Founder's Journey: Ideation to Action

Ideation to Action is the first session in Greater Irvine Chamber’s August Founder's Journey Workshop Series for aspiring and early-stage founders. Presenters John Duplissey of Zaga Labs and Francisco Molina of Invento Design walk validation, assumptions, prototyping, and proof-of-concept steps. A later August 20 session covers pitching; a virtual August 27 session covers scaling systems. Irvine’s Executive Park chamber office is chamber-backed founder programming in Orange County - a workshop first, with a short networking window attached. Orange County founders who want chamber-backed programming in Irvine get a short 4:00-4:30 networking window before the teaching block - useful if you are not hunting a bar mixer.

Thursday, August 13, 2026, 4:00-6:00 PM at the Greater Irvine Chamber, 36 Executive Park, Suite 100. Check-in and networking run about 4:00-4:30 before the workshop block. Pricing on the chamber calendar: free for Greater Irvine Chamber members, $10 for OC Startup Council members or presenter clients (verification required), $25 for non-members. The chamber’s series overview page explains how the three sessions fit.

Early founders who have a concrete idea they are willing to stress-test get more from the workshop than people hunting only mixer time. The 30-minute check-in window is real networking, but the block is teaching: validation, assumptions, prototyping, proof of concept. Verification for the $10 OC Startup Council or presenter-client rate is required; do not assume the member price without the right affiliation. Tell Your Story on August 20 is the pitch session if you want the series in order. You can attend this session alone; Tell Your Story on August 20 is optional if you want the pitch block next.

Register on the chamber site before August 13. Arrive for the 4:00 check-in if you want the networking window, and come with an idea specific enough to validate - not a vibe.