StartupCampWaterloo

Previous events: StartupCampWaterloo1, StartupCampWaterloo2 (photos, video), StartupCampWaterloo3, and StartupCampWaterloo4StartupCampWaterloo5

Get Involved!

Aside from this wiki, we have: a google group (discuss), a facebook group (discuss+event updates), a flickr group (photos). And we're affiliated with BarCampWaterloo and DemoCampGuelph! And there's the WaterlooCamp page. And videos from StartupCamp5!

What the heck is a StartupCamp?

Want to share the joy of starting up? StartupCampWaterloo is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.

Here's our unique format: after a main speaker breaks the ice and we have short demos and Q&As from people in our startup community. The StartupDemo gives you a chance to get your idea out there and get feedback so you can strengthen your idea.

Should you give a demo? If you're thinking of starting a company, just started up, or heavily involved, the answer may well be yes! The critical point is: do you have a question that you think the community can answer? We're not looking for pitches, we're looking for dialogue — you come show us what you're doing, ask a question (like, is this any good, or how do I commercialize this, or is my commercialization scheme any good, or something more specific) and we'll harangue and heckle you to everyone's benefit. The audience is usually a mix of technology and business types so you'll get all perspectives, and the learning will go both ways.

Here's the order of ceremonies:

1. Chatter and put your proposal on the white board at the front of the room.
2. Introduction and summary of the ground rules.
3. Guest speaker, typically a founder/entrepreneur who talks about their experience starting a company.
4. Now anyone who put their name on the whiteboard, comes up and takes 30 seconds to pitch their demo. What is your idea, what is your question, what is your discussion topic? Practise your "elevator pitch".
5. Food, socializing & voting on the white board.
6. First presentation (most votes on the whiteboard):
   1. Five minutes for your demo. Who are you? What is your request to the audience (market validation, business model, marketing...)? We will cut you off if you go over :-)
   2. Five minutes for discussion, extendable by the audience if they want.
7. Second presentation, etc... with a snack/discussion break in there somewhere, until we run out of time.

Guest Speaker

TBD.

Propose a Demo

Important: you DON'T have to list your proposal here! We will have a white-board up at start of the event, that will be the final list. Then — who demos and in what order is determined solely by a simple plurality/at-large voting process that takes place at the event. That said, if you put it here, you might have a leg up since people may already have heard of you.

Either way, you should be prepared to make a 30 second pitch for your demo to convince people to vote for you :-)

• Insert your demo proposal here!
• Insert your demo proposal here!
• ...

Do you have an demo that you'd like to watch but isn't listed above?

• Insert ideas for other people to demo here!
• ...

Attend the Event

Register on eventbrite: http://startupcampwaterloo6.eventbrite.com/

Sponsors

If you would like to sponsor BarCampWaterloo, please add your name to the list of sponsors below. We need to cover the cost of the space, snacks, name tags, etc.

• Waterloo Accelerator Centre
• Tech Capital
• Sun Startup Essentials

Sponsors get:

• a mention and link on the StartupCampWaterloo page
• small but visible sign at the presentation table
• MC to mention sponsorship at the event, including a sentence or two about what your company does
• a mention of the sponsor and url in any publicity/articles and we will try for news releases

Task List

• Find some people to help
• Figure out if more budget can be found somewhere
• Please watch this wiki for spam

(This is part of the WatCamp community. The previous BarCampWaterloo was BarCampWaterloo_September06, BarCampWaterloo_December06, BarCampWaterloo_March07 and BarCampWaterloo_May07.)

StartupCampWaterloo discussion and planning notes from meeting Friday August 3rd.