Brian Rogers and the folks behind Barcamp Jonesboro have made a pivot, changing the name of Barcamp Jonesboro to IDEA Tech Festival. With that they’ve turned the event in to two days (this time around), featuring a startup pitch contest and a full day of presentations.
The IDEA Tech Festival founders plan on growing the festival event after event and hope that in the coming years it will turn into a week long festival including a festival, technology trade show, hackathons and more. They also plan on holding these events twice a year beginning in 2014.
As for this year, the first IDEA Tech Festival is about 3 weeks away, on November 8th and 9th.
November 8th kicks off IDEA Tech Festival with a startup pitch contest at 6:00pm at the Brick House Grill in Jonesboro. Investors, entrepreneurs, startup leaders and media will all be in attendance to see the best of the best of what Jonesboro’s tech scene has to offer. Up for grabs is a $1000 cash prize, and other prizes.
November 9th is dubbed “Tech Talks” and will be held at the ASU Delta Center. The schedule for Saturday’s talks can be found here. The event promises to bring great content for developers, entrepreneurs, freelancers and artists. Tech Talks will be in three different tracks; Creative & Marketing, Development & Technology, and Business & Finance.
This is a great step for Jonesboro’s tech and startup scene. Find out more here.
When Shahab Kaviani sat down and had some time to reflect about his previous startup, HyperOffice, he realized that the cofounding team behind that startup drove its success. He admits that they bootstrapped almost the entire project. He also says in hindsight their timing was lousy, but the cofounding team kept the startup together.
Finding the right cofounders should actually be at the top of the priority list in any startup. CoFounders lab is one of many startups that look to match people with cofounders. FounderSync is one of those startups that uses an online approach. FounderDating uses a hybrid online offline approach merging an online community with in-person events.
Unlike other events that can turn out to be unorganized get togethers where people only talk to the people they know, Kaviani has gone to great lengths to make sure that CoFounders Lab events are laser focused on one thing, introducing cofounders to each other.
Also unlike other events and startups claiming to connect cofounders, there’s no prerequisite, vetting process, or cliques you need to join to be part of the network. CoFounders lab goes beyond founder dating by cutting out all the superfluous clutter aimed at boosting egos and not connecting founders to help people build real companies.
CoFounders Lab is now headed to Music City USA–Nashville, Tennessee–next week on October 15th. They’re hosting their event at the brand new state of the art entrepreneur center and hope to connect founders with each other and get some real companies off the ground.
The event is Tuesday, October 15th starting at 6:30pm and it’s free. You just need to register here.
Make sure you mark your calendars for Everywhere Else Tennessee, the national startup conference focused on startups “everywhere else” pulls into Memphis Feb 17-19th 2014. More here.
UPDATE: 8/12/2013 Only 4 startup village booths left at the early bird discount rate.
Everywhere Else Cincinnati is less than two months away. When we announced the conference last week, we offered the first 30 startup village booths at an early bird discount rate of just $495. That rate includes three attendee tickets, booth space, a pitch contest, and more.
The Startup Village at Everywhere Else Cincinnati is a great place to get your startup huge exposure. VC and angel firms from across the country will be in attendance at the conference including Fortify Ventures, DVP, CincyTech, Elevate Ventures, DFJ and many more. Also, the Brandery demo day is on October 2nd, and a lot of investors will already be in town for that.
The Everywhere Else conference series gives startups from across the country and around the world access to top tier conference content, networking, and education, even on the most bootstrapped of budgets.
We’re still not finished announcing speakers for this big national conference. Speakers already committed include:
Naithan Jones, Founder agLocal
Andrew Warner, Founder Mixergy
Andy Sparks, Co-Founder Mattermark (backed by NEA and a16z)
Justin Gutwein, Filmmaker and Entrepreneur startupland.tv
Mark Hasebroock, Founder Dundee Venture Capital
Jason Healy, Founder, Blu
John Bracken, Founder e-vite and Speek
Dave Knox, CMO Rockfish, co-founder, Brandery
Patrick Woods, Managing Director a>m ventures
Sarah Ware, Founder Markerly
John T. Meyer, Founder lemon.ly
Raghu Betina, Managing Patner, The Starter League
Ryan O’Connell, VP Influence & Company
Blake Miller, Managing Director, Think Big Accelerator
Michael Bergman, Founder Repp.
We are going to close out the discount this week. The first 30 startups in the village will get the best booth placement and a featured spot in the startup village guide.
If your startup is currently in an accelerator or accelerator alumni, there’s a good chance that your accelerator has a discount code. If not, the remaining 8 4 early bird Startup Village booths are discounted an additional 10% by clicking here.
We’ll see you in Cincinnati at the end of September.
Techstars, Dreamit Ventures, and even Bizdom are successfully running accelerator programs in multiple states. It’s a growing trend with accelerators that do well with their original programs, typically in their hometown.
The Triangle Startup Factory has been very successful over the past few years. It’s one of the more popular startup accelerators everywhere else. The program had its first cohort in the fall of 2012, and this spring they completed their third class. The Triangle Startup Factory infuses each company with $50,000 in seed capital and hands on mentorship from their network of active angels, successful founders, and experienced technology experts. This combination is often a recipe for a stellar program.
Chris Hievly, the co-founder off Mapquest and the co-founder and Managing Director at the Triangle Startup Factory will be in St. Louis on Wednesday for an evening startup and networking event called Plug in2 STL, according to techli.com. The regional tech blog, founded by entrepreneur Edward Domain, says that Hievly is highly considering St. Louis for his next accelerator program, and those with creative startup ideas should attend the event to help court Hievly and the startup factory.
The free event also includes a tour of the new @4240 startup space. If you’re in the St. Louis area, you can get free tickets by following this link.
It’s official. Everywhere Else Cincinnati is the startup conference helping you start where you are. The second event in our Everywhere Else series will take place September 29th – October 1st in Cincinnati, OH at the Duke Energy Convention Center.
This conference will unite the startup community everywhere else for 2 1/2 days of learning, inspiration, and connecting. Enjoy two full days of content from our amazing line up of nationally recognized speakers, three killer parties, a pitch competition between some of the hottest startups, and so much more. Things will get under way with a huge party September 29th in downtown Cincinnati.
Everywhere Else Cincinnati kicks off a huge month of innovation in Cincinnati. The Brandery Demo Day immediately follows the conference on October 2nd, and some of the best designers in the world will be in town for Cincinnati Design Week.
When you’re starting up outside Silicon Valley, you face huge challenges, and it can often feel like you’re all alone. But, all startups everywhere else struggle with the same obstacles.
It’s time for the “everywhere else” ecosystem to come together. Nibletz and the Everywhere Else conference series believe that when we collaborate, “everywhere else” is THE place to be.
Everywhere Else Cincinnati comes with a new theme, tag line, and mission: Start Where U Are. Through our conferences, events, and activities, we want to help entrepreneurs from around the globe start right where they are. There’s a startup renaissance happening right now, and events like the Everywhere Else conference series are here to highlight that.
Speakers for Everywhere Else Cincinnati include:
Jake Stutzman, Founder & Creative Director Elevate.co
Dave Knox, Cofounder of The Brandery & CMO at Rockfish
Raghu Betina, Managing Partner at The Starter League
and more..
A full list of current speakers can be found here, and many more will be announced soon. And, we all know entrepreneurs work hard and play hard. Soon we will also announce the three huge parties where you can relax with 1000 of your closest new friends.
Everywhere Else events are geared towards startups everywhere else, which means we keep the ticket prices low enough that even bootstrapped startups can afford to attend and exhibit. Tickets will sell out fast, so don’t miss out. We have 200 early bird attendee tickets available for $99 and 30 Startup Village Booths discounted to just $495 (includes exhibit space, 3 tickets, and a huge pitch contest).
You can book your room for Everywhere Else Cincinnati at the beautifully remodeled downtown Cincinnati Hyatt for a discounted rate here.
Come join us as we learn, network, party, and build something huge–the everywhere else ecosytem.
It’s pretty popular to launch startups at big events. Think Foursquare at SXSW. We even had a couple of launches at this year’s Everywhere Else: The Startup Conference.
But, it can be tricky to launch at a big event. It’s easy to get lost in the noise, and when you choose to launch that publicly, you better have your act together. Here are some more tips from the veteran entrepreneurs at the Young Entrepreneurs Council:
Give a Keynote Speech
“If you want to launch a new company at an industry event or conference, try to secure an opportunity to be a keynote speaker. If you can’t organically secure it ,consider sponsoring and purchasing the opportunity to be a keynote. As a speaker, you’ll have your target audience listening to you and buying into your brand for 30-40 minutes. There is no better way to secure a flurry of leads.”
– Raoul Davis | CEO, Ascendant Group
Learn from Disrupt
“It’s very helpful to check out the winners of TechCrunch Disrupt. Lot to learn from their presentations and products which can you help launch most effectively.”
“Ignore awards, getting press, and all related “recognition” that will just be distractions when launching your company. Focus on your customers and your product!”
“Find out who will be the influencers at this conference and get them on board with your new company. Try giving away your product or service to them for free to experience if you have to, so they begin talking about it. There is nothing better than word of mouth, especially when from the mouths that influence more people.”
“Most people that try and launch at an event fail because all they do is display a logo, hand out flyers or take an exhibitor booth. Find a unique way your company can be a part of the event and integrate your product into it, so that more people use it and get to experience it.”
“Once the conference is in full swing, it can be hard to meet with the right people. A small amount of time invested in reaching out to key personalities before the event can yield tremendous results. Review speakers, conference organizers, sponsors and other key attendees, and introduce yourself and your product. You’ll have pre-launch momentum to leverage when going into the conference.”
“Business is done after the day’s events, so throw a crazy party! Get your face and handshake in front of everyone, and then create a forum where you can continue interacting after the formal events are over. They’ll remember your name.”
“Don’t half-ass the event. Get there early and network to build buzz. Do something creative with your booth or product so everyone knows you’re there. Don’t leave until the end, when you’re sure you’ve done everything to let people know about your product or service.”
“Do your research in advance and know who the speakers are. Before the event, find ways to introduce your company and product via social, introductions, etc. Once there, have your team talking to presenters and panelist so what you’re working on is top of mind. Seeding the conversation prior to them hitting the stage improves your chances of getting mentioned by influencers, and peeking the audience’s interest.”
OneSpark Founders (L-R) Varick Rosete, Elton Rivas and Dennis Eusebio (photo: NMI 2013)
Two years ago three friends, businessmen, entrepreneurs and community minded guys sat around a Panera Bread talking about what they could do to help spark the startup community, and the creativity that comes with it, in Jacksonville Florida. Those three friends, Elton Rivas, Dennis Eusebio and Varick Rosete, set out to create an event that could serve as an ongoing catalyst for creativity and startups.
All three founders were paying attention to the growing trends across the country. Startup communities were popping up in cities all over the United States, many of them the same size as Jacksonville with similar resources but no real focal point. They all wanted to do something and create something, and they didn’t want to move to do it.
In this quick impromptu panel discussion, led by Jacksonville Jaguars voice, Brian Sexton, all three founders touch on “Why Now, Why OneSpark”.
Rivas talks about the timing saying “the time has never been better for this”. Rivas talked about how technology, smartphones in particular, people have the ability to connect from anywhere. To that end, while we talk about Chattanooga and Kansas City often when referring to high speed internet, Jacksonville Florida was the second market in the United States to get ClearWire’s WiMax service back in 2003.
Now with the connectivity, the people and the resources, with a catalyst like OneSpark residents of Jacksonville are starting to see they can do it right in their own city. Rivas has already gotten a taste of this by being a cofounder of CoWork Jax, a coworking space with an emphasis on collaboration and creativity.
Eusebio opened up his answer with the fact that he didn’t want to move. As a tech guy Eusebio was starting to feel the pinch, do I stay home, a place I love or do I brave the waters in another more tech savvy city like San Francisco. He set himself a 2 year deadline to come to that decision and during that two years the trio started creating OneSpark.
Rosete says he did this for the creators, he wants the creators to know that they have the resources to help get ideas, companies and creations off the ground without having to go take day jobs that creators don’t really want.
With a list of sponsors that reads like a telephone book, the city of Jacksonville is ripe and mobilized now to embrace startups, creators and entrepreneurs.
But OneSpark isn’t just about the local creators. They’ve attracted 464 projects from across the street, across the river, across the country and around the world. The 464 projects are spread out across 65 different venues in downtown Jacksonville.
Early estimates suggest that there will be between 15,000 to 20,000 people in Jacksonville over the next five days specifically for OneSpark, participating in voting, the speaker series and just walking around and checking out the 464 projects. Several local media outlets predict the swell of people downtown could reach 100,000 when you mix in the variety of great live entertainment that the OneSpark team has helped cook up.
While the focus of OneSpark and the creators is Music, Art, Science and Technology, when dusk hits the focus turns to the “entertainment district” where clubs, bars,restaurants and pop up venues are hosting hundreds of bands and performers in a festival atmosphere that can only rival something like SXSW. If anyone is keeping score there were around 800 attendees at the first SXSW festival and 29,000 official registered attendees for SXSWi 2013. The groundswell in Austin is also believed to be 100,000 when factoring in all three different festivals that make up sxsw.
On the subject of SXSW, Rivas hopes that in 10 years the OneSpark festival will still be going on, and people will say “Oh Jacksonville, that’s where they hold OneSpark”.
Well yes as a matter a fact we’ve got a ton more OneSpark coverage here at nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups Everywhere Else.
Startup Grind is one of the fastest growing startup movements in the country. The Mountain View based organization is “fostering entrepreneurship through story telling” at localized “fireside chat” style events.
Startup Grind was founded by Derek Anderson and his quickly grown to 40 chapters across the country. One of the latest chapters to join was Startup Grind Philly which we reported on last week.
Each city’s chapter of Startup Grind tries to attract top tier speakers, giving their local entrepreneurs and startup communities access to higher profile speakers’ than you would find at other events.
San Antonio is the newest chapter to join Startup Grind, and their first event is just under two weeks away. The April 23rd inaugural Startup Grind San Antonio event will happen at Geekdom in downtown San Antonio.
Jason Seats the cofounder of SliceHost and Managing Director of TechStars Cloud (which graduates this Thursday), is the fireside chat for the first event. The May speaer will be David Spencer, founder of OnBoard Systems. Pat Condon cofounder of Rackspace is on deck for June.
This month’s event will begin at 6pm with pizza and beer and the fireside chat with Jason Seats will kick off at 7pm. There will also be an interactive Q&A session. Early bird tickets are still available for just $10 at this link.
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Startup Grind, the global startup community designed to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs through monthly top tier fireside chats is sweeping the nation. Philadelphia is the latest city to add a chapter for the organization.
Startup Grind Philadelphia is being headed by Mike Maher the founder and CEO of Benjamin’s Desk, Philadelphia’s premiere shared office and coworking space for professionals.
“The Philadelphia Chapter of Startup Grind is seeking to fill the gap in programming that currently exists in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. There are workshops, panels, and demos, but entrepreneurs are craving to hear the stories from the horses mouth and are looking for those little keys to add to their startup toolbox.” Benjamin’s Desk community manager Katie Cohen said in an emailed statement.
The first Startup Grind event in Philadelphia will feature Venture Capitalist Wayne Kimmel, the founding partner of Artists & Instigators who’s firm has invested in Dwolla, Seamless, Indiegogo, Reverbnation, Zaarly and Nutrisystem, just to name a few.
The event is Wednesday May 1 from 6-9pm following Philly Tech Week. Interested in attending, get tickets here.
Comments Off on Everywhereelse.co 2014 Early Bird Tickets Down To 12, Village Booths 50LikeLike 4,092
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.
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)
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Dave McClure the infamous Sith Lord of 500 startups and huge advocate for startups globally, will be the keynote speaker at Pubcon 2013 in New Orleans. The conference focuses on social media and search and is hosted at the state of the art New Orleans Convention Center.
McClure will discuss his vast experience helping to grow and cultivate startups. In addition to being the founding partner at 500 startups he also hosts regular Silicon Valley meetups called Startup2Startup and of course Geeks On A Plane. To date McClure has invested in over 250 startup companies through his 500 Startups fund and their Mountain View based accelerator program which goes out of it’s way to attract talent worldwide. Some of his investments include MakerBot, TaskRabbit, SlideShare,Mint.com and Twillio.
McClure’s experience spans two decades including serving as PayPal’s Director of Marketing from 2001 thru 2004. While in that role he launched the now infamous PayPal Developer Network. He’s also worked with other well known companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, O’Reilly Media, Intel and Microsoft.
“We’re thrilled to feature Dave McClure as a keynote speaker at Pubcon New Orleans 2013, where his unique spin on the role of social media and optimization in Internet startups will make for a fascinating and insightful presentation,” said Brett Tabke, founder and chief executive of Pubcon.
Michael Slaby, the Obama For America Chief Integration and Innovation Officer, will kick off Pubcon. In addition to playing a major role in the 2008 Obama campaign, Slaby has also served as the digital global practice chair at Edelman and chief technology strategist at Tomorrow Ventures, Eric Schmidt’s venture capital fund.
Pubcon promises to announce more high profile speakers in the coming weeks.
Comments Off on Thank You For A Great EE2013, And On To 2014 Tickets Available Now, At 2013 Price For 6 Weeks0LikeLike 3,574
Thank you all for attending everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference in Memphis Tennessee. The event drew over 1000 startup founders, entrepreneurs, investors and startup folks from across the country and around the world.
Most of the 50 states were represented and attendees came from Chile, Canada, Mexico, London and Buenos Aires.
We attended great keynotes, workshops, round tables and panels with unparalleled access to information and networking.
The reaction so far has been great. The memories will live on, on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and of Course Bonfyre.
As a startup ourselves things were a little rough around the edges for a bit but the event itself rocked!
With that we are growing. Many people who saw our press coverage or heard about the event on social media have reached out with interest for next year. Sponsors are already knocking on the door and it’s going to be even better. As you can imagine we are going to have to significantly increase the ticket price in the coming months however, Nick and I decided that we will offer the same prices as 2013 for 2014 for the next 6 weeks.
Next year the conference will be held Sunday February 16th through Tuesday Febrary 18th, over President’s Day Weekend. This gives many of our startup founders, who still work a 9-5, the opportunity to come as well.
Attendee ticket $59
Startup Village ticket $425 (incldues 3 attendee tickets)
One thing that we want to point out though is that several attendees said they wanted to be in the village next year, so regardless of whether you were in the village last year or just came in as an attendee, feel free to book under 2013’s Startup Village ticket rate.We look forward to seeing you next February.
We welcome your feedback at info@everywhereelse.co and if you want to volunteer for next year feel free to email kyle@everywhereelse.co
Comments Off on One Week Away From The Biggest Startup Conference In The U.S. Everywhereelse.co0LikeLike 1,987
Everywhereelse.co has taken the world and the country by storm. This three day startup conference, is being held at the Memphis Cook Convention Center next week and has been hailed by Forbes Magazine as a “must attend” startup conference for entrepreneurs.
Next Sunday entrepreneurs from across the country and around the world along with investors, founders, designers and more will converge on Memphis Tennessee at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference!
The lineup includes; Scott Case (Founding CTO Priceline.com), Bill Harris (Former CEO of Paypal & Intuit now CEO of Personal Capita), Ingrid Vanderveldt, (Dell’s EIR), Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits (co-authors Lean Entrepreneur), Rohit Bhangharva (author Likeanomics) and many more.
There are nearly 100 startups from across the country and around the world in our Startup Village.
Over 2000 attendees have registered for the conference which dictated a move to the Memphis Cook Convention Center. Thanks to the move we still have a few tickets, and a few startup village booth spaces left. Not only that but you can join us all Sunday evening as the Memphis Grizzlies take on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
We look forward to seeing you at this epic conference.
Comments Off on Everywhereelse.co Outgrows Original Venue Moves To Memphis Cook Convention Center0LikeLike 2,666
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:
Kyle
Brian Rogers and the folks behind Barcamp Jonesboro have made a pivot, changing the name of Barcamp Jonesboro to IDEA Tech Festival. With that they’ve turned the event in to two days (this time around), featuring a startup pitch contest and a full day of presentations.
Guest
