AI Trailblazers

What AI Trailblazers does

AI Trailblazers is a private, membership-based community organization founded in January 2024 (first event: CES 2024 dinner in Las Vegas) by three co-founders — Greg Kahn, Amit Shah, and Shiv Singh — and headquartered in New York. The company operates as a curated networking and thought leadership platform for senior marketing, technology, and business leaders focused on AI adoption, rather than as a technology product company. Its core offerings are an application-based membership program (requiring prior event attendance) and a portfolio of exclusive, closed-door events including the Summer Summit, Winter Summit, Cannes Reworked Summit, CES Dinner, SXSW Dinner, and the AI Showdown startup competition. The organization also publishes the AI Trailblazers Power 100 list in partnership with Adweek, recognizing influential leaders in AI-powered marketing.

The company's revenue model is built on three streams: paid event tickets (with early bird pricing), corporate sponsorships and partnerships (AWS, IBM, BCG, Visa, super{set}, Moloco, Razorfish, Tishman Speyer, and others), and a tiered membership program spanning eight professional levels from Associate to Board Member. Events are held at premium venues including Neuehouse Madison Square (NYC), Rockefeller Center (NYC), and Cannes, France. The company does not appear to have raised external institutional funding, is structured as founder-controlled, and operates with a lean team of 1–10 employees. No revenue figures have been publicly disclosed.

The company serves Fortune 500 CMOs, CTOs, CDOs, senior marketing and technology executives, AI startup founders, and venture capitalists. Marquee participants and sponsors span major technology companies (AWS, IBM, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Salesforce), consultancies (BCG), payment networks (Visa, Mastercard), consumer goods (Unilever, Mars, Diageo, Mondelez, PepsiCo), media (The New York Times, Horizon Media), and financial services (Morgan Stanley). Advisory board members include Jon Suarez-Davis (super{set}, ex-Salesforce), Marisa Thalberg (CMO Hall of Fame), Satjiv Chahil (former Apple & HP CMO), Steven Wolfe Pereira (Alpha CEO), Vineet Mehra (Chime CMO), and Wenda Harris Millard (digital advertising pioneer, co-founder of DoubleClick). The core distribution is invitation/request-based rather than mass-market, with no public consumer-facing product and no mobile application.

Name

AI Trailblazers

Legal name

AI Trailblazers

Website

https://aitrailblazers.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

AI Trailblazers is a private, membership-based community organization founded in 2024 that hosts exclusive, invitation-only summits and events for senior marketing, technology, and business leaders exploring AI adoption, monetizing through tickets, sponsorships, and tiered membership.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Executive Networking & Industry Events (AI Marketing)

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Product & Innovation Summits (Roadmap, Launch Readiness, Innovation Days) (THAHAMAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Training, Enablement & Talent Development Summits (THAHAMAH), All-in-One Event Registration & Event Management Suites (THAHAFAA)

Keywords

• Executive networking events
• AI marketing community
• Industry summits
• Membership programs
• Thought leadership forums

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Event Tickets: Revenue generated from paid attendance at AI Trailblazers summits and events including Summer Summit, Winter Summit, CES Dinner, SXSW Dinner, and Cannes Reworked. Events feature tiered ticketing with early bird pricing and include breakfast, lunch, and evening cocktail networking sessions.
2. Sponsorship & Partnerships: Corporate sponsors pay to associate their brand with AI Trailblazers events and gain visibility among senior marketing and technology leaders. Sponsors include major technology companies (AWS, IBM), venture capital firms (Comcast Ventures, Insight Partners), and marketing technology companies.
3. Membership Program: Application-based membership program with professional level tiers including Associate, Manager, Director, Senior Director, Vice President, Executive Vice President, C-Level Executive, and Board Member. Members receive ongoing communications and access to content.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

AI Trailblazers operates an exclusive, invitation-only executive community and events platform for senior marketing, technology, and business leaders focused on AI adoption. Its core offerings are an application-based membership program and a portfolio of closed-door summits (Summer Summit, Winter Summit, Cannes Reworked, CES Dinner, SXSW Dinner), supplemented by the AI Showdown startup competition and the annual Power 100 recognition list published in partnership with Adweek.

Product overview

AI Trailblazers is a community organization, not a technology product company. Its offerings consist of a membership program and a portfolio of exclusive in-person events and recognition programs. The core product is the AI Trailblazers Community Membership, which provides access to an exclusive network of AI professionals. Supporting this are recurring flagship events including the Summer Summit (held during New York Tech Week), Winter Summit (December), and Cannes Reworked Summit, along with regional dinners at major conferences like CES and SXSW. The AI Showdown startup competition and the annual Power 100 list in partnership with Adweek round out the offerings. These products work together to create a curated ecosystem for AI leadership networking, knowledge exchange, and professional recognition.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI Trailblazers Community Membership Application-based membership program that requires prior attendance at an AI Trailblazers event and connects marketers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and investors shaping the future of AI through networking, knowledge sharing, and curated content access.
• AI Trailblazers Summits & Dinners Closed-door, invitation-only summits and dinners (Summer Summit, Winter Summit, Cannes Reworked, CES Dinner, SXSW Dinner) featuring keynotes, panel discussions, networking sessions, and the AI Showdown startup competition for senior marketing, technology, and business leaders.
• AI Trailblazers Power 100 Annual list honoring the 100 most influential leaders in AI-powered marketing, published in partnership with Adweek, recognizing individuals shaping the AI landscape in marketing and business.
• AI Showdown Startup competition at SXSW where AI companies pitch to a panel of judges and senior audience; finalists selected from 100+ candidates to present, with winners receiving recognition and exposure to industry leaders and enterprise buyers.
• Cannes Reworked Summit Closed-door afternoon summit held at Cannes bringing together 80+ marketing and creative leaders to discuss how AI is reshaping the operating system of the marketing function; features 7 sessions and 28 speakers, with a dedicated recap portal for content distribution.

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Boston Consulting Group (BCG)coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 December 2025BCG partnered with AI Trailblazers for the Winter Summit 2025. David C. Edelman, Author and Senior Advisor at BCG, participated in the 'Operationalizing AI in Marketing' panel. Paul D'Arcy, CMO of Moloco, presented new research conducted in partnership with BCG on AI disruption.
• CadentminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 December 2025Cadent partnered with AI Trailblazers for the Winter Summit 2025 as part of the event's partner ecosystem.
• MolococoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 December 2025Moloco partnered with AI Trailblazers for the Winter Summit 2025. Paul D'Arcy, CMO of Moloco, presented new research including the 'AI Disruption Index' conducted in partnership with BCG.
• RazorfishminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 December 2025Razorfish partnered with AI Trailblazers for the Winter Summit 2025. Dani Mariano, CEO of Razorfish, participated in the 'Executive Perspective' panel.
• Transparent PartnersminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 December 2025Transparent Partners partnered with AI Trailblazers for the Winter Summit 2025. Aaron Fetters, CEO of Transparent Partners, moderated the 'AI Workforce Transformations' panel.
• Tishman SpeyerminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 December 2025Tishman Speyer partnered with AI Trailblazers for the Winter Summit 2025. Alicia Parker, CMO and Managing Director of Tishman Speyer, participated in the 'Executive Perspective' panel and led the 'Designing the Connected Experience' session.
• VisacoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 5 June 2025Visa was a featured partner at the AI Trailblazers Summer Summit 2025. Mark Nelsen, Chief Consumer Products Officer at Visa, discussed 'Visa Intelligent Commerce' enabling AI Agents to Find & Buy, powered by collaborations with Anthropic, IBM, Microsoft, Mistral AI, OpenAI, Perplexity, Samsung, and Stripe.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 June 2024AWS sponsored the inaugural AI Trailblazers Summer Summit in June 2024. Miguel Ballesteros, Principal Applied Scientist at AWS Generative AI Services, participated as a speaker on the 'Unlocking AI Product Innovation' panel discussing strategic integration of AI into products.
• super{set}coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 June 2024super{set} was a sponsor of the AI Trailblazers Summer Summit 2024. Jon Suarez-Davis serves as Chief Commercial Officer of super{set} and is an AI Trailblazers advisor. Vivek Vaidya, Co-Founder of super{set} and Co-Founder/CEO of MarkovML, participated as a speaker.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Marketing Society: Global membership community for senior marketing leaders, hosting dinners, events, and awards programs across multiple markets. Comparable to AI Trailblazers in its senior-marketer audience and event-led engagement model, with a longer track record and global footprint.
• Pavilion: Private membership community for B2B revenue, marketing, and go-to-market leaders with events, content, and peer groups. Mirrors AI Trailblazers' curated executive-membership model and recurring event cadence, but serves a broader GTM audience rather than an AI-specific one.
• Marketing AI Institute: Education, community, and events organization focused specifically on AI in marketing. Closely comparable to AI Trailblazers in audience (senior marketing leaders) and theme (AI adoption), with the key difference of a heavier emphasis on AI-education content and certifications rather than invitation-only summits.
• Chief: Invite-only private membership network for C-suite women executives including CMOs, with peer groups, events, and content. Operates the same gated-membership plus premium-events playbook as AI Trailblazers, though differentiated by demographic focus and broader executive scope.

Others

• Adweek: Major marketing and advertising trade media brand and event operator. Direct commercial partner of AI Trailblazers via the AI Trailblazers Power 100 list, and operates comparable CMO-facing events and editorial content targeting the same audience.
• MediaLink: Strategic advisory and consulting firm serving marketing leaders, agencies, and technology companies. Operates adjacent services (Cannes Lions advisory, executive programming) that intersect with AI Trailblazers' audience and event ecosystem without directly competing as a community platform.

Broad incumbents

• VentureBeat: Media and events company covering enterprise AI and martech, including the Transform and VB Summit event franchises. Overlaps with AI Trailblazers in audience (senior enterprise marketing and technology leaders) and topic (AI in business), but as a much larger media-led incumbent.
• Digiday: Media and events company covering digital marketing, advertising, and media, including the Digiday Awards and multiple industry summits. Comparable in serving senior marketing and agency leaders with premium editorial and event products, though not exclusively focused on AI.
• Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity: The flagship annual global marketing and creativity festival held each June in Cannes. Overlaps directly with AI Trailblazers' Cannes Reworked Summit in venue, timing, and senior-marketing audience, but operates at vastly larger scale and broader (non-AI-specific) scope.
• Web Summit: One of the world's largest technology conference operators running flagship events (Lisbon, Rio, Vancouver) plus vertical events. Comparable as a premium recurring tech/business conference operator with sponsorship-driven economics, but with a much broader mandate than AI marketing.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ai-trailblazers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about AI Trailblazers