A Blast of Columbus Entrepreneurship
At TechColumbus we believe in connections.
We believe that people work best when they work together.
We believe that there is amazing entrepreneurial creativity energy in our geography.
This was reconfirmed this past week as we were wowed by the four days of entrepreneurial events in the Columbus area that coincided with Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The theme of the 2013 TechTomorrow Conference, held at OSU, was Sustainable Innovation: Accelerating Business Value was, presented by the Columbus Chamber and supported by CEOs, business leaders, and companies.
The full day’s agenda featured main tent speakers such as David Silverman, CEO and co-founder of the McChrystal Group, and strategist and author Chris Potts. At the close, the TechLife Startup Showcase and networking reception gave entrepreneurs the opportunity to show what their prototypes can do.
Fifteen companies attended Tech Essentials, TechColumbus’ two-day on-site business boot camp for entrepreneurs. This session was held in Dublin. Tech Essentials is available to virtually any technology entrepreneur with an idea for a company. Interested? We conduct Tech Essentials every other month at our Kinnear Road facility or at other locations in the region.
Thursday night the independent community group for entrepreneurship, SunDown RunDown held their first New Albany event. TechColumbus was delighted to help promote and support this upbeat, crowd. If you haven’t been to one of these monthly pops and pitch fests, I encourage you give it a try.
On Friday, there were the 10X Accelerator pitches. We felt a special connection and sense of pride in these entrepreneurs since they were in our SpringBox Labs Accelerator during their 10-week 10X Startup Accelerator course.
TechColumbus has been involved with 10X Startup Accelerator for a couple of years. We provide “in-kind” services through our Expert Network partners. This group of entrepreneurs was from all over Ohio and from all over the world—from Israel to Australia. They brought a ton of energy into our building.
Then Saturday and Sunday was Columbus Startup Weekend, a global grassroots movement active in more than 200 cities around the world. Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model—anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers.
Participants registered on Friday, voted on the top ideas, and starting working on their concepts. That went on until 5:00 p.m. Sunday night when the final eighteen presentations began.
Earlier in November, the BioOhio Annual Conference attracted bioscience professionals from all over the state and across specialties and functions To Dublin, OH. The conference is the state’s signature gathering for the bioscience industry.
Each of these events had its own feel, and yes, there was a bit of overload and overlap.
But the bottom line is that in November, the Columbus entrepreneurial community had a ton of things going on.
Any entrepreneur with any kind of an idea had lots of opportunity to be heard and receive feedback. This is how a region committed to new company growth generates buzz, and deals, and new jobs.
