I still don’t have a pretty looking site up yet (it’s coming) but I’ve decided to go ahead and open up registration for Startup Riot. I still have slots available for startups to pitch although those are going pretty quickly. This is going to be a fun event and I am way looking forward to this. If you have questions, post in the comments or find me during the two Open Coffee events I’m doing this week (I should really call them Open Coffee-like events).
Tag Archive for 'Startup Riot' Page 2 of 2
So someone posted a request on my Skribit widget for an update on Startup Riot. So here we go.
A new site is in development (what, you don’t like my manual HTML hacked site?) and should go up in the next day or two. Along with that you’ll see all the details for the event which I’m pre-announcing here. Namely, it is going to be held on Monday May 19, 2008 from 9am until 5pm at Twelve Hotel in Atlantic Station. The goal is to get 45 startups on stage to present their three minute pitch on themselves. Already half of those slots are taken by companies who have pre-registered to pitch for the event. If you want to pitch, better act fast and sign up quickly. Companies may be from anywhere (not just Atlanta), may be in any industry (not just technology), and may be at any funding stage (or may not even be raising money). The audience will be made up of job seekers (potential co-founders, fresh grads, and others), potential clients (large companies and non-profits), and investors (angel investors and venture capitalists).
There are a couple of sponsors who have already agreed to support this event. I’m still looking for a few more to help pay for the overhead of doing this. After I secure those final sponsors, the event will be closed off to new sponsors or attendance by service providers. I’m going to manually approve each and every attendee to the event. Yes, it’ll be tedious but I’m willing to do that to ensure a high quality mix of attendees. Each group of attendees will have a controlled number of slots available so that there is a good mix of folks for the event. And yes, I will turn away folks based solely on my judgment as to their suitability for this event.
Finally, I’ve mentioned this to a few people but haven’t made a public announcement. We are going to have a keynote speaker at the start of the day’s events. That keynote speaker is now fully confirmed and will be Drew Curtis of Fark.com. Although a lot of people know Drew as the guy that has caused a lot of commotion, he’s also a serial entrepreneur. His talk will likely be an interesting and funny take on doing a startup. If you don’t know of Drew or Fark.com, just go read some stuff about him. Oh yeah, Drew also owns Fark TV which is hosted by SuperDeluxe.com which is a part of TBS.
I’m still working out the fees for registration but don’t worry - they’ll be far more reasonable than other events that supposedly cater to startups. There will be an option to pre-pay for a box lunch at the event as well. There are plenty of local restaurants that you can walk to if you want to do that instead. My goal is to have as few sponsors for this event as possible and one way to do that is to have each of you pay for your own lunch.
This is going to be a fun event and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing all the startups come out and do their three minute pitches. You can help by spreading the word about this event. The more high quality people that show up to the event means a better event for everyone.
This blog has been eerily quiet since I announced and started ramping up for Startup Riot. Everyone seems to be very enthusiastic about the event and I’m hurriedly seeing venues and trying to figure out a cost effective way of doing this. As I mentioned before this is going to be an event focused on getting pitches from startups (Atlanta or not) in 3 minute chunks. Of the initial projection of 45 slots, I’ve already got about half of them filled with companies who have pre-registered. I may expand this number based on demand (which will then require reconfiguring either the schedule or the venue or both) but the initial 45 companies have the best shot of pitching at the event.
I’ve also started reaching out to investors (both angels and venture capitalists) to introduce the event. Everyone so far seems interested in attending (even without a firm date set). My next round of introductory invites is going to go out to large local corporations and non-profits. The large corporations are a good chance to land paying customers (or potential acquirers!). My hope is that startups at the event will see non-profits as a way to get name recognized pilot customers who can provide valuable feedback while non-profits get to use bleeding edge technology for free/cheap. If you view non-profit folks in that capacity I think it’ll be a win/win.
So what do I need from you? A few things. I’ve already got a handful of people who have volunteered their time and help for this event. I need more of those people - people who volunteer to work the registration table, help with presentations, move people from area to area, etc. Also, if you have contacts with venture capitalists, angel investors, large companies, or non-profits who you think would come to this event, contact me and I’ll introduce the event to them with your help. This will help get them to register for the event once details are set.
So how do you contact me? Well, you can email me, DM me on twitter, or send a message through LinkedIn.
Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for a while and it’s finally time to test the waters and see if I can pull off this event. At the last Startup Dinner, I mentioned that I’d like to do a startup focused pitch event. The idea would be for startups to get up on stage and do a (strictly enforced!) three minute pitch on their company. I’m calling this event Startup Riot.
Target Audience
The invited audience will be three pronged so that all interested startups will have one or more groups to pitch.
First, I’ll look to invite folks who are looking for jobs especially those who are just graduating from local colleges. Rather than condemn these folks to cube farms, let’s try to get the best and brightest working in some great startups.
Second, I’m planning to invite those involved in technology with large local corporations and non-profits. Clearly getting these folks as customers would be a boon for any startup. Non-profits actually present a unique opportunity for both parties. Startups can leverage these folks as early adopter customers and get valuable feedback on their product/service while non-profits can have the opportunity to adopt new technologies for free/cheap.
And finally, I’m planning to invite investors - angels and venture capitalists. No need to explain why I hope.
Between these three groups, every startup that wants to pitch will have one or more groups that they’ll want to appeal to. But remember, you’ll only have three minutes in which to do this.
The Schedule
The format I’ve been able to come up with would get us through about 45 company pitches over the course of the day with lots of time left over for networking and private discussions. The format may change and adapt based on the venue I end up using as well as the demand for pitch slots. If it’s way over 45, then I’ll rejigger the event so that everyone gets a shot.
I intend to allow any startup that wants to pitch to be able to do so although I reserve the right to refuse anyone a slot based on my sole opinion. Realistically though, most anyone can suffer through three minutes of the most idiotic pitch.
Sponsors and Cost
This isn’t going to be cheap to do. I’m looking into catering (lunch and whatnot), venue costs, printing, etc. I’m fortunate to already have a few people volunteer their time for this event but the overall cost is still going to be hefty. Given that, I’m planning on running this event differently than most of my other events or events run by other local entrepreneurs.
First, I’m going to get sponsors for the event. Yes, that includes service providers. But once costs are covered, I’m not going to keep taking sponsors on for the event. The goal here is to cover cost and not overwhelm the event with non-startup folks. So if you’re interested in sponsoring this event, you probably need to contact me sooner rather than later since I’ll give preference to those who contact me first.
Second, the event is not going to be free for all individuals but fees will take into account each groups ability to pay. Pitching startups will get some allowance of folks they can bring for free. This also goes for non-profits looking to potentially use products and services from the startups. Large companies will have some minimal fee to make sure qualified folks are signing up. Job seekers will pay some minimal amount in an effort to make sure folks who show up are qualified candidates and aren’t just signing up with no intention of showing up. Finally, investors will pay some amount to attend as well.
What I Need From You
So what do I need from you? Well, first I need to make sure that I can actually get 45 or so startups lined up to pitch. If there are more than that who want to pitch I need to know that as well since I need to figure out a schedule that works for this event. At this point I’m targeting either late April or early May for this event and it looks to be an all day event in Atlanta. If you are a part of a startup that wants to pitch, fill out this form and indicate your interest in pitching. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an email, contact me via LinkedIn, or send me a note on Twitter.