To Grow A Startup, Grow as an Individual

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Of all the speakers at Everywhere Else Cincinnati, none embody the Everywhere Else mentality more than John T.Meyer, the Founder of Lemon.ly – a startup that builds awesome infographics. Meyer and Lemon.ly are based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the state’s largest city with a population just north of 159 thousand. “Everywhere Else” personified.

John Meyer Lemon.ly Meyer’s talk, entitled “Don’t be Everyone Else at Everywhere Else,” outlined a more internal, individualized approach to building a startup. Rather than focusing blindly on bettering and building the company itself, Meyer argued, an early-stage founder is better served by expending an equal amount of time and energy in bettering his or herself. Or, essentially, a founder should grow as a person to grow the company.  Meyer went on to outline 7 points, in the form of quotes, that speak to this approach:

Execute on being you

-Gary Vaynerchuk

Essentially, in the context of Meyer’s discussion, this means that a founder should play to his or her strengths. If you know sales, sell. If you code, code. Conversely, if you know marketing, don’t code, and so on. Play to your strengths.

When human judgement and big data intersect there are some funny things that happen.

– Nate Silver

While tracking big data and various metrics is a familiar undertaking for founders, Meyer brought this up in the context of individual, daily life; i.e. tracking the quantified self with a Fit Bit or some such device. It goes back to knowing and executing on yourself.

It is not enough to be busy. The question is: What are we busy about?

– Henry David Thoreau

Meyer argued that everyone is busy, but a founder must prioritize, and eliminate to the extent it is possible, lesser tasks and focus on the larger goals. A sort-of task triage if you will.

The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.

– Warren Buffett

This Buffet quote speaks to the Thoreau quote above. It is not enough to simply prioritize your tasks as a founder, you must learn which of those to reject. This is a very less = more approach.

Everyone has highs and lows that they have to learn from, but every morning I start off with a good head on my shoulders, saying to myself ‘it’s going to be a good day.’

– Lindsay Lohan

Meyer used this quote, jokingly, to argue for the use of an alarm clock, as opposed to setting an alarm on a phone. More-or-less, Meyers argued, once you come in contact with your cell phone, it instantly compartmentalizes your brain into ten or more different sections, and you are completely unable to focus on the task at hand. You would be better served to go “phoneless” for the first few minutes or hour of your day.

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

– Bill Cosby

This gets back to saying ‘no’ and focusing on what you are doing. It is important to focus on what you are building and make it really good at what it does. Don’t expand the problem you are solving into sub-problems. Fix it, fix it real good.

If you really want to know where your destiny lies, look at where you apply your time

– Mark Cuban

A fitting end to the talk. Look at what you love doing, and go do it.

Essentially, Meyers talk boiled down to combining two aspects that are usually presented as dichotomy; the self and the company. Rather than treating the two as sort-or exclusive of one another, both should grow in tandem. To grow as a company, it is important to grow as an individual.

Andrew Thompson is the Managing Editor of TechFaster.

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Look Who’s Coming To Everywhere Else Cincinnati, Agenda Released!

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Over 40 startup and entrepreneurial influencers are set to speak at our national startup conference, which begins Sunday evening at 8pm.

Kicking off on Sunday, September 29th at 8pm with a Kick Off Party at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill in downtown Cincinnati, hundreds of entrepreneurs, startup founders, supporters and investors from across the country and around the world are converging on Cincinnati for the two and a half day startup conference.

Jeff Hoffman, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Priceline and Ubid, John Bracken, co-founder of E-Vite and Speek, Derek Flanzriach, founder of Greatist, Wil Schroeter, founder of Fundable, Ethan Austin, founder of GiveForward, Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, Carla Valdes, Partner at Fortify Ventures and over 30 more nationally known speakers will be featured in keynotes, panels and networking events during the event at the Duke Energy Convention Center.

Washington DC based film entrepreneur Justin Gutwein will introduce the documentary series Startupland to the audience on Monday morning.

Everywhere Else Cincinnati will also highlight women in entrepreneurship throughout the conference including a talk with Janice Fraser, CEO and Co-founder of LUXor. Fortify Ventures General Partner Carla Valdes will address the audience on getting past the gatekeeper as both a woman and a startup founder. West Capital’s Madeleine Ludlow, will participate in the high profile panel “Not all money is created equal and location matters to investors”. BrandHUB’s Nicole Ball, is moderating a panel on why branding and design are important to a startup and Nibletz Media’s Managing Editor Monica Selby will moderate a discussion on addressing media needs of startups.

Monday evening will end with the “Halftime Party” sponsored by Nashville Tennessee’s CentreSource.

 

The complete agenda for Everywhere Else Cincinnati is below and a final batch of attendee tickets have been released at http://eecincinnati.com

Everywhere Else Agenda

  • Sunday Sept 29th

    • 8pm-11pm Kickoff Party Hosted by Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber & CincyTech at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill Downtown Cincinnati

  • Monday Sept 30th

    • 8:30am Registration Opens

    • 9am-9:15am Opening Remarks from Kyle Sandler & Nick Tippmann

    • 9:15am-9:35am Dave Knox – Building a Top Startup Accelerator Everywhere Else

    • 9:35am-9:55am Carla Valdes – Rapid fire Q&A on getting past the gate keeper

    • 9:55am-10:15am Jonathan Perrelli & Justin Gutwein – Startupland, an Honest and Authentic Portrial of What It Takes To Be an Entrepreneur

    • 10:15am-10:45am Andrew Warner (KEYNOTE) – Entrepreneurs & Their Inner Insecurities

    • 10:45am-11am Coffee Break Presented by Soapbox Media

    • 11am-11:30am – Panel: Catching the Attention of an Accelerator Everywhere Else. Moderator: Nick Tippmann. Panelist Blake Miller, Mike Bott, Brian Raney, Jonathon Perrelli

    • 11:30am-11:50am – Art McMahon – The New World of Private Placements:  A Brief Legal Overview. Presented by Taft Law

    • 11:45pm-12:05pm – Fred Killingsworth – Mobile Payment Solutions:  Enabling Unprecedented Opportunities. Presented by Vantiv

    • 12pm-1:30pm Lunch Break

    • 1:30pm-1:50pm John T Meyer – Don’t Be Everyone Else at Everywhere Else

    • 1:50pm-2:10pm Rob Woodbridge – Top 4 Mobile Business Models and How To Optimize Them For Revenue

    • 2:10pm-2:30pm Derek Flanzriach – Getting To Over 1M Unique Visitors Per Month In Less Than a Year Using Social & Content

    • 2:30pm-3pm Jeff Hoffman (KEYNOTE) – Entrepreneur’s Bootcamp: Keys to Entrepreneuring Success

    • 3pm-3:15pm Afternoon Break Present by Vantiv

    • 3:15pm-3:45pm Panel: The New and Ever Changing World of Content & Media. Moderator: Monica Selby. Panelist: Ryan O’Connell, Derek Flanziach, Rob Woodbridge, Scott Gerber, Andrew Warner

    • 3:45pm-4:05pm John Bracken – Rising Above The Noise

    • 4:05pm-4:25pm Andy Sparks – Should You Stay Put?

    • 4:25pm-4:45pm – Jake Stutzman – Meaning, Not Money

    • 4:45pm-5:05pm – Mark Richey – Capital Risk and Speed

    • 5:05pm-5:55pm Startup Pitches

    • 5:55pm-6pm Closing Remarks

    • 6:15pm-8:15pm VIP Investor & Startup Only Happy Hour at the Hyatt Regency

    • 8:30pm-11pm Halftime Party Hosted by Centresource at Rhinegeist Brewery

  • Tuesday Oct 1st

    • 9am-9:10am Opening Remarks from Kyle Sandler & Nick Tippmann

    • 9:10am-9:30am Mark Hasebroock – Llamas and Mocassins

    • 9:30am-9:50am Denver Hutt – Life Is What Happens While We’re Busy Making Other Plans

    • 9:50am-10:10am Blair Garrou – Top 10 Ways for a Startup to Thrive (and Survive) in the Midcontinent

    • 10:10am-10:40am Joe Medved (KEYNOTE) – How to Source Your Investors

    • 10:40am-11:15am Panel: Not All Money Is Created Equal and Location Matters to Investors. Moderator: Bob Coy. Panelist: Madeleine Ludlow, Blair Garrou, Joe Medved, Jonathon Perrelli, Mark Hasebroock

    • 11:15am-11:30am Coffee Break Presented by West Capital & Draper Triangle

    • 11:30am-11:50pm Patrick Woods – From pitch to personality: brand personality and why it matters

    • 11:50am-12:10pm – Evan Owens – Horror Stories From Product Development

    • 12:10pm-12:30pm – Janice Fraser – Lean UX + Design for Startups

    • 12:30pm-2pm Lunch Break

    • 2pm-2:20pm James Dickerson – What I Learned From My Startup’s Failure

    • 2:20pm-2:40pm Raghu Betina – Getting Your Feet Wet in Programming

    • 2:40pm-3:00pm Alan Berkson – You Got Customers, Now How Do You Keep ‘em? Presented by Freskdesk

    • 3pm-3:30pm Scott Gerber (KEYNOTE) – Why Should Never Get a “Real” Job

    • 3:30pm-3:45pm Afternoon Break Presented by Taft

    • 3:45pm-4:15pm Panel: Why Branding and Design Are Crucial to a Startup Moderator: Nicole Ball. Panelist: Patrick Woods, Jake Stutzman, John T Meyer, Janice Fraser, Evan Owens

    • 4:15pm-4:35pm Ethan Austin – Culture ≠ Ping pong:  How To Build a Startup Culture That Drives Success

    • 4:35pm-4:55pm Jared Steffes – Don’t Be a Liar and Your Startup Sucks.

    • 4:55pm-5:25pm Wil Schroter (KEYNOTE) – How Crowdfunding is Changing Startup Fundraising Forever

    • 5:25pm-5:55pm Startup Awards Presented by CincyTech & Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber

    • 5:55pm-6pm Closing Remarks from Kyle Sandler and Nick

    • 8:00pm-11pm Postgame Party Hosted by Nibletz Media at Rhinegeist Brewery

Don’t have your ticket? No worries. We released a few more tickets, and you can get yours at eecincinnati.com

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Bonfyre Is Back As The Official App For Everywhere Else Conference, And We’ve Got Two Tickets To SXSWi To Give Away

Bonfyre, St. Louis startup, Everywhere Else Cincinnati, startup conference, SXSWBonfyre, is back as the official app for the Everywhere Else Conference. Everywhere Else Cincinnati kicks off Sunday night with a welcome party open to the public.

St. Louis startup Bonfyre is a social engagement app that allows you to share thoughts, updates, information, and photos across a closed social network and then outward to your normal social channels including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

At Everywhere Else Memphis last February we used Bonfyre, and the attendees of the conference stayed in the Bonfyre and kept interacting well into the summer.

Bonfyre will allow entrepreneurs, startup founders, investors, panelists, and startup support to keep up with all the conference go-ers in the event’s own channel. In addition to Everywhere Else, Bonfyre was also been the official app for last year’s PowderKeg conference, OneSpark in Florida, and even for St. Louis Rams games.

Bonfyre keeps things going in an easy-to-understand and engaging platform. For Everywhere Else Cincinnati we’ll have two different Bonfyre’s. O will be limited to information about the conference, scheduling, maps, and important information from the conference staff. The other will be the Bonfyre the entire group will use. That’s where the fun begins.

Bonfyre and Nibletz have teamed up to give away a pair of SXSWi 2014 passes (passes only) for March 2014. The interactive passes will give you access to the entire interactive conference tract at SXSWi and many of the awesome parties. The passes have a value of over $1400! We will be looking for the most engaged and interactive Bonfyre user throughout the course of the conference.

So go download Bonfyre in the iTunes app store or the Google Play Store and then scan the QR Codes below to get into the Bonfyre’s. We’ll see you this weekend.

Use this QR code to get into the Info Bonfyre for Everywhere Else Cincinnati:

Bonfyre-Inform

Use this QR code to get into the Engage Bonfyre for Everywhere Else Cincinnati:

Bonfyre-engage

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2 Weeks And 2 Startup Avenue Booths Left For Everywhere Else Cincinnati

EE Cincinnati, Everywhere Else Cincinnati, Startup ConferenceThe feedback for Everywhere Else Cincinnati has been overwhelming. Many startups in the flyover states, middle America, and abroad can’t believe there is a startup conference, with a speaker lineup of this caliber, specifically geared towards them.

At Everywhere Else Cincinnati you’ll mingle, rub elbows, network, talk and hopefully garner the interest of investors who like you, work and want to continue building startup ecosystems everywhere else. We’ll hear from people like Jeff Hoffman who built up Priceline, uBid and other companies. Hoffman has decided that he’s done creating business plans and he’s turned to creating entrepreneurs and he’s going to share that with all of us.

We’ll hear form people like Andrew Warner who’s mixergy website has become a bible of sorts for entrepreneurs across the country. We’ll hear from several startup founders who’ve collectively raised hundreds of millions of dollars from anywhere USA.

Scott Gerber, the founder of YEC and distinguished startup author will talk about startups everywhere and the YEC’s new Startup Insurance.

And there are 22 more speakers with similar experience taking the stage September 29th-October 1st in downtown Cincinnati at the Duke Energy Convention Center.

The attendee ticket is $99 through this weekend and the remaining two Startup Avenue booths are just $495 through this weekend.

The Startup Avenue booth comes with three attendee tickets for the founder and the your startup team. You’ll exhibit in front of hundreds of investors, founders, entrepreneurs and resources. There will be pitch contests and two exclusive events for startups, investors and our media partners.

Tickets are available below. We’ll see you in Cincinnati.

 

 

Omaha’s Straight Shot Accelerator & First National Bank Of Omaha Holding Code One Hackathon

CodeOne, First National Bank of Omaha, Straight Shot, Hackathon, Startups, Nebraska Startup, Code CrushOmaha’s new accelerator, backed by Dundee Venture Capital, Straight Shot, is making waves in Silicon Prairie. The cohort based accelerator, led by Faith Larson, is taking a big city approach to their accelerator class. Larson and her team have provided an intense amount of mentoring activities, speakers and networking events to make sure their teams are more than ready come demo day.

They’ve also taken a firm position in Omaha’s rapidly growing tech community. Their latest effort is a hackathon happening next weekend called CodeOne.

When Straight Shot partner First National Bank of Omaha decided that they wanted to see some new ideas and technology for their online web platform they turned to the team at Straight Shot. Together they decided to host a hackathon and engage the tech community to help with the banks platform.

The hackathon starts next Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday. Food, drinks, and plenty of caffeine will be supplied to the registrants. The bank is transforming their WinterGarden employee cafe space into a collaborative workspace for all of the hackers

Hackathons like this have created a stir in startup communities in the past. Perhaps most notably was Nashville’s “Code Crush” event. Some hackers are leery of corporations backing a hackathon for the sole purpose of developing their companies technology.

To that end First National Bank of Omaha has been a great partner to the Omaha tech and entrepreneurial community. Not only that but they are giving away $13,000 in cash for the top three teams. First prize is $10,000 cash. Second prize is $2,000 cash and third prize is $1,000 cash.

Throughout the weekend event First National Bank of Omaha will also be looking for potential candidates for their internship program which could lead to employment with the bank down the road. They’ve also made it quite clear developers will be developing for the First National Bank platform. I also hear that the food will be great, we’re not talking just chips,soda and pizza.

It’s looking like CodeOne will be an amazing event for developers, designers, coders and hackers. You still have a few days left to register and if you’re confident your three person team can knock it out of the ball park there could be some money in it for you as well.

Here’s a link to registration.

While you’re at it don’t forget to register for Everywhere Else Cincinnati, the huge national startup conference is just two weeks away. Dundee Capital’s Mark Hasebroock is one of our 30 top notch startup speakers.

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From Conference Volunteer To Startup Founder, Audrey Jones Is In The Zone

Everywhere Else, Kids360, Startup, Audrey Jones, Everywhere Else Startup Conference, startupLast February I had no idea who Audrey Jones was. We were preparing for Everywhere Else Memphis and knee deep in getting ready. diPR consulting’s Danielle Inez was recruiting volunteers and handling many of the pre-show logistics.

When the conference time finally arrived, we met up with all of the onsite volunteers. Audrey Jones was one of them. She told us in an interview that she had heard good things about the conference and was curious about what it was all about. She received an email from one of the civic groups she works with for volunteers and decided she would sign up for one shift.

That day, she took control of registration and front end organization and then stayed on throughout the entire conference, never missing a beat. It was like we had planned and rehearsed her role for months, but for Jones, organization and execution come naturally. It’s one of the qualities her full time employer, Memphis based AutoZone loves about her.

In fact several people from AutoZone’s marketing and IT departments attended at least some part of the inaugural conference in Memphis. At some point during the conference an AutoZone employee came up to me and congratulated us on a job well done. He then said that we could have Audrey for the remaining two days of the conference, but not only that she wouldn’t have to take time off, AutoZone was paying her to work for us.

Marston-1But this story isn’t about a great conference volunteer or a great company in Memphis. The story continues.

Jones was so intrigued by what she witnessed at the Startup Conference that she started spending her free time with Start Co, the Memphis organization that serves as an umbrella for many of Memphis’ startup efforts. Jones stayed in touch with many of the people she met at the conference from across the country and started to work on an idea.

What intrigued Jones most about Start Co and their various startup initiatives was Upstart Memphis, a women’s startup initiative that included a women’s only 48 Hour Launch and a women’s only startup accelerator.

Jones’ preliminary idea revolved around the way that parents, loved ones, family members, and caregivers communicate. There’s so much technology out there now that phone trees are pretty much dead wood.

“It’s a platform that allows parents to list their children’s emergency contact information electronically. It’s the alternative to the cluttered file cabinet in emergency situations. Parents can grant access to whomever needs access, like sittrs, tutors, daycare and childcare providers,” Jones told us.

Jones had no idea she was an entrepreneur or a startup founder in January of this year.  By spring she was talking to people about this idea. Then Start Co put a call out to women led startups to apply for their inaugural summer cohort for their women’s accelerator. Jones admitted she felt like she didn’t think she would get in, but went forward with the application process, even citing Nibletz as a reference after her work with the conference.

Kids360 was one of the four startups selected for the women’s only cohort that puts the women founded startups through a bootcamp-style, intense business and entrepreneurial accelerator. The hope for Start Co co-presidents Andre Fowlkes and Eric Mathews is that founders will be launch ready at the end of the accelerator, which is really just the beginning.

For Jones it’s been non stop since the accelerator kicked off at the beginning of the summer. She continues to work full time for AutoZone and spends another 40-50 hours a week on Kids360.

“Audrey is a great example of the type of entrepreneur we find here in Memphis. She is constantly grinding whether it’s her own startup, helping others or on her job. She’s putting the resources of StartCo to work for her every chance she gets,” Mathews told us by email.

It helps that Audrey works for AutoZone, a company founded by serial entrepreneur Pitt Hyde. The company was very supportive during those few days of the conference and continues to support Jones with a little extra flexibility in her schedule while she is going through the accelerator program. This isn’t the first time that AutoZone has supported one of their employees going through one of Start Co’s accelerator programs. In fact it’s their third go round and they would continue to do it over and over again, Jones tells us.

Why?

“Because entrepreneurs make the best employees,” Jones told us. She is very open about her startup and what she is doing in the program. Everyone on her team all the way up to Pitt Hyde knows that she’s in the program. “Whenever I see Mr. Hyde in the halls I smile with my AutoZone uniform on and re-pitch him again,” Jones said.

“We’ve seen quite a few entrepreneurs come through the ranks at Autozone, which is very supportive of our young entrepreneurs and Start Co.  Audrey markes the third time that we’ve been able to help an Autozone employee hone in their inner entrepreneur,” Mathews said.

Hyde is also very supportive of entrepreneurial efforts in Memphis. He is a major supporter and director for Memphis Bioworks and their Zeroto510 accelerator, which is run in partnership with Bioworks and Start Co.

So now with just weeks to go before demo day at the UpStart accelerator, Jones is gearing up to have a booth at Everywhere Else Cincinnati’s Startup Avenue. She’s looking forward to real life pitch practice, talking to investors, and of course helping out the Everywhere Else team.

You can find out more about Kids360 at kids360now.com

It’s not too late to get your own booth or attendee ticket for Everywhere Else Cincinnati.

West Capital Advisor and Draper Triangle’s Mark Richey Added To Everywhere Else Cincinnati!

Mark Richey, Everywhere Else Cincnnati, startups, startup conference, investorWith less than 2 weeks to go for Everywhere Else Cincinnati, we’re still letting speakers out of the bag. Everywhere Else Cincinnati is shaping up to be the destination conference for startups everywhere else. The conference will feature 30 great startup and investor speakers from across the country. We’ve kept ticket prices low to allow even the most bootstrapped startups from everywhere else the opportunity to afford and attend a major startup conference.

We are pleased to announce that Mark Richey, Venture Partner at Draper Triangle Ventures and Managing Director/Founder at West Capital Advisors, will be one of our featured keynote speakers during the Everywhere Else Conference September, 29th through October, 1st in Cincinnati Ohio.

Mark is an experienced technologist, executive, founder, and private equity investor.  Most recently, he served as a Managing Director in Draper Triangle Ventures, an early stage venture fund and affiliate of the Draper Network of funds headed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson in Menlo Park, CA.  Mark maintains a relationship with Draper Triangle in the role of Venture Partner.

Mark has been involved in many entrepreneurial ventures.  Mark founded Synchrony Communications in 1997 raising $38 million in funding from leading VCs and strategic investors, including Charles River Ventures, APAX Partners and GE Equity. He grew the company to a size of more than 130 employees in four cities serving over 80 customers, including Cincinnati Bell, Bank of America, and Proctor & Gamble.   In prior years Mark served in management roles with a series of venture backed Silicon Valley companies, including Gain Technology (sold to Sybase), Siebel Systems (IPO), and Genesys Telecommunications (IPO).  After graduate school he worked in management consulting with Theodore Barry & Associates (Los Angeles).  Mark began his career as a software engineer with Cincom Systems (Cincinnati).

Mark holds an M.B.A. from The Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, and a BS Systems Analysis from Miami University. He currently serves as an observer on the boards of Thinkvine, Oversight Systems, and CardioInsight, the advisory board of Priority Consult (division of Mayfield Spine Clinic), and the TechColumbus Investment Committee.  Mark is a past member of the Business Advisory Council of Miami University’s Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration.

You can get attendee tickets or register for a Startup Avenue booth below. For more info on the conference visit eecincinnati.com

Tennessee’s Master Accelerator, The TENN Wraps Up Statewide Demo Day Roadshow

Accelerator, Launch Tennessee, The Tenn, Startups

(photo: Brandon Dill/ commercialappeal.com)

Every startup accelerator everywhere else wishes they could have participation at demo day from their top industry leaders. While some of their leading companies may have a presence at demo day, the real influencers are often too busy to attend a four hour demo day. With this problem in mind, Tennessee had a great idea for their startups: bring them to those companies.

Ten accelerator graduates from across the state of Tennessee just completed a weeklong statewide roadshow. Each of the ten startups chosen to participate in the statewide master accelerator program were all graduates of one of Tennessee’s nine accelerator programs.

The master accelerator program, called The TENN, was put on by Launch Tennessee, the public/private partnership spearheading the accelerator efforts across Tennessee. Launch Tennessee partnered with the Blackstone Foundation to put the program on, as well as other key state sponsors.

Twenty accelerator graduates that wrapped up their programs by August of this year competed in a final pitch off in Nashville on August 27th. At that event a group of judges from outside of Tennessee had the daunting task of narrowing down those 20 to just 10 for the road show.

In addition to going on the road in a wrapped tour bus, each of the companies received $10,000 for their business and will have access to office space at their accelerator’s office space, or they will receive a subsidy for space they may already occupy.

The ten companies chosen were:

eClinic (Nashville)
Got You In (Nashville)
Gun.io (Nashville)
Hatponics (Knoxville)
Health & Bliss (Memphis)
Mobilizer (Memphis)
Screwpulp (Memphis)
Survature (Knoxville)
Vendor Registry (East Tennessee)
View Medical (Memphis)

Health & Bliss had to drop out of the roadshow due to a scheduling conflict. They were replaced by Chattanooga startup HutGrip.

The roadshow kicked off in the Tri-Cities area with stops at Eastman Chemical and AccelNow. On Tuesday the bus made its way to Knoxville, where they stopped at Scripps Networks and the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center. Wednesday the bus stopped in Chattanooga at Society of Work. Thursday the group traveled to Nashville and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. The trip wrapped up in Memphis on Friday with stops at First Tennessee Bank and FedEx.

The ten companies will continue working on their businesses and with mentors and corporate leaders across the state.

You can find out more about The TENN at TheTENN.org

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Image: CommercialAppeal

YES!!! Denver Hutt To Speak At Everywhere Else Cincinnati

Denver Hutt, Everywhere Else Cincinnati, startups, Bad Ass Startup Chicks

Denver Hutt (center) surrounded by entrepreneurs. (photo: Facebook)

We’ve got some great news to report this Friday morning! Indianapolis bad ass startup chick Denver Hutt says she’s feeling up to speaking in a couple of weeks at Everywhere Else Cincinnati.

Hutt is a true startup champion. She’s a connector, an entrepreneur, and a startup junkee. The native of Santa Monica, California moved to Indianapolis for college and by choice stayed there to start pursuing her entrepreneurial career, which includes running the Speak Easy startup and coworking space.

She’s been a hustler all of her life right up until, and now through, the point where she was diagnosed with cancer. When (with her permission) we first reported the news back in May the startup world was devastated. Hutt is a person who’s known to go to as many events as she can. She’s a networking machine, and she really gets things done.  Her story also became a lesson for entrepreneurs with the go-go-go lifestyle to take a minute to take care of ourselves.

Prior to this news Hutt was one of the first women featured in our Bad Ass Startup Chicks spotlight.

While Denver is putting up a tremendous fight, the way only a die hard entrepreneur could, she’s unfortunately not out of the woods just yet. Fortunately for us though she’s well enough to make the trek from Indianapolis to Cincinnati for Everywhere Else! She is looking forward to reconnecting with many people that she met at our Memphis conference back in February.

We ran a follow up piece in August and challenged Denver to make it to the conference.We’re so glad she’s accepting the challenge!

What? You don’t have your Startup Avenue booth or Attendee ticket yet? Get them below.

 

 

Startup Phenomenon: The Conference for Ecosystems Everywhere Else

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As you know, we are fast approaching Everywhere Else Cincinnati. We’re gearing up for an awesome two days of speakers, networking, and pitching. We’re focusing on educating the early stage entrepreneur everywhere else. Have you gotten your tickets yet?

It’s true all of us at Nibletz are working hard to bring you the best conference everywhere else. But, when we heard about another event happening in November, we couldn’t help but take notice.

Startup Phenomenon is hoping to catalyze startup communities. I think the quote on the home page says it all:

For all the talk of disruption, the startup world has started to look a lot like any traditional industry—a geographic consolidation of power where just a few established players hold the keys. It’s time for a change. It’s time for the rest of the world to get in the game.

That’s what the Startup Phenomenon team is hoping to do: inspire the rest of the world to get in the game.

“We were working with Brad Feld to create an event this November about startup communities (all based on his Startup Revolution books). But in the course of planning that conference, we’ve realized that it was too big for just one event,” said John Bradley, Senior VP, Content and Strategy, for the Van Heyst Group.

Absolutely. Why do one event when you can do a bunch? We at Nibletz totally agree!

Earlier this month, the Startup Phenomenon kicked off with a women’s event in Boulder. 500 men and women gathered for the one day conference at the University of Colorado, and they heard 42 speakers talk about the different issues surrounding gender diversity in the startup world.

But, of course, that’s not all. After the flagship event in November, the team will move on to planning events in Omaha, Reykjavik, Nairobi, Auckland, and Moscow. There is even talk of a Middle East event, though there are few details on that at the moment.

Brad Feld and Jim Collins will anchor the main event in November. Feld is a huge advocate of startups everywhere else, and he writes a lot about what it takes to creates a successful ecosystem. Collins has authored several books, including Built to Last.

That event boasts hundreds of speakers or panelists and a pitch contest. At the conference, there will also be “hubs” in which leaders from several industries will get together and talk about the various challenges they are facing in the startup world. Leaders in the fields of entrepreneurship and leaders, food, earth technology, capital, health and wellness, and science and arts hope to come away with new ideas about how to tackle innovation in their own spheres.

Lately, it seems there is no shortage of conferences and events for startups. Each good event, though, has its own value proposition. Startup Phenomenon is for those entrepreneurs who are passionate about building their communities, who are making the commitment to grow the startup cluster where they are.

That’s a value proposition Nibletz and its readers can get behind! Learn more about Startup Phenomenon here.

Make sure you have your ticket or Startup Avenue booth for this national startup conference.

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Prime Real Estate Among The Prizes For Valparaiso’s First Startup Weekend

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When you hear “free office space” as a perk for something startup related, it’s typically an accelerator, and it’s also typically for the term of the accelerator. There are some accelerators, like Cincinnati’s The Brandery, that actually allow teams to take up residence for almost a year, until the next annual cohort moves in.

Well the folks putting on the first Startup Weekend in North West Indiana (Valparaiso) next month just revealed a nice catch of a prize from the Purdue Research Foundation. The Startup Weekend organizers and the foundation have partnered to offer one free year of office space at Purdue Research Park in Northwest Indiana.

Startup Weekend, Purdue Research Park, Valparaiso Startup Weekend, NWIThat office space comes with fiber optic network connectivity, a receptionist with telephone answering services, VoIP, free parking, secure facilities, and even lab space.  They also offer a convenient location just 45 minutes away from The Loop in Chicago.

The Purdue Research Foundation will offer the free office space lease to one of the winning startup teams at Valparaiso’s Startup Weekend, which starts on Friday, October 11th and runs through Sunday, October 13th.  Purdue Research Park Director Kathy DeGuillio-Fox will also serve on the judging panel for this Startup Weekend event.

Official Startup Weekend events are 54 hour, build-a-startup, hackathon weekends. They begin on Friday evening with dinner and a chance to meet the other attendees. From there ideas for projects/startups are given in 60 second presentations. The ideas to build are voted on by the entire group, and by Sunday the new teams present their startups to the audience and a panel of judges.

There are still a few spots left for Valparaiso’s Startup Weekend. You can register here.

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Whoa! Jeff Hoffman The Real “Negotiator” To Keynote Everywhere Else Cincinnati

Jeff Hoffman, Priceline, VentureCamp, Everywhere Else Cincinnaty, EECincy, Startup Conference, Scott Case

Earlier this year at Everywhere Else Memphis, Priceline founding CTO and Starutp America CEO Scott Case took to the stage to spread the important gospel of startup communities and culture. Case has spoken at events across the country and in a lot of “flyover” states, focusing especially on the earlier stage startups.

This time around we are honored to have Jeff Hoffman as one of our main keynote speakers at Everywhere Else Cincinnati. Hoffman is best known as the co-founder of the Priceline.com family of companies.  He’s also been the CEO of uBid and Color Jar. He’s a regular mentor for startups and pens a great column on innovation and entrepreneurship for Inc Magazine.

While he’s a very esteemed and successful entrepreneur, back in May at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Rio de Janeiro he proudly announced  “I don’t spend time launching business plans anymore, I launch entrepreneurs.” That’s why he is one of the co-founders, founding advisors, and founding mentors for Indianapolis based VentureCamp. Hoffman calls it a “fully immersive startup ecosystem.”

After launching 7 successful companies (including Priceline and another travel company that was acquired by American Express), Hoffman has decided his life’s work from here on out is launching entrepreneurs. He’s been speaking for years on entrepreneurship but really enjoys getting into the nitty gritty with the young, vibrant, and disruptive crowd.

While speaking at that conference in Rio, Hoffman passionately spoke about the entrepreneur and how if the entrepreneur has a bad experience upfront “we could lose that entrepreneur.”

When Nibletz Co-Founder Nick Tippmann attended Venture Camp’s demo day earlier this summer, he noticed that the founders were talking about how VentureCamp focused on teaching them entrepreneurial skills, critical thinking, and decision making and not just how to put your plan on a business model canvas and make a Power Point. This focus came directly from Hoffman.

If you were at Everywhere Else in Memphis and saw Scott Case speak, you know he does an amazing job talking about startup communities and the value the community brings to the table. During Hoffman’s keynote we will hear about something equally as important: the entrepreneur.

For Hoffman’s full bio click here.

Get your tickets or Startup Avenue booth below.

 

Jeff Hoffman image, UnerasonableGroup Youtube.

Sexism Takes Center Stage At Disrupt Hackathon, TechCrunch Issues An Apology

Titstare, Circle Shake, TechCrunch DisruptTechCrunch is known for pushing the envelope. They are also known for their sometimes snarky editorial and for breaking stories no matter how sensitive they are. They don’t play favorites, and in some circumstances a startup can live or die by the TechCrunch pen. Throw founder Michael Arrington back into the mix, and it’s no holds barred tech and startup journalism.

Sunday was no different, even when all eyes were on the AOL-owned tech site and its legendary Disrupt conference and hackathon.

The TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon typically starts the weekend before a TechCrunch Disrupt conference. We’ve been to several and out of their events comes amazingly good content. We had to sit this one out because we are too busy planning Everywhere Else Cincinnati.

In true hackathon fashion, hundreds of hackers spend the weekend seeing if they can solve the world’s problems with technology, or at least make life more fun.  An Australian team that came up with an app called Titstare and another hacker whose app was called “Circle Shake” were attempting the latter.

Titstare was an app that showed off a woman’s cleavage, while “Circle Shake” was some kind of mobile sensor app that measured how many times you could shake your phone up and down in ten seconds. Titstare was obviously in bad taste and doesn’t really need more comment. When the hacker went to demonstrate “Circle Shake,” he proceeded to pretend he was masturbating the phone on stage.

This week TechCrunch Disrupt is home in Silicon Valley. Their late spring New York event is usually chock full of top notch investors, supporters, and even AOL executives. The Silicon Valley (San Francisco) event draws a similar crowd and some of the more notable Valley investors who often rely on and trust TechCrunch when judging a startup’s traction. In other words, both apps were quite an embarrassment for TechCrunch.

No worries though, co-editors Eric Eldon and Alexia Tstotsis jumped into action and quickly issued this apology to all of TechCrunch’s readers and supporters, ending it by saying:

“Trust us, that changed as soon as we saw what happened at our show. Every presentation is getting a thorough screening from this hackathon onward. Any type of sexism or other discriminatory and/or derogatory speech will not be allowed. You expect more from us, and we expect more from ourselves. We are sorry.”

What makes this story even more significant is the air of sexism in technology and startups, even hitting home with TechCrunch. Earlier this year a woman falsely accused TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington of sexual harassment and abuse.  Last year, former Kleiner Perkins Partner Ellen Pao sued the firm for sexual harassment, a story that was widely chronicled by TechCrunch.

There’s also the notion of the startup/digital/technology divide and the unfair treatment female founders get when talking to VC’s, an issue which Box Group’s David Tisch and Sequoia’s Aaref Hilaly addressed on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC back in May.

For more info read this and this.

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Everywhere Else Cincinnati Is Less Than A Month Away

Everywhere Else Cincinnati, Startup Conference, Start Where U Are, Nibletz

The national conference for startups everywhere else continues to grow.

Thank you so much for being part of the Nibletz community. We all know that startups across the country and around the globe are fueling innovation and creating jobs. Whether it’s in Boise, Idaho, Memphis, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Alaska, or anywhere in between we all face similar challenges.

That’s why Everywhere Else Cincinnati is all about starting where you are. Learn tips from pros. Hear from people who have raised money outside of Silicon Valley and New York. Meet investors who could be looking for deals in your neighborhood.

We’ve assembled over 30 top tier national speakers for the two and a half day event which starts September 29th and runs through October 1st at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati.

With the conference less than a month away our early bird pricing will end at the end of this week. Right now you can save big on an attendee ticket or Startup Avenue booth which includes three attendee tickets, booth space, exhibition area, and a great pitch event.

Need more reasons to attend Everywhere Else Cincinnati? Here’s 42 of them.

Here are the speakers we’ve announced so far (we still have even more to announce):

  • Blair Garrou, Managing Director Mercury Fund
  • Scott Gerber, Founder of YEC
  • Ethan Austin, Founder GiveForward
  • Joe Medved, Partner SoftBank Capital
  • Naithan Jones, Founder AgLocal
  • Derek Flanzraich, Founder Greatist
  • Andrew Warner, Founder Mixergy
  • Andy Sparks, Co-Founder MatterMark
  • Wil Schroter, Founder Fundable
  • Jake Stutzman, Founder Elevate.co
  • Jonathon Perrelli, Managing Director, Fortify Ventures
  • Justin Gutwein, Filmmaker and Entrepreneur StartupLand.tv
  • Mark Hasebroock, Founder Dundee Venture Capital
  • Jason Healy, Founder Blu
  • John Bracken, Founder Evite 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 Partner The Starter League
  • Ryan O’Connell, VP Influence & Co
  • Blake Miller, Managing Director Think Big Accelerator
  • Michael Bergman, Founder Repp
Investors committed so far:
Mercury Fund, SoftBank, Detroit Venture Partners (DVP), CincyTech, am>ventures, Fortify.vc, Ben Franklin and many more.
You can register below at a great early bird discount rate or at eecincinnati.com