At Seattle 2.0 we have three missions: Bring visibility to Seattle startups, improve the quality of Seattle startups and increase the number of Seattle startups. In May, we hosted the successful
Seattle 2.0 Awards focusing on highlighting the role models other startups should follow. Today we are announcing a conference to help increase the number of startups in Seattle:
StartupDay 2009.
StartupDay 2009 is a first of kind conference because it focuses on pre-entrepreneurs, those who have yet to join or found a startup. It will be a full day of talks from the most successful and respected entrepreneurs in Seattle.
If you are a technology person (developer, tester, program manager, general manager) and you want to learn more about startups and how to make them successful this is the conference for you. It doesn’t matter if you are ready to found or join a startup now, or if you just want to learn more to be better prepared once you decide to leave your corporate job.
The speakers have many past and present successes and all of them will be speaking from their own experience on the topics they will cover – they are not talkers, they are doers. The speakers are:
· Alex Algard, Founder of CarDomain and WhitePages.com
· Alex Castro, Founder & CEO of Delve Networks (formerly at Microsoft)
· Andy Liu, Founder & CEO of BuddyTV and angel investor (formerly at aQuantive)
· Colin Wong, CEO of Sharein (formerly at Google)
· Dave Schappell, Founder & CEO of TeachStreet (formerly at Amazon & JibJab)
· Hillel Cooperman, Founder of Jackson Fish Market (formerly at Microsoft)
· Jonathan Sposato, Founder and CEO of Picnik (formerly at Microsoft and Google)
· Josh Petersen, Founder and CEO of The Robot Co-Op (formerly at Microsoft and Amazon)
· Kelly Smith, Founder and CEO of Inkd and Partner at Curious Office (formerly at RealNetworks)
· Ksenia Oustiougova, Founder and CEO of Lilipip! Studios
· Marcelo Calbucci, Founder of Seattle 2.0 (formerly at Microsoft)
· Matt Hulett, Chief Revenue Officer at RealGames
· Mike Mathieu, Founder of Front Seat (formerly at Microsoft)
· Rich Barton, Founder and CEO of Zillow (formerly at Microsoft and Expedia)
· Shelly Farnham, Founder of Waggle Labs and Pathable (formerly at Microsoft)
In addition to the talks at the conference, we are providing the Advisory Room, a place where attendees can meet one-on-one with professionals, entrepreneurs and investors to have a fifteen-minute private meeting. There is no need to keep cornering speakers, or standing in front of a table talking to lawyer while others eavesdrop on you.
Registration for the conference opens today and there is an early-bird price of just $95 until August 21. The event will be at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, with easy parking and bus routes, from 10 AM until 5 PM – followed by a cocktail reception.