HostAA 1028 · CrewSeat H-01
Umar Brimah
Head of Ecosystem, Austin · Rho
Founder of Allocators Anonymous, and your host for the night.
Challengers
- Flight
- AA 1028
- From
- Austin
- Date
- Oct 28Wed, Oct 28
- Boards
- 5:30 PM
- Acts
- I — III
- Lands
- Midnight
An evening in three acts. When launching is easy, how do you sustain flight?
Sponsored by Powered by 
Prologue · alone with one question
In the age of AI — when anyone can build and launch anything — what will matter most for challenger brands?
The thesis
Getting airborneis not the same asstaying there.
Challengers brings together the people, relationships, and ideas with enough conviction to keep moving after launch.
The vessel
One vessel carries the night.
Three ways aboard.
I5:30 PM · Guest House
Collisions
Dinner
Dinner sponsored by 
01 / 05
You arrive a stranger.
II8:15 PM · Pershing Hall
One question holds the room.
“In the age of AI — when anyone can build and launch anything — what will matter most for challenger brands?”
35–45 minutes · moderated · then it opens to the room
Host
ModeratorAA 1028 · CrewSeat M-01
Sawyer Covington
General Context
PanelistAA 1028 · CrewSeat P-01
Connor Thompson
Senior Manager of Energy, Reebok
Supports Reebok's U.S. collaboration strategy, cultural partnerships, and energy initiatives — bridging sport, fashion, and culture, and building the partnerships that leave a lasting mark on it.
PanelistAA 1028 · CrewSeat P-02
Nait Jones
Founder & investor · formerly a16z
Executive, serial entrepreneur and investor at the intersection of entertainment, culture and technology. A multi-time founder, formerly an investor at Andreessen Horowitz, and a self-described techno-optimist.
PanelistAA 1028 · CrewSeat P-03
Drishti Wadhwa
VP of Marketing, Andromeda
Leads brand and go-to-market at Andromeda, an Austin AI and knowledge graph company. A chemical engineer by training, she works on the other half of the problem: not how a technology works, but why anyone should buy it. Previously built marketing from zero at Apprentice.io and Kyocera.
III9 PM — Midnight · Rho Campus
Afterimage
The VIP after partyHosted by
The panel ends. The conversation doesn’t.
Move through it — what you leave behind stays a while
Boarding · Wednesday, October 28Sponsored by
Three ways into the night.
One application, three tickets: the dinner, the panel, and the VIP after party at the Rho campus. Choose any or all — each ticket is approved on its own, and every application is read by a person.
Allocators Anonymous · ChallengersAA-1028-D
Act I
Collisions Dinner
Dinner sponsored by 
- Gate
- Guest House
- Boards
- 5:30 PM
- Seating
- Matched
- Access
- Limited
Admit one · Oct 28 · Austin
Allocators Anonymous · ChallengersAA-1028-P
Act II
The Panel
- Gate
- Pershing Hall
- Doors
- 7:00 PM
- Panel
- 8:15 PM
- Guests
- 200
Admit one · Oct 28 · Austin
Allocators Anonymous · ChallengersAA-1028-V
Act III
VIP After Party
Hosted by
- Gate
- Rho campus
- Boards
- 9:00 PM
- Lands
- Midnight
- Access
- VIP
Admit one · Oct 28 · Austin
12:00 AM · Austin · landing
One.
career-defining relationship, per guest.
If every guest leaves with one person who changes the direction of their work, career, company, or next chapter, the night has done its job.