Startups are hard. Really, hard.
Entrepreneurs sometimes can feel as if they’re fighting a lonely battle, without any support, help or advice. We know this first-hand. After all, GeekWire is a startup, too.
That’s why we’re so excited to once again host Startup Day, an all-day bootcamp designed for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, makers, builders and anyone else thinking about making the startup plunge or already in the deep end. The sixth annual Startup Day event will take place Friday, Jan. 30 at the Showbox Sodo in Seattle, with a limited number of early-bird tickets on sale now.
Go here to grab tickets, or check out the order form below.
The 2015 event will be our biggest and best Startup Day to date, with a fabulous lineup of speakers that includes Koru and Onvia co-founder Kristen Hamilton, Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh and Concur co-founders Raj Singh and Michael Hilton, fresh off their $8.3 billion sale to SAP.
Golazo and Cranium co-founder Richard Tait also will be sharing insights — and a few battle scars — from his life as an entrepreneur. We’re especially excited to have Richard join us, since years ago he provided me with some of the best startup advice I’ve ever received: “If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.”
Many other great speakers will be added to the lineup in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for updates.
We’re also excited to bring back the Startup Demo Zone — a unique chance for startup companies to pitch their offerings to the Startup Day crowd and some of the region’s top venture capitalists.
In addition to getting a presentation table throughout the event, the $650 price includes two tickets to Startup Day and a one-on-one meeting with an angel investor or VC. In addition, three lucky companies from the Demo Zone will be chosen to present live on stage after lunch to our awesome investor panel that includes John Connors of Ignition Partners, Jason Stofer of Maveron and others
The Startup Demo Zone is only available to 20 startup companies. (No service providers please, and your company must be younger than five years old to grab a slot).
Startup Day is one of our favorite events of the year, and we often take insights out of the talks and interactions that we apply directly to GeekWire. It’s an interactive day of hands-on training and advice, but perhaps more importantly a chance to interact with other builders and hear the raw truth from entrepreneurs of what it’s like to create something from nothing. Past topics have included everything from the health consequences of running a startup — watch Dave Cotter’s amazing talk — to what it’s like dealing with failure — fantastic insights from Marc Barros. More of that in store, plus other great insights, for the 2015 Startup Day event.
I hope you’ll join us on Jan. 30th for this one-of-a-kind event.
