LaunchMemphis events will build up ties among entrepreneurs
LaunchMemphis was recently featured in the Commercial Appeal. Read more here.
Commercial Appeal
LaunchMemphis events will build up ties among entrepreneurs
By Daniel Connolly
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
If you’ve recently started a company in technology or biosciences — or you’re just thinking about it — you’re the target audience for LaunchMemphis, a series of networking and educational events that starts this week.
The events are meant to build up social links among tech and science entrepreneurs in the area. The key organizers are Eric Matthews and Marc Diaz, principals with Mercury Technology Labs LLC, a relatively new company that helps scientists and researchers turn their ideas into working firms.
The pair have attracted a wide range of sponsors and collaborators, including EmergeMemphis, an organization that provides office space and other support to small businesses, and the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the development of science-based industry.
The highlight of the LaunchMemphis series is Startup Weekend, which comes at the end of this month.
Dozens of people are scheduled to gather at the FedEx Institute of Technology to create a real company in 54 hours.
Participants in the event will make a short pitch for their ideas before the group picks one and starts working on it.
Everyone from lawyers to Web developers will offer input as a facilitator tries to keep the process running smoothly, Diaz and Matthews said.
The organization is accepting 100 people, and 20 slots were still open as of Monday. Those interested may register online at launchmemphis.com or startupweekend.com. A $40 fee covers food and supplies.
The event will be run by Startup Weekend LLC, a new company based in Fort Wayne, Ind., that has organized similar events in cities including New York and Seattle.
The principals with Mercury say the event is meant to educate participants and forge connections among local entrepreneurs. Creating an actual company may be more difficult.
“Every business is risky, and I would be pleasantly surprised if this created a viable business,” Diaz said.
Several events will come before and after Startup Weekend. The first, a networking party, is scheduled for Thursday at the Fox & Hound restaurant in East Memphis.
The post-weekend highlight is an investor forum on June 9, where entrepreneurs will have a chance to present their work to venture capitalists and private investors.
Contact Daniel Connolly at 529-5296.
LaunchMemphis events
5 p.m.-7 p.m. Thursday: LaunchMemphis kick-off networking event. Fox & Hound, 5101 Sanderlin Ave.
11:30 a.m., May 13: Networking session and talk by the University of Memphis’ Kevin Boggs on using university research to form companies. Memphis Bioworks Foundation, 20 S. Dudley. RSVP to Courdria Pointer: cpointer@memphisbioworks.org or 448-2799. Lunch is $5.
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 22: Startup Weekend participant gathering. People registered for startup weekend have a chance to meet each other in advance. FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis, 365 Innovation Drive.
May 30-31 and June 1: Startup weekend at the FedEx Institute of Technology.
June 9: Early stage investment forum. Young businesses have a chance to meet with early stage venture capital firms and private investors. FedEx Institute of Technology. Online registration required at launchmemphis.com.
June 14: One-day intensive session to turn business ideas into business plans. Mercury Launchpad at Emerge Memphis. 516 Tennessee St. To register, contact chris@mercurylaunchpad.com.
For more information, call Lori Turner at 266-2662or visit launchmemphis.com or startupweekend.com
© 2008 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online
Commercial Appeal Coffee Break Section: “Fill up on ‘TechFuel’”
The Commercial Appeal recently reported on our upcoming networking event.
Commercial Appeal — Coffee Break Section
May 1, 2008Fill up on ‘TechFuel’
“TechFuel,” an idea-sharing and networking event for businesspeople, entrepreneurs and technologists, is set for 5-7 p.m. May 8 at the Fox and Hound, 5101 Sanderlin.
The event is sponsored by LaunchMemphis, recently established by area business leaders to promote entrepreneurship. Get details at launchmemphis.com.
Memphis Business Journal: LaunchMemphis seeks to match investors with local entrepreneurs
LaunchMemphis Early Stage Investment Forum was recently featured in the Memphis Business Journal.
Friday, May 2, 2008
LaunchMemphis seeks to match investors with local entrepreneurs
Memphis Business Journal - by Einat Paz-Frankel Staff writer
There’s talent and money in Memphis, but they don’t always meet.
LaunchMemphis, a group of local technology leaders, aims to change that by connecting investors to startup companies and Memphis entrepreneurs. The group says many local venture capitalists invest in companies outside Memphis, which is part of the reason why many brilliant ideas born in Memphis never make it to market.
In a series of events starting May 8, LaunchMemphis will attempt to engage both entrepreneurs and investors in advancing technology locally.
“When growing a successful science or a technology-based company, you can find the right ingredients within the grassroots infrastructure of LaunchMemphis,” says venture capitalist Eric Mathews, principal of Mercury Technology Labs LLC, who co-created LaunchMemphis with attorney Harry Brown. “From finding a new management team member to tracking down funding, the events organized can help entrepreneurs take their idea from the back of a napkin to the next level.”
The most significant event for those entrepreneurs seeking funding, the LaunchMemphis Early Stage Investment Forum, will take place June 9 at the University of Memphis FedEx Institute of Technology. Applications for funding — or, rather, for the opportunity to pitch your idea to investors at the forum — will be accepted through May 16.
Lori Turner, managing partner at The RedRover Co. and one of the founders of LaunchMemphis, says there are two types of applications: One is for seed funding of under $100,000, intended for entrepreneurs who “literally have an idea on a napkin or a very sketchy idea”; the second track will focus on more advanced ventures of more than $500,000 and is intended for companies with a solid prototype.
About 12 investors have already signed up for the forum.
“It’s not for all entrepreneurs, it’s not for the beauty salon down the street,” she says. “While Memphis needs all kinds of entrepreneurs, our niche is science and technology startups.”LaunchMemphis
Entrepreneurial consortium
Address: 516 Tennessee, Suite 133
Web site: www.launchmemphis.com
ep@bizjournals.com | 259-1764
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Memphis Business Journal: Next great company could be in Memphis
Memphis Startup Weekend was recently featured in the Memphis Business Journal. Check it out here . . .
Memphis Business Journal
Friday, February 22, 2008
Next great company could be in Memphis
After beating out such cities as San Diego and Indianapolis, the city of Memphis was selected to be the next site for Startup Weekend — an event that aims to bring together local entrepreneurs with the goal of creating a real company in just 54 hours.
Memphis will join cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., which have all hosted Startup Weekend events.
“Over 600 people in Memphis have said we want Startup Weekend here,” says Eric Matthews, Mercury Technology Labs founder, who is helping organize the event. “It is a real testimony to what people want here as far as building an entrepreneurial community.”
Matthews says Memphis Startup Weekend will be held May 30-June 1 and will be hosted at EmergeMemphis at 516 Tennessee St.
EmergeMemphis is helping organize the event along with Matthews and Harry Brown, a local entrepreneur.
At the event, participants will decide on an idea for a company the first night.
After a decision has been made on a company, participants will split up and work on all the issues that come with starting a company — from branding to public relations.
Participants will be rewarded with shares of the company, which ideally could become operational in the future. Matthews says five of the original Startup Weekend businesses are still around and 10 more don’t have the funding, but could be viable businesses.
From staff reports
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
Daily News: Biz Startup Event Slated for Late May
Memphis Startup Weekend was recently featured in the Daily News. Check it out here . . .
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Biz Startup Event Slated for Late May
ROSALIND GUY | The Daily News |The possibilities are endless.
With a group of 100 people, experts in various fields and many different visions, there’s no telling what ideas will come out of the weekend event that br….
