STIRR

==PITCH 2009: Napkin startup competition==

Michael Moritz of SEQUOIA Capital is listening.
http://pitch.women2.org
DEADLINE: April 10, 2009 (firm deadline)
Do you have the world’s next big idea? Here’s your chance to PITCH.
Michael Moritz (Sequoia) is listening! Put it on a paper napkin!

Women 2.0’s third-annual Startup Competition will provide your alpha,
beta, or prototype-stage startup with exposure to early stage
investors. Our judging panel includes investors and experienced
startup executives who will provide valuable written feedback on your
business.

NOTE: *only ONE of the founding members needs to be female to qualify.

HUNDREDS of submissions will receive valuable feedback from the
judging panel of investors and experienced startup executives.

FIVE startups will be chosen to pitch live on Pitch Night: May 7th, 2009.

ONE winning startup gets a meeting with legendary investor Michael
Moritz from Sequoia Capital in addition to free office space, legal
services, marketing support, PR support, and more – everything youneed
to win with your new idea.

Entering the competition is easy. Just fill out information about your
startup online, record a 2-minute video pitch, and snail mail us a
cocktail napkin with your business plan scribbled on it. Deadline to
submit your startup is April 10th, 2009 (firm deadline) —time to get
started!

Are you in? http://pitch.women2.org

Andrew Chen writes a great blog and recently posted a good list of some bay area entrepreneurs to follow on twitter.

The list includes our friends and some fomer STIRR speakers: David Weekly (pbwiki), Scott Rafer (lookery), Ted Rheingold (dogster) and more.

You can find the full list here [Futuristic Play by Andrew Chen]

And you can find the US STIRR team on twitter here: @heysanford, @danarkind, @seanness

After over 2 and a half years of producing high quality monthly events, the Bay Area STIRR team has been taking a long deserved break from public events for a little while.  FoundersTable is still ongoing and we are accepting PitchLab applications so please feel free to apply for both.

In the meantime there are two other events you may wish to check out.  The first is TheFunded’s CEO unconference and VC/Founder events.  If you’re not already a member of TheFunded don’t hesitate, sign-up now.  Since Adeo has moved to the bay area he has been running very high quality events (best ratios of VC to entrepreneur and the highest rated VCs only).   The second is Startup2Startup.  The Startup2Startup dinner format doesn’t really focus on solving operational/strategy issues like FoundersTable, but it does attract a lively crowd and a few of the talks are insightful.  Both options are great networking opportunities.

==PITCH 2009: Napkin startup competition==

Michael Moritz of SEQUOIA Capital is listening.
http://pitch.women2.org
DEADLINE: April 10, 2009 (firm deadline)
Do you have the world’s next big idea? Here’s your chance to PITCH.
Michael Moritz (Sequoia) is listening! Put it on a paper napkin!

Women 2.0’s third-annual Startup Competition will provide your alpha,
beta, or prototype-stage startup with exposure to early stage
investors. Our judging panel includes investors and experienced
startup executives who will provide valuable written feedback on your
business.

NOTE: *only ONE of the founding members needs to be female to qualify.

Women 2.0 Pitch 2009

A warm thank you to everyone in the STIRR family for a terrific 2008.  Bay Area FoundersTable and Salon events kick off again in Feb 2009 and we look forward to seeing you then.

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WOMEN 2.0 “MUSIC MAKERS AND TECHNOLOGY SHAKERS”

Event details - http://www.women2.org/october-2008-music-and-tech/
Eventbrite registration - http://musicandtech.eventbrite.com/
*********************************************************************

Women 2.0 proudly showcases an impressive lineup of artists and entrepreneurs in the music space. Join us for “Music Makers and Technology Shakers” on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 from 6pm to 9pm at Slide in San Francisco.

Our esteemed panelists will discuss current trends in music and alternative business models.

» Elise Nordling - Panel moderator - (Music Director and DJ for SOMA FM)
» Angelina Moysov (Singer / Songerwriter for Persephones Bees)
» Lucia Iman (top-selling artist on SellaBand)
» Pim Beist (Founder and Creative Director of SellaBand)
» Celia Hirschman (KCRW Commentator “On the Beat”)
» Cecily Mak (Senior Counsel at RealNetworks and Rhapsody)
» Jay Durgan (President of Raiden Holdings and former Head of Bus. Dev. at Warner Music)

Join the discussion with artists, seasoned executives and music industry disrupters who will join us from KCRW to Real Networks to Sellaband.com (all the way from the Netherlands). Hear influential technology and music leaders talk about the changes in the music industry, new business models, current trends and how the startup community can empower change for artists around the globe.

MOBILIZE: The Next Generation Mobile Conference
presented by GigaOM
September 18, 2008
Mission Bay Conference Center, SF

Conference web site:
http://events.gigaom.com/mobilize/08/?a=stirr

————
Friends of STIRR receive a 10% discount.
http://mobilize.eventbrite.com/?discount=stirr

————

MOBILIZE will explore the advancements driving growth of the mobile web and what they mean for entrepreneurs and their investors. Despite big plans and visions, the promise of the mobile web and a truly untethered Internet hasn’t been realized yet. Now, developments in design, user experience, handset technology, location and wireless network technology are changing everything. The mobile web is about to take off like a rocket.

GigaOM just announced the mobile startups selected to demo onstage at the MOBILIZE LaunchPad. The sheer number of applicants shows the robustness of the mobile application market. Come see the next generation of the mobile web.

The lucky 13 are Fonemesh, Tunewiki, Heysan, Pinch Media, Fonolo, Skyfire, Zecter, LuckyCal, MotionDSP, Cumulux, Placethings, Fusion Garage Project, and Tapulous. All the details are here - http://gigaom.com/2008/08/25/mobilize-launchpad-contestants-announced.

————
MEET THE SPEAKERS

Join 500 of the most influential, innovative luminaries in the mobile web industry to get a glimpse of the future.

Keynotes
•    Rich Miner - Google’s Android, Co-founder
•    Padmasree Warrior - Cisco, CTO

Speakers include:
•    John Roese - Nortel Networks, CTO (NEW!)
•    Fred Kitson - Motorola, VP of Applications Research (NEW!)
•    John Forsyth - Symbian Software, VP of Strategy (NEW!)
•    Lee Ott - Yahoo!, Global Director of Mobile Search (NEW!)
•    Gary Kovas - Adobe, VP and GM, Mobile and Devices (NEW!)
•    John Koller - Sony Computer Entertainment America, Director of Hardware Marketing (NEW!)
•    Clint McClellan - Sr. Dir of Market Dev, Health & Life Sciences, Qualcomm (NEW!)
•    Ken Kershner - Dash Navigation, SVP of Engineering (NEW!)
•    Michael Copeland - Fortune, Senior Writer (NEW!)
•    Ken Fisher - ArsTechnica, Founder and Editor-in-chief (NEW!)
•    Matt Murphy - Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Partner on iFund
•    Dan Mason - ESPN Mobile Web Global, Sr. Product Manager
•    Ian Freed - Amazon.com, VP of Amazon Kindle
•    Russ McGuire - Sprint, VP of Corporate Strategy
•    Marc Davis - Yahoo!, Chief Scientist of Yahoo! Connected Life
•    Rachel Hinman - Adaptive Path, Mobile Design Strategist
•    Jason Devitt - Skydeck, CEO
•    Ted Morgan - SKYHOOK Wireless, CEO
•    Scott Richardson - Clearwire, Chief Strategy Officer
•    Scott Raney - Redpoint Ventures, Partner
•    John SanGiovanni - Zumobi, Co-Founder and VP, Product Design
•    Richard Wong - Accel Partners, Partner
•    Jeff Belk - ICT 168, Principal
•    Rick Segal - JLA Ventures, Partner
•    Jake Seid - Lightspeed Venture Partners, Managing Director
•    Raven Zachary - The 451 Group, Research Director, Open Source
•    Greg Sterling - Sterling Market Intelligence/Local Mobile Search, Analyst
•    Ryan Block - Engadget, Editor-at-large

SOME TOPICS TO BE EXPLORED
•    Next Generation Networks, Handsets and Chipsets
•    Rethinking Products in the Age of Hyper-connectivity
•    The Economics of Mobile Development Platforms
•    LTE or WiMAX: Which One Owns the Future?
•    Mobile Browsers
•    Location-Based Services
•    Emerging Mobile Business and Revenue Patterns
•    Mobile Investment Trends

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
•    Entrepreneurs
•    Venture Capital Professionals
•    Executives
•    Product Managers
•    Lead Technologists
•    Analysts

“The challenge in finding and retaining great sales and marketing talent” was one of the hot discussion topics at the STIRR Canada Founders’ Table held on July 3rd, at the Tribune Restaurant in Calgary.

A group of 10 emerging and established tech startup founders and funders were invited to the dinner, hosted by STIRR Canada’s Patrick Lor and Claudia Moore. Among the companies represented were Acceleware, Calgary Scientific, VoodooPC (HP), Userful, and Evoco, as well as the evening’s sponsor Macleod Dixon.

Discussions covered a range of other topics including: best practices in working with international partners and resellers, startup culture, the ins and outs of tax credits and government funding, when to outsource, and more … talk continued on past dessert.

Some of the attendee feedback included:

• “It’s nice to have exposure to raw entrepreneurial spirit/DNA …”
• “I lost track of the time owing to the terrific conversation.”
• “I appreciated the small format discussion - and the ability to ask questions and share experiences.”
• “It was interesting hearing about the common issues all our companies suffer …”

More Founders’ Tables are planned for this summer, with a larger Tech Mixer planned for the fall. Stay tuned for dates, locations and times.

A Founder’s Table dinner is planned for Thursday July 3rd, 5 pm in Calgary [revised date]

Following the success of our kick-off May 2008 STIRR Canada event (which hosted 50 Alberta-based guests) this July 2008 invitation-only dinner will return to the classic STIRR single-table gathering comprised of 10-12 founders of tech-driven companies.

FOR MORE DETAILS, please email: Info{at}stirr{dot}ca

If you’re not already a member of STIRR Canada, please complete the APPLICATION FORM.

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A range of Calgary-based events are planned for the coming year:

• A Founder’s Table will be held each month.
• Pitch Labs are planned for August, October, December, January, and February.
• Popular Tech Mixer main events will be held in September and February.
• STIRR Canada will also hold on-campus events for Calgary students this fall, as well as participating in various BarCamp and DemoCamp activities.

BarCamp Calgary breaks for lunch (left) and Nexopia Founder Timo Ewalds (right) chats with BarCamp attendees.

On May 14th, we brought STIRR back to the location that started it all over two years ago. The new Bistro 412 (formerly F&A’s) is where STIRR first launched back in April of 2006. This time we gave the crowd of entrepreneurs and investors a special prelaunch sneak peak at the new Involver (and if you’re familliar with the older Involver this is something entirely new), and put a twist on our hacks format by inviting two early stage VCs and The Funded to be in the same room. The talks are included after the fold.

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