Cash Giveaways, Two-minute Trolley Pitches and Hot Topic Panels Drives Registration, Community Funding, Grammy Nominated Talent
A Street Care Named Inspire...Ever Pitched Your Innovation on a Trolly?
A new twist on the elevator speech...Competitors have two minutes, the time it takes for the trolley to drive from one stop to the next, to convince the four judges that their young company has the most promise.
Fort Collins, CO (PRWEB) April 28, 2014
Startup Communities nationwide are locking in their Fort Collins Startup Week plans in effort to stay in lockstep with the Northern Colorado innovation ecosystem. As a result of Fort Collins Startup Week’s itinerary, more than 1/4 of the United States has planned efforts in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The event takes place in just under a month. Register for no charge at: http://www.ftcstartupweek.co/.
The Fort Collins Startup Week, using a crowdfunding campaign from local startup Community Funded (http://bit.ly/FCSWcommunityfunded) has launched with tremendous success providing more than 50% of the needed budget in the first 3 days from 16 supporters.
"Colorado is a hub for innovation due to its world-class universities, leading entrepreneurial community, and pioneering spirit," said Chris J Snook, Organizing Chair for Fort Collins Startup Week. “It's all about local community and supporting the global startup community which expands beyond Colorado - we’re seeing heavy registrations in from Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, Texas, San Diego, and even as far as Puerto Rico.”
PrintSushi.com (http://www.printsushi.com) represents the typical profile of a nationally driven business showing support of the effort. The Texas-based company echoed the importance of the Northern Colorado ecosystem to their bottom-line. The executive leadership strongly believes in supporting the entrepreneur eco-systems - so much so that President, Paul Fleming, will dedicate his time mentoring, an option that’s open to other executives, visit http://www.ftcstartupweek.co/mentors
Innovative Pitches and Prizes:
The CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge is the richest business pitch competition in Colorado, with a grand prize of $250,000 plus a year’s worth of business mentoring. Presented by the Colorado State University College of Business and Blue Ocean Enterprises, the competition is a celebration of innovation, leadership development, and job creation.
FCSW is rolling out the perfect welcome party for Blue Ocean finalists coming from across the country who exemplify the entrepreneurial passions and game-changing ideas that are driving our growing economy.
A Streetcar Named INSPIRE, Presented by OtterBox:
History meets innovation as 15 CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge collegiate competitors board the 95-year-old Birney Car 21 — the Fort Collins Municipal Railway’s historic trolley – to pitch their entrepreneurial ventures in a new twist on the elevator speech. Competitors have two minutes, the time it takes for the trolley to drive from one stop to the next, to convince the four judges on the trolley that their young company has the most promise.
The public is welcome to watch and cheer as competitors pitch along the rocking railway through Old Town Fort Collins on May 23, beginning at 1 p.m. at Blue Ocean Enterprises offices, 401 W. Mountain Ave. Prizes are $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second and $1,000 for third.
Talent Line-up Expands:
Grammy Nominated Maxwell Hughes (http://www.maxwellhughesmusic.com/) will open the kickoff keynote with a concert around Gerd Leonhard's keynote on day one.
Shatterproof (a recently incubated http://spokesbuzz.org/band/shatterproof/) will headline the opening night concert in historic Old Town Square right in the heart of downtown Fort Collins.
23rdstudios.com (http://www.23rdstudios.com/) has also joined the list of Community Sponsors out of Boulder, CO to provide daily photo feeds and video coverage of the entire event
Fort Collins Startup Week Overview:
Presenting Sponsors Include:
Launch Haus and Anchor Point Fund
Community Sponsor Level:
Stevaker, Henley Development, Cooley, Social Global Mobile, LLC (SoGloMo) The City of Fort Collins, Downtown Business Association, Zayo, BausTech, Art Incubator of the Rockies-A.I.R. Dorsey & Whitney, CSU Powerhouse Energy Institute, Everyday Joes and Luscious Nectar which will be the home of FCSW’s "Launch Pad". Print Sushi, 23rd Studios, Cooley LLP and Homestate Bank
Brad Feld's Startup Community Catalysts:
VHG, NetGenerative, LLC, P2BInvestor, SendGrid, Jobzology, CommunityFunded, Rocky Mountain Innosphere, Startup Colorado, Mugs Coffee Lounge, Semporal, StickerGiant, SpokesBuzz, Creative Alignments, TriNet, Everyday Joes, Phillip Hernandez of New York Life, Entrepreneurial Foundation of Colorado, and The Armstrong Hotel, the Official Hotel for FCSW14.
Keynote: Gerd Leonhard: Keynote: The Future of Business/Capitalism:
12:00pm to 1:30pm Tue May 20, 2014
The State of Capital Access in CO Panel Moderated by Cooley LLP
Inside the Beltway-A Federal Perspective on Innovation: Monisha Merchant Sr Business Advisor to Colorado Senator Bennet
Find a Job that Doesn’t Suck: Get connected to NoCo Tech Jobs and funded startup hiring managers throughout the week using the complimentary jobzology VIP assessment tool
Mentor Sessions brought to you by EFCO and Launch Haus where domain experts from I.P, Legal, Lean Startup, Growth Management, Product Lifecycle, Design Thinking, HR/Talent acquisition and more offer complimentary 20 minute sessions throughout the week each morning at the “Launch Pad”
Lean In to Funding? #WTFF Where're The Female Founders? Moderated by Cheryl K. Goodman, Founder ofhttp://www.SoGloMo.com. Panelists: Nadia Auch, Director of Social Innovation Challenge at University San Diego Center of Peace and Commerce, Kim Capounas, founder of GoLite & now head of the B Corp organization in Boulder/Denver.
How FoCo solves Big Problems Tour: V.I.P. R & D and Incubation tour of key local assets such as The National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, CSU Research Innovation Center (BioScience Incubator) Rocky Mountain Innosphere (Capital Access Incubator) and Colorado Water Innovation Cluster, the CSU Idea2Product Lab, and the world-leading CSU Flint Animal Cancer Center.
The Future of Life: Internet of Things and Agriculture conference on Friday a.m. presented by The Van Heyst Group (VHG): Internet of Things and Agriculture is an immersive three hour workshop on the opportunities where IoT and the food supply collide.
The “LaunchPad” will be the hub of complimentary mentor sessions, registration, and serendipitous collisions. The event will explore and celebrate success from local leading companies, provide inspiring speakers, uncover real innovation and share game-changing ideas happening at the City, State and National level.
And, of course, it wouldn't be Fort Collins without a "Startup Crawl" brought to you by Built In Colorado.
Interested last minute sponsors for Fort Collins Startup Week should contact Chris J. Snook at c (at) ftcStartupweek (dot) co.
ABOUT THE CSU BLUE OCEAN ENTERPRISES CHALLENGE
The CSU Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge is the richest business pitch competition in Colorado, with a grand prize of $250,000 plus a year’s worth of business mentoring. Presented by the Colorado State University College of Business and Blue Ocean Enterprises, the competition is a celebration of innovation, leadership development, and job creation. The Blue Ocean Enterprises Challenge is open to collegiate entrepreneurs throughout Colorado – who compete for a top prize of $20,000 -- as well as startups and existing companies anywhere in the world seeking funding and business mentoring. More information is available at http://www.blueoceanchallenge.com.
ABOUT LAUNCH HAUS
Launch Haus, LLC catalyzes entrepreneurship and channels innovation through their global network of leaders and mentors and venture catalysts. Launch Haus is the developer of Launch Haus Manor-the Innovators BNB, and operator of Launch Haus Labs-a Private Tech Transfer and Go-to-Market Accelerator whose programmatic community offerings include the LaunchNoCo Meetups and Fort Collins Startup Week. http://www.launchha.us