James Pentalow is the organizer of Building with AI Charlotte, a free, non-profit monthly meetup for people building apps and companies with AI. He is a three-time founder and the founder of Bloxx, an AI-native website builder. He has spent the last decade working in machine learning and go-to-market strategy.
RoleOrganizer, Building with AI Charlotte
Based inCharlotte, North Carolina
AlsoFounder of Bloxx
What James does at the meetup
- Runs the monthly meetup. It meets after hours at Hygge Coworking in Charlotte and is free to attend.
- Leads the workshops. The December 2 session is a hands-on workshop on self-improving voice agents.
- Books the pitch slots. Two builders pitch each month in a 25-minute format with a demo and Q&A.
- Writes the recaps and guides. Each past meetup gets a written recap, and the guides on this site come out of questions people ask in the room.
How James thinks about AI talent
James screens people who build with AI for three traits. He tests them with leading questions, not quiz questions.
- A systems-builder mindset. They think in whole systems and can connect technical detail to a business result.
- Curiosity. They ask next-level questions and teach themselves.
- An understanding of how the sausage gets made. They know how AI systems are built and why they behave the way they do.
The full framework is in How to hire AI talent in Charlotte.
How these guides are made
- Every third-party fact is checked against the organization's own page or a primary source.
- Each guide lists its sources and the date it was last checked.
- Opinions and frameworks are labelled as the author's own.
- No invented quotes, statistics or testimonials.
- Corrections are welcome. Tell us and we will fix it.
Guides by James
Hiring and AI talent
- How to hire AI talent in Charlotte
- AI engineer interview questions with scoring rubrics
- How to test AI fluency in non-engineering hires
- AI engineer work sample test: a take-home you can copy
Charlotte guides
- The best AI groups and meetups in Charlotte
- AI events in Charlotte
- AI startups and companies in Charlotte
- Charlotte tech and startup meetups
- Charlotte networking events for professionals
- Charlotte startup resources
- Where to learn AI in Charlotte
Builder guides
- Claude Code vs Cursor vs Codex
- How to build a voice agent
- The 25-minute startup pitch template
- What changed in AI: November 2026
Workshops and recaps
- Build a self-improving voice agent
- Build a self-improving AI system
- Meetup #3 recap: Gridramp and ClearlyKept
- Meetup #2 recap: Stubbly, and a month of AI news
Every guide is also listed on the resources page.
Talk to James
- Book a chat. Grab 30 minutes with James on a Friday morning to talk about what you are building.
- Come to a meetup. The next one is Wednesday, December 2, 2026 at Hygge Coworking. RSVP on Meetup.
- Connect on LinkedIn. James Pentalow on LinkedIn.
- Get the emails. Join the mailing list for meetup dates, pitch openings and workshop invites.
Last updated November 11, 2026.