Launch Party Vancouver

Under the Launch Party – our hottest event yet!

LP Admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:01:16 +0000

by Maura Rodgers (@Maurar)

Another Launch Party is under our belt. Our 8th Launch Party to be exact. Aside from finding a venue with a PA system that doesn’t make us sound like Charlie Brown’s Teacher or has sufficient AC to keep all 400+ of us a little cooler, I would call it a success. I enjoyed seeing many familiar faces as well as meeting visitors from Seattle, Ontario, Kelowna, California and abroad. We hope you left with a smile on your face and a pocket overflowing with new business cards that lead to meaningful relationships.

If the PA system had actually worked at the event, there were a few things we really wanted to say:

First of all – thank you very much for coming out to celebrate and support the entrepreneurs in our digital media community. As Danny has said many times before, we believe Entrepreneurs are the Superheroes for our economy. Entrepreneurs are the ones, who will lead us out of the tough times. The ones who understand that in order to solve a problem and change the world, you need to take a risk and go where no one else has gone before. (hence, the Superhero Trophies!) And that is why LPV exists – to salute entrepreneurs for their innovation and surround them with the right people, who can help them take their idea to the next level.

Speaking of the right people…
Many thanks to Debbie Landa from Dealmaker Media for flying up from San Francisco to co-host our 8th event. Debbie founded Dealmaker Media in 2000 and organizes a number of high quality conferences and events in the Valley, LA and NY each year. When it comes to the digital media and VC landscape in the States, Debbie is plugged in. 49% of the companies that have been selected to pitch at her events have gone on to raise funding or be acquired. Not only is she an experienced entrepreneur, who knows how to spot a winner, she’s also Canadian! Debbie is @deblanda on Twitter.

Check out Dealmaker’s next event Under the Radar on November 19 in Mountain View, CA

And if it wasn’t for…
Sun has always been a big supporter of our Launch Party events and the Vancouver technology community. We hope that you had a chance to meet with Jeremiah from Sun Start-up Essentials, who flew in from San Francisco for the event. As many of you already know, for your startup to succeed, you need more than a good business plan–you need a way to implement it quickly and cost-effectively. If the mic actually worked on Wednesday, Jeremiah would have told you that the Sun Start-up Essential Program provides you with discounted hardware and services, free support and training, and access to a network of investors and startups around the globe. If you are interested in learning more, you can Apply online or follow-up with Jeremiah directly. You can also find him on Twitter @jshack.

Big Thanks to:
Our media sponsor, Techvibes, Layer 7 and all the crew at Strutta, who designed and managed the LPV8 Start-up Competition. Thanks to Sonia, Jordan, Tina, and all of the volunteers, who worked the door. Your support and enthusiasm are what make each and every event so wicked awesome (that’s Bostonian for really good!).

Just Bootup
You may have heard that Strutta hired Ben Pickering as their new CEO, which means I am now working as the Executive Director of the Bootup Entrepreneurial Society with Sonia Ryan as my wingman.

The Bootup Entrepreneurial Society (BES) may share the Bootup in the Bootup Labs name (and their coffee maker) but it is NOT part of Bootup Labs. While they help early stage companies too, BL is all about turning a profit. BES is a non-profit that exists to build a solid infrastructure to help all entrepreneurs (not just BL companies) take a brilliant idea and turn it into a real business. BES is thrilled to have Leonard Brody, Boris Wertz, Danny Robinson and Boris Mann on our Board. All of these Superheroes want to see more digital media companies take root and flourish in BC and are investing their time and passion to make this happen.

Launch Party, which was founded by Danny, Dimitri and I and will now be managed by BES. In addition, BES will be organizing a number of events and workshops on a monthly basis to help digital media entrepreneurs start, build and grow their business. Stay tuned for more.

Thanks again for coming!

AND the LPV8 winners are…

LP Admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:56:12 +0000

The results are in and it’s time to announce the winners in the LPV8 Startup Contest. A panel of 8 Judges casted their votes for the “Startup Most Likely to Succeed” and awarded Hootsuite. From Judge Gary Yurkovich’s comments: “For social marketers, this is a great platform. Almost mandatory to have something like this when managing multiple Twitter accounts”. So a big congrats to Hootsuite!

The people have spoken and their votes went to MyWeddingMatch.com whose witty video made them a favorite among voters.

As for the event itself, the 8th installment of Launch Party was again a huge success with the highest number of attendees. The 9 demo companies were busy all night spieling to the crowd. Stay tuned for our announcement of our next Launch Party Vancouver event.

OH at Launch Party 8

LP Admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:01:19 +0000

Here are a few “over heards” from last night’s Launch Party Vancouver 8 event:

6oz: Great job on #LPV8 last night @sonsryan ! It was teh hotness – both literally and metaphorically – Kirsten was demo’ing Hootsuite, and perhaps remarking on the fact that it was the temperature was a *little* high last night
tinatinatinah: my friend just asked me how the “nerd convention” went last night. well, i replied to my disconnected friend, #LPV8 went rather well! =) – Tina is the newest Strutta employee, and this was her first Launch Party
davidascher: Enjoyed the #LPV8 event last night — saw old friends, made new ones, and got great feedback about Thunderbird 3. Lots of “wow!”s – David is the CEO of Mozilla Messaging, and was demo’ing Thunderbird 3
quickmobile: great party last night at #LPV8 – best event of the season so far! Kudos to @dannyrobinson and the team – thanks… – thanks Patrick – we attended and/or helped organize 4 events in the past 3 days, so it was a pretty intense kick off to the “season”
gheer: Fun night last night at #lpv8, met a lot of interesting people. Really enjoyed meeting the @yowza and @gist folks. – all the companies were great, and LP makes it easy for lots of one-on-ones; forget standing up and pitching once – you’re pitching to 200 – 300 potential users, partners, and investors, one at a time
justincumby: #LPV8 = fantastic event. Kudos to @yowza @hootsuite @angelpui @zed5000 @gist @lilipip for the great demos – awesome west coast innovation! – Justin was part of the Sun Startup Essentials crew that sponsored the event
SeattleCityGirl: sad I didn’t know about #lpv8 until now. Would have been fun to attend! Guess I’ll just have to wait for #nPost event Tues night! – Gist and Lilipip were up from Seattle, and Groove Systems was representing Kelowna; every Vancouver Launch Party is likely to feature folk from elsewhere. Portland, I’ve got my eye on you for LPV9!
launchpartyhq: Hey @stewarttownsend – we met with @thinklondon and @jshack at #LPV8 – maybe we can do Launch Party London? – hmmm…who tweeted this?! No promises, but sounds like fun!

Thanks to everyone for coming out. We’ve got a couple of good prospects on deck for LPV9 already. Want to launch your company or new feature with us in Vancouver? Head on over and apply.

Co Founder Corner at Launch Party

LP Admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:32:23 +0000

We’re not doing a full Co founder Speed Dating event for this Launch Party, but we do want to keep helping potential co-founders to connect.

We’ve decided that from now on, every Launch Party event will include a “Co Founder Corner”. We’ll have an area set aside where people who are looking for cofounders can hang out, leave their business cards, and in general know they’re in the right spot to meet other potential founders.

We’re not (yet) implementing any extra “technology” to help with this. Maybe a good excuse to start experimenting with checking in via Foursquare – we’ve already entered the Launch Party venue, the Circa Resto Lounge.

» Next Launch Party Registration: http://lpv8.eventbrite.com
» Vote for LPV8 Startup Most Likely to Succeed: http://lpv8.launchpartyhq.com

See you at 6pm on Wednesday, September 16th, and don’t forget your business cards!

Launch Party Vancouver 8 Companies Announced

LP Admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:34:40 +0000

The judges have chosen and 8 companies have been selected to demo at LPV8, 5 from Vancouver, 2 from Seattle and 1 from Kelowna.

As usual, we’ll feature each of the companies in a 2 min video and give you the chance to vote on which is most likely to succeed. Voting will begin starting Saturday, September 5th.

We present to you the 8 companies (in no particular order) chosen to demo at LPV8.

Lilipip
Seattle-based Lilipip will be one of 3 out-of-towners at LPV8.

What is Lilipip all about? Check out what they have in store:

We make animated videos about products, services, and concepts – putting stories into a form that help them go where they need to go. Unlike traditional agencies, we make business fun and deliver projects with a predictable price and a guaranteed date. We advocate an “Open-Source Creative” approach with transparent pricing, processes, and direct links to the people we work with.

Hootsuite
Vancouver’s very own Hootsuite will make an appearance at LPV, demoing their shiny new 2.0 features. Maybe they will surprise us with some exciting new features on September 16th.

get Yowza
Not only is the co-founder on a hit NBC TV series, he also likes to start internet companies. In their own words, they let us know what Yowza is all about.

Yowza is a FREE application for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch that uses the device’s built-in GPS to find coupons and deals from participating merchants in your vicinity.

Gist
Seattle-based Gist is #2 of 3 out-of-towners for this installment of LPV. Straight from Pioneer Square, check them out:

Gist is an online service that helps you build stronger relationships. By connecting your inbox to the web, you get business-critical information about key people and companies.

My Wedding Match
Check out what founder Angel Pui has in store for LPV.

My Wedding Match is the ultimate wedding marketplace. Brides can set their profile and criteria and find relevant search of vendors. We will be demoing the newly launched website.

DEQQ
The team from DEQQ will be there to answer all your questions regarding DEQQ. From DEQQ themselves:

DEQQ is a service that helps artists, celebrities, and broadcasters connect and manage deeper fan relationships across multiple social networks

Groove Systems
Located in Kelowna, in the heart of Canada’s Silicon Vineyard comes to you Groove Systems. The team from Kelowna will be there to let you know of their service.

Groove Systems’ Collaboration Suite lets you spend less time managing email and more time getting things done!

Wireless-Image
Wireless Image is an early stage company in Mobile Brand Engagement.

We will be demonstrating ShoutOut – our patent pending branded ringtone download , monitoring and reporting mobile web service.

What a great bunch of companies. It’s not too late to get a ticket (though it will be soon) so you can meet these founders in person to find out more. And don’t forget to cast your votes for your favorite starting Saturday morning!

Under the Launch Party

LP Admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:38:42 +0000

LPV is back with a Silicon Valley spin. We are proud to announce our friends from San Francisco will be co-hosting the 8th installment of LPV. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dealmaker Media organizes a series of well attended, conferences and roundtables that connect CEOs, technology and entertainment executives, investors, analysts and press. Dealmaker is very connected in the Valley and in LA. Their events including the popular Under the Radar and Startonomics are filled with top notch entrepreneurs and investors. We are so excited that they are flying in to to check out the best of what Vancouver has to offer.

Come by the new Circa Resto Lounge to mix and mingle with other entrepreneurs, rub shoulders with investors, our friends from the Valley and social mediarati. Come show love for the Vancouver tech scene.

Stay tuned for information regarding the companies that will demo at the event.

Early bird tickets have been snatched up. Regular tickets are available at $10 which include your first beverage and appies.

Here’s a link to purchase directly on Eventbrite or fill out the form below.

Tynt is a big winner at LPV7!

LP Admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:56:22 +0000

The results are in!

The votes have been counted and it’s time to announce a winner in the LPV7 Startup Contest. A panel of 6 Judges casted their votes for the “Startup Most Likely to Succeed” and for the first time ever in LPV history Tynt won both Judge’s and People’s favorite. Sun Startup Essentials has awarded Tynt with a brand new camera.

As for the event itself, the 7th installment of Launch Party was again a huge success with the highest number of attendees. The 7 demo companies were busy all night spieling to the crowd. Stay tune for our next Launch Party, happening in September.

Thanks to all the LPV7 Volunteers!

LP Admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:51:39 +0000

A special thanks the volunteers who helped out with LPV7, especially Magda Bukala, Danijela Eres and Casey Leung who ran the registration desk. Thanks to Jason Brown, Photographer who captured the event from his lenses. Thanks to Warren Frey from Freyburg Media for covering the videography and getting 1 minute spiel’s from all the demo companies. Lastly, thanks to Gregg Scott for covering the crowd interviews and being the video host for the evening. These events are that much more successful with the help from our amazing volunteers.

Thanks to all the LPV7 Sponsors!

LP Admin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:36:31 +0000

A special thanks to all of our sponsors. The tag for tonight is #LPV7 on Twitter, Flickr and elsewhere. See you all tonight at Steamworks Uber Lounge at 6pm.

Georgia Straight Geek Speak with Maura Rodgers

LP Admin — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:49:28 +0000

The Georgia Straight’s technology reporter, Stephen Hui, caught up with Maura via iPhone on all the exciting things going on with Bootup Labs & Strutta:

Maura Rodgers is an enthusiastic promoter of Vancouver’s technology sector. The 35-year-old entrepreneur is one of the founders of Launch Party Vancouver, a series of mixers organized by the Bootup Labs Entrepreneurial Society that showcases local Internet start-ups. She’s also the cofounder and chief executive officer of Strutta, a company that helps customers run on-line competitions.

Read Maura’s full “Geek Speak” interview at the Georgia Straight.