Reflections from the Baukunst Creative Technologist Conference, 2025

Greetings from Kate and the Baukunst team. Last week we hosted our annual gathering of the Collective at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Close to the city but isolated in spirit, the Marin Headlands was an exceptional environment for creative process and inspiring new ideas.

We started the day by hearing from some of our earliest investments. Motif hit the Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startup list, Matthias from Eyebot shared the traction that led to their recent Series A, and a number of companies shared undisclosed funds raised and new products launched. In previous years we’ve spent a lot of the CTC on new investments. It was gratifying to see how companies are maturing and being recognized.

We dug into the data. 3 months post-investment, 100% of our portfolio companies have shipped an MVP, and 86% have revenue. We value shipping things. 43% of our companies are female founded. We value exceptional talent.

In the last part of the morning, I had a fireside chat with Collective member and LP Laura Modi, CEO of Bobbie, who I’ve worked since leading Bobbie’s pre-seed in 2018. We reflected on building brands that shift culture, resilient supply chains, and punching above your weight as a startup.

Rapid-fire ignite talks illuminated us on topics as diverse as agentic AI’s impact on marketplaces, the presence of circuit boards in just about everything, and the connection between cake construction and industrial fabrication.

This year we introduced substantive breakouts, with Collective members leading a wide range of sessions. We had a talk on M&A led by David Hindley and Axel Bichara, who have been part of hundreds of acquisition deals as founders, board members, and acquirers, and an experimental workshop with the first Baukunst Mystery School co-led by myself and Toby Shorin. Alongside these were peer-led discussions on timely topics around how AI is transforming physical devices, manufacturing, and our notions of the true and good.

It was encouraging to see that our most well-attended session was on founder life balance, led by repeat founders Charles Adler (former CEO of Kickstater) and Morgan Zanotti (former CEO of Primal Kitchen). The Rodeo Room room was packed with new founders, seasoned entrepreneurs, and business owners in the Collective.

Needless to say, the Headlands location is so special and made this day magical. The magic started when one company got their dream term sheet while crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on the drive up to the conference. It ended when I led us on a silent procession to the beach, where we saw a dance performance from contemporary artist Sarah Emmons, our artist collaboration for this year’s conference. It was a gift to share part of my personal creative practice with the group.

This conference felt like the year of integration. Companies are taking off, and the business and cultural sides of our work are enriching one another. I saw so many meaningful new connections and people learning from each other in unexpected ways.

I’m immensely grateful to be part of this collective and building alongside so many exceptional practitioners.