The US team is gearing back up for a blowout last quarter of 2008. If you’re interested in sponsoring our upcoming entrepreneur events including the end of year gala, please get in contact with Chia (chia [at] stirr [dot] net) or Sanford (sanford at this domain).
“The challenge in finding and retaining great sales and marketing talent” was one of the hot discussion topics at the STIRR Canada Founders’ Table held on July 3rd, at the Tribune Restaurant in Calgary.
A group of 10 emerging and established tech startup founders and funders were invited to the dinner, hosted by STIRR Canada’s Patrick Lor and Claudia Moore. Among the companies represented were Acceleware, Calgary Scientific, VoodooPC (HP), Userful, and Evoco, as well as the evening’s sponsor Macleod Dixon.
Discussions covered a range of other topics including: best practices in working with international partners and resellers, startup culture, the ins and outs of tax credits and government funding, when to outsource, and more … talk continued on past dessert.
Some of the attendee feedback included:
More Founders’ Tables are planned for this summer, with a larger Tech Mixer planned for the fall. Stay tuned for dates, locations and times.
A Founder’s Table dinner is planned for Thursday July 3rd, 5 pm in Calgary [revised date]
Following the success of our kick-off May 2008 STIRR Canada event (which hosted 50 Alberta-based guests) this July 2008 invitation-only dinner will return to the classic STIRR single-table gathering comprised of 10-12 founders of tech-driven companies.
FOR MORE DETAILS, please email: Info{at}stirr{dot}ca
If you’re not already a member of STIRR Canada, please complete the APPLICATION FORM.
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A range of Calgary-based events are planned for the coming year:
BarCamp Calgary breaks for lunch (left) and Nexopia Founder Timo Ewalds (right) chats with BarCamp attendees.
On May 14th, we brought STIRR back to the location that started it all over two years ago. The new Bistro 412 (formerly F&A’s) is where STIRR first launched back in April of 2006. This time we gave the crowd of entrepreneurs and investors a special prelaunch sneak peak at the new Involver (and if you’re familliar with the older Involver this is something entirely new), and put a twist on our hacks format by inviting two early stage VCs and The Funded to be in the same room. The talks are included after the fold.
On Thursday evening, Albertan tech startup founders, funders, and emerging young guns filled the main floor of Calgary’s Bonterra Trattoria restaurant at STIRR Canada’s kick-off Founders & Funders Dinner event. Five hours later, after some great networking and facilitated dinner table conversations, people were still buzzing.
Participating companies included: Active Conversion, Broadramp, Calgary Scientific, Cambrian House, Cognera, CoolIT, Coril Holdings, Cornerstone Technologies, Datagardens, DirectVoxx, Dynastream, eSchedule, GamesCafe, iNovia Capital, Intervera, Loa Corporation, Mobovivo, Octane Venture Partners, Ph03nix New Media, Preo Software, Psyko Audio Labs … … Renoworks, Shopster, SpatialQ, StockVantage, StumbleUpon, Techvibes, Tynt, and Xtreme Technologies.
Calgary native, and StumbleUpon (acquired by Ebay) co-founder, Garrett Camp, talked about the ups and downs of his friends-and-family funded early startup days and how he ultimately moved to Silicon Valley to be closer to his advisors. He also revealed that his first investor was a StumbleUpon user from the Valley who simply contacted him by email.
Read the rest of the article and see more photos at STIRR Canada
The early reviews have been great and we’ll have a full post with video soon. As a teaser here are some photos from our photographer (thanks Andrei) and our pocketcam
DealHacks is SOLD OUT. Please join us next time. Add STIRR to your RSS reader or subscribe by email using the links to the right.
Adeo Ressi, Founder of The Funded, joins the lineup for STIRR’s DealHacks on Wed, May 14th.
Women 2.0 Presents: “Beyond the Spark” Conference
May 10, 2008 at the Stanford Grill
Meet entrepreneurs changing the world, investors supporting them AND the 5 finalists from the Women 2.0 Business Plan Competition. Interactive discussions and LIVE Pitches to top-shelf judges — join the fun and vote for your top choice via mobile phone.
Check out the Finalists here: http://women2.org
Limited tickets due to venue constraints. Tickets ARE going fast.
Get 30% off the entrepreneur ticket with coupon code “w2stirr” http://beyondthespark.eventbrite.com
Can’t make it for the entire conference but want to come in the afternoon to check out the pitches? Yes we have a ticket priced just for that too! Get your ticket now for Pitch 2008!
Have yourself an interactive lunch on Saturday.
Arrive a little earlier to the conference this Saturday and reserve your seat with one of our Lunch Leads. Meet Silicon Valley movers and shakers over an intimate lunch on Saturday during the conference!
Hear first-hand stories, have the chance to ask questions, and really dive deep into what you really want to know from these leading ladies (and a few good men).
Who’s coming for lunch?
- Chris Shipley (Founder, DEMO)
- Christine Herron (First Round Capital)
- Katherine Barr (Partner, MDV)
- Sundeep Ahuja (Co-Founder, richrelevance)
- Susas Lucas-Conwell (Executive Director, SD Forum)
- Surya Yalamanchili (Director, Marketing, LinkedIn)
- Will Bunker (Co-Founder and Principal, WhiteSpace Ventures)
- Alka Gupta (Managing Director, Ojas Group)
.…and many, many more
Check out the list of lunch leads http://women2SWIB.wikispaces.com
STIRR Canada launches its first event featuring Garrett Camp one of Calgary’s native sons and co-founder of StumbleUpon (recently acquired by Ebay). More details about the STIRR Canada dinner here.