Cybersecurity, Clean Energy, Ed Tech, Data Analytics, Health IT Among Sectors Represented
Sixteen Area Start-Ups Selected to Highlight TechBUZZ Spring 2013
<0> Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA)Audrey Chang, 202-295-8779 </0>
is shining the light on East Coast innovators and company-builders at its Spring 2013, with a group of 16 start-ups selected to take the public stage to share their stories with investors, technology executives and fellow entrepreneurs. TechBUZZ Spring 2013 will be held at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club on April 23.
Presenting companies were selected from among more than 125 diverse start-ups from across the region by a MAVA advisory group of technology business builders and active investors. The start-ups chosen for formal presentation slots will each take the stage for four minutes to describe their company, philosophy and products. Each company will have worked with a designated coach who will help them shape their presentation for the audience of like-minded entrepreneurs, investors at every stage and across industry sectors, potential corporate partners, and community and local business groups.
"TechBUZZ is about bringing a dynamic, proven platform for connecting promising, up-and-coming companies to seed and angel investors, corporate business partners and fellow entrepreneurs and showcasing them across the Greater Mid-Atlantic region and beyond,” said Julia Spicer, Executive Director of MAVA. “Make no mistake: every phase of building a company has its unique challenges, and for this very earliest stage start-up which must determine if a product or service genuinely addresses a need can be commercially viable, a supportive community such as TechBUZZ, which represents all the contributors to start-up success, is essential.”
TechBUZZ Spring 2013 will feature a wide range of technology sectors, reflecting the growth in the past few years of start-ups in the greater Mid-Atlantic region, which has become ground zero for many of the newest ideas, game-changing innovations, and cutting-edge applications of technology. This year, companies from nascent to seed stage will present ideas from a number of hot technology sectors to their peers and potential partners:
A handful of start-ups will be selected from the audience to share one-minute pitches in the spotlight, contributing to the startup spirit of being bold & brave and celebrating the spontaneity of idea sharing.
To further aid start-up enterprises in the early stages of development, TechBUZZ will feature advice from "Rock Stars of TechBUZZ,” companies that had previously taken center stage at MAVA’s Spring 2012 TechBUZZ event. These entrepreneurs will share their first-hand lessons learned and update the audience on how their participation in TechBUZZ has shaped their company development.
"We came to TechBUZZ 2012 really with just an idea,” said Justin Langseth, CEO, who was selected as a presenter at last year’s TechBUZZ and will speak at the upcoming gathering. “With the feedback and advice we got from the audience, we refined our concept, hired additional staff, acquired seed funding and launched. There’s no doubt in my mind that the interactions at TechBUZZ were incredibly instrumental in developing and building our company."
The TechBUZZ Spring 2013 agenda also includes a number of investor panels to share insights from seed stage investors and active CEOs with all companies in attendance. This feedback provides the start-ups on stage and the entrepreneurs in the audience with valuable insight into the diverse approaches and priorities of multiple investors and a realistic perspective on how to shape their products and concepts as well as build their companies.
"MAVA's TechBUZZ is clearly the premier event of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region. Since presenting on the stage at TechBUZZ last year, the connections, feedback and support we received from the investor community has been difference-making for our company and continue to be as we take the company to the next phase," said John Bracken, CEO, , who will speak about his experiences on the “Rock Stars of TechBUZZ” panel.
Piloted in 2010 in Baltimore, TechBUZZ was launched in May 2011 by MAVA as a half-day seed-stage conference preceding its annual Capital Connection, which features companies from growth and later-stage companies. This distinctive TechBUZZ forum brings together the key players in start-up growth and facilitates the development of start-up concepts and prototypes to market entry.
“We have found so much pent-up demand for elevating companies in a forum that brings together all the key ingredients for start-up success that we will be holding TechBUZZ events year round, in April, in June at Capital Connection and September - all around the region,” Spicer added.
To elevate and showcase the presenting start-ups and others in the greater Mid-Atlantic region, MAVA taps a range of community partners to bring together a broad, diverse and ever-changing community of entrepreneurs to events such as TechBUZZ and to MAVA’s signature Capital Connection which takes place June 5-6 in Washington, DC.
MAVA’s community partners for TechBUZZ Spring 2013 cover a wide regional geography from Hatch in Norfolk, VA and Fishbowl in Loudoun County, VA to Washington, DC’s 1776, ETC in Baltimore, MD and sector-focused Bethesda Green in Bethesda, MD.
A non-profit organization with deep roots in the technology community, MAVA brings together company-builders from across the country and at every stage of development, and provides a trusted public showcase to promote these enterprises, from promising start-ups to publicly-traded success stories. TechBUZZ in particular offers a public platform for community partners and their companies and helps shape a supportive ecosystem for the earliest of regional start-ups.