Tuesday

June

26

at

5:00pm

StartingBlock Soft Opening

THE WAIT IS OVER!

RSVPs Closed

Tuesday

June

26

at

5:00pm

StartingBlock Soft Opening

RSVPs Closed

Startingblock soft launch

Come celebrate the opening of StartingBlock

The dream of StartingBlock began five years ago when local entrepreneurs and corporate partners came together to build a space for entrepreneurs to get their start in launching the companies.

On June 26, join StartingBlock and its three original partner organizations -- gener8tor, Doyenne, and Capital Entrepreneurs -- for an open house and celebrate the opening of the space with others from the Madison entrepreneurial ecosystem.

During the event:

- Music from Dream City Strings

- Wine Pairing from Bright Cellars

- Spirits Tasting from Domeloz

- Beer from Working Draft Beer

- Bartending by Clock'd

- Food provided by Lemongrass

- Non-alcoholic beverages will also be

provided

Event Schedule

5:00-6:00pm

Tours of StartingBlock

6:00-6:30pm

Program

6:30-7:00pm

Networking

Speaker Block #4

Capital Entrepreneurs is a grassroots community group for Madison area entrepreneurs that has been built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. We act as the “social fabric” that connects the Madison entrepreneurial community through our networking and social events.

Doyenne creates entrepreneurial ecosystems where women entrepreneurs from all backgrounds thrive, and are recognized for their power and potential. We focus on four main areas of entrepreneurial support 1. Professional Development 2. Increasing Visibility of Women Owned Ventures 3. Collaborations within the Community and 4. Increase Funding Avenues and Investment OPPORTUNITIES

gener8tor is a nationally ranked accelerator that invests in high-growth startups. Three times a year we invest $90K in each of five startups who receive a concierge experience during our 12-week accelerator program. gener8tor supports the growth of these startups through our network of experienced mentors, technologists, corporate partners, angel investors and venture capitalists.

StartingBlock represents a massive community effort — from Madison’s young entrepreneurs, city and business leaders, and our educational and government institutions — focused on creating a home base with the critical components that local innovation entrepreneurs need to start and grow businesses, create jobs and stimulate the regional economy.

Event Hosts

At StartingBlock, we create intersections that cultivate entrepreneurs, build innovative companies, & drive ideas into reality.

Capital Entrepreneurs is a grassroots community group for Madison area entrepreneurs that has been built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.

Doyenne creates entrepreneurial ecosystems where women entrepreneurs from all backgrounds thrive, and are recognized for their power and potential.

gener8tor is a nationally ranked accelerator that invests in high-growth startups.

Event Co-hosts

Capital Entrepreneurs is a grassroots community group for Madison area entrepreneurs that has been built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. We act as the “social fabric” that connects the Madison entrepreneurial community through our networking and social events.

Doyenne creates entrepreneurial ecosystems where women entrepreneurs from all backgrounds thrive, and are recognized for their power and potential. We focus on four main areas of entrepreneurial support 1. Professional Development 2. Increasing Visibility of Women Owned Ventures 3. Collaborations within the Community and 4. Increase Funding Avenues and Investment Opportunties

gener8tor is a nationally ranked accelerator that invests in high-growth startups. Three times a year we invest $90K in each of five startups who receive a concierge experience during our 12-week accelerator program. gener8tor supports the growth of these startups through our network of experienced mentors, technologists, corporate partners, angel investors and venture capitalists.

Clear your calendar - It's going down! Splash Blocks kicks off on March 16th, and you're invited to take part in the festivities.

Why attend?

StartingBlock is the entrepreneurial hub of Madison's startup community.

Five years ago, Madison's entrepreneurial ecosystem leaders came together to create a space for startup businesses to find office space and community network & resources to become successful ventures.

Join us in celebrating the space opening, community supporters, first tenants and the greater entrepreneurial community

FTC 2017

StartingBlock Anchor Collaborators

Text Block #1

The parking structure for the Spark is still under construction. Please consider using public transportation (#6 route), biking, sharing a ride, or taking a cab. If you chose to drive please be aware that you may have to walk a few blocks as only street parking is available. Be a good neighbor and do not park in the Festival Foods parking lot.

Tuesday

June

26

at

5:00pm

StartingBlock Soft Opening

RSVPs Closed

Parking

The Cap East public parking ramp is still under construction.

Please consider using public transportation (#6 route), biking, sharing a ride, or taking a cab. If you chose to drive please be aware that you may have to walk a few blocks. MGE has agreed to allow to park in their surface parking lots at 623 E Main St, Madison, WI 53703. Be a good neighbor and do not park in the Festival Foods parking lot.

Map

Block #3

StartingBlock Anchor Collaborators

Text Block #3

The parking structure for the Spark is still under construction. Please consider using public transportation (#6 route), biking, sharing a ride, or taking a cab. If you chose to drive please be aware that you may have to walk a few blocks as only street parking is available. Be a good neighbor and do not park in the Festival Foods parking lot.StartingBlock Anchor Collaborators

StartingBlock Anchor Collaborators

StartingBlock Tenant Companies

ImageMoverMD

ImageMoverMD is a medical imaging software company that integrates enterprise imaging and electronic health record systems. ImageMoverMD’s innovative solutions employ an exclusive approach to securely connect photos, video and outside medical images with the EHR, simplifying communication and enhancing patient care.

Rock River Capital

As a fund within the Badger Fund of Funds, Rock River Capital brings experienced investors, focusing on growing seed stage companies in Wisconsin and improving Wisconsin’s capital formation and investment ecosystem.

Markable, Inc

Markable Inc offers a computer software that utilizes AI in order to recognize fashion items. With just a few lines of code unleash the fastest, most accurate AI for fashion object recognition to manage their content.

ArchVirtual

ArchVirtual is on the cutting edge of VR deployment and innovation. ArchVirtual is expanding VR beyond the gaming sector, to architecture design, automotive and manufacturing applications.

bluDiagnostics

bluDiagnostic’s convenient at-home hormone monitoring to women help women get pregnant or provides information their physician needs to diagnose and treat fertility issues.

SOHA diamonds

Soha Diamond Co. World's 1st Retailer Founded by a 10th Generation Jeweler & Gemologist Only Lab-Grown Diamonds & Gemstones in 100% Recycled Metals

Bump Studios

Founded in 2017, Bump is an early stage video game development studio

Kilter

Kilter’s employee wellness platform rewards healthy behaviors by tying credits to employer matched contributions.

Lum

LUM is a music promotion and discovery company built upon a social networking platform with the goal of optimizing music growth for up and coming artists.

Rebate Bus

Rebate Bus delivers utility rebates instantly on e-commerce websites and at retailer locations.

Wolf Flow

Wolf Flow is building workflow management/desktop organization solutions for working professionals.

yoeats

Yoeats' Two-sided POS platform allows for mobile payments, personalized menu generation, and itemized customer feedback.

Partner Organizations

Speaker Block #2

R. Harrison

CEO Barkbook

R. Harrison

CEO Barkbook

R. Harrison

CEO Barkbook

Speaker Highlights

Keynote Fireside Chat

Speaker Block #3

R. Harrison

Clear your calendar - It's going down! Splash Blocks kicks off on April 21st, and you're invited to take part in the festivities. Splash HQ (122 W 26th St) is our meeting spot for a night of fun and excitement. Come one, come all, bring a guest, and hang loose. This is going to be epic!

R. Harrison

Clear your calendar - It's going down! Splash Blocks kicks off on April 21st, and you're invited to take part in the festivities. Splash HQ (122 W 26th St) is our meeting spot for a night of fun and excitement. Come one, come all, bring a guest, and hang loose. This is going to be epic!

Culture of the Remote Workplace

Talk overview

Leah Roe will begin this session by explaining what being remote means, how you can do it at your company, why it is the foundation of healthfinch's culture, the challenges they face and how they are overcoming them, how they maximize engagement with their remote teams, and why being remote-first is paramount for healthfinch.

Panel overview

Panelists will speak on their company's remote culture, what works and how, and what isn't working and why. This panel is focused on how to setup and enable a remote workplace (ie: for those that need to build a remote team and how to do that). Including applicable best practices, processes, and remote "tech" stacks you use to facilitate your remote teams.

Fast and Easy

StartingBlock Anchor Collaborators

Culture of the remote workpace

Building a successful remote workplace is paramount for nearly all tech startup companies. You’ll hear from startup leaders about their company's remote culture, what works and how, and what isn't working and why. This session is focused on how to setup and build a successful remote workplace, including applicable best practices, processes, and remote "tech stacks” to facilitate remote teams.

Culture of the Remote Workplace Panelists

Vicky Cassidy

Head of Platform at Zapier

Sarah Graf

Operations & HR Manager of Understory, Inc.

Andy Kitson

Software Developer at Redox

Roshni Sodhi

Director, Customer Success at Zendesk

Leah Roe

Panel Moderator

VP Finance & Operations at healthfinch; Founder of Culture Community

Funding, Exits, and the Circle of Life

Talk overview

Laura Strong will provide an overview of the current Madison funding landscape, how it has evolved over the last few years, and how Madison compares to other cities across the nation.

Exiting a company is more than just the amount of funds raised. Laura will address how funding is not the only metric that matters, where the Madison ecosystem is at, and where it needs to get to for it to be a fully healthy startup ecosystem.

fireside chat #1 overview

How to structure funding through the different stages of your company
Luella, Anurag, and Matt will discuss how to structure funding, including exploring newer types of funding structures (besides VC and Angels) such as convertible notes, debt, crowdfunding, etc. And will also talk about different business stage funding and when to seek different sources.

Fireside chat #2 overview

How to Choose the Right Investors and the Path to an Exit

Toni, Justin, and Mark will discuss how to pick and evaluate investors to find the right fit for your company. They'll discuss toipcs such as what investor metrics should you look for, how do you define success vs. how your investors define success, how do the investors you choose impact your path to exit, and how to build a company that is setup for success (and an exit).

Funding, Exits, and the Circle of Life Panelists

Laura strong

Introduction of session

Founder & ceo propagate health

Luella schmidt

panel moderator

ceo fine point consulting

matt howard

ceo eatstreet

anurag Garg

ceo dattus

toni sykes

panel moderator
ceo codaworx

justin beck

ceo perblue

mark mcguire

co-founder & PRESIDENT gravy

venture partner gener8tor

Building Successful Products

session overview

Each presenter will discuss a different topic focusing on product development in 30 minute presentations. Presenters each bring different viewpoints, backgrounds, and stories to how they approach product development within their line of work.

presenter overview

Ashley Powell - App Development 101: From your vision to MVP

Everything you need to know, didn't ask, or hadn't thought to consider about app development.

Taylor Fahey - Magnifying Product Success

How a small team of UW engineers turned their idea for a color 3D printer into a marketable product that was acquired by Makerbot.

Jason Weaver - The Do's and Don'ts of Launching a Software Company

From the back of a napkin to a funded company, hear the highs and lows from an serial entrepreneur.

Building Successful Products Presenters

ashley quinto powell

business development manager bendyworks

taylor fahey

co-founder spectrom

jason weaver

Founder of Shoutlet and tech company consultant

Organizers

Heather Wentler

Co-Chair Forward Technology Conference

Executive Director & Co-founder Doyenne Group

Forrest Woolworth

Co-Chair Forward Technology Conference

Co-founder Capital Entrepreneurs

Parking

The parking structure for the Spark is still under construction. Please consider using public transportation (#6 route), biking, sharing a ride, or taking a cab. If you chose to drive please be aware that you may have to walk a few blocks as only street parking is available. Be a good neighbor and do not park in the Festival Foods parking lot.