Nicole
Full tables of researchers talking under the Tete-A-Tete posters at Cafe GMI

Postcard from Seoul 路 ICML 2026 路 July 8

Seoul, on the house.

A little experiment in being present without pitching.

ICML week is wall-to-wall talks, and Seoul runs on cafes. So we skipped the stage, took over a cafe near COEX for a day, and put GMI on the menu instead of on a slide.

Guests with custom ICML COFFEE cup sleeves

GMI's name on the sleeve.

Guests laughing mid-conversation at Cafe GMI

Nobody was presenting anything.

Researchers talking over drinks at Cafe GMI

Every table, a tete-a-tete.

The menu was the pitch.

Today's menu

Cafe GMISeoul 路 July 8
01Series A(mericano)Bold clarity. Right after closing your first round.
02The BlackwellDark and powerful. GMI's current-gen GPU.
03As Sweet as Sky9Rich, smooth, like landing your ideal investor.
04The CloudersBright and bold. For the cloud builders.
The real printed Cafe GMI menu at the counter
The real one, at the counter.

What I noticed.

Researchers weren't asking what people were building. They were asking what problems people wanted to solve over the next five years. That changed how I think about rooms for technical people.

Bay Area rooms open with 'what are you building?' This one opened with 'what do you want to solve?' I stopped assuming one playbook fits every room.

638approved after vetting
3co-hosts
8 hoursone cafe, 10 to 6

Co-hosted with Sky9 Capital, AttentionX and Z Potentials.