A regional alliance for Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and Rancho Mirage.
A regional alliance for Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and Rancho Mirage.
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This isn't an events company. It's infrastructure.
A 9-city alliance built to surface, connect, and elevate the people building real companies in the Coachella Valley.
City 2 · Indio, CA · September 2026 · Free Admission
We're learning from local entrepreneurs who chose to build here — and using that momentum to reconnect what's been fragmented across nine cities for too long.
We're building that room. City by city. In person.
For the first-timer. The career-changer. The one who just needs to see someone who looks like them standing at the front of a room and think: that could be me.
If you can see it, you can be it.
No panels for panels' sake. No institutional distance. Just real people, real backstories, and earned wisdom worth hearing up close. Any age. Any background. Any starting point.
May 7, 2026
Read Article100 people showed up. The room was alive before the program even started.
Two speakers who came out and delivered — Mona Babauta with substance and soul, Paul Carr with wit and warmth nobody saw coming.
People found each other. Conversations started that hadn’t been possible before. Collaborations launched on the spot. That is CVIA. Not the stage. Not the speakers. The collisions.
Mona Babauta is a seasoned transit professional with over 27 years of experience serving communities across the Inland Empire, Bay Area, and the Los Angeles Metropolitan area.
She currently serves as the CEO/General Manager of SunLine Transit Agency in Southern California, a recognized leader in clean transportation innovation, particularly in hydrogen fuel cell buses and supporting infrastructure for over 30 years.
In addition to her professional experience, Babauta is an active leader in the transit industry and a passionate advocate for sustainable transportation and building healthy, engaged communities. She has contributed to numerous state, regional, and national efforts, including serving on the CALACT Board of Directors, the Executive Committee of the California Transit Association and the Board of Directors for The Center for Transportation and the Environment.
Mona holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Paul Carr is a British-born writer, journalist, entrepreneur, novelist, and co-owner of The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Over the past two decades, he has built a reputation for sharp commentary, fearless reporting, and an unfiltered perspective on technology, media, and startup culture.
Carr's career has spanned journalism, publishing, technology, and entrepreneurship. He has written for leading publications including TechCrunch, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, and Huffington Post, and served as Editorial Director of PandoDaily, where his columns became widely read throughout the technology industry.
As an entrepreneur, Carr has founded and co-founded multiple media and publishing ventures, including The Friday Project, NSFWCORP, and Chairman Mom. His work has often explored the intersection of technology, business, and culture, drawing from firsthand experience as both a reporter and founder.
Carr is also the author of several acclaimed memoirs, including Bringing Nothing to the Party, The Upgrade, We'll Always Have the Flamingo, and Sober Is My New Drunk, which chronicles his journey to sobriety. In recent years, he has expanded into fiction, publishing the Silicon Valley thriller 1414° and the critically praised novel The Confessions.
Today, alongside his writing and media work, Carr helps foster literary culture in the Coachella Valley through The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Known for his wit, candor, and willingness to challenge conventional wisdom, he continues to write about technology, entrepreneurship, storytelling, and the people shaping the future.
CVIA is designed to grow city by city — not as a touring event, but as a regional infrastructure that accumulates community, visibility, and economic impact with every gathering.
“Thank you for bringing us all together & creating a space for collaboration & creativity. I have a couple of lunch meetings already scheduled with folks I met at the event.”
“The ingredients are all here (entrepreneurs, investors, employers, job seekers), but they can’t find each other.”
“Excited to talk about your bus to books idea… let’s discuss possibilities!”
"The Coachella Valley has tremendous entrepreneurial talent and creative potential, but what it needs most is stronger infrastructure that helps founders and business owners move from ideas to sustainable growth."
If you lead economic development for a Coachella Valley city, CVIA was built with you in mind.
Nine cities acting as a unified region can compete for resources, talent, and investment that no single city can attract alone. Municipal support costs nothing. The return is a more visible, more credible, more connected valley — and that's good for everyone at the table.
We'd love to talk.
June 24, 2026
The Indio Post
After a failed earlier bid, Indio is revamping its strategy for a multimillion-dollar state climate grant that could fund solar, EV charging, walking trails and other green projects.
Read Story
June 24, 2026
NBC Palm Springs
May 20, 2026
The Indio Post
November 10, 2025
Palm Springs Life
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The Coachella Valley Innovation Alliance (CVIA) operates as a sponsored project of Caravanserai Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions made payable to Caravanserai Project with "CVIA" in the memo are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Caravanserai Project is not responsible for the content or operations of CVIA programming.
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