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DemoCamp: Bring Your Pitches!

Posted by Derek on November 15, 2011 at 11:14 pm

That’s right…it’s DemoCamp time!

What’s DemoCamp?

DemoCamp is a lightening-pitch style event that puts your ideas in the ring and let’s the crowd duke it out. Think you have what it takes to out-pitch Vancouver developers, designers, and startup folk? Join us for the gauntlet that is DemoCamp!

When/Where?

#320 – 309 West Cordova St
Vancouver
Canada
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (PT)

What Do I Bring?

You don’t need much; if you make the six minute round, you would be well served to have a PowerPoint or demo to show the crowd. It’s not required, but this is a good chance to demo what you’ve got!

The Format!

It’s a pretty simple event. Show up, sign up to pitch your idea, startup, or product. Win or lose, have some fun and meet people who love ideas and building things.

  • come in the door and post your demo/company idea on the board (or just come in and drink beer- it’s cool.)
  • 30 minutes of meeting other attendees (promote your idea, get votes!)
  • 30 second elevator pitches by all presenters
  • attendees vote on the top five 30 second pitches. The winners move on to the next round.
  • the five winners get six minutes to talk (time limit strictly enforced)

Who Should Come?

Everyone!

You don’t have to pitch, but you’re welcome to; if you’re working on something, just launched a new app, or cooked up something crazy on your way to the bar, all you need to do is put your name on the board. Riff for 30 seconds and enjoy all the other ideas that fly around during the evening.

Are you going to Startup Weekend this weekend? Bring your ideas and pitches with you to DemoCamp; it’s the perfect next step!

Think you’d like to get into GrowLabs, Y Combinator, or TechStars one day? Test your ideas on the crowd!

This event is a LOT of fun…don’t miss it!

Sign up here.

Announcement: Launch Party to Host Opening Reception of the GROW Conference

Posted by Derek on May 18, 2011 at 9:45 am

Launch Party, a launchpad event for early stage tech startups, is teaming up with Dealmaker Media’s GROW Conference to host Launch @ GROW for the Opening Reception in Vancouver on August 17th, 2011. The event will attract over 600 attendees including top tier investors, entrepreneurs and influencers from across Canada and Silicon Valley. And we are looking for 15 of the hottest Canadian tech startups from Vancouver to PEI to showoff their wares at the event.

Nominate your Startup
All you have to do is create and upload a two-minute video describing your company to the Launch @ GROW Startup site no later than June 17 for consideration. Tell the world what makes your startup unique and why you should be one of 15 companies to demo at Launch @ Grow.

In order to be considered, you must:

  • Have launched within the past 18 months or plan to launch at GROW
  • Be a Canadian company
  • Have a demo or live site for voters and judges to view
  • Startups that have demoed previously at Launch Party in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton or Victoria can still enter Launch @ GROW

Voting Starts June 17
On June 17, the first round of voting will begin! At that time, you should rally your friends and local tech community to get out and vote because the top 25 startups with the highest ranking will move on to the Semi-Finals.

Semi-Finals
A panel of expert judges will review and rank the top 25 startups to determine the 15 companies to headline at Launch @ GROW.  From shiny boardrooms to quaint coffee shops, our judges hear all kinds of startup pitches everyday. Take this into consideration when creating your 2 minute startup video entry for the contest.

Danny Robinson, Martin Ertl and Maura Rodgers at Launch Party Vancouver 9

Pitch Live on Stage @ GROW
4 startups will be selected on August 17 to Pitch Live on Stage at the GROW Conference on August 18. You need to register to attend @growconf in order to be considered for the Final 4.

We will be telling the world about this Startup Competition and the Launch @ GROW event, so go enter now.

Follow the Launch Party Canada Team List for Updates.  Hashtag #LPGROW:

  • Ken Bautista – @kenbautista
  • Janis Behan – @janisbehan
  • Saul Colt – @saulcolt
  • Mack Flavelle – @mackflavelle
  • Tina Hoang – @t1nah
  • Satish Kanwar – @skanwar
  • Christian MacClean  – @fourslice
  • Danny Robinson – @dannyrobinson
  • Maura Rodgers – @maurar
  • Sonia Ryan  – @sonsryan
  • Derek Shanahan – @dshanahan


Free ticket to Make Web Not War!

Posted by Derek on April 21, 2011 at 12:36 pm

On May 7th we welcome another great tech event to Vancouver, and we’ve got a ticket for you!

Make Web Not War is one of Canada’s first cross-platform conference showcasing the latest techniques and technologies available to the ever-evolving web community, jointly sponsored by Microsoft and Open Source communities across Canada.

It promises to be chock full of great presentations, panels, and discussions around tomorrows web and web community, and you’re going to have to scramble to get tickets because it’s sold out.

Unless, of course, you’re reading this blog post!  That’s right…we’re giving away a free ticket to the event for the person who can tell us in the comments why they deserve it. Comments need to be less than 140 characters to qualify.

More details on the event:

Here we will explore the power and flexibility of new web paradigms, technologies and applications – including the Microsoft web platform, Open Source applications, cloud computing and mobile – to help you develop the ultimate web experience for your clients.

The wars of “platform religions” are over. Embrace the reality of today: mixed environments, interoperable applications, Open Source in harmony with commercial software, PHP on Windows and Azure cloud.The new technology era of pragmatism is here, and MWNW is about bridging the gap between different platforms, communities and developers of all trades and backgrounds.

Tips, tricks, community, open source, cloud, software, developers, platforms, paradigms…this was the hottest ticket in town and we’re giving you a shot at going!

Comment below, 140 characters, on why you deserve to be there. Get an extra chance to win by tweeting a link back here with this message:

“Missed a ticket to @WebNotWar in #Vancouver? Let @bootup know you deserve their extra ticket! Click here: http://bit.ly/fbELcT”

Lean Startup Conference from Agile Vancouver (Discount!)

Posted by Derek on April 19, 2011 at 5:53 pm

If you’re anywhere near a startup these days you’ve heard and are likely practicing agile development and lean startup methods to push your endeavor forward. It’s a movement that’s sweeping the entire technology ecosystem and Vancouver is lucky to have a few of the movement’s visionaries stopping into town to discuss the topic in detail.

Agile Vancouver is bringing the Lean Startup Conerence to Vancouver on May 5th and 6th, taking place in the Vancouver Airport Hilton.

Don’t miss your opportunity to hear a collection of industry leaders shed light on lean startup methods and best practices, while connecting with your colleagues in the regional technology sphere who are practicing and refining lean practices in their own businesses.

Register Now

Tickets are still at early-bird rates of $150 for the weekend, thanks to sponsors…but the organizers are generously offering our Bootup audience 20% off tickets by clicking here.  They’re also a co-founder deal gets you a second ticket for half price, and their group deals chop 20% off of every ticket as well. Head over to the conference website for these details.

Agenda

The agenda for the weekend is packed with thought leaders from the lean startup movement. The first day will feature speakers and panels, with the second day offering you the chance to deep dive into specific aspect of lean development with some of the conference’s most exciting presenters. Below are a few of the people you’ll see at the Lean Startup Conference…

Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits

These two co-authored “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development for Tech Startups”. Brant has been bringing technology products to market for 17 years, and Patrick has two startups under his belt and is deeply involved in LA’s lean startup community (he’s also a 500 Startups mentor).

Ash Maurya

Ash founded USERrecycle, wrote Running Lean, and is probably worth the price of admission all alone. His personal blog is a rich resource of lean startup principles and will be speaking on functional application of techniques to move quickly, be decisive, and iterating for speed, learning, and focus.

Owen Rogers and Steve Jones

Owen and Steve employ agile practices at Pulse Energy to develop SaaS solutions for large customers, and should have a fresh and unique perspective on the subject for having transitioned their team into a hybrid form of traditional and lean development methods to reflect their company and customer profile. Steve is also a Canadian paper airline champion, which is always worth noting.

Rob Walling

Rob runs about a dozen lean software companies and wrote “Start Small, Stay Small“. He’s an advocate for hyper-fast go-to-market processes and writes SoftwarebyRob, one of the web’s most popular startup blogs.

Lots More

That’s just a primer; the list of speakers and presenters is chock full of founder insights, investment perspective, and practical agile methods for technology builders and entrepreneurs. The entire agenda is here.

If you’re already going or grab your ticket in the next few days, let us know! A bunch of us Bootuppers will be there, so let’s connect!