Last Monday at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, sixty startups from a16z’s SR006 cohort delivered 90-second pitches to a live audience of 1,000 plus 10,000 online viewers. The day began with Andrew Lee of a16z rallying attendees atop a chair, followed by breakfast networking as founders manned booths. By mid-morning, the main theater was packed for back-to-back speedrun presentations showcasing companies in insurance tech, next-gen entertainment apps, laundry-folding robots and AI agents tackling everyday tasks. Founders had sharpened their pitches in advance. Concorda’s Sam Oh, for example, rehearsed on this same stage two weeks earlier during Alumni Demo Day. Once the rapid-fire presentations wrapped, each team fielded detailed questions at their booths. Investors praised how practice paid off when hearing a product demo for the first time and seeing that “aha” moment light up faces. Teams like Paypath even brought custom “Modern Debt Rebuilt” shirts to stick in investor memories after a long day of 60 pitches. At every point, the focus was on substance. Founders balanced storytelling with concise metrics—user growth percentages, revenue milestones and roadmaps for scaling. The diversity of solutions on display highlighted how broad and experimental early-stage startups can be under a16z’s model. Wired-level production values made each demo feel like a mini-production, yet teams still needed to prove real traction and technical feasibility on the spot. With SR006 wrapped, applications for SR007 are now open. Founders preparing to apply should note the intensity of the format: prepare a tight 90-second narrative, anticipate deep product questions, and find a memorable hook—whether that’s branded swag or a striking demo moment.