Launch Party Vancouver

LPGROW12 Wrap-up

dannyrobinson — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:04:31 +0000

It's hard to believe it was 5 years ago Danny Robinson and I hosted our very first Launch Party event in Vancouver. 12 events later, LP has helped launch over 100 startups from across Canada and even companies from the States. If only LP had equity in all of the great companies that have been featured over the years, including Gist, Summify and local favorite, Hootsuite!

Hootsuite Winning the Judges Choice Award at #LPV8

Biggest LP Ever
Each LP seems to be bigger and better than the last. More founders are interested in demoing and more investors and influencers attend, which is a great signal to us that our startup community is growing. This year, we welcomed over 1000 people to #LPGROW12 on August 22, 2012 at the Roundhouse in Vancouver and featured 14 local startups.

Major Props to Ray Walia of Launch Academy
Putting on Launch Party is no easy feat. So, this year we teamed up with Ray Walia of Launch Academy to organize #LPGROW12. From working with the Launch Academy volunteers and the caterers to organizing the venue, Ray did all of the heavy lifting and deserves major props for pulling off a great event.

Ray Walia with Dave McClure at #LPGROW12

It Takes A Village
We would not be able to do #LPGROW12 without the help of a very passionate group of entrepreneurs and startup peeps, who volunteered their time to make it happen. High five and follow these awesome people immediately:

Charlyne Landgraff - If you have not met Char yet, she is the Program Manager at GrowLab. Despite having two other events that day, she worked closely with Ray to make #LPGROW12 go off without a hitch.
Tera Kristen - The latest addition to the GrowLab crew, Tera helped with promotion leading up to the event and was the onsite manager for this year’s event. She rocks.
Sonia Ryan - A troublemaker at A Thinking Ape, we can always count on Sons to lend a hand. This year was no exception.
Jon Cartwright - If you enjoyed some eats from the yummy Food carts featured on the outdoor patio or noshed on a yummy brownie at the entrance, you can thank Jon and the awesome Food.ee Team. So good!
Rohit Tandon - It’s not a party unless there is good music and we have Rohit from A Thinking Ape to thank for that.
Olivia Edwards - Learning early on what it takes to be an entrepreneur, Olivia has been a huge help to GrowLab and Launch Academy during event time.
Justin LaBarge - Intern extraordinaire! Justin has been sharing his social media expertise and creating a buzz for GrowLab, Launch Academy and Battlefy, in addition to helping Food.ee with a variety of tasks.
Launch Academy - LA is full of hustlers trying to build their startups in Vancouver. Many thanks to all of the LA volunteers for their help:

Our Partners
We have always partnered with companies and people, who truly care about and support Canadian entrepreneurs. This year, we would not have been able to do it without the support of:

Microsoft - MSFT is incredibly supportive of our local startup community. We would not be able to host LP without their generosity.
A Thinking Ape - By now, you have probably heard about these awesome Apes, working hard to build a stellar Social Apps company in Vancouver. They make us proud. Oh, and they are hiring!
Queen’s Cross - Our good friend, Chris Greenfield, owner of Queen’s Cross pub in North Van and the Wicklow on Granville Island, has catered the last three LPs. His whole team is just awesome to work with and the food is ridiculously good. Drop by one of his pubs for a pint, delicious food, and an all around great experience any day of the week.
TapStream - A simple 2-step integration will pull back the curtain on your App Store sales & show you which websites deliver real app users.
Keir Reynolds - Everyone has Keir to thank for getting their night off on the right note as each guest’s first drink was on him.
LaBarge Weinstein - James Smith and Michael Dunlevy are all around good guys and smart lawyers, who love working with startups. After years of splitting their time between coasts, LW will finally have a presence in Vancouver, run by Mark Longo.
South Hall Events - One of the best rental companies and event organizers on the lower mainland. They always come through for a big event or a small party.
Merlin the Magician- Merlin's mind bending close-up magic kept party goers entertained throughout the night. According to Merlin we were the most interesting group of people he has had the pleasure of performing for!
Espresso Capital Partners - Founded by entrepreneurs, Greg Smith and Gary Yurkovich, Espresso funds companies using non-traditional loan offerings.
Uber - If you have not tried Uber yet, you are totally missing out on the best ride in town. Thanks to Craig for making sure attendees got home safe after #LPGROW12.
Yaletown Venture Partners - YVP has been a great supporter of LP events over the years. Many thanks!
Voxter - There was a big surprise for guests as CEO of Voxter, Dayton Turner, gave the audience a sample of his DJ skills as he took over the Voxter sponsored DJ tables.
Uniserve Communications - Uniserve helped capture the moment at the party with their sponsored caricature artist.
VanEdge Capital - VanEdge is getting involved with startups in a big way. Thank you for your support!

Photo Time
Thanks to Kyla Bailey for spending the entire day with us. We will be posting a link to the photos from the evening very soon.

Many thanks to YOU for coming out to celebrate entrepreneurship and making #LPGROW12 an all around fantastic event. Until next time...

Launch Party 11 @ GROW - Win ability to present your company at the conference

dannyrobinson — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:02:35 +0000

Launch Party is teaming up with Dealmaker Media and influencers across Canada to host Launch @ GROW (#lpgrow) on August 17th, 2011. And we are looking for 15 of the hottest Canadian tech startups from BC to NL to SHOWOFF at the opening reception. That night, FOUR startups will win the chance to pitch live on stage at the full day GROW conference on August 18, 2011.

In order to be considered, you must:

- Have launched within the past 12-18 months or plan to launch at GROW
- Be a Canadian company
- Have a demo or live site for voters and judges to view
- Startups that have previously demoed at Launch Party events can still enter Launch @ GROW

Nominate Your Startup
Startups must upload a video, two-minutes or less with a description of their company no later than June 17. Be sure to select the Region closest to you for voting purposes.

Rock the Vote
When the nomination round ends, the voting begins. It’s time to call your friends, family and everyone in your local tech community to get out and vote for you because the 25 startups with the highest ranking will move on to the semi-finals.

The Semi-Finals
We have invited the best judges from Canada and Silicon Valley to review and rank the top 25 startups. Our judges get pitched everyday - in coffee shops, airports, and big shiny board rooms and can spot a winner when they see one. So, you’d better nail your pitch and stand out if you want to be selected as one of 15 startups to headline at Launch @ GROW.

Pitch Live On Stage At the GROW 2011 CONFERENCE
4 of the 15 startups will be chosen during Launch @ GROW to pitch their company LIVE on stage for Day 2 of the GROW Conference.

So, what are you waiting for? Enter NOW!

Most Memorable Moments at Launch Party [video]

dannyrobinson — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 02:08:24 +0000

Announced: Launch Party Vancouver 10 Showoffs

LP Admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:07:34 +0000

After going through a lot of very good applications for LPV10, we are happy to announce the following 9 Startups that will demo at LPV10 on December 1st.

In no particular order, here are the companies:

ClinicBook

Clinicbook is a local health care website that helps over 60 000 Canadians each month find health care in a convenient and timely manner through consumer reviews and its up-to-date search directory. After launching the feature where the live wait time at walk-in clinics is displayed, Clinicbook will be demoing its online booking system for dental appointments in Greater Vancouver.

Foodtree

Foodtree helps you discover where your food is from and connects you directly with the source, so you can feel confident about the food you buy. Just like a family tree, a Foodtree traces the origins of your food from the farm, ocean or forest right to your table. For example, a quick search on Foodtreecan tell you not only where you can buy the freshest local salmon in your area but also provide you with detailed information on the fisherman, who caught it. With Foodtree, transparent (or reliable) and relevant food information is finally at your fingertips.

OpenCal

We’ve spent the past year and a half building OpenCal – the web’s most beautiful and easy-to-use online appointment system. With OpenCal, service-based businesses (think hair salons, massage therapists, anyone that sells their time) can receive appointments online 24/7, manage their staff’s schedules, track clients, create insightful reports, and lots of other cool things.

Panty by Post

Make the Postman Blush. Panty by Post delivers French panties right to your door, no matter where in the world you live. When your pretty panty surprise arrives monthly, the nostalgia of the packaging, note and tissue paper is a sensual experience bound to generate a mood to help you discover your inner sexiness. This means you can enjoy a taste of French romance every month (wink). Or, share this sensual surprise as a thoughtful gift for a friend or loved one. They’ll love you for it. There is also a line for brides, plus sizes and Briefs in a Box for men.

Geotoko

Geotoko is a promotional campaign management platform for geo-location based services. By leveraging existing API’s that provide checkin functionality (foursquare, gowalla, twitter, etc…), Geotoko help businesses engage their customers. By creating simple self serve tools to create, manage and track promotional campaigns and reward loyal costumers, Geotoko aims to reduce the friction for businesses to get into the growing geo-location trend. We’ll be officially launching our app at LPV.

NodeFly

We are a hosted application and infrastructure monitoring service that will be launching at LPV10.

TaxiNow

TaxiNow a free iPhone app that allows passengers to see the exact location of nearby available taxis on their iPhone map and hail them with one simple click. And passengers can track the taxi all the way to their pickup location through Apple’s GPS. Our goal is to make the the experience of hailing a taxi way better. The taxi industry is inefficient and we’re certain we can reduce the amount of time passengers wait for taxis and reduce the idle time for drivers. TaxiNow is available to any passenger and driver, anywhere in the world but the initial focus will be in Vancouver, Canada. We plan on rolling this out to other cities across Canada and revolutionize the way taxis are hailed. This will be the official launch of TaxiNow. We will demo the product and actually hail a taxi to Canvas Lounge to show how just how powerful what we have built is!

XKeyAMS

RSI is a company that offers software solutions, support and first class customer service for the entertainment industry. Our latest project is an amazing new product called XKey Activity Management System, which provides activity vendors the opportunity to maximize their revenues by having their inventory online! We will demo our visually appealing online booking engine, the seamless reservation integration, the personalized confirmations and the ability to use XKey as a Central Reservation System for multiple vendors (ie. Vancouver Attractions)!

AppGrower

AppGrower is a service meant to increase the traffic for social apps mainly on Facebook and other social game platforms. Appgrower will offer a pay per install campaign allowing the app developer to set the sale rate of their traffic.

We’ve created a list on Twitter, so you can follow these startups here.

If you haven’t purchased a ticket yet, there are still some regular tickets available. Buy here.

See you at the event.

Launch Party Vancouver 10 (December 1, 2010)

dannyrobinson — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:42:00 +0000

'Tis the season to celebrate the best new crop of Internet startups in the Northwest at Launch Party Vancouver 10. Rumour has it, that there will be an old friend from LA joining us and that Good ol' St. Nick may even swing by for a nightcap with a Twiist. So, grab your ticket early, set aside your your holiday finest and get ready to kick off the holiday season with an evening of geekery and good times at Canvas Lounge. Startups We will be announcing the Startup Showoffs and the Startup Competition very soon. Stay tuned. Hashtag If you're tweeting, blogging or facebooking about Launch Party Vancouver 10, please use the following hashtag #LPV10. You can purchase your ticket here or directly below.

Online Ticketing for Launch Party Vancouver 10 powered by Eventbrite

Launch Party Vancouver 10 Tickets on Sale

LP Admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:19:17 +0000

‘Tis the season to celebrate the best new crop of Internet startups in the Northwest at Launch Party Vancouver 10. Rumour has it, that there will be an old friend from LA joining us and that Good ol’ St. Nick may even swing by for a nightcap with a Twiist.

So, grab your ticket early, set aside your your holiday finest and get ready to kick off the holiday season with an evening of geekery and good times at Canvas Lounge.

Startups

We will be announcing the Startup Showoffs and the Startup Competition very soon. Stay tuned.

Hashtag

If you’re tweeting, blogging or facebooking about Launch Party Vancouver 10, please use the following hashtag #LPV10.

Early bird tickets are $20 and include your first drink. You can buy them here or directly below.

Event management for Launch Party Vancouver 10 powered by Eventbrite

Launch Party Vancouver 9 Wrap Up

LP Admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:02:26 +0000

When we started LPV in September 2007, our goal was to shine a big bright light on the startup community and help connect entrepreneurs with investors, potential partners and their peers. Looking at photos from the last 9 events, it is clear that our community is growing and that the best of Canadian tech has consistently showed up to support and celebrate the latest crop of Internet startups in the great Northwest. It’s our hope that the startups you have seen demo at Launch Parties 1-9 will grow into the next generation of Canadian super angels.

Martin Ertl of Contractually, LPV9 Startup Competition People’s Choice Winner
Photo credit: Jeremy Lim

Our ninth edition of Launch Party Vancouver on June 17th was definitely our biggest event yet. As Debbie Landa tweeted, LPV9 was definitely a “who’s who of Canadian tech.” We were thrilled to have Chris Albinson, Katherine Barr, Dan Martell, Debbie Landa, and Anthony Lee from the C100 fly up from Silicon Valley as well as Chris Arsenault and Shawn Abbott from iNovia Capital in the house. A great big thank you to all of our out of town guests for making the trek to Vancouver. Go Canada!

Chris Albinson of the C100 Organization and Panorama Capital
Photo Credit: Jeremy Lim

Put your hands together for…
We rely on public and private donations and a whole lot of sweat and sometimes tears to make this all possible. Many thanks to Sonia Ryan and volunteers Melissa Joaquin, Angela Baldonero, Tarlan Klo, Tina Hoang, and Laurent Munier for working the door and helping us set-up.

We could not do any of this without the backing of our LPV9 Partners:

BCIC – the lead organization charged with advancing innovation and commercialization in British Columbia.
Canpages - fastest growing local search company in Canada with a nationwide API for smart phone application developers.
Clark Wilson - BC’s Law Firm for Business. Mark Longo & Brock Smith are the go to guys.
HSBC - the world’s local bank with startup banking packages.
Fasken Martineau - a leading international business law and litigation firm. Keith Spencer and Shahrooz Navabi are the real deal.
Strutta - the platform for creating online contests and the brains behind the LPV9 Startup Competition.
Lonsdale Rentals – the place to go for all of your corporate and private party rental needs. From bar rentals to glasses, they have it all.
Pixstar - Pixstar Photo booths provide the perfect memento to remember any party.
Mission Hill – Mission Hill has an amazing selection of Okanagan wines. They featured Rigamorole red and white at LPV9.
Russell Brewing - committed to brewing 100% natural, real Canadian beer. And it shows!
Jeremy Lim - Check out Jeremy’s awesome LPV9 photo set on Flickr and contact him for your event.

Our Media Sponsors rock:

Techvibes - our favorite technology blog does an amazing job highlighting all of the LPV9 startups and covering daily tech news in cities across Canada and the United States. And best of all, Techvibe’s President & Editor, Rob Lewis always shows up as promised ——->
Startup Digest - All you have to do is enter your email address and choose your favorite hubs to receive the best startup events in your inbox every week. Jon Chui runs the weekly Vancouver newsletter.

Thank you all for making LPV9 so great!

Launch Party Vancouver 1-9 in Photos

LP Admin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:50:11 +0000

At our first LPV in September 2007, we had 120 attendees and a handful of startups and at LPV9, we had 9 amazing companies and over 500 people in the room. To me, this just proves Vancouver is for Startups and our community is growing. Here’s a snapshot of LPV over the years.

LPV 1 – September 27, 2007
Section 3, Vancouver
120 attendees, 6 Startups

Photo Credit: Phillip Jeffrey

LPV 2 – Launch Party with a Twist
December 5, 2007
The Republic
Special Guests – Mike Macadaan, Shira Lazar, Bill Wetherell, David Robinson & Heather Vescent from Twiistup in Los Angeles.
200 attendees, 6 startups. Check out the Video here

Photo Credit: Duane Storey

LPV 3 – January 28, 2008
The Lamplighter
250 attendees, 6 startups

Photo Credit: Philip Jeffrey

LPV4 - May 21, 2008
The Republic
300 attendees, 7 Startups

Photo Credit: Ianiv & Arieanna

LPV5 - September 18, 2008
Unwine’d
300 attendees, 6 Startups

Photo Credits: Tris Hussey, Raul Pacheco

LPV6 - February 26, 2009
Uber Lounge
350 attendees, 6 Startups

Photo Credit: Bobby Dassler, Ianiv & Arieanna

LPV 7 – June 2, 2009
Uber Lounge
400 attendees, 7 Startups

Photo Credit: Jason Brown

LPV8 – Under the Launch Party with Dealmaker Media
September 16, 2009
Circa Resto Lounge
400+ people, 8 Startups

Photo Credit: Bootup Labs

LPV9 – June 17, 2010
The Roundhouse
Special Guests: C100 Organization, iNovia Capital, Dealmaker Media
500+ attendees, 9 Startups

Photo Credit: Jeremy Lim

Thanks for all the fun and support over the years.

To view more LPV photos or share some that you have taken, please add them to our Launch Party Photo Group on Flickr and tag them with LPV#.

And the LPV9 winners are…

LP Admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:42:30 +0000

The judge’s and community have spoken and it’s time to announce the winners in the LPV9 Startup Contest. A panel of 8 Judges casted their votes for the “Startup Most Likely to Succeed” and awarded Unbounce. From Judge Amar Varma’s comments: “Love that they are focusing on simplicity, and the creation of landing pages and not web pages in general. Identified a target niche market and are attacking it. Neat solution to bridge the gap between marketers and IT.” Kudos to Unbounce.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Lim

All of you have spoken and your votes went to Bootup Labs company Contractually.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Lim

Big shout out to the 9 demo companies who were hustling the entire evening and talking up the crowd. Great job! Thank you for making another Launch Party a fun and successful event. Stay tuned for our announcement of our next Launch Party Vancouver event.

Contractual.ly and DimeRocker to demo at LPV9 June 17th

LP Admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:52:42 +0000

Launch Party Vancouver 9 will kick off tomorrow night, June 17th at 6pm. 9 companies will be demoing their latest and greatest digital media and internet creations to 500 of our closest friends. We’re proud to say that two of these companies, 8.5×14 Media Inc’s Contractually and OverInteractive’s DimeRocker, have completed the Bootup Labs program and we wish them luck in the competition portion of the event.