigration Council), Craig Montuori (Founder @ Global EIR), Frederic Ollivier (Immigration Attorney @ Manifest Law), Sweta Khandelwal (Principal Immigration Attorney @ Law Offices of Sweta Khandelwal)
12:15 PM
Studio 2/3
Deep Tech Startups: AI, Space, and the Frontier
Raj Pai (VC; Fmr Chief Technologist @ NASA), Anshu Agarwal (Partner @ Converge VC), Pranjal Mehta (Founder; ex-ePlane)
12:15 PM
Studio 4
Adjustment of Status vs. Consular Processing
Duden Freeman (Founder @ Visas 101; Fmr Consular Officer), Douglas Pierce (Fmr USCIS Supervisor)
12:15 PM
Studio 5/6
Making EB-5 More Achievable: Process, Smart Financing, and Key Considerations
Priyal Shah (EB-5 Recipient), Phuong Le (Partner @ KLDP), Bhuplesh Gupta (VP @ Zen EB5)
All Day · Legal Lounge
One-on-one attorney consults
Attendees will also have access to one-on-one attorney consults designed for high-skilled immigrants navigating major career and life decisions in the U.S.
Consults will cover:
- ·Starting a company as an immigrant
- ·Protecting your IP and founder interests
- ·Visa strategy and immigration planning
- ·Understanding your options before making major career or life decisions
Break
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
—
Lunch Break
2:00 PM · Breakouts
2:00 PM
Aspen
Your Career Needs a Brand: How to Stand Out in Tech
Sriram Arumelli (AI Product @ AlphaNet), Veeraj Gadda (Manager @ PayPal), Jugal Bhatt (AI @ AWS), Varun Negandhi (Founder @ Beyond Grad)
2:00 PM
Studio 2/3
How Immigrants Quietly Build $10M+ Net Worth
Arjun Bhasin (Meta; Short Term Rentals Expert), Nitin Bajaj (Host @ INDUStry Show)
2:00 PM
Studio 4
Laid Off on H-1B — What Are My Options?
Agnna Varinia Guzman (Immigration Attorney @ Manifest Law), Chandler Carney (Immigration Attorney @ Jumpstart Immigration)
2:00 PM
Studio 5/6
Not an Engineer? How Immigrants Win in Marketing, Construction & Media
Anushk Sharma (Head of Growth), Parth Vijayvergiya (Sr. Project Engineer @ DPR Construction), Sagnik Basu (Exec Producer @ Washington Post), Anjali Nair (Sr. Product Marketing Manager @ Fintech)
2:45 PM · Breakouts
2:45 PM
Aspen
Pitching to VCs as an Immigrant Founder
Jyotika Gupta (Partner @ Z21 Ventures), Dhravya Shah (Founder @ Supermemory), Dave Eyerly (Founder @ Crosswater Capital), Sai Suhas (Founder @ WINPRA)
2:45 PM
Studio 2/3
EB-5, Gold Card, or Wait It Out?
Phuong Le (Partner @ KLDP), Chaitrali Karve (Sr. Director @ LCR Capital), Nikin Tharan (FINRA Registered Rep)
2:45 PM
Studio 4
EB-1A: What Are My Odds?
Rathnakumar Udayakumar (EB-1A Recipient), Zach Zacharia (Founder @ Carnegie Evaluations), Chandler Carney (Immigration Attorney @ Jumpstart Immigration), Michael Hendricks (Founder @ LEO AI)
2:45 PM
Studio 5/6
The Human Edge: What Becomes More Valuable in the Age of AI
Alime Karimova (Head of Events @ Bizly), Hashim Syed (AI GTM @ Google), Shivesh Sood (AI Product Lead @ HBS Foundry)
3:15 PM · Breakouts
3:15 PM
Aspen
Building a Voice, Building a Career: Content Creation as a Career Strategy for Immigrants
Devshree Bharatia (Sr. SWE @ Walmart), Kavitha Lakshminarasaiah (Data Engineer @ Snowflake), Pavi Theva (Career Coach; ex-Amazon)
3:15 PM
Studio 2/3
Consular Interviews in 2026: How To Not Get Denied at the Window
Duden Freeman (Founder @ Visas 101; Fmr Consular Officer)
3:15 PM
Studio 4
Cracking YC, gBETA and Other Accelerators: What Actually Gets You In
Lajja Shah (Fmr Fellow @ YC), Craig Montuori (Director @ gener8tor), Hemant Gangolia (Founder @ Rally Tax)
3:15 PM
Studio 5/6
When Does Litigation Make Sense? Delays, Denials, and USCIS Accountability
John Pratt (Partner @ Kurzban), Matthew Khalili (EB-5 Investment Advisor)
Break
4:00 PM – 4:15 PM
—
Break
4:15 PM · Main Stage
4:15 PM
Main
Fireside: What Happens Inside USCIS
Ricky Murray (Founder @ JET Global Solutions; Fmr Division Chief EB-5 IPO @ USCIS), Michael Valverde (Fmr Associate Director of Field Operations @ USCIS)
4:35 PM
Main
Fireside: Immigration Policy Changes in 2026: What's Real and What's Noise
Sharvari Dalal (Government Relations @ AILA; Fmr Chief Counsel @ USCIS), April Padilla (Fmr Adjudication Officer and Fraud Chief @ USCIS), Robby Villanueva (Head of Success @ Lighthouse HQ)
4:55 PM
Main
Keynote: The Immigrant Advantage: Building Businesses That Create American Opportunity
John Shen (CEO @ American Lending Center)
5:15 PM
Main
Closing Remarks: What We Build From Here
Jeff Joseph (AILA President; President @ Manifest Law), Evan Law (Immigration Attorney @ Manifest Law)