Podium Founding Cohort · 2026

The AI-Native Investment Firm Challenge 2026

Building the Next Generation of Portfolio Managers

Registration closes June 21

A New Era for the Industry

The hedge fund industry is entering a third era. After individual managers and multi-manager platforms like Millennium, Citadel, Point72, and Balyasny — AI is now enabling small teams to build capabilities that once required large organizations.

Era 1

Single-Manager Funds

The PM owned everything.

Era 2

Multi-Manager Platforms

Shared infrastructure, capital, and operations.

Era 3

AI-Native Investment Firms

Software reduces cost; small teams compete at scale.

Who Should Participate?

We welcome participants from a wide range of backgrounds. Individuals and multidisciplinary teams are both encouraged.

Portfolio Managers & Analysts
Quantitative Researchers
Data Scientists & AI Engineers
Software Engineers & Founders
Students & Independent Investors
Family Office Professionals

Our Focus

Rather than rewarding short-term performance, the challenge focuses on how teams leverage Podium as an AI-native investment operating platform to build repeatable, scalable, and auditable investment processes.

All teams will build and operate their challenge submission on Podium. The platform will provide a structured environment for thesis development, AI workflow design, portfolio tracking, decision logs, and final judging materials.

The Podium Competition Workspace

What every team gets

Team workspace & thesis canvas
Research & evidence log
AI workflow / agent documentation
Paper portfolio tracker + risk & decision journal
Weekly updates, IC memo template & leaderboard

What Podium captures

Thesis, evidence, and AI application
Decisions made and when views changed
How the portfolio evolved and performed
Whether the process was repeatable and auditable

The competition creates an operating record, not just a final pitch deck.

What We're Looking For

“Not the highest short-term return — but the potential to become exceptional AI-native portfolio managers.”

Evaluation Criteria

Criteria	What Podium evidence judges will review
AI-native workflow design	Agent/workflow setup, prompts, tools, automation design
Investment process	Thesis, evidence, assumptions, updates
Portfolio & risk	Sizing, constraints, drawdowns, exposure management
Operating discipline	Decision logs, weekly reviews, audit trail
Performance	Paper portfolio results and consistency with stated risk

Why Participate?

Build alongside talented investors, engineers, and researchers
Learn from industry practitioners
Gain exposure to allocators and family offices
Showcase your ideas and capabilities

The Prize — Design Partner & Incubation Pathway

Up to $100,000 of Podium-controlled proprietary capital

Most investment competitions end with a trophy. We're experimenting with something different as part of TECH WEEK by a16z. Outstanding participants in our inaugural AI-native hedge fund competition may be invited into a Design Partner and Incubation pathway, where select teams will have the opportunity to work directly with us to help shape the future of AI-native portfolio management.

As part of this process, Podium may, at its sole discretion, evaluate select participants for the possibility of operating strategies using up to $100,000 of Podium-controlled proprietary capital within Podium's infrastructure, operating environment, and risk framework.

The goal is not to reward short-term performance. The goal is to identify builders, researchers, investors, and future portfolio managers who can demonstrate rigorous thinking, disciplined processes, strong risk management, and the ability to build institutional-quality investment workflows.

For decades, the path to managing capital professionally has depended on access to infrastructure, networks, and institutional machinery. We're interested in whether AI can change that.

More details will be announced during our #NYTechWeek kickoff.

Disclaimer

Participation does not guarantee selection, design partner status, incubation, funding, capital allocation, investment, employment, partnership, or any future commercial relationship. Any such opportunities would be highly selective and subject to Podium's discretion, participant acceptance, further diligence, legal documentation, operational review, qualification standards, and ongoing risk controls. Podium reserves the right not to select any participant for incubation or capital deployment.

Competition Structure

The Podium Founding Cohort runs from June through August 2026 in five phases, moving from kickoff to onboarding, then building and operating on Podium before the final showcase and future pathways.

01June 3
Kickoff Event
Program launch, mixer, lightning talks, registration opens.
02June 4–21
Formation + Platform Onboarding
Teams form, join Discord, create Podium workspaces, submit initial thesis.
03June 21–Aug 16
Build + Operate on Podium
Teams build AI workflows, run paper portfolios, submit weekly updates, and maintain decision logs.
04August 21
Final Showcase
Finalists present their Podium operating record, architecture, risk framework, results, and lessons learned.
05Beyond
Design Partner + Incubation Pathways
Selected teams may be invited into future Podium programs.

Get Started Tonight

Join the Community

Discord Channel

All team communications, announcements, mentor updates, and competition news will be shared over Discord. Join the channel to stay connected with your team, other participants, and the Podium team throughout the competition.

Discord Channel

Teams must register using the sign-up form before the deadline. Registration closes June 21 — after which workspaces will be assigned and the build phase begins.

Complete the sign-up form below
Form your team (1–4 people)

Competition Sign-Up Form

Create a team to get a shareable code, or join your teammates with their code

Your Podium workspace becomes your competition submission.