Agenda
- Hackathon
- Sept 25-26: Hackathon
- Conference Day 1
- Sept 27: Workshops
- Conference Day 2
- Sept 28: Main Event
Hackathon
September 25-26, 2010 // SyncTechnologyCenter
Registration: Click here
3:00 PM Sept. 26
midVenturesLAUNCH Hackathon
Developers: Get ready for a shot at the spotlight! Bring your laptops, phones, gadgets and development tools to the midVenturesLAUNCH 2010 Hackathon contest for a chance to bring your ideas to life during the 36-hour competition. After a round of demos and judging on Sunday afternoon, the winning team will get a demo table in the mVDEMO area at the conference and the chance present onstage at midVenturesLAUNCH on Tuesday, September 28th. This is a great opportunity to share the spotlight alongside the top startups chosen from the midVenturesCOMPETE entries. Winners will walk away with mad props and cool prizes. In addition to purchasing a midVenturesLAUNCH ticket, teams and competitors must register separately with Hackathonia.
Conference Day 1: Workshops
September 27, 2010 // SyncTechnologyCenter
Registration: Click here
We are announcing Innovation Workshop speakers on a rolling basis, but don’t miss your chance to get into a workshop while you’re waiting. Register here before tickets run out!
1:30 PM
Innovation Workshop A
GreenTech
Questions about climate and energy will shape our future. Learn how green tech is at the forefront of innovation with a panel discussion on carbon trading, climate tech and clean energy tech.
- Amy Francetic
Executive Director,
Clean Energy Trust - Thomas Cushing
Frmr. Senior Vice President,
Chicago Climate Exchange
Customer Development
In the world of technology startups, there are winners and losers. Winning startups discover the right product to develop before running out of money. In this workshop, attendees will get hands-on experience with techniques that will ensure their product and their business model are hitting the right sweet spots before they crank up their sales and marketing burn rate. This entails iteratively learning what customers are willing to pay for, i.e. your Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Kevin leverages his experiences running eventwax.com and mentoring other technology startups.
- Kevin Taylor
Founder,
Obtiva
Biz/Legal for Startups
Starting a new business in the technology space has gotten easier. A wealth of talent and relatively low overhead is attractive to entrepreneurs. Learn about back-end setup, accounting, billing, and IP protection for your startup.
- Sunir Shah
Chief Handshaker,
FreshBooks - Jonathan Pasky
Principal,
PaskyIP - Steven Kolber
President,
FGMK
Social Media
How do I fit social networks, blogging, twitter, digital PR and viral media into my company’s go-to-market strategy? Talk to social media power users about their tactics.
- Ted Widen
Founder & Publisher,
Chicago-Scene.com - Michael Dalesandro
CEO,
Where I’ve Been
3:00 PM
Innovation Workshop B
Social Impact & Microfinance
Innovation is not just a matter of private profits but also directly impacts the public good. From microfinance to social action, talk to leaders in the social giving and microfinance space.
- Biju Kulathakal
Chairman and CEO,
Trading Block Holdings, Inc. - Chirag Shah
Analytics Consultant,
Kiva - Patrick J. Murphy
Associate Professor,
DePaul Kellstadt Graduate School of Business - Terry Howerton
Chairman,
Illinois Technology Association
Choosing a Web Development Platform
Open versus closed source. Java versus .Net versus Ruby and a hundred other languages. How do you make the right choice? Who can help you make the right choice? Picking the right platform is daunting and choosing poorly will hamstring your project from day one. In this talk I discuss some simple principals that can help you make the right decision and put your startup on the path to success.
- Tyler Jennings
Principal Consultant,
Obtiva
Customer Acquisition
Many startups need to build a large complicated application before break-even, but many other startups can go out and make sales before needing early-stage financing. When should you listen to your customers, how do you define prices, and when do you grow to new markets?
- Julian Pretto
Founder,
ChicagoMicro - Seth Kravitz
Founder,
InsuranceAgents.com
Mobile
Talk to the thought leaders from iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone about the next stage of mobile development and innovation and ask questions about your own mobile apps.
- Sarah Reedy
Senior Reporter,
Light Reading - Brian Gorbett
Architect / Developer & Platform Evangelism,
Microsoft - Uki Dominique Lucas
Founder,
Forte Consulting Group
4:30 PM
Innovation Workshop C
Health 2.0/HealthTech
Get a brief overview of the ideas, startups, and innovations that will change the patient-provider ecosystem. Hear from the innovators where they expect disruption to happen.
- Chirag Patel
Co-Founder,
Halo Monitoring - Devin Gross
CEO,
Emmi Solutions - Janet Huber
Founder & CEO,
HealthCodex - Tom Lee
Founder & CEO,
SA Ignite - Rishi Shah
CEO,
ContextMedia
Secrets of Agile Software Development
Fundamentals of Agile Software Development with hands on exercises to help even those new to software development understand how important it is to get started the right way. Added tools and techniques that will be critical to lower risk, keeping costs down, adapting to changing markets and faster release times.
- Todd Webb
Director of Client Services,
Obtiva - Joe Banks
Senior Consultant,
Obtiva
Gov 2.0/OpenGov
Gov 2.0 is a discussion on government-as-platform, focusing on creating a community of government service as a medium to transforming and strengthening democracy. Learn more about Gov 2.0 and OpenGov at this panel.
- Daniel O’Neil
Co-Founder,
EveryBlock - Justin Massa
Director of Project and Grant Development,
Metro Chicago Information Center - John Tolva
Director, Citizenship & Technology,
IBM Corporation - Jake Trussell
Creative Director,
World Business Chicago
Biotech/Life Sciences
The Midwest is a hub of life sciences technology, with sustainable ventures in bioengineering, farm tech and renewable energy raising billions in capital. Learn why Chicago is where the best minds in life sciences congregate.
- Jim Hussey
CEO
NanoInk - Barbara Goodman
Executive Director,
Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization
September 27, 2010 // ITA
8:00 PM
VIP Cocktail Reception
200 select guests will mingle at the Illinois Technology Association (ITA) for an evening of networking and drinks. VIP tickets can be purchased at http://midventuresvip.eventbrite.com
September 27, 2010 // ROOF at the Wit Hotel
12:00 AM
ROOF at the Wit Hotel
After party hosted by the midVentures Team at ROOF at the Wit, 201 N. State St.. Limited to conference attendees only.
Conference Day 2: Main Event
September 28, 2010 // UIC Forum
Registration: Click here
8:30 AM
Setup
The UIC Forum will open for COMPETE, LAUNCH and mVDEMO companies to set up their tables and grab some coffee.
8:45 AM
VC Breakfast
The invite-only VC breakfast will bring Chicago’s top venture capitalists together for a discussion of Midwest technology, entrepreneurship and the web. For more information about the VC breakfast, email Jon Pasky at jon@midventures.com.
UIC Open
The UIC Forum will open to the public.
9:10 AM
Opening Remarks
The midVenturesLAUNCH team will open the conference with some remarks.
10:00 AM
Morning Panel 1
From Concept to Product: How Incubators help Seed-Stage Startups
The incubator panel will discuss the benefits and challenges of incubating a startup and the incubator process. Speakers include founders of incubator-funded startups who have learned about the incubator process firsthand.
- Sean Corbett
Founder,
HaveMyShift - Joe Dwyer
Venture Partner,
OCA Ventures - Adam Goldstein
Founder,
HipMunk
- Nikhil Sethi
Founder,
Adapt.ly - Adam Siegel
Founder,
Inkling Markets - Desiree Vargas
Co-Founder,
GiveForward
11:20 AM
Floor Show
Attendees will have an opportunity to learn about all the companies present at the conference via our conference mobile app, which will also allow them to vote for one “people’s choice” mVDEMO startup to join the top 5 COMPETE startups on stage for a pitch competition.
12:00 PM
Morning Panel 2
Early-Stage Startups: How to Acquire Customers, Raise Funds, and Make an Exit
The incubator panel will discuss acquiring customers, raising funds, and making an exit, with successful entrepreneurs who have been funded and exited their own startups.
- Shawn Bercuson
Principal,
Lightbank - Adam Coomes
Founder,
Infegy - Mark Wilson
Contributor,
Gizmodo
- Ross Kimberovsky
Founder,
crowdSPRING - Brenden Mulligan
VP of Strategic Development,
Sonicbids - Troy Henikoff
Co-Founder, Excelerate Labs
Founder & President, SurePayroll
12:30 PM
LAUNCH Session 1
Four LAUNCH companies will launch a new product or service on stage. Find out more about the companies that will be launching at midVenturesLAUNCH.
1:00 PM
Keynote
- Scott A. Jones
Founder & CEO,
ChaCha
Scott is a serial entrepreneur and pioneering high tech inventor. At 26 years of age, he started Boston Technology where he developed the voicemail system now used by nearly all telephone companies around the globe. He also created Gracenote, one of the first companies to develop music recognition software now at the heart of several Internet music products, such as Apple’s iPod and iTunes. An active leader in the Indianapolis community, Scott helps organizations throughout the city with his Scott A. Jones Foundation.
2:00 PM
Floor Show/Lunch
Attendees will have an opportunity to learn about all the companies present at the conference via our conference mobile app, which will also allow them to vote for one “people’s choice” mVDEMO startup to join the top 5 COMPETE startups on stage for a pitch competition.
2:10 PM
Hackathon Winner Presentation
The winner of the midVenturesLAUNCH Hackathon will present the result of their weekend-long hard work.
2:30 PM
Keynote
Adventures in Being Acquired and Starting from Scratch: My Experiences with Y Combinator, Reddit and Hipmunk
- Steve Huffman
Co-Founder,
Reddit
Steve Huffman graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Computer Science in 2005. Immediately after leaving Virginia, he founded reddit.com with his college roommate, Alexis Ohanian. Reddit.com was initially funded by Y Combinator and grew to become one of the largest social news sites online. In October of 2006, reddit.com was acquired by Conde Nast Publications. In October 2009, Steve left reddit. Steve is now a co-founder of the travel search site hipmunk.com.
3:00 PM
LAUNCH Session 2
Four LAUNCH companies will launch a new product or service on stage. Find out more about the companies that will be launching at midVenturesLAUNCH.
3:30 PM
Keynote
Advice From a Groupon Co-Founder & Investor on Building a Startup in the Midwest
- Brad Keywell
Co-Founder,
Groupon
Brad Keywell, 39, is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of MediaBank LLC, a technology firm providing integrated procurement systems, advanced analytics platforms, and innovative trading functionality to the advertising and media buying industry. MediaBank solutions allow for unprecedented cross-media analytics and intelligence through superior planning, buying, workflow and data warehousing tools.He is the co-founder of Echo Global Logistics LLC, an enterprise transportation management firm headquartered in Chicago, which provides transportation procurement, management, and optimization services across all modes. He is a founder and Principal of Groupon, Inc., a group purchasing platform on the web that offers unique deals on a daily basis utilizing a ‘tipping point’ methodology to harness the power of collective buying.
5:00 PM
Floor Show/Dinner
In this Floor Show, the judges will finalize their choices for the top 5 COMPETE companies. This is also a good time for attendees to get dinner as they await the COMPETE startup pitch competition.
5:30 PM
LAUNCH Session 3
Four LAUNCH companies will launch a new product or service on stage. Find out more about the companies that will be launching at midVenturesLAUNCH.
6:15 PM
Keynote Panel
The 3 Stages of Not Being Silicon Valley
The midVenturesLAUNCH Keynote Panel will discuss the similarities, differences, shortcomings, and long-term initiatives that will help make Chicago and the Midwest a technology epicenter.
- Moderator: Jeff Leitner
Dean,
The Insight Labs - Steven Kaplan
Faculty Director,
Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- Fred Hoch
President,
Illinois Technology Association - Eric Lunt
Former CTO,
Feedburner - Sam Yagan
Founder,
OKCupid.com
6:30 PM
Break
Time to get some coffee before our COMPETE presentations.
7:30 PM
COMPETE Presentations
5 of the top COMPETE startups and 1 lucky “people’s choice” mVDEMO company will get to make a 3-minute presentation on stage to our COMPETE expert panel, which will grill the startups on the revenue streams, product potential and market viability of the company, in a Shark Tank-meets-Chicago style pitch competition.
8:30 PM
Floor Show
During our evening floor show, attendees will have an opportunity to learn about all the companies present at the conference, and congratulate the lucky top 5 COMPETE startups.
9:00 PM
Awards
The winning COMPETE startup will receive a prize worth over $150,000 in cash and services from our sponsors.
10:00 PM
Floor Show/Breakdown
COMPETE, LAUNCH and mVDEMO companies will break down their tables.
2:00 AM
After Party
Come by District bar at 170 W Ontario St to enjoy drinks, conversation, and music with everyone you’ve met over the 2-day conference. We’ve reserved the entire bar so you know you will meet the right people.
