As expected, the cold plunge sent my body into shock. 

Venturing into one of LA Tech Week’s most-talked-about events, Rejuvenation Mansion in glossy Bel Air, I had no intention of subjecting myself to a first-time ice plunge in the midst of a networking-heavy day. But, after 15 minutes in the pop-up sauna, chatting with a podcast producer and a quickly-rotating roster of other tech execs, it couldn’t be helped.

“Have you heard of the serenity prayer?” inquired the representative from co-hosting company IcePass. He must have witnessed the horror in my eyes as I submerged and decided I needed distraction. I briefly wondered how the folks at the ice plunge in the back of the Rivian truck were faring.

“No,” I squeaked, and we launched into a repeat-after-me mantra as I begged my mind and body to accept that I, indeed, could not change the fact that I was already neck-deep in ice. 

This moment, in many ways, was the hallmark for LA Tech Week, replacing the bar with a lineup of red-light panels, saunas, cold plunges, massage tables, soundbaths, and wellness sips — and a wellness wonderland it was for the founders shivering, sweating, and stretching their way toward the promised “tactical reset” from the week’s hustle-bustle of sectors battling for attention.

Amid this chaos, LA Tech Week’s topics loosely fell into the following camps:

• Fintech, though taking the back stage, featured networking with Brex, Sourcery, and Cerebral Valley; a selective finance leaders speed-boat + private dinner gathering with a16z; crypto fireside chats with Fenwick; and a payments panel put on by J.P. Morgan (JPM, interestingly, also partook in a panel on the business of scaling wellness companies).
• Defense tech, including an aerospace happy hour with Techstars, the U.S. Space Force and NASA; a Northwood-hosted Space & Security Panel; an AWS-hosted panel on Securing America’s AI Leadership; and no shortage of VC-hosted roundtables on deep tech.
• Consumer, largely across the health, creator, and commerce verticals, including 3 days of workshops by Shopify.
• Media and entertainment – from AI’s use in filmmaking to the creator economy.
• AI, naturally, with a token event being Google’s LAX Summit featuring speakers from OpenAI, Meta, DeepMind, ElevenLabs, Netflix, and even the U.S. Embassy.
• Health/wellness/longevity tech that felt distinctly Californian, ranging from “biohacking” brunches to TechBio meetups, as well as classes + insights from luxury fitness clubs (think Equinox, Monarch).

But what happened in the spaces between these heavy-hitter events? Unlike San Francisco’s edition the week prior, where itineraries brimmed mostly with back-to-back panels on enterprise AI, vertical integrations, and hackathons, LA’s version folded work and leisure into a single tempo that was both indulgent and purposeful. 

During the day, wellness took center stage, with attendees surfing shortly after sunrise, powering through a HIIT class, or even learning self-defense at a local Muay Thai gym before pivoting to hear some speakers. 

After dark, the festivities migrated uphill — from downtown rooftops ringed with skyscrapers to the manicured mansions of Beverly Hills — and LA’s history of nightlife held its own. Even Delilah’s, the West Hollywood bistro rumored to be a Drake favorite, made the list: DJs, influencers, PMs, and developers brushed shoulders under low lighting, while a line of wishful walk-ups got turned away at the door. (Notably, this was hosted by a huge lineup of startups and sponsors: Cerebral Valley, AI cloud platform Nebius, vibe coding tool Bolt, and others.)

Still, for all its dazzle and aura of exclusivity, the conversations weren’t without depth, or at least ambition. Whether it was how to leverage AI for SEO/GEO, for talent-to-brand connections, or even for networking, this year’s buzziest panels circled around AI for discovery — and, regardless of if it’s in the name of Hollywood or tech, isn’t this promise of “discovery” what LA is all about?

Behind closed doors, founders and investors traded honest takes. One community builder sighed that LA’s Tech Week had produced more “superficial” connections compared to SF — echoing the unfortunate stereotype that still has its chokehold on LA — while one investor argued that LA’s ecosystem was actually stronger on vision (fewer fast apps, more defensibility). 

In either case, if SF Tech Week felt like a coding marathon, LA’s felt like a casting call. Everywhere you looked, someone was pitching a new AI-powered platform or scoping out talent. Even at events that claimed to eschew optics, the idea of discovering, connecting, and “being seen” was never far from the surface.

Leaving Rejuvenation Mansion, still thawing from the plunge, it was hard not to see the parallel: LA’s tech scene is its own kind of cold shock — a little discomfort, a lot of performance, and the unrelenting, beautiful dream that the next big thing is here.