Everywhereelse.co 2014 Early Bird Tickets Down To 12, Village Booths 5

After the huge success of everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference last month in Memphis Tennessee, we immediately went to work on 2014.

Dell, American Airlines, Amazon, .co, Baker Donelson, and Archer Malmo have signed on to support the 2014 event of the year and we’ve got more programming, more workshops, FOOD and more for 2014.

Everywhereelse.co 2013 the startup conference featured three days of programming, three startup pitching contests with $60,000 in cash given away, three amazing after parties and every attendee (1280) went to the Memphis Grizzlies NBA game that sunday night.

Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference is the event for startups “Everywhere Else” we saw attendees from 41 different states and 7 countries with 72 startups from across the country. It’s the largest single venue startup conference in the country and the largest startup conference in the world dedicated to startups everywhere else.

If you’re interested in sponsoring email info@everywhereelse.co

1280 people packed in the ballroom for everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference 2013

Some of our speakers in 2013 included: Scott Case (CEO of Startup America and Co-Founder of Priceline), Ingrid Vanderveldt, Rohit Bhargava, Danny Boice, Brant Cooper, Pat Vlaskovitz, Gabe Lozano, 500 startups graduate Sara Ware and more.

2014 we add more content, a hackathon with Amazon Web Services, Free breakfast and lunch and more.

We introduced the 2014 tickets at 2013 prices, ending on March 27th when our first price increase kicks in. We set aside 400 attendee tickets at the early bird rate and 50 startup village booths. As you can see below we’re down to 12 attendee tickets and 5 startup booths (at least at the time this was written)

Event Registration Online for Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference 2014 powered by Eventbrite

For more on the conference check out these stories at nibletz

5 Rules For Naming Your Startup: Memphis Firm Offers Advice In SXSW Panel [sxsw]

60 year old Memphis advertising and PR firm archer>malmo presented their panel “When Bad Names Happen To Good Startups” last Monday at SXSW Interactive. Over 100 people attended the panel discussion and stayed throughout the entire hour long session.

archer>malmo Chief Creative Officer Gary Backaus and Senior Copy Writer Justin Dobbs presented the entertaining hour long session for startups curious about naming. The duo of advertising executives mixed humor with the session which made it quite entertaining.

Despite having a client roster that includes names like Pfizer, Verizon and RJ Reynolds, Dobbs broke the ice and established credibility by making light of the fact that the firm is located in Memphis. He showed a few slides of new technologies that archer>malmo currently employs including; email, and intranet. He also showed a slide of a rack card rack that you would find at a hotel, saying they were creating something new called the “Take One”.

When it came down to content though, Dobbs and Backaus gave out some great tips in their “5 Rules for Naming Your Startup”.

1) you’re not naming a startup you’re naming a brand.

2) Create a first impression that’s positive, intriguing and clear

3) Don’t create conceptual or technical hurdles

4) When necessary be descriptive, whoa whoa not that descriptive

5) If it ain’t broke.

It was during the fifth rule where Backaus discussed the work that the firm is doing with nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups Everywhere Else. (disclaimer: nibletz is a portfolio company for archer>malmo a>m ventures arm).

One of the biggest takeaways we got from the panel wasn’t an actual rule “You don’t need a big idea for your name you just need a name for your big idea” Backaus told the audience.

Find out more about archer>malmo here and a>m ventures here.

Here’s more of our great startup coverage from SXSW 2013

SXSW 13 Preview: When Bad Names Happen To Good Startups

South By Southwest Interactive 2013 is less than two weeks away and for those of us who are actually going to attend the great panel sessions, keynotes and workshops held throughout downton Austin there’s a great one, no startup wants to miss.

archer>malmo our creative agency and an equity holder in nibletz media, through their am>ventures arm, is holding a panel discussion at the Four Seasons entitled “When Bad Names Happen To Good Startups”

Last August when the SXSWi committee took suggestions for panels archer>malmo submitted this panel that is a must attend for all startups.

archer>malmo has been around over 60 years, and is one of the largest and most widely respected firms located off Madison Avenue. They’ve worked with Fortune 100 companies and some of the top brands in the world including Verizon, Pfizer and RJ Reynolds.

archer>malmo has taken an interest and startups and created an investment arm called am>ventures, for which nibletz is a portfolio company. This experience, working with new entrepreneurs and companies, prompted the creative minds at archer>malmo to start talking about names.

Sometimes entrepreneurs and startup founders don’t fully consider the ramifications of their new name. Many startup founders go for a name based on a creative URL while others use a name ripe for great SEO. Still others have other reasons for a name, like nibletz.

When we originally created nibletz it was a companion site to thedroidguy.com and the original idea was to deliver capsulated tech and startup news. The tag line came first when I thought of the name. “Small Crunchy Bytes From The Tech & Startup Scene” was the line I had come up with. I took it to our massive “Thedroidguy” Twitter following at the time and more than 100 followers suggested the word niblets.

We found that niblets meant corn so we changed the S to a Z. At that time we didn’t look at the Urban Dictionary of the word. In fact it wasn’t until we cleared the 50,000 mark on social followers (we’re now at 130,000) that I bothered to look at the Urban Dictionary meaning (go check for yourself).

Another great story about names came by way of a demo day graduation at Chattanooga’s Gig Tank over the summer. The startup was called Corpora. I was writing a story during their live pitch and while one of our staffers was editing video I began to write but I needed a graphic. So I did what anyone would do and went to Google Images. (now go do it for yourself), pretty bad huh.

These things happen all the time and we don’t want to spoil any of the panel so you should check it out and then decide if you’re too invested to create a better name.

The panel will be hosted by archer>malmo’s Chief Creative Officer Gary Backaus and Senior Copy Writer Justin Dobbs.

Check out our interview with Dobbs about the panel below to get more insight:

archer>malmo was a sponsor of everywhereelse.co 2013 and a presenting corporate sponsor for everywhereelse.co 2014 get your tickets here.

Black Girls Code Shows Off At EE 2013 A Week Before Launch

By Calvin Carter, University of Memphis Entrepreneurial Journalism Student

Kimberley Bryant grew up in Memphis, but her startup, Black Girls Code, originated in San Francisco, where the biotechnology/engineering professional is currently based. The organization, which aims to teach young women of color ages 7 to 17 skills in computer programming and digital technology, has branched out to other cities before Memphis, including Chicago. It wouldn’t be until a local architect, Meka Egwuekwe, reached out that the startup would find itself in Memphis.

“I messaged her [Bryant] about it on Twitter,” Egwuekwe recalled.

Egwuekwe’s interest and involvement in the program—he has two daughters—has launched it from one-man operation in to a team of 20 to 30 volunteers.

Black Girls Gode has seen a lot of interest, and will hold a workshop February 16 at Rhodes University to help young women learn how to build their own websites. It immediately filled up with 60 participants, and a follow-up workshop is being planned.

Black Girls Code is another sign that Memphis isn’t as behind in embracing the 21^st century as some outsiders or even some insiders may think.

“People seem to have this stereotype about Memphis,” Egwuekwe noted. “They find it hard to believe that we have stuff going on here with technology. They still think that this is the Memphis of 45 years ago, or what they’ve seen in documentaries.”

Did you miss everywhereelse.co 2013, well don’t miss next year’s conference, tickets available here.

Damien Echols To Shed A Different Light On Technology at Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Damien Echols, Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, Memphis, West Memphis Three

Damien Echols author of “Life After Death” (photo: chicagomag.com)

Today the Memphis newspapers picked up on the story that New York Times best selling author, Damien Echols would be speaking at everywhereelse.co the startup conference. For those of you not familiar, he was one of three teenage boys arrested and eventually convicted of the brutal murder of three 8 year old boys in West Memphis Arkansas in the early 90’s. Echols, along with Jessee Misskelly and Jason Baldwin were eventually coined The West Memphis Three.

Baldwin and Misskelly were sentenced to life in prison while Echols was sentenced to the death penalty. Their case, imprisonment and trial spawned three HBO documentaries called “Paradise Lost” and eventually a more up to date documentary called “West Of Memphis” directed by Hobbit director Peter Jackson.

The attention brought on by the first Paradise movie sparked an interest in the case by several celebrities including Eddie Vedder the frontman for Pearl Jam, Johnny Depp, Dave Navarro of Nirvanna, The Dixie Chicks, Peter Jackson his wife Fran Walsh and many others.

Through fundraising, spreading the word and sparking a movement the West Memphis Three was eventually set free from Prison in 2011 after agreeing to an Alford’s Plea. Several celebrities were on hand, including Vedder who Echols considers a close friend, when they were released.

So why in the world would Echols come to a startup conference?

Echols is now a best selling author, movie producer and even helped out on the set of the current Hobbit movie. That’s not why though. Over the past five or so years there have been some discussions, as well as written pieces, to the effect of what would happen if you were frozen in time or if you had missed the last 20 years of technology. The same period of time that the boys were in prison, and Echols on death row, is often credited as the fastest growing time in technology.

Think about tech in the early 90’s. Beepers were for doctors and drug dealers, and mobile phones were either in bags, mounted to the car or too big for your pocket. Video games were just barely 16bit and some of the entrepreneurs who’ve created some of the biggest startups in the world were barely in pre-school.

Echols spent his entire prison sentence on death row which meant no tv, no day room, and certainly no access to technology. Several reports came out after his release from prison that included his first experience with a touch screen buttonless iPhone. What it was like to receive a first text message and how nobody at restaurants talks to each other any more they all sit and stare at their phones and text.

Googling Echols in recent day will reveal that he’s in no way short of any speaking engagements, in fact in arranging our fireside chat with him and Commercial Appeal writer James Dowd, it was said how interested Echols was in an engagement that talked about technology, culture and the way things have changed in 20 years.

Now nearly two years after his release Echols has traveled the world, even to New Zealand and around the country talking to people about his book and his life. He is a regular on Twitter and can provide a look at technology that some of us take for granted. This is the first time Echols has made an appearance like this in Memphis since his release.

See this unique Fireside chat at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Everywhereelse.co Outgrows Original Venue Moves To Memphis Cook Convention Center

Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference has continued to grow, now to the point where the conference has moved from the original venue, The Peabody Hotel to the Memphis Cook Convention Center. That means that over 1000 entrepreneurs, founders, investors and startup supporters will have a lot more space to mingle, take in exciting startups and plot the takeover of the world.

Everywhereelse.co is the first conference of it’s kind, bringing together startups from across the country (and around the world) all under one roof providing investors, fellow startups and great startup resources like the Global Accelerator Network, the ability to reach more entrepreneurs and more startups than any other event.

The three day conference is being held in Downtown Memphis Tennessee with tickets sold as far away as Portland, Miami, San Francisco, Detroit, Toronto and even Israel. Attendees will take in the rich historical, musical and entrepreneurial history that has grown in Memphis Tennessee. Some of the biggest brands in the world like FedEx, Holiday Inn, Autozone, and even Mrs. Fields Cookies have roots that trace back to Memphis.

The conference has three main focal points that will speak to startup issues that entrepreneurs across the country experience; access to capital, access to talent and acceleration.

Speakers including: Scott Case, Rohit Bhangarva, Bill Harris, Tracy Myers and more will speak in keynotes, roundtables and fireside chats. FedEx will tell the story of how one man, Fred Smith, had an entrepreneurial vision in the 1970’s that on paper looked crazy. How he leveraged everything he had while bootstrapping and became the largest logistics company in the world.

Because of the overwhelming response we’ve had to move the event a few blocks down the road to the Convention Center. At the new venue there will be a lot more room, and we have decided to extend ticket sales a few extra days.

Over 100 startups are exhibiting in our Startup Village exhibition hall and we have a couple spaces left but they are running out quick. Check out the ticket form below.

For Startup Village startups and questions about hotel.

Feel free to continue to enjoy the charm and southern hospitality of the Peabody. There will be bus service in the mornings to the convention center and in the evenings back to the Peabody free of charge. There’s also the downtown Memphis trolley that picks up one block up from the Peabody and lets off at the doorstep to the convention center.

The Downtown Marriott connects to the Convention Center and has offered everywhereelse.co guests a room rate of $109 per night for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Rooms can be booked by calling (901)527-7300 or call the toll free reservation line at (888)557-8740. You must tell the reservation agent you’re with everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference.

We found out in speaking with the Marriott that our dates are a little heavy and we’re assuming that’s because some of our attendees have already booked at the Marriott because of points. If your rate was more than the $109 special rate the Marriott is giving the conference you can call the Marriott and they will rebook you under the new rate.

The official conference hours are:

Sunday:

7:30am-10:00am Startup Village Load In
10:00am-4:00pm Startup Village Preview and Registration

Monday & Tuesday:

9:00am-5:30pm

We look forward to seeing you in Memphis for everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference:

Event registration for Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference powered by Eventbrite

Deadline to book rooms at the Marriott is February 1, 2013

Nibletz Sponsor Baker Donelson Named One Of The Best Places To Work By Fortune Magazine

Thursday was a good day for Memphis based companies to make magazine lists. everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference made Forbes list of must attend entrepreneurial events.

At the same time, Nibletz and everywhereelse.co corporate sponsor Baker Donelson, made Fortune’s 16th annual “100 Best Companies To Work For” list. While it’s an honor in itself for any company to make this prestigious list, and it speaks to company moral and culture, Baker Donelson Caldwell & Berkowitz PC are no strangers to the list. This is the fourth year they made the list and the highest they’ve ranked so far coming in at 45.

Google topped the list at number one. Baker Donelson beat out companies like American Express, CarMax, Capital One and even customer service giant, Nordstrom.

Other Memphis based companies that made the list included FedEx (98th) and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital which Baker Donelson edged out, with St. Jude’s coming in at 52.

“Each year, we are incredibly honored to be recognized among such a select group of companies,” says Ben Adams, the firm’s chairman and chief executive officer told the Chatanoogan. “This year, as we celebrate our best showing ever, I’m grateful to our employees because they are the reason Baker Donelson is a great place to work, and their dedication to the Firm, our clients and our communities is what sets us apart.”

Baker Donelson is very active in the entrepreneurial and startup community in all of the markets that they serve. At home in Memphis they are integral partners with Launch Your City and Launch Memphis, providing hours of mentorship, and reduced legal fees and advice. They also play a major role in the Nashville startup scene.

Vic Gatto Managing Director of Jumpstart Foundry, Nashville’s accelerator and Seed Hatchery, Memphis’ accelerator added “Baker Donelson has been a great partner in building the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Tennessee and across the South. The firm does an excellent job representing their clients, but I have been most impressed with all they do in addition to the typical legal services. Baker is one of the largest financial sponsors for the Jumpstart Foundry and Seed Hatchery.accelerators. They also offer lots of educational content to free of charge designed to give entrepreneurs the info they need to make informed legal decisions.”

Baker Donelson is a key partner sponsor in everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference.

everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference Named To Forbes’ Must Attend Conference List For Entrepreneurs

Forbes Magazine’s online site forbes.com published their must attend conference list for entrepreneurs in 2013. The Small Business Summit held annually in New York and SXSWi held in March in Austin, of course made the list. However two key startup events in their first year also received accolades from forbes.com

Silicon Prairie News’ newest event Big Kansas City will be held March 26-28th. This event compliments their Big Omaha Conference and last year’s Thinc Iowa conference. In addition to Big Kansas City, SPN’s Jeff Slabotsky are again holding Big Omaha and also Big Des Moines, another new venture. On Wednesday they sent out an email release highlighting a “season pass” that will be available next week which will get conference go-ers in the midwest access to all three events.

Our own everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference also made the must attend list. everywhereelse.co has quickly become the largest single venue startup conference in the country with over 2000 attendee tickets sold as of this publishing. With a super strong speaker line up and unparalleled access to curriculum, investors and other founders from “everywhere else”, this inaugural event quickly caught the eye of the lists author John Hall CEO of Digital Talent Agents.

Ticket sales will wrap up early next week but there are still a handful of attendee tickets and a handful of startup village booths available. You don’t want to miss this awesome event.

see everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference on Forbes.com

Online Ticketing for Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference powered by Eventbrite

Less Than 4 Weeks To Go Until The Biggest Startup Conference In The Country everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

In less than four weeks the nearly 2000 entrepreneurs, investors, startup founders, designers, developers and startup resources will converge on downtown Memphis at the Memphis Convention Center for everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference. (less than 15% of the tickets sold zipcode to TN)

Arrival will be on a Sunday when all the attendees and investors (over 400 who’ve purchased tickets), will check out over 100 startups in our startup village (limited space still available see below). The startups in the village will also be part of a speed pitch contest with a $25,000 cash prize and other service prizes to boot.

The Global Accelerator Network will be on hand throughout the conference helping with three major panels, “What I learned in an accelerator”, an accelerator Managing Director panel, and the benefits of doing an accelerator. They’ll also be on hand at their booth to help startups find the right accelerator for their needs. (more here)

Bill Harris the former CEO of Paypal and Intuit will talk about adult supervision and turning startups back over to founders. He’ll also speak about his experience mentoring and advising some of the valley’s elite including the Paypal Mafia and some of the Facebook millionaires (and billionaires). (more here)

Scott Case CEO of Startup America will talk about his experiences helping cultivate startup regions for the Startup America Partnership. We’re sure he’ll also provide some of his great stories from building Priceline.com into the brand that changed the way travel is purchased.

FedEx will be on hand talking about how one man’s crazy entrepreneurial vision has turned into the largest logistics company in the world, and how it was grown right in Memphis Tennessee, the heart of everywhere else.

Mike Bott, the GM at The Brandery will provide a lecture on branding for startups. (more here)

We’re also having panels like “Kick Ass Female Founders From Everywhere Else”, “Raising money everywhere else” and several others.

We have a handful of speakers that will be announced next week after tickets go off sale, but we guarantee there hasn’t been one single venue conference in the country with as many attendees or with such unparalleled access to speakers, networking and investors as “everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference”.

There are still a handful of attendee tickets left that can be purchased below. We also have 5 Startup Village booths that can be purchased below as well. Tickets officially go off-sale on January 21. Don’t miss out on this unbelievable opportunity.

Online Ticketing for Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference powered by Eventbrite

Memphis Bioworks’ ZeroTo510 Class “All In” On Everywhereelse.co Startup Conference

The Memphis Bioworks Foundation’s partnership program with Seed Hatchery, called Zeroto510, is all in for the upcoming everywhbereelsse.co The Startup Conference event in February in Memphis Tennessee.

All 6 teams that participated in the summer acceleration program housed at Memphis Bioworks Foundation in Memphis’ Medical District, have committed to “Startup Village Booth Space” where they will pitch their companies to over 400 investors coming from out of town. They’ll also get the chance to talk about the most successful acceleration program in the United States with over 85% of the initial class receiving follow on funding.

The program was spearheaded by Steven Bares, President and Executive Director of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Lauren Bigger, Program Manager of Bioworks Business Association, Allan Daisley Director of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability for the foundation and Eric Mathews and Andre Folkes, Co-President’s at Launch Your City, the Seed Hatchery arm of the program.

Innova, an early stage investor group and MB Ventures, both of Memphis, were also major partners for the ZeroTo510 program.

The success of the Memphis Bioworks, Seed Hatchery joint venture has trickled across the country an around the globe. That prompted Dr. Laura Faulconer who runs an incubator program in Australia, to recently visit the Memphis Bioworks Foundation and spend some time learning from Daisley as well as some of the Seed Hatchery team.

Bionanovations, HandMinder, NanOpthalmics, Randall Surgical, Restore Medical and Urova Medical will all be present during the everywhereelse.co conference where attendees, investors and other startups who may be looking to go the medical device route, will get a chance to speak with the founders. Many of whom, uprooted themselves from other cities like Atlanta, and Durham NC to work with the likes of Daisley and the Memphis Bioworks Foundation.

Shawn Flynn, co-founder of Restore Medical Solutions, a company that just raised a $2.5 million dollar Series A round, will speak on a panel at the conference called “Raising Money Everywhere Else”.

Bioworks has already said they plan on running the Zeroto510 program again in 2013 but may change the focus slightly to another medical related vertical that’s exploding in the region.

Memphis Bioworks, which serves as the epicenter for biosciences entrepreneurs, startups and acceleration functions to address three very important areas in a community that thrives with Biosciences innovation. Those areas are: Building Infrastructure, Growing The Workforce, and Promoting Entrepreneurship.

One thing that you rarely hear with an accelerator is that 100% of the teams that built their businesses during the ZeroTo510 program at Bioworks, have stayed in Memphis to continue to grow their businesses. While HandMinder has roots in the Memphis area, the rest of the teams have had at least one co-founder that’s relocated to the area.

Linkage:

More about Bioworks here

More about everywherelse.co The Startup Conference Here

Want to exhibit alongside the ZeroTo510 teams? Click here

Black Girls Code Coming Home To Memphis In January

Black Girls Code, Memphis, startups, developers, Kimberly Bryant

Meka Egwuekwe (rear) and his daughters Elechi (L) and Sobenna (R) talk about Black Girls Code coming to Memphis photo: nibletz LLC

Kimberly Bryant is an award winning social entrepreneur, technology junkie, an engineer by trade and a native Memphian. She relocated to Silicon Valley and now she’s launched a program that’s rolling out across the country. That program, Black Girls Code, promotes teaching coding and development to young African American Girls.

Bryant describes the mission for Black Girls Code on her website as:

“to introduce programming and technology to a new generation of coders, coders who will become builders of technological innovation and of their own futures.”

Like many others, Bryant believes there’s a “dearth” of African American women in science, technology, engineering and math professions. While some may say it’s because there’s a lack of interest, Bryant knows that it’s more like a lack of access and exposure to STEM topics. The Black Girls Code program is about making STEM topics accessible to African American girls and exposing them at a young age. It’s also done in such a way that it’s fun and positive.

Bryant has held programs through Black Girls Code in cities all over the country and some around the world. Black Girls Code has had events in San Francisco, Chicago, Oakland, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and even in Johannesburg. Her most recent event was this past Saturday in Atlanta where they taught kids how to develop their own apps using Google’s App Inventor.

Two of the girls that participated; Elechi (11) and Sobenna (8) Egwuekwe, came to speak on Sunday night at Memphis’ 48 Hour Launch for women event. Their father, Meka Eqwuekwe, who works for local web developer Lokian, has taken an active interest in the Black Girls Code program, and is helping to bring it to Memphis.

The Memphis Black Girls Code chapter will hold an Open House January 15th at Emerge Memphis, the local technology and startup incubator. Then, on February 16th the Memphis chapter will hold it’s first event.

Albeit a little shy, or possibly tired from the 6 hour drive back from Atlanta, both Elechi and Sobenna were glowing with excitement as their father explained the concept and program behind Black Girls Code and the events coming up.

When asked if they had fun, Elechi quickly responded by saying yes and then described the experience. Elechi told the audience of about 50 that she and her sister got to create their own app using the App Inventor platform. She was quick to point out that App Inventor is a Google product and that meant their first app was for the Android platform.

The app that the girls created was a photo app that allowed a user to add sound effects to a picture taken on an Android phone. Launch Your City’s Chief Brand Officer and the woman in charge of Upstart Memphis, and the 48 Hour Launch For Women, Elizabeth Lemmonds, was quick to point out to both young ladies that there was no age limit for Upstart and that next year she expected to see the two sisters pitching a startup at the 48 Hour Launch for women.

Linkage:

For more info on Black Girls Code visit this site

Here’s more info on Upstart Memphis

Black Girls Code will also be talking to possible new members at this exciting startup conference

Memphis Prepares For Transformation To Risk City For Global Entrepreneurship Week

Next week thousands and thousands of entrepreneurs, startup founders, developers, eco-system partners and stake holders will participate in events across the globe as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. In fact, GEW officially kicks off later tonight as over 100 different cities get fired up over Startup Weekend.

Tennessee has a variety of activities going on across the state. One of Tennessee’s major metropolitan areas is transforming their city.

Memphis will turn itself into Risk City beginning Monday. Memphis has always been a city that turns adversity into opportunity and embraces risk as a path to progress. Just take a look at companies like FedEx, Holiday Inn and AutoZone. All three pioneers in their industry and when you look at them in the time and place they were founded, potential investors thought the entrepreneurs behind these Memphis based companies were nuts.

The same thing can be said about the blues and it’s off shoot, rock and roll music, which is often credited with starting in Memphis Tennessee.

In talking with a crazy conservative intern of sorts in Memphis it was mutually agreed upon that risk and aversion to risk were what separated the “startup founder entrepreneurs” and the “lets open a dry cleaner, entrepreneurs”. It’s that risk that is this years global entrepreneurship week theme in Memphis.

Don’t get me wrong, Memphis has had it’s share of of big risks, not pan out in the end. That’s why there’s a gigantic pyramid in the middle of the city, and an entire island that’s all but a ghost town these days. However new risk takers, entrepreneurs and startup founders are going to be the ones to reclaim the city.

To that end, the folks at LaunchMemphis has put together some great programming for all of Memphis to see what the startup and entrepreneurial culture is like downtown. Below are some of the activities going on in Memphis. The highlight of the week is “field day”, the Amazing Risk and a huge party all happening Friday night at Minglewood Hall in Memphis.

Also, with Risk City and Global Entrepreneurship Week kicking off, the applications for the 2013 class of Seed Hatchery are now open as well.

Pitch Perfect
Monday, November 12 from 2:00-5:00pm in the Launchpad
For those actively moving forward with their startups – like those involved with Office Hours, BOOSTcamp, 48 Hour Launch or the Launchpad – we will provide a panel of diverse experts to provide feedback on your latest pitch. Accompanying visuals like PowerPoint are encouraged.

Memphis Startup Meetup
Monday, November 12 at 6:00pm in the Launchpad
The Memphis Startup Meetup group offers a special GEW edition of their monthly meetup for anyone interested in and involved with a startup company- entrepreneurs, developers, geeks, tech enthusiasts, professionals.

Mentor Mixer
Tuesday, November 13 from 5:30-7:00pm at Alchemy
It takes a village to grow a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. We invite you to a casual cocktail event to learn more about the benefits of sharing your time, insights, experience and leadership with our founders and their startups.

High Octane Office Hours
Thursday, November 15 from 9:00am-3:00pm in the Launchpad
Memphis area business leaders join us in the Launchpad for an exclusive, high-powered set of one-to-one Office Hours for high growth potential startup companies. Like Pitch Perfect, these sessions are for those actively moving forward through our platform and process.

SpeedPitch
Friday, November 16 from 11:00am-1:00pm at Minglewood Hall
Similar to speed dating, LaunchMemphis introduces an event for those with fresh, bold ideas ready for some creative customer discovery. You get two minutes to pitch, then three minutes for feedback from business and community leaders. When the bell rings, you’re off to the next table!

Field Day
Friday, November 16 from 9:00am-4:00pm at Minglewood Hall
RSVP http://riskcityfieldday.eventbrite.com
Co-working facilitates conversation, collaboration and impromptu synergies- we hope your startup or organization will bring a team to our inaugural GEW Field Day. Wifi will be available, and food trucks will be around for lunch!

Field Day Mixer and Amazing Risk Finals
Friday, November 16 from 4:00pm-6:00pm

Risk City Soiree
Friday, November 16 at 8:00pm at Minglewood Hall
$5 cover, cash at door or http://riskcity.eventbrite.com
Join us at Minglewood Hall to conclude Memphis’ biggest Global Entrepreneurship Week to date, with our biggest party to date! As if a full week of activities fueling entrepreneurship and growing our innovation ecosystem wasn’t reason enough to celebrate, entertainment includes:

Finally as part of Risk City and Global Entrepreneurship week in Memphis. Anyone who attends any of the events above and brings a friend can get a FREE ticket to “everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference” just find an official Launch Memphis employee or volunteer and tell them you want your free ticket to “everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference” and introduce them to your friend and you’ve got it.

Linkage:

Launch Memphis

No one covers high growth technology in the South East, like we do

Everywhere Else conference

Nashville Startup: ClockOut Gamifying Taking Off From Work, Small Business Will Love This

The Startup Weekend Memphis team has taken a few solo entrepreneur projects and given them a spot to present in tomorrow’s finals for $1000 a piece. One of those solo entrepreneurs Brandon Heller from Long Island NY by way of Nashville.

Heller is working on ClockOut. When pitched Friday night it was a simple app to take the process of asking off a shift at work and making it social. Through the ClockOut app smaller restaurants, franchisees, bars and small businesses, with shift type work, would have the ability to let their employees take ownership of swapping shifts.

With the app, integrated through Facebook, two employees could swap shifts, or get a shift covered, have a historic log of it on a private Facebook network, and then inform the manager. This way the manager knows the shift is covered, and everything goes on like a well oiled machine.

To take any need for fees away from the small business Heller also decided (with the help of one of the Startup Weekend coaches) to ganmify the process. Now employee A who needs a shift covered pays $5.00 to ClockOut. ClockOut holds onto the $5.00 less their fee. Now employee B who picks up the shift gets a point for every shift they covered. When employee B has covered 10 shifts they get all the remaining money in that pot of $5.00 payments.

For some shift workers $5.00 may be a little steep but it also may be worth it for whatever reason they are calling out. The $5.00 shift covering game encourages people to pick up shifts, knowing that when they’ve covered enough shifts they’ll get the money they earned plus an incentive from ClockOut.

Definitely an interesting concept. Check out the initial pitch video from Friday below:

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Interview With Chris West Founder of Memphis Startup: NeedRegistry

NeedRegistry is an original new idea for a startup based in Memphis TN. As you may have guessed it involves a registry, but not like any registry you may have seen before.

When someone goes through a major life changing event, like a bad illness, death in the family member, cancer, or even birth of a newborn, friends and family members inherently want to help. It’s part of human nature. Often times, the person going through the life changing event is too proud to say that they need help or to accept help. Friends and family don’t know what that person’s needs are so they resort to what Chris West, the founder of NeedRegistry, calls “death by casserole”. Friends and family members bring food, and lots of it.

Typically after the initial life changing event occurs, the person that had that event in their lives starts realizing that they do need help with even the basic and simplest of necessities. Perhaps they need someone to cut the grass, clean the house, or even clean the pool. Maybe that life changing event was a long term sickness like cancer, or an injury that has the person off their feet. These easy tasks can mount up quick.

Enter NeedRegistry.

NeedRegistry connects friends of that person with vendors of the services they need. The person that has had the life changing event happen to them can select things like lawn care, then the size of their lawn, the frequency of the lawn maintenance, and then a local service provider.

Friends can then fund the lawn maintenance and when the maintenance is performed the vendor gets paid.

It’s this direct vendor to friend connection that sets NeedRegistry apart from other crowdfunding startups that allow you to collect money for health reasons. With those types of sites you would still have to source out the work itself, get estimates and pay.

As West explains in the video interview, for the vendor its an easy sale and a no-brainer,once the service is ordered they go do the job and get paid.

West is excited about a beta launch in the coming weeks and plans on expanding the platform piece by piece over the next six months.

After the initial NeedRegistry rollout this year, he’ll expand the startup to cover two more markets and then by the end of 2013 he hopes to have a decent sized footprint across the country with a robust network of service providers.

Check out the video interview with West below:

Linakge:

Check out NeedRegistry here

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