Beyond XGBoost: Foundation Models for Structured Data

An evening with the researchers, founders, and applied ML leaders and practitioners building the next generation of foundation models for structured and tabular data.

For over a decade, if you had a table, you reached for XGBoost. Every new use case meant retraining a new model. That’s changing with foundation models for structured data.

We're bringing together practitioners for an evening of discussion and conversation to unpack what’s real, where the gaps are and what a production prediction stack will look like in two years with advancements in AI.

The evening

Welcome remarks from Synthefy and Shilpi Nayak, founder of House of 434.

Moderated by Shilpi Nayak, with practitioners working across tabular and time-series prediction, including Sercan Arik (Google), Somi Agarwal (Synthefy), Saila Talagaadeevi (Cisco) and Tirath Kamdar (Walmart).

Drinks and food throughout, with networking before and after.

What we will explore:

• Do tabular foundation models actually beat a tuned XGBoost where it matters?

• What does in-context prediction change about how teams ship?

• What breaks first at scale?

• And why need a new class of AI models for tables, numbers and structured data?

Who is this event for:

Researchers, founders, applied ML leaders, investors, and engineers who run prediction and analytics in production. If you're building or deploying in this space, mention it when you request an invite.

Agenda:

5:30 PM · Doors open, drinks and networking
6:00 PM · Welcome remarks
6:15 to 6:45 PM · Moderated panel on foundation models for structured data
6:45 PM · Drinks, light bites, and open networking
8:00 PM · Event concludes

Instructions to get to the office space:

1. Directions to SF office: Google Maps link

From San Francisco International Airport:

• Exit airport onto US-101 North (Bayshore Freeway)

• Continue east on Highway 80 towards the Bay Bridge

• Take the 4th Street Exit (last San Francisco exit), which places you on Bryant Street

• Turn left on Main Street

• Proceed down Main Street to Market Street veer right across Market

• Main then becomes Drumm Street (Hyatt Regency Hotel on your right)

• Left on Sacramento. Go down Sacramento for two blocks to Front Street

• Make a right turn on Front

• The garage entrance to One Embarcadero Center will be immediately on your left-hand side

• One Embarcadero Center is on Sacramento, between Front and Battery Streets

From the East Bay:

• Take I-80 west, crossing the Bay Bridge ($4 or $6 toll, depending on time of day)

• Take the Fremont St. Exit, the first exit off the bridge (right hand side)

• At the bottom of the exit, turn left on Fremont St.

• Follow Fremont St. across Market St., where Fremont St. turns into Front St.

• Continue on Front St. to Sacramento St.

• The garage entrance to One Embarcadero Center is on Front St. (left-hand side) immediately after crossing Sacramento St.

From Marin County:

• Take US-101 south, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (toll)

• Turn left onto Van Ness Avenue

• Turn right onto Bay Street

• Turn right onto Columbus Avenue

• Turn right onto Montgomery Street

• Turn left onto Clay Street

• Turn right onto Battery Street

• The garage entrance to One Embarcadero Center will be immediately on your left-hand side

• One Embarcadero Center is on Sacramento, between Front and Battery Streets

1.1 Entry into the office at One Embarcadero Center:

• Entry to the building is on the second level (use the escalators in the middle of the building at ground level).

• Enter the elevator bank by way of the QR code you’ll receive via email a few hours prior to the event. If no QR code is received, check in with the building security (or event assistant), for access to the elevator bank.

• After passing the turnstiles, turn right and push the button in the middle of the elevator bank (not the first one, that’s the freight elevator).

• Push 32, which should be unlocked if you checked in with building security or an event attendee. If you entered via QR code, use that same QR at the scanner below the buttons to unlock 32.

About Synthefy

Synthefy is building foundation models for structured and time series data, helping organizations approach prediction problems with less feature engineering, model tuning, and dataset-specific development.

https://www.synthefy.com/

Interested in learning more? Check out our hugging face where you can test your own predictions in real-time:
https://huggingface.co/Synthefy/Nori

About House of 434

House of 434 is a platform connecting founders, investors, operators, and domain experts through curated gatherings, strategic conversations, and meaningful introductions. We bring together the people shaping the future of technology, innovation, and private markets.

https://houseof434.com/