SCWorks New Tech Wrapped the Season in Style at River Row

Jul 2

Written By Doug Erickson

Our July 1 New Tech closed out the season with a new rotating format, six standout presenters, riverside networking, raffle prizes, and a packed house at River Row. See you September 9!

For the last New Tech before summer break, we returned to River Row — and what a send-off it was. You told us what you wanted, and we listened: lower admission (done), more networking time (done), and a return to the venue you loved, with its blend of indoor and outdoor spaces perched beside the San Lorenzo River.

The evening debuted a new program format. Instead of one stage and one long program, we split into three sections with two presenting companies in each. Every fifteen minutes, the audience rotated to a new section — three rounds, six presenters, and far more intimate conversations than a traditional format allows. Based on the energy in the room (and the volume of the conversations afterward), the experiment worked.

World Champions

We celebrated the team of 20 Santa Cruz County high schoolers called Hephaestus Robotics who won first place in the Ranger Class at the MATE ROV World Championship. World. Championship.

Presientations

Our presenters brought remarkable range. Jonathan Lo shared the core idea behind his best-selling marketing book Keeping People Interested: empathy is the secret ingredient to sustainable growth. Logan Mermin transported us aboard the restored Western Flyer, where Steinbeck and Ricketts' legendary voyage sails again as a floating classroom for ocean science. Niek Hasselaar of Microsoft delivered honest, practical lessons on what actually drives AI adoption inside large organizations. Paul Regen unveiled Lucid, his "organizational intelligence operating system" that scans a company like an MRI. Pianpian Xu Guthrie of Amotions AI showed us a real-time AI coach that joins live sales calls and whispers in-the-moment suggestions. And Rachit Verma demoed SmartBrowse, the CruzHacks-born AI shopping agent that does the tab-hoarding, price-checking grind for you.

50 Gifts

The raffle closed the program with 25 signed copies of Keeping People Interested and 25 three-month premium subscriptions to Amotions AI finding lucky homes — followed by more food, beverages, and tours of the River Row apartments and Sky Deck.

A heartfelt thank you to our event hostess Jessica with River Row, who opened the doors and made the whole evening feel effortless, and to Emiley & Blaire with Woodstock's Pizza, who kept everyone happily fed. Events like this don't happen without people like them.

Thank you as well to our sponsors: David Lyng Real Estate, Cabrillo College, Wynn Capital Management, and Digital NEST. Your support keeps this community gathering, connecting, and building.

Photos from the evening are now posted — take a look and tag yourself and the people you met. And we want to hear from you: use the Comments section below to tell us what you liked and what we could improve. The new format was built on your feedback, and we intend to keep it that way.

Enjoy the summer break. Get outside, get on the water, recharge. New Tech returns on September 9 — we'll see you there.

SCWorks New Tech on July 1, 2026 — The full event preview, including the presenter lineup and the new three-round rotating format.
New Tech Returns With Fresh Ideas at River Row — A look back at our June gathering, where the River Row era of New Tech began.
Your Company Has a Brain. Lucid Wants to Show You the Scan — Our deep dive on Paul Regen's organizational intelligence platform, unveiled live at July New Tech.
What We're Reading: Santa Cruz Works Launches a Recommended Books Section — Curated reads for founders and builders, in the spirit of Jonathan Lo's raffle giveaway.