Startup Digest offers the easy answer to “where should I network this week?” In order to do so, the team at Startup Digest gets local entrepreneurs to curate a list of hand-picked events each week. Spanning across the globe, including London, Paris, Nigeria and of course, Silicon Valley the digest has come to Pittsburgh.
“I am not looking for events. I am looking for idea-grounds. Places, where people can exchange ideas and also have fun.”
The Pittsburgh Startup Digest, being curated by Abhishek Sharma the co-founder of MobileFustion a South Side start-up, has published two weeks worth of lists including events from TiE Pittsburgh, Chatham University and the Duquesne University Small Business Development Center. Sharma believes that networking events is not the right title to give what he is looking for. “I am not looking for events. I am looking for idea-grounds. Places, where people can exchange ideas and also have fun.”
Pittsburgh may be a little-known city for startups compared to others with their own Startup Digests, but Sharma thinks it isn’t surprising at all. “Pittsburgh ranks as the 12th biggest destination for venture capital, and has the highest number of university spin-offs after Boston.”
For someone already in the network of startups in Pittsburgh, the events might not be new, but, Sharma is aiming for a new audience. “I expect to see our established entrepreneurial leaders I would be very happy if we could pull in borderline entrepreneurs.” We can expect the events to be places where a newcomer can come and feel welcome.
Startup Digest will be an excellent resource for successful and budding entrepreneurs alike. I suggest you sign up.
I know this is kind of last minute but Refresh Pittsburgh is having a meeting Thursday, August 27th at 6:30pm. It will be held at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in Room 439.
Priya Narasimhan, president of Yinzcam will be showing off YinzCam an experiential in-stadium technology that was deployed for 40 Pittsburgh Penguins home games for the 2008-9 regular season, the 2009 NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup Finals. You can find out more information on there website, yinzcam.com.
I have heard a lot about this new product but have yet to see it in action. I am not sure if I will be able to attend this meeting so if you do please share what you find out with us.
Also at this week’s meeting, Jay Fanelli (The Designer) and Nathan Peretic (The Developer), of Full Stop Interactive will present “Quit Your Job: How Two Pittsburgh Web Workers Used Unwavering Principles, Boundless Frustration, and NERF Basketball To Form Their Own Business.”
Quitting at day job and starting a business is something we all want to do. So it should be a good time to hear how these two accomplished that.
If you are planning to go RSVP by sending an email to info@refreshpittsburgh.org or visit RefreshPittsburgh.org.
This Monday, April 13th, 2009, from 9 to 11AM, all the writers that blog for Startup Pittsburgh will be attending Open Coffee Club at AlphaLab. If you’re interested in the Pittsburgh startup community, feel free to drop by and say hello.
The Open Coffee Club was started to encourage entrepreneurs, developers, and investors to organize real-world informal meetups to chat, network, and grow. This is a place to meet people, find out what’s going on nearby you, and then take part. Imagine it as a big open lounge where people come and go, talk to others in their industry, and informally showcase demos of what they are working on. The main goal of Open Coffee is to make investment more transparent to entrepreneurs, and to move away from the formalized “pitch” to an open conversation. Investors can give entrepreneurs really valuable feedback, and this environment is meant to foster that in a pressure-free way.
