Austin Startup Week

IoT and Connected Home are two of the hottest topics in technology today. Enter Plum, where smart home hardware and software collide, bringing the next generation of consumer products to our homes. CEO Utz Baldwin is a leading expert on connected home, having served as Chairman and CEO of CEDIA, the global trade organization that represents the connected home industry. A Plum’s founder, Utz will provide a transparent view into the successes and challenges of running a startup in this rapidly changing space, including development, gaining traction, building the right team, crowdfunding, and raising capital. You will also get to experience their flagship product, the Plum Lightpad before it reaches consumers. Be sure to come prepared to play “Connected Home Trivia” for a chance to win Plum Lightpads!

Austin Startup Week is supported in part by Hired, NetSpend, IBM Bluemix, Capital Factory and Techstars. If you see someone from their teams, give them a hug and hi-five! 

The Internet is still considered a black hole by most companies. Google has solved access to Internet content for the individual, but what about access to Internet data for business? Datafiniti’s mission is to take the entire Internet and transform it into a single database that all businesses can access quickly and easily. This presentation will provide an overview into the wide array of applications that become possible once web data is made truly accessible. This will include interactive analysis using web data to illustrate how online reviews affect the travel industry, how luxury brands command premiums, and how local businesses can help develop a startup ecosystem.

Company Description 
Datafiniti is the first company to focus on productizing a database created from distilling web data from the vast, unmanageable web.  By utilizing proprietary technologies, Datafiniti has created a structured, instantly accessible dataset that businesses can use to make key business decisions. Datafiniti’s technology is used by enterprises in all verticals, including online businesses, travel, hospitality, real estate, media and retail.  

Austin Startup Week is supported in part by Hired, NetSpend, IBM Bluemix, Capital Factory and Techstars. If you see someone from their teams, give them a hug and hi-five! 

Gridmates is the world's first internet platform designed to end energy poverty. Gridmates is crowdfunding of energy units where a user can give or donate units of energy to a person who cannot afford to pay for energy.

The event will provide a short description of the Sharing Economy ecosystem and how it can be implemented in the Energy sector. A relaxed atmosphere with beers and drinks. The founder George Koutitas will tell his story on how he left Greece and Europe and moved to Austin Texas to launch his startup. 

Then participants will be asked to be part of the world's first community powered by crowdsourced energy. 

Each participant can donate $5 or 10kWh of energy to Gridmates pilot project in East Austin. It is called Community First Village and it is a 27 acres community of 240 microhomes that provide shelter to 240 homeless people of Austin!

Our mission is to bring 40 participants and raise $200 of energy that is equal to 81 DAYS of FREE energy to a resident of Community First Village.

The event will Energize the life of Community First Village for 81 Days!

Austin Startup Week is supported in part by Hired, NetSpend, IBM Bluemix, Capital Factory and Techstars. If you see someone from their teams, give them a hug and hi-five!  

Join leading mobile experts, app developers, and local startups for lunch and an afternoon of insightful discussions on how to turn your app into a profitable business. Speakers from Yahoo!, Perk, Phunware, OpenX, Millennial Media, and more will share strategies to increase downloads, leverage analytics, and maximize revenue generating opportunities. Attendees will also hear local entrepreneurs share their stories and secrets for startup success, see demos from local startups, then have the opportunity to mingle with speakers and attendees over drinks.

View full speaker line-up here: http://www.appdevelopersalliance.org/alliance-events/austin-app-strategy-workshop

12:30pm Registration
1:00pm Welcoming Remarks
1:10pm Power-Up Your App Marketing Strategy
1:40pm Startup Demo: Peepsqueeze
1:50pm Monetizing with the User in Mind
2:30pm Startup Demo: ThinkVoting - The Voting App
2:40pm Startup Stories: Local Entrepreneurs Share Secrets for Success
3:10pm Startup Demo: Your Trainer
3:20pm Join us for happy hour! 

Austin Startup Week is supported in part by Hired, NetSpend, IBM Bluemix, Capital Factory and Techstars. If you see someone from their teams, give them a hug and hi-five! 

Joshua Baer helps people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs at Capital Factory, Austin's largest coworking space and most active investment fund. Josh founded his first startup in 1996 in his college dormitory at Carnegie Mellon University and now teaches a class at the University of Texas for student entrepreneurs with Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and Ben Dyer, founder of Peachtree Software. He represents Austin internationally as a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations Young Leaders Forum, and an Eisenhower Fellow. Josh has lived in Austin with his wife Amy and three children since 1999.

Agenda

6:30 Networking and Food 
7:30 Fireside Chat 
8:30 Networking

What is Startup Grind? 

Startup Grind is an event series and website designed to help educate, inspire, and connect local entrepreneurs. Each month we welcome an amazing speaker who shares their story with our community and tells us what worked, what didn't, and what they'll do differently next time. It's an amazing opportunity to learn from the best, network with other members of the startup community, and improve your chances of entrepreneurial success. For more information visit www.StartupGrind.com, follow us on twitter @StartupGrind and join our meetup group Startup Grind Austin. 

Austin Startup Week is supported in part by Hired, NetSpend, IBM Bluemix, Capital Factory and Techstars. If you see someone from their teams, give them a hug and hi-five!  

After strategically courting and locking your investor team and building your board of directors, founders soon recognize the challenging balance between business execution and keeping these key stakeholders informed, current, engaged, and passionate about their investment. 

How do you keep your stakeholders interested in the next round or in engaging further? Are you sharing the right level of information? How should you convey bad news? Are you optimistic, pessimistic, or realistic? What milestones are conveyed? How do you maintain consistency in your communications cadence, style, and content? What's the right content and frequency? And what's the effort required to do this right?

Our panel will include the perspectives of early stage CEOs and investors to help you understand the importance, the content, insights, and pitfalls for maintaining a strong relationship with your key stakeholders. 

Lunch will be provided. Since there is limited space for this event, it is advised that you arrive early as entry will be on a first come, first serve basis. 

Austin Startup Week is supported in part by Hired, NetSpend, IBM Bluemix, Capital Factory and Techstars. If you see someone from their teams, give them a hug and hi-five!   

 The feuding never ends! Since childhood, Chris and his brother Rob have been competing against each other. Today they are still competing, but this time it’s on how to fund their businesses. Chris and Rob will discuss the benefits and pitfalls of their different funding paths, how they’ve been successful and what they’ve learned along the way. Don’t miss it!

Austin Startup Week is supported in part by Hired, NetSpend, IBM Bluemix, Capital Factory and Techstars. If you see someone from their teams, give them a hug and hi-five!