A members club for engineers building next gen AI.
What we actually do
We bring the top engineers at the forefront of AI together and make magic happen. We make magic in three ways.
-
Competitions
We run competitions where our members can finally build that idea they have always wanted to build. Fixed windows, a published rubric, a real result.
-
Support
We provide world-class resources, mentorship, GTM support, sales, and operations, so you can focus on building technical products.
-
Space
If you are on the East Coast, we also provide a fully free month of co-working space so you and your team can build your idea. More locations shortly.
The Room
One Echelon is for people building the next generation of AI/ML systems. This includes training and inference infrastructure, agent architectures, evaluation, model tooling, and the applied work that puts any of it into production.
We care about what you have built, the impact it has had, and what you want to do next.
Whether you want to change roles, meet like-minded peers, or start a company, this is the place to be.
Next competition
Virtual · Open now
Agents for workflow automation
Build an agent that takes a real workflow off a real person's desk, using whatever tooling you like. Then you demo it live to a panel that has already read your code. You can vibe-code, build it from scratch, however you want.
Free to enter, and open to people outside the membership as well as in it. Anyone in the world can take part.
Reach out to hello@oneechelon.club to be a participant or a judge, or if you want to learn more. Please send us a brief about you plus your resume or LinkedIn.
- Build window
- 10 to 13 September
Founding members
If you want to be a founding member.
Send us an email with a brief about you, plus your CV, LinkedIn, and any public achievements we can look at. Use the subject line “Founding Member Interest”.
Membership
You are met by the people you would be joining.
There is no form that admits you and no amount that buys a place. Every member has sat down with the founding team, and potentially one or two existing members. That is the whole process, and it is why the room is worth being in.
How admission works
Four steps, and you hear either way.
-
First
You send us an email Tell us what you have built and where we can see it. Any public achievements we can look at, and any profile links, would help.
-
Second
We read it Every application is read by the founding team. If we think you are a fit for the room, we invite you to interview.
-
Third
You meet the founding team A conversation about your work, what you are building next, and what you would want out of being here.
-
Fourth (potentially)
You meet two members Two existing members interview you separately.
-
Then
A decision You hear from us in writing either way, with the reasoning behind it.
What members do
-
Compete
Participate in competitions, or support them by offering guidance and advice to members.
-
Judge
Panels are drawn from the membership. If you want to judge, tell us which competitions suit your work and we will seat you where the fit is right.
-
Speak
Every competition opens with an address, and we run evenings between them. Members take those slots.
-
Interview
Members interview candidates for the cohorts that follow theirs. The room decides who joins the room.
Dues
Membership carries dues, set by the board and shared with you when we offer you a place.
Dues cover competition prize pools, the programming between events, and our operations.
Panels and speaking slots are filled from the membership on fit.
How to apply
If you want to be a founding member.
Write to us with what you have built and links to where we can see it. Include a brief about you, plus your CV, LinkedIn, and any public achievements. Use the subject line “Founding Member Interest”. We will reach back out if we think you are a good fit.
Upcoming events · 10–13 September · Virtual
Agents for workflow automation.
Build an agent that takes a real workflow off a real person's desk. Any model, any framework, any tooling. You then demo it live to a panel that has already read your code. You can vibe-code, build it from scratch, however you want.
Reach out to hello@oneechelon.club to be a participant or a judge, or if you want to learn more. Please send us a brief about you plus your resume or LinkedIn.
- Build window
- 10 September 00:00 EST to 12 September 23:59 EST
- Teams
- 1 to 4 people
- Panel
- Judges announced on 9 September
- Entry
- Free, and open to people outside the club as well as in it, on an approval basis. Send us a brief about yourself plus your LinkedIn or CV, and tell us whether you want to be a participant, a judge, or a keynote speaker.
The brief
Pick a workflow somebody currently does by hand. Build an agent that automates it.
Use any model, any framework, any tooling, paid or open. Just declare what you used.
Full details will be provided to participants.
Scoring
Four dimensions, ten points each. Published here before entry opens and not changed afterwards.
-
Execution
Does it work, is it well built, and does it handle the case that is not the demo.
-
Originality
A genuinely new approach, as against a competent assembly of parts everybody already has.
-
Usefulness
Would the person whose workflow this is actually adopt it on Monday.
-
Craft
Documentation, legibility of the code, quality of the demo.
How judging works
Every submission is scored independently by at least two judges, each leaving a written comment on every dimension. Where scores diverge sharply the panel discusses the submission on the call before placements are settled. Judges declare conflicts and step aside before scoring begins.
13 September
Time to be confirmed. The panel arrives having already scored the code.
-
00:00
Welcome Format, rubric, and how the panel reached its shortlist.
-
00:15
Opening address Speaker to be announced
-
00:30
Demonstrations Shortlisted teams present in turn, with questions from the panel. Time per team depends on how many are shortlisted.
-
01:15
Placements Results, with the panel's reasoning given aloud. Written scores follow by email and the full record is published afterwards.
Afterwards
One competition, run properly, then the next.
We work on a six week cycle. Theme set, panel seated and named publicly, rubric published, the build window, then judging and a full public record of the result.
Every competition publishes its real figures, however modest. We would rather be small and accurate than large and unverifiable.
Principles
What we will not do, in writing.
A membership is only worth belonging to if getting in is honest. These are our board's policy rather than aspiration.
In practice
-
Quality of membership
We admit people who are on the verge of building the next significant thing in AI. Once you are in, we will do what it takes to support you, whether that is starting a company or something as small as testing an idea. Mentorship, resources, introductions. Make the request and we will do our best.
-
Applying is free
No fee to apply, no fee to be interviewed, no fee if we say no. Dues are raised only after a place has been offered.
-
Confidentiality
If you want to build an idea on your own and would rather nobody else were involved, we stay hands off and let you build it. Nothing you are working on has to be shared with the room.
-
Criteria first
Competition rubrics are published before entry opens and are not altered afterwards. A standard we would not publish is not a standard.
-
Two sets of eyes
Every membership application is scored independently by at least one member, with written reasoning recorded. Candidates are interviewed by one or two members as well as by us.
-
Member events
If you want to host an event with One Echelon, you will have our contact details. Ask, and we will accommodate it where it serves the membership. Members are also welcome to host their own events outside the club, and we encourage it. That informal setting is usually where people actually get to know each other.
-
World-class resources
We connect members with proven mentors, experts, and resources suited to what they are working towards, and to people worth knowing long after the project ends.
-
Conflicts declared
Anyone with a commercial, employment, or advisory relationship to a candidate or entrant steps aside from assessing them, and the fact that they did is recorded by name.
If we fall short of this, tell us.
Complaints about a decision, a panel, or how a competition was run go straight to the board and get a written answer.
Details
- hello@oneechelon.club
- Phone
- +1 617-870-3925
- Registered office
- 575 5th Ave, New York, NY 10017
- Response time
- Within 24 hours.