20-11 | SG | AI for Non-Tech Founders: What You Need to Know to Ace 2027

Event Details: SGD20 for members • SGD40 for non-members Friday, 20 Nov 2026 9:30am – 12:30pm SGT Trehaus — 109 North Bridge Road, #07-21 Singapore 179097 ————— AI is changing the way we do business, but as a founder, how much do you really need to know to keep up? With new AI tools and possibilities emerging almost every day, it’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind. But you don’t need to be a tech expert to make AI work for your business. You just need to know what matters, where to start and how to use it effectively. Join us for a practical, founder-focused morning in partnership with General Assembly, designed to help you cut through the AI noise and prepare your business for 2027. We’ll kick things off with a keynote by Sima Saadat, Country Manager of General Assembly, followed by 5 AI experts from our very own Launchpad community, each sharing their insights in a focused 10-minute session. Expect five different perspectives on practical AI applications, emerging opportunities and what founders should be preparing for next. We’ll then break into smaller groups for open discussions, giving you the opportunity to ask questions, exchange ideas and explore how to apply what you’ve learnt to your own business. Whether you’re new to AI or already experimenting with different tools, you’ll leave with fresh perspectives, practical ideas and greater confidence about what’s next. No complicated jargon. No technical background required. Just practical insights to help you and your business get ready for 2027. Key Takeaways: 1. Know what matters in AI for 2027. Understand the key trends, developments and opportunities worth your attention. 2. Discover practical AI applications. Learn how AI can save time, streamline operations and support business growth. 3. Explore AI tools and workflows worth using. Find out which tools could make a meaningful difference to your business. 4. Prepare for what’s next. Understand the skills, systems and mindset shifts needed to stay ahead. 5. Leave with actionable next steps. Gain practical ideas and insights you can start applying to your business. Agenda: 9:30am | Registration and mingling 9:45am | Keynote by Sima Saadat, “How AI Can Help Entrepreneurs: What They Should Know to Ace 2027” 10:00am | 10 mins TED-style talks by all the speaker – Alpa Parmar, “From AI Experimentation to AI-Ready: Building Your Business for 2027” – Alya Annabi, Alya will be delivering a live demo of Lovable – a platform that lets you build apps and websites by chatting with AI. Lovable is on a mission to build the last piece of software that the world will ever need. – Andy Teoh, “From “Hi, How Much?” to Paid Booking: How AI Closes Sales for Small Businesses (No Tech Skills Needed)” – Kasia Lee, “How to Build Your First AI Employee with Claude” – Melody Bay, “Four Apps, No Developer – How to Build and Monetise an App from the Expertise You Already Have” – Niki Torres, “The Art of Choosing: What to Build When You Can Build Anything” 11:00am | Breakout to small group discussions with audiences and speakers 12:00pm | Networking 12:30pm | End of programme Meet the Facilitators: Sima Saadat Senior Director of International Marketing and Singapore Country Manager for General Assembly Sima Saadat is the Senior Director of International Marketing and Singapore Country Manager for General Assembly (GA). With over a decade of experience in the edtech industry, she leads all Singapore operations, driving the successful delivery of high-impact education and training programmes in collaboration with the Singapore government and local partners. In her role, she develops strategic marketing initiatives, builds go-to-market campaigns, cultivates key relationships, and oversees event engagements. Beyond Singapore, she plays a key role in building GA’s brand presence across international markets, including Australia, Japan, Bahrain, and the UK. This involves developing and executing innovative marketing strategies to enhance GA’s brand, drive lead generation, and increase enrolments. Sima’s approach to marketing emphasises education and empowerment over hard selling. She focuses on creating brand awareness, building community, and making GA’s offerings relatable through localised content and events. Before she moved to Singapore, Sima worked at an edtech company in Silicon Valley, where she helped grow their brand awareness and customer base through Digital Marketing, Events, Email Campaigns, Social Media, Project Management and Sales Support. Before that, she worked at various edtech startups in San Francisco as their Marketing Manager. Sima is passionate about using her marketing experience, and her commitment to education and sustainability, to build meaningful networks that foster collaboration and drive progress towards a better future. Alya Annabi TEDx & Keynote Speaker, Workshop Facilitator & Mentor to Women ​Alya Annabi is a TEDx and Keynote Speaker, Workshop Facilitator, and Mentor to Women. She works with organisations to push women to take action before they feel ready. ​Alya doesn’t just inspire people, she activates them. Through her Positive Push framework, she empowers women to get clear on what they actually want, build the self-belief to go after it, and take the first step outside their comfort zone. Alya has activated 640+ women and spoken on 60+ stages, including TEDx, Microsoft, Hilton, Marina Bay Sands, PwC, WWF, AstraZeneca, SMBC and many more. She lights up every room she walks into. Her mission is simple: to push people outside their comfort zones by believing in them before they believe in themselves. Alya has recently been appointed Lovable City Lead in Singapore where she’s bringing the Lovable community together with one goal: more women building what they want, without waiting to feel “ready”. Alpa Parmar Bots and Brand Works, Founder Alpa is a seasoned and enthusiastic growth marketer with a proven track record in media communication. With years of cross-functional experience in strategic planning, digital media, and traditional media across diverse verticals such as technology, FMCG, automotive, and finance, she has successfully navigated both startup and MNC environments within the APAC market. Her expertise lies in driving growth through strategic planning, digital media execution, demand generation, and project implementation, effectively driving marketing campaigns for large accounts and generating MQLs for business opportunities and pipeline creation. She has delivered impactful results for top-tier organizations including Google, META, JP Morgan, Fidelity Investments, Aviva Investors, Franklin Templeton Investments, Manulife AM, Ferrero, GSK, F&N, and Nokia. Andy Teoh The Paper Glade, Co-Founder Andy has spent his career at the intersection of science, commercial leadership, and building things from scratch. At MSD — known as Merck & Co. in the US and Canada — he has held a range of global roles, from owning the P&L of a USD 2B specialty care business to serving as Chief Marketing Officer for emerging markets, giving him a rare view of how large organisations actually make decisions. Alongside that, he has built and exited businesses in the education and real estate sectors, and today invests in and helps operate ventures including Happy Cake and SCURO. He is currently co-founder of The Paper Glade, an AI platform built on a simple conviction: most companies don’t need more AI hype, they need a practical path to adopting it. Andy holds a PhD in quantum computing from the National University of Singapore. Kasia Lee Growgreat, Founder Kasia Lee is the founder of growgreat, a Singapore growth-marketing studio that helps local service businesses show up online and grow beyond word-of-mouth. She started it after a decade across design and tech. At Grab she was a product designer on the R&D team, building user journeys and interfaces for millions of people across Southeast Asia, before working across web3 and lead-generation startups. Today Kasia works as an AI Marketing Architect. She builds AI marketing and lead-generation systems for service businesses, with a small team of human specialists and AI employees behind her. She also helps founders and teams go AI-native through talks, workshops, and hands-on adoption work. Her clients have been featured in The Straits Times, Tatler Asia, and Lianhe Zaobao. Melody Bay Ambidextrous Labs, Founder Melody Bay is the founder of Ambidextrous Labs, where she builds AI-powered products and teaches business owners to build their own. A linguist, copywriter and former graphic designer, she has shipped four apps in the past year in between juggling work and a toddler, and without hiring a developer — among them Chord, a studio manager for creative businesses, and Ohayo, which turns new sign-ups into personalised welcome videos. She is based in Singapore and works with non-technical founders on Claude setups and app builds. Niki Torres HelmCrew, Revenue Systems Strategist Niki Torres is a marketing strategist and systems consultant with 18 years of experience helping founder-led service businesses grow and scale. She is the founder of HelmCrew, a B2B consultancy, and the creator of Calm Scaling, a framework and brand ecosystem built around the idea that calm is a strategy, not a luxury. Niki works with founders who are ready to scale their operations thoughtfully through the right team, the right systems, and the right tools. She is based in Singapore and has been integrating AI into her client work and her own business for the past several years.