Freeway presents
Tech Talent Summit 6.0
About
Tech Talent Summit 6.0 at Player 15 Group
Arizona's flagship gathering where talent, technology, and leadership converge.
This is the sixth chapter of Arizona's most connected gathering. Founders, employers, investors, and talent will be in one room on November 6 at Player 15 Group in Phoenix.
Building on last year's record turnout and the debut of the Startup Pavilion, Summit 6.0 introduces four intentional experience zones — each built to turn a conversation into a connection, and a connection into an outcome.
This year's theme: The Performance Economy.
How elite teams build, scale, hire, and lead in the age of AI.
Why This Summit Exists
The future of work is being rewritten.
AI is changing how companies hire, build teams, and compete. The organizations that win won't simply adopt better technology — they'll build better people, stronger cultures, and faster learning organizations.
The Tech Talent Summit brings together the leaders shaping that future across startups, enterprise, education, government, and investment.
What to Expect
🔹 Main Stage. Opening remarks from Mayor Kate Gallego, Sandra Watson, and Dan Costello. Then a keynote fireside with Anita Verma-Lallian on why Arizona is where AI gets built.
🔹 Panels on what's defining the year. Built to Perform (talent, AI agents & the new org chart), Force Multipliers (inside the AI-native revenue team), a VC panel on what investors are backing now, and Marketing That Cuts Through the Noise.
🔹 Hot Seat: Did AI Just Kill the Entry-Level Job? A live debate. Two sides, no fence-sitting, and you vote before and after.
🔹 Physical AI Needs People. Cognite on the roles that will run industrial AI, closing with a live AMA.
🔹 Talent Match. Speed rounds where selected candidates meet hiring founders and employers face to face.
🔹 Exhibitor Floor. Meet the companies actively hiring and the investors actively writing checks, all in one room.
We expect you to arrive with intention and leave with an outcome: a connection, a hire, a meeting, a deal.
How Elite Teams Win in the Age of AI
2026 Theme: The Performance Economy
Performance
What elite execution looks like when AI raises the bar.
Leadership
Building cultures that learn faster than the market shifts.
Talent
Hiring, growing, and keeping the people who compound.
AI
Putting the tools to work without losing the humans.
What You'll Experience
Keynotes
Mainstage talks from the leaders defining the theme. Big-room talks from the CEOs, founders, and operators shaping the Performance Economy. Short, high-signal, no filler.
Curated Networking
Matched introductions, not name-tag roulette. We match you with the people you should actually meet — by role, industry, and what you're building. Walk in with introductions already teed up.
Startup Showcase
Arizona's breakout companies, live on the floor. Arizona's breakout startups demo live on the floor. Meet the founders, try the products, and see what's being built here.
Hiring Pavilion
Companies hiring now — meet them in person. Companies actively hiring set up shop for the day. Real conversations with the people doing the hiring — bring your story, skip the portal.
Office Hours
1:1 time with operators, investors, and experts. Book focused 1:1 time with operators, investors, and domain experts. Twenty minutes that can save you six months.
Investor Lounge
Where founders and capital actually meet. A dedicated space where founders and investors actually connect. Pitch, compare notes, or just start the relationship.
Fireside Chats
Unscripted conversations with builders and backers. Unscripted conversations with builders and backers — the stories behind the wins and the misses. Questions welcome.
AI Demonstrations
The tools reshaping work, shown live. Live demos of the AI tools changing how teams hire, build, and compete. See them working, not just pitched.
Recruiter AMA
Straight answers on hiring and market reads. Recruiters take your questions head-on: resumes, comp, interviews, and how the market actually reads you. No canned answers.