San Diego AI Showcase #2 (North County)

San Diego AI Showcase (North County)
A Homebrew-style night for AI experiments and demos.

​This is a monthly, in-person gathering for San Diego founders who are actively building with AI, and who are willing to show their work before it’s perfect.

​Inspired by the original Homebrew Computer Club, where builders like Steve Wozniak casually shared what they were experimenting with, this is a space for real demos, early prototypes, bold ideas, and honest lessons. No polished pitch decks. No sales. No pressure.

​This is about learning in public, helping each other think sharper, and accelerating progress through thoughtful feedback.

​The San Diego AI Showcase is designed to grow a tight, curious, builder-driven founder community in the region.

What you’ll see

• ​Early AI products, tools, agents, workflows, and experiments

• ​Things that are half-working, just launched, or still a little rough

• ​Lessons from what didn’t work (often the most valuable part)

• ​Live demos, screen shares, short walkthroughs

​Format

• ​5–10 founders present for ~10 minutes each

• ​3-minute Q&A and group discussion after every presentation

• ​Hang out, meet other builders, and keep the conversation going

​Who this is for

• ​Founders actively building with AI (pre-seed to growth)

• ​Engineers, designers, and product leaders experimenting hands-on

• ​People who value curiosity, humility, and substance over hype

​What this is not

• ​Not a pitch night

• ​Not an investor demo day

• ​Not a sales event

​Just builders helping builders.

​📍 Event Details

• ​When: March 3, 6:00 pm

• ​Where: LVLUP USA (North County San Diego. Vista, California)

​Organizer: Demian Borba, Founder and CEO of Pactto (Stanford StartX S25, ex-Adobe, Intuit, PayPal, BlackBerry)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demianborba/

​If you’re interested in presenting, attending, or shaping the future of this meetup, please email Demian at [email protected]. The goal is to create something long-lasting for San Diego — a place where meaningful work gets shared early, and momentum compounds over time.

​Presenters

​Raul Pegan, Co-Founder & CTO of Qbox-ai.com

​6:15 pm
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raulpegan/

​Title: AI-Powered Sales, from MVP to customers.

​Details:
Traction is the most common bottleneck in scaling a startup and validating your product. The founder of Qbox AI will share his own journey of attracting new users and giving a demo of how AI-assisted human-to-human sales can help you book more meetings, attract beta customers, and close more deals.

​Ian Isom, Director, Editor, AI Creator, Runway Creative Partner, Post-Production Expert

​6:30 pm
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianisom/

​Title: From Prompt to Production: Making a Full AI Anime and What It Means for the Future of Film

​Details: Most AI video demos are 10-second clips. Ian built an entire 7-minute anime using a stack of AI tools including Runway, Kling, Higgsfield, and Stable Audio. He’ll screen the full short, break down how each tool fit into the production pipeline, then open a conversation about where AI film and entertainment is actually heading over the next few years, both for independent creators making original work and for agencies integrating AI into client pre-visualization. Less hype, more real creative process.