#EETN Archives - Serious Startups

Missed Everywhere Else Tennessee? Check Out Some Highlights

There’s nothing quite as exhausting as a conference. Adrenaline, people, music, advice…everything goes by in a blur and suddenly it’s over. It can kinda leave you wondering what exactly happened.

(Psst: it’s that way for the organizers, times a million.)

Everywhere Else Tennessee is in the books, and it was a great one. Nick and I want to thank all of our sponsors, speakers, startups, volunteers, and attendees. You all made it an awesome show, and the two of us were really just along for the ride.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, you missed an awesome conference. From the opening party through the closing happy hour, the speakers kept dishing great advice on starting up everywhere else.

Little tidbits like:

It turns out size doesn’t matter. (Who knew?!)

Joel Andren’s talk on startup PR had every reporter nodding along. We want to talk to founders, y’all!

Jim McKelvey lied to the audience (repeatedly), and Paul Singh suggested we stop calling ourselves “startups.” And while we’re at it, we’ve got to figure out how to communicate our worth to people, because for every tech job created come 4.6 jobs in other industries. That’s powerful job growth.

Techstars Patriot Boot Camp hosted a panel consisting of 4 veterans, all who founded companies after they came home.

“Veterans are generally overeducated and underemployed,” Taylor McLemore, founder of the Patriot Boot Camp, told the crowd.

Nicole Glaros popped onstage with a beer, after a long flight in from Boulder.

“It’s 5:00 somewhere, right,” she quipped to the crowd.

Glaros then spent 40 minutes giving 12 practical tips on starting up.

A common theme throughout the show was handling failure. We all have failures big and small that are paving our way to success, and the #EETN speakers were no different. But, turning your failure into your strategy can help you push through anyway.

Nait Jones and Chris Lyons finished things off with a great fireside chat on the realities of starting up and the trends they’re both seeing in startup world.

Throughout the conference, our 10 startups in the Startup Avenue competed for votes from the attendees. The top 3 presented onstage to the crowd and a panel of 3 judges.

Wannado, Wedding Worthy, and Overdog all pitched their startups, giving impressive stats, plans, and growth.

In the end, Nashville-based Overdog walked away as the Heavyweight Champion of Everywhere Else.

Oh, but there was so much more! You can catch some of the talks over on Ustream, and Ryan Hoover has an awesome podcast with fellow speakers Josh Miller and Ben Yoskovitz you should definitely check out.

Join Us for The Everywhere Else Tennessee Opening Party!

Silky O'Sullivan's

We’re Beale Street Bar Hoppin’ tonight, starting at Silky O’Sullivan’s at 8PM. Then we’re hitting a few more Beale Street hot spots before the night’s over. Find out more here.

The Bar Hop is open to the public, no badge required. But, if you still want to join us for the whole conference, we’ve released just a few more tickets. Register now and don’t miss out on our awesome lineup of speakers and 2 more killer parties.

Check out the 3 awesome parties happening at Everywhere Else TN

The Everywhere Else conference series is about inspiration, education, and connection. We especially love getting you connected with each other and with our speakers.

And, with that in mind, we’ve got some awesome parties planned next week.

GlimpulseEE2013

Beale Street Pub Crawl with Centresource & Grasshopper–April 30th, 8 PM

A trip to Memphis wouldn’t be complete without spending some time on the historic Beale Street. And great news! You don’t have to have a badge to attend the bar hop.

We’re starting the party at Silky O’Sullivan’s. Join us on the patio for drinks and soak up the Memphis atmosphere. Later, we’ll take over the top floor of Club 152 for a glos stick-lit dance party.

Raifords

Dance Party at the Rumba Room, presented by Baker Donelson

The Grizzlies will be battling it out in the playoffs, and royalty will be heading into town, but the best party in town will always be Everywhere Else TN.

Thursday night we’re heading to the Rumba Room on South Main Street. The party is closed to the public, but conference badge holders will dance the night away with an awesome DJ and Baker Donelson.

Photo Apr 25, 2 35 09 AM

Last Call Happy Hour

Nothing closes out a conference like a happy hour.

After the conference, badge holders can mingle at 409 South Main. We’ll provide wine and local craft beer, and you’ll provide the great conversations and connections.

Bonus: Beale Street Music Festival

Everywhere Else TN may wind down, but the annual Beale Street Music Festival will just be kicking off Friday night. Join conference organizers and speakers as we unwind and check out some awesome bands. You can find more details and get tickets here.

Don’t miss out on these great parties and all the other great things happening at Everywhere Else TN. Grab a ticket before they’re gone.

3 Bonus Speakers + Your Startup Avenue Fan Favorite

T-minus 15 days until the kickoff of Everywhere Else Tennessee.

And, like all great events, we have a few surprises in store!

First, we’ve added 3 new speakers to the lineup.

Danny Boice, CTO/Cofounder Speek

danny-boice Danny Boice is the Co-Founder & President of Speek. Speek lets users do conference calls with a simple link (speek.com/YourName) rather than using phone numbers and PINs. Danny attended Harvard, is a Forbes columnist, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown and was recently named a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine. You can find Danny on Twitter @DannyBoice or LinkedIn here.

Steve Repetti, Managing Partner Crunch Fire Ventures

steve-repetti Steve has more than 25 years’ experience as an executive, inventor, investor, software developer, and technologist in the computer industry. On top of being the author of several award-winning programs, he is also the managing partner of the startup fund RadWeb Technology Partners, investor member of New World Angels, board member of the Miami Innovation Fund, and sits on the board of the Silicon Valley-based non-profit International Data Portability organization. He is also a member of the OpenAjax Alliance and the OpenWeb Foundation and frequently speaks on topics related to startups, crowd-funding, financing, advanced technology, Web 2.0, open source, data portability, and the real-time web. He also rode, and made the first investment in, the very first Startup Bus.

Jon Carnage

Startup Avenue Fan Favorite

There are some amazing startups in the Startup Avenue at Everywhere Else Tennessee. You met them last week, and spent the week voting on your favorite.

And, man, did y’all vote! 24,000 votes were cast, and it was a tight race. Congratulations to Wannado for being chosen as the Startup Avenue Fan Favorite. Wannado will join 3 other startups in a Pitch Competition on Friday, May 2.

We’ve also added one last startup to the Avenue.

Musistic is a Memphis-based music technology company whose product allows musicians to record with anyone, anywhere, anytime regardless of which recording software is being used. And the forthcoming Co-Lab, will allow musicians to expand their musical network by creating a global market place for musical talent and collaboration.

Meet all of our speakers and startups in just 2 short weeks. Grab your tickets here, if you haven’t already.

Wanted: A Few Good Volunteers for Everywhere Else Tennessee

Have you been watching all the coverage of the upcoming Everywhere Else Tennessee?

Then you’ve probably seen all the killer speakers, started hearing buzz about the parties, and–of course–gotten excited about the BBQ. Memphis is a special place, and Everywhere Else Tennessee is set to be a one-of-a-kind event.

I’d love for you to be a part of it!

The Everywhere Else team needs help with registration, taking care of our startups, setting up, breaking down, and so much more!

As a volunteer, you’ll get an all-access pass to the premier national conference focused entirely on startups outside Silicon Valley. You’ll also have entry to all 3 parties and plenty of time to do some networking of your own.

Wanna help? There are only 10 spots left, so don’t wait to let me know!

Give me a shout at monica@nibletz.com.

Everywhere Else TN Startup Avenue–Who’s Your Favorite?

startupavenue

Polling closed. Thanks so much for all your support! We’ll announce the Everywhere Else Fan Favorite soon!

There are some great companies populating the Startup Avenue this year. They’re coming from all over the country, from awesome startup cities like Boulder and Dallas and Charlotte. (And across Tennessee, of course!)

They also span all kinds of industries, healthcare to publishing to video games.

During Everywhere Else Tennessee, these 10 startups will show off their products to attendees and investors. They will be competing for a chance to pitch onstage in front founders and investors–as well as an angel & VC-stocked judging panel. The winner will be crowned the Heavyweight Champion of Everywhere Else.

But first…

They’re competing to win YOUR vote.

Check out the companies below, then let us know your favorite. The winner of the Fan Favorite Poll will get one of the spots in the live pitch contest.

So, let us know, who’s your favorite?

Bourbon and Boots–We are a great, new resource for finding stylish and unique handmade gifts to make you just a little bit cooler than all your friends. You won’t find any commercialized, big box store products on our site — we only offer the best, high-quality “small batch” creations from small business owners and artisans.
Brandfolder–Brandfolder is your convenient source to visually organize, quickly find and easily share all your final brand assets.
Cariloop–Cariloop helps people answer the questions they didn’t know to ask and connects them with the best senior care and service providers for their loved ones.
Kindful–Kindful’s simplistic yet powerful nature isn’t typical. Kindful has taken the pressure off of the nonprofit and allowed that effort to flow through to their relationships. We’ve made donor management fun again, and we have created the tools that allow you to engage your donors and further your cause.
MentorMe–MentorMe has taken the process of online dating and applied it to mentoring. We’re the only available technology solution that not only helps mentoring programs better manage day-to-day operations, but also helps them to better engage mentors and mentees.
OverDog–OverDog is a mobile app that enables athletes to challenge their fans to play video games on Xbox and Playstation. Launched in August 2013, OverDog has signed on hundreds of athletes across all of the major sports – football, baseball, soccer, even a few Olympians! – and has helped forge thousands of dream connections between its roster of athletes and OverDog fans. Looking ahead in 2014, the company is excited to launch the next version of its app with an expanded vision that connects gamers of all profiles and personas based on their shared passion for sports.
Screwpulp–Screwpulp is an eBook market that helps you discover new books you’ll love according to your tastes. Our mission is to make it easy for authors and readers to find each other in meaningful way. We promote a community of sharing and honest feedback between readers and authors.
The SoGood–The SoGood helps you discover the best local businesses through recommendations from friends and SoGood tastemakers. We’ve found that word-of-mouth recommendations drive local discovery, but access to these trusted recommendations is fairly limited. Our new iPhone app allows you to easily see which fitness studio a friend loves or which floral designer a top event planner recommends.
Wannado–From concerts to causes to cultural events, every day is packed with opportunities. Wannado® lets you find the events you want, and tune out the ones you don’t.
WeddingWorthy—WeddingWorthy.com is a group shopping platform that lets brides and their bridesmaids shop together from anywhere. We’ve partnered with top wedding photographers to create a curated catalog of beautiful wedding photos that are merchandised with products from top wedding designers. On WeddingWorthy.com, brides can finally tap into wedding inspiration that is shoppable. No more endless searches through dead-end photo sites.

Centresource Throws A Party & Someone Wins a Ticket to #EETN

Last week #EETN sponsor Centresource Interactive Agency hosted their Spring Mixer.

And let me tell you, Centresource knows how to throw a party.

Nashville coworking space The Skillery hosted a pop-up coworking event at the Centresource offices in the afternoon. The Skillery is home to entrepreneurs in fields as diverse as graphic arts, freelance anything, and designers.

As The Skillery folks wrapped up the work day, people flooded into the Centresource offices, an old house in an up and coming Nashville neighborhood. The food was amazing! From a hot dog cart to a semi-celebrity chef, there was no shortage of unique things to munch on.

During the event, we hosted a Twitter contest for the funniest picture. Johnathan Jones (@thephotojones) won a free ticket to Everywhere Else Tennessee!

tweetcontest

But, the highlight of the night was Centresource’s slow motion video booth. When I got to the offices 2 hours before the event started, the film team was already hard at work making it just right. Many curtain straigtenings, furniture moves, and tinkering later, here’s what they produced:

[iframe src=”//player.vimeo.com/video/90299896″ width=”500″ height=”281″ frameborder=”0″ webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen]

Come hang out with the Centresource crew at Everywhere Else Tennessee April 30-May 2. (Early bird discount ending today!) Or at least make sure you get to Nashville for the Summer Mixer.

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Start Where You Are–The Clock’s Ticking

memphissky1

Sshh.

Do you hear that?

The clock is ticking down!

TODAY is the last day to grab tickets at the early bird price of $150.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably an entrepreneur outside Silicon Valley. “Everywhere else.”

Feeling a little lonely?
Like you can’t find quality education?
Like there’s never enough capital?
And no one understands you?

Imagine being able to solve these issues in just 3 days.

How?

Silicon Valley-level mentorship…

You don’t have to go to a tech hub to find startup experts. They’re coming to Everywhere Else Tennessee!
Jim McKelvey cofounded Square and changed the way we do payments.
Josh Miller sold Branch to Facebook in January. At age 22.
Paul Singh has mentored hundreds (thousands?) of founders through 500 Startups and Disruption Corporation.
Nicole Glaros is part of building Techstars, arguably the best accelerator outside Silicon Valley.

And they’re all coming to Memphis in 30 days! (Btw, so. are. these folks.)

…No pretension allowed

Sure, listen to the kick ass speakers.
But you can also track them down in the halls or at the after parties. Attendance is capped at 400 people, so you’ll be able to find them easily.
EETN speakers and presenters are there for YOU, to help YOUR company grow.

Hunt down capital

Have your elevator pitch ready.
Investors are coming in from around the country. And they’re looking for great companies like yours.

Find your tribe

Looking for a cofounder? A mentor? Maybe just a friend to walk the road with?
EETN is THE place to meet founders and entrepreneurs just like you.
Talk startup shop during the day. Then see their true colors at 3 memorable parties after hours.

It’s all happening in Memphis April 30-May 2.

And, today, you can still do it for only $150.

[iframe name=”eventframe” id=”eventframe” src=”http://www.doitinperson.com/TicketInformation?event=Everywhere-Else-Tennessee” frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”5″ marginheight=”5″ vspace=”0″ hspace=”0″ width=”100%” height=”400″ allowtransparency=”true” scrolling=”auto” style=”width: 100%;”]

a16z Deputy Chief of Staff, Techstars, & YEC Join the #EETN Lineup

We’re coming down to the wire with the Everywhere Else Tennessee Conference. We have some great new panelists to announce tonight, including members of the Techstars Patriot Boot Camp and the Young Entrepreneur Council.

Tickets are going fast. Make sure to get yours by Monday, March 31 to guarantee the early adopter price of $150.

Now, for a few announcements we’re super excited about:

Andreessen Horowitz Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Lyons will be joining us in Memphis this year. Naithan Jones will be interviewed by Chris, discussing the decision to move from the Midwest to Silicon Valley. During the discussion Nait will talk about the decision to make such a big move, the challenges he faced, and what benefits he’s seen from the move. Nait will also talk about lesssons he learned building an online marketplace.

taylor-mclemore

Taylor McLemore is the Founder and Director of Techstars Patriot Boot Camp, a 3 day program designed to help veterans get mentoring and coaching in starting a company. Previously, he was the CEO & Founder of Prediculous, which was acquired by Sporting News. Taylor will lead a panel of veterans-turned-entrepreneurs as they discuss what it’s like to be in the military and start up. He’ll be joined by

Tameesha Desangles is a Memphis entrepreneur and the founder of WeddingWorthy.com. She has a background in ecommerce marketing, but is passionate about entrepreneurship. She was chosen as 1 of 20 women to represent female military entrepreneurs at the 2013 Inc5000 conference. She’s currently completing the Risingstars program while building WeddingWorthy.com.

Mark Morris is a veteran dedicated to continuing to serve our country through web and mobile technology. Currently, he’s the founder of MyGigline, which aims to solve the problem of communicating available resources for the military community.

scott-gerber

The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Founder Scott Gerber will lead a panel discussing the “Everyday Entrepreneur.” Panelists include

Sumi Krishnan is the Founder & CEO of K4 Solutions, which she started while still in school at Virginia Tech. Now the company has 220 employees and works with customers like the USDA and the US Army.

Jake Stutzman is the Owner and Chief Creative Officer at Elevate LLC, a digital design agency in Omaha, NE. (Check out eetennessee.com for a sample of the awesome work he does.) Jake has been doing brand design for 14 years, working with both startups and established, global brands. Last year, Jake won the Silicon Prairie News Designer of the Year award.

John Hall is the CEO of Influence & Co, which helps companies position their key figures as thought leaders in the industry. Influence & Co was recently named to Forbes Most Promising Companies of 2014. John loves speaking and writing, sharing his experiences with other entrepreneurs.

Derek Weber is the President of goBRANDgo! Based in St. Louis, they are a strategic branding and marketing firm for $2M-$50M companies. They specifically combine the quality of an expensive agency with the convenience and price of contractors, perfect for growth-stage companies.

Brian Wong, Gabriella Draney, Josh Miller, Ryan Hoover & Mike Muhney Speaking at #EETN

memphissky1

We have some great announcements coming this week. The Everywhere Else Tennessee speaker lineup is growing, and we’re lining up some amazing startups for the Avenue (there’s still time to apply!) Tickets are going fast. Don’t miss out on the early adopter discount, ending on March 31st.

On to the new speakers. Check out who will be in Memphis April 30-May 2.

Brian Wong

brianwong Brian Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Kiip (pronounced “keep”), a category-creating mobile rewards network that is redefining mobile advertising through an innovative platform that leverages “moments of achievement” in games and apps to simultaneously benefit users, developers and advertisers. Backed by IPG, Hummer Winblad, Relay Ventures, True Ventures, Digital Garage and others, the company has raised $15.4 million in funding to date.

Gabriella Draney

gabrielladraney Gabriella Draney is Cofounder and Managing Partner of Tech Wildcatters. Most recently she was with HP Growth Partners, an early stage venture fund in Dallas. She co-founded an aircraft scheduling software company in 1998 that ended in a profitable exit. She went on to work for Morgan Stanley in private wealth management. True to her entrepreneurial roots, she left to follow her passion for nutrition by opening a specialty foods retail store, and simultaneously spent three years consulting with numerous Dallas-based startups on strategic planning and finance. Ms. Draney received her MBA in Strategy & Entrepreneurship from Southern Methodist University as a Cox Distinguished Merit Scholar, during which she interned for Silver Creek Ventures. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of North Texas with a BBA in Finance.

Josh Miller

joshmiller Just before his senior year, Josh Miller left Princeton University to build Branch, which Facebook bought in January 2014. Currently, he oversees the development of new products for Facebook, and do early-stage investing as a Venture Partner at Betaworks. Originally from Santa Monica, CA, he lives in New York City’s East Village. He’s twenty-three years old and a proud donor to KCRW.

Ryan Hoover

ryanhoover Ryan is a product guy with a passion for startups, product design, and personal growth. He grew up in the beautifully green northwest, in a college town named Eugene. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he lived in Portland for a year before making the jump to San Francisco. He’s the Co-Creator of Product Hunt, Creator of Startup Edition, an EIR at Tradecraft, and former Director of Product at PlayHaven.

Mike Muhney

Mike is a recognized relationship management expert, speaker, and author. He’s the co-inventor of ACT!, which is acknowledged as the catalyst of the multi-billion dollar Customer Relationship Management Industry. His co-authored book, Who’s In Your Orbit? Beyond Facebook—Creating Relationships That Matter (2011) includes practical relationship-building techniques and offers a balanced view on social and personal networks for today’s professionals. Today, Mike is the CEO and Co-Founder of VIPorbit Software, creators of VIPorbit Contact Management apps designed for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

The Ultimate Guide to Bootstrapping Your Next Conference

Editor’s Note: Conference speaker and startup friend Jared Steffes has some great tips on making conferences more affordable. Thankfully, we’ve done a lot of the work for you with our Everywhere Else Tennessee conference. Grab your tickets before the super cheap early adopter discount expires!

I want to share some tips about how I make the “biggest bang for the buck” while traveling out of town for a conference.

Conference Pass

Free Expo Pass!

Most of the time you do not need a main conference pass for larger shows. I go to shows to meet new clients and network with people. Typically you can get all the main points talked about at a conference through Twitter or video feeds after the show.

Getting into the show is the most important part and scoring a free expo pass is usually pretty easy. Search Twitter for anyone giving away free expo passes for the show you are planning to attend. It is pretty common because many shows gives exhibitors a bunch of free passes for their employees, but most exhibitors are 2 person shows. Some exhibitors will give away their free passes as a marketing tactic on Twitter or their Facebook leading up to the date of the show! I have a lot of luck with this.

Networking at the conference hotel bar the night before the show is usually a good place to meet an exhibitor. Make friends and kindly tell your bootstrap story. Usually they are happy to find you a pass or give you one of theirs. Return the karma by bringing people you meet to their booths if there is a possible business relationship. This is a huge win for everyone and the exhibitors won’t forget you the next time you need some help.

The last way to get a pass only works if you have an “in” with a decent sized blog or news site. I go to a lot of shows each year and usually my big blog friends are happy to get me a press pass in return for some articles about the show.

No Free Pass?

That’s ok! Search for “promo code” or “discount code” on Twitter and the internet for the show you are going to attend. There are usually always promo codes floating around somewhere for big %’s off the main price.

Travel

Driving

There is a huge benefit driving to a show. Gas is cheaper than flying if you get decent MPG’s. My rule is if the show is 12 hours or less from my home to reach then I will drive to it. It is cost effective for traveling in a group, you don’t need to rent a car, no plane tickets, and you can save on taxi costs.

Flying

Southwest has been my bootstrap staple for years now. Their credit card used to require $1000 in spending to get a free flight but their points system changed and now it requires around $1200. Still not too bad. You also get enough points by signing up for a card to get a long round trip flight.

If you are going to either coast from the Midwest both JetBlue and Virgin America are great to purchase flights from.

It is pretty important to plan your conferences at least 2 months ahead to get the best prices on flights. It is easy to do and dumb not to. There were times at Tap.Me I would get a $200 round trip flight to the Silicon Valley just by planning ahead, while others were paying around $700 and I knew they were going to go. Procrastinating is an expensive date!

Using a low frequent flyer miles to get there and back for free is awesome! The key is to travel on the not popular days and times. Tuesday and Saturday are typically the cheapest. Early morning and late at night are also typically the cheapest times to fly.

Parking

It is important to know what parking costs you may have because parking in a large city may defeat the costs saved by driving. Hotels and conference halls often charge around $15 a day and I have seen hotel parking in San Francisco for around $40 a day. Crazy!

Jared’s Pro Tip #1 – Parking at a recent convention was $20 a day and I secretly found out you can have the ticket validated by any restaurant for the price of an entree. $20 for a meal got me free parking! I could have gotten away with a cheaper meal but I deserved something good for dinner since I skipped lunch!

Rental Cars

Do not rent from a location at the airport. It will typically cost double compared to a place off site. I was able to get a Mitsubishi Lancer for $50 for a 5 day rental through Fox Rental Cars. They have a free shuttle from the airport and it was a nice place with well kept cars. The big rental companies at the airport would have cost me $110 for a smaller car.

Skip the insurance! Check your credit cards to see what they cover. American Express provides some free coverage but it does not include the important collision. With just a little search I was able to sign up for a program that costs $24 a rental for good ‘covers all’ insurance for up to 41 days. Awesome savings to CYA (cover your ass). At the car rental the insurance is $18 a day.

Scam.

Places to Stay

Friend’s Place

Almost free! It is almost because you should definitely buy your pal a meal and a gift. Being grateful keeps the good karma going that all entrepreneurs need!

Hotels

Conference rates tend to be useful for expensive cities like San Fran, NY, Seattle, Chicago, and LA. It is important to book early because the blocks often fill up and pretty soon you can’t get a room a the conference rate.

You can often get a cheaper hotel further from the conference and just pay transportation costs. I like to take public transit during the day and save the taxi for night. Usually I am exhausted or sometimes intoxicated at night after networking and just need to get back to the room to rest up and shoot out emails.

Starwood Resorts like the W, Westin, and Sheraton are often good to stay at because the big industry players will be staying there. I have met some important allies in the elevator or at the bar in these resorts. I have a Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card which is great for free rooms, upgrades, and cheap rooms. I suggest signing up for one the next time you need to use a Starwood resort. Search online for promotions for the card. You can often get more sign up points!

Share a room!

Someone is thinking the same thing as you, “Damn this is going to be expensive!” Ask on your social networks who is going to the conference. Once you know you can privately talk about sharing a room. I don’t think it is smart to broadcast you are looking for someone to share a room with. It is a sign of desperation. Being frugal doesn’t mean you have to stop being classy.

Time Shares

These can come in handy and everyone knows someone with one. RCI is the biggest catalogue for units, but they can often require 8+ months to get a room near your conference.

I purchased a Wyndham Vacation Ownership in their Las Vegas location. It allows me to stay in the places I travel most which are San Fran and Las Vegas. I can also convert the points to RCI. I was able to get a Wyndham Room six minutes from a conference I attended in Orlando for hardly any points because I waited to book the room within a 30 day half points discount window. It is risky but I noticed there was a lot of rooms 3 months from when I was planning this trip so I felt comfortable with the risk.

Meals

Luckily the Wyndham rooms come with a kitchen. I have some strange food allergies so it is nice to be able to cool some meals. I also like to travel with Cliff Bars and oatmeal packets. Breakfast is my favorite meal but let’s face it, you are very unlikely to have a breakfast meeting at a conference. Save your money for dinner where business gets done!

This trip is 5 days long. A meal is $20 on average. That’s $200 spent eating out for breakfast and lunch. I often go to the supermarket and buy my allergy friendly food for $29. Cereal, almond milk, tortillas, lunch meat, OJ, and cookies. Huge savings!

Jared’s Pro Tip #2 – Get your coffee, water, or pop outside the conference. Most hotels have free Starbucks in the morning. The cost of anything is exaggerated once you step into the conference doors.

Marketing Materials

Why do a large order of marketing materials when you are not exhibiting at a conference or you don’t know how the message will resonate with your target market?

Don’t!

I once designed a 4×6 flyer for a company I started, Matador, and had it printed at a Walgreens ready for pickup 20 minutes later. Look for a promo code for prints online and place your order. I was able to get 50 prints for the price of 25 with a promo code I found online. The price: $5.09. Pretty awesome deal and great quality!

Internet

Hopefully Internet is free at your show. I recently discovered Freedompop.com which provides 500 mb a month at 4G speed for free a month. You just need to purchase the device.

The next plan is to ask someone staying at the hotel for the pass code. People are typically cool with it because paying for wifi is sort of ridiculous now a days. If that strategy doesn’t work I can always jailbreak my iPhone and share its Internet.

Gifts & Swag

I am a strong believer of making sure my loved ones, partners, and employees know you were thinking about them while traveling. The smallest gifts can make people really happy, especially software engineers.

I tend to put a duffle bag in one of the pockets of my luggage and fill it up with swag from shows for my team. I’ll also pick up some gifts that relate to their personalities. Treat people like you want them around and you can expect the best from them!

4 New Speakers Announced for #EETN

We’re counting down the days (and watching the tickets go!) for Everywhere Else Tennessee. We’re planning some awesome parties, a few amazing panels, and I have mentioned how spectacular the venue is? Seriously, y’all, old wood, open spaces in downtown Memphis. It’s so beautiful I’m hoping they let me live there.

In the meantime, we have a few more speakers to announce. We’re so excited about these guys and what they’ll bring to the #EETN attendees. Angel investors, developers, and entrepreneurs, they all have unique insights and advice for founders everywhere else. Check ’em out:

benyoskovitz Ben Yoskovitz is the author of the popular Instigator Blog. He’s also a founding partner at Year One Labs, VP of Product at GoInstant, and co-author of the book Lean Analytics. He sold his first company Standout Jobs in 2010.

Jared Steffes is a lifetime entrepreneur living in Chicago. His current startup, Furywing, is creating electronic gambling entertainment for people who grew up with video games. (No more slot machines!) Jared’s talk at Everywhere Else Cincinnati was so loved, we knew we had to bring him back. And, we hear he has a few surprises up his sleeve…

Nicholas Holland is the CEO of Populr.me, a recent 500 Startups graduate. Before Populr.me he founded CentreSource Interactive Agency in Nashville, TN, and has spent most of his life in the Nashville area. Besides building companies, he’s passionate about building the Nashville ecosystem. I wonder what words he picked up from Dave McClure during 500 Startups.

Kuty Shalev has spent the last twelve years as CEO & Founder of Clevertech. Headquartered in NYC with a global team, Clevertech is a lean startup design and development organization that works with entrepreneurs and enterprises to help launch minimum viable products (MVP) in 30-90 days. Client projects have been featured in the New York Times, VentureBeat, Bloomberg News, Mashable and many other media outlets.

We’re just getting started, y’all. We’ll have more speaker announcements coming soon. Buy your tickets before they sell out!

If you’re a startup that has raised less than $2 million, apply to win a booth at our Startup Avenue. Selected startups will also get 2 free tickets to the conference. The best companies will get a chance to pitch our investor panel and win the title of Heavyweight Champion of Everywhere Else.

And, we still have a few sponsorship opportunities available. Get in touch and let us help you be involved in the everywhere else movement.

Just a Few #EETN Early Adopter Tix Left & First 4 Speakers Announced

The countdown is on! Have you gotten your tickets to Everywhere Else Tennessee yet? We only have about 12 early adopter tickets left, so don’t miss out on the best price we’ll offer.

Okay now. For our first round of speaker announcements!

Scott Gerber is the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs, and author of the book Never Get a “Real” Job. He is also a serial entrepreneur, internationally syndicated columnist, and the host of Founders Forum on Inc.com. Scott has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Fortune, TIME, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Reuters, Mashable, BBC, NPR, Forbes, The Daily Beast, CBS News, US News & World Report, Fox News, Inc. and Entrepreneur, and has been honored by NASDAQ and the White House. Follow him on Twitter at @scottgerber.

John Hall is the co-founder and CEO of Influence & Co, where he helps companies position key individuals as industry influencers and thought leaders. Their clients range from startups to fast-growing companies on the Inc. 5000, as well as Fortune 500 brands. John writes a weekly column at Forbes and has contributed to sites like Business Insider, Inc., and The Washington Post, and many other reputable publications. He’s also the co-creator of Contributor Weekly, a weekly newsletter for contributors, keeping them up-to-date on tips and trends for writing, publishing, and sharing their content. He loves speaking and sharing my expertise on thought leadership, content marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Blake Miller, Partner of Think Big Partners, began his entrepreneurial path as an adolescent. At the age of 14, he had already developed his own web design company, creating web pages for friends and family with local small businesses. Miller attended the University of Kansas, where he studied Marketing and Entrepreneurship, furthering his startup education and fueling his ambitious ideas. Currently, Blake manages many of the technical initiatives at Think Big Partners and is the Managing Director of the Think Big Accelerator.

Jake Stutzman is the owner and creative director at Elevate LLC in Omaha, Nebraska. Elevate focuses on helping clients create consistent design across the web. Jake has 14+ years of experience in design for both mobile and the web, working with large companies and startups alike.