StartupCampMontreal – May 6, 2010

It’s time againg for a road trip to Montreal. Phil Telio and his crew of supporters (John Stokes, Austin Hill and Sylvain Carle) are hosting another must attend startup event in Montreal. The event is shaping up to have 2 components:

1. Participant-driven Conference – starting at 1pm
2. Keynote & Pitches – starting at 6pm

Unconference

The participant-driven event, aka the “unconference”, is one of the best parts. The idea is that the schedule is determined by the attendees. There will be technologists, lawyers, funders, marketers, designers and others. The question is what do you want to talk about? NoSQL technologies. Mobile implications for social gaming mechanics. Legals of fund raising in Canada without Section 116. I’ve heard that Dave McClure is planning on doing “an exercise in entrepreneurial improv theatre”. I first saw Half-Baked dot com at ETech’07. It’s an incredibly fun engaging way to learn how to quickly build companies, business models and pitches without the constraints usually imposed by making it your own business.

Keynote & Pitches

The evening event is essential cocktails and pitches. Highlighting the event is Dave McClure’s keynote.

Dave McClure has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years as a software developer, entrepreneur, startup advisor, angel investor, blogger, & internet marketing nerd.  Dave currently runs a seed-stage investment program for Founders Fund, and also manages the fbFund REV social incubator.  His passion is helping startups with marketing, product strategy, and startup metrics, and he has been an advisor or investor in more than 40 companies including: Mint.com (acquired by Intuit), SlideShare, Mashery, TeachStreet, KISSmetrics, Simply Hired, Twilio, Bit.ly, UserVoice, and CreditKarma, among others.

Following the keynote there will 5 pitch/presentation/demo spots. Traditionally StartupCampMontreal presentations have been very pitch focused. I think there is an opportunity for a presenter to really rock this venue. Thing about this as a chance to build demand and generate excitement about your startup. It’s a chance to get feedback about a part of your business. Whether that is your fund raising pitch, your product demo, or other. I’d start by looking at TechCrunch50, Demo, and others for inspiration. You want to win the giveway. Trust me you want to win the giveaway.

Giveaway

The StartupCampMontreal organizers are giving away a ticket for Geeks on a Plane Asia. What the hell is geeks on a plane? It sounds like a bad movie that stars Samuel Jackson. Playing the role of Samuel Jackson is Dave McClure.  The goal of Geeks on a Plane is a great one. It’s to get you out of your comfort zone. To force entrpreneurs to travel to meet investors, customers, entrepreneurs in other countries, and gain insight and connections that can be used to further your business. It’s a great event in the safety of the company of other geeks like you.

• Meet startups, geeks, & investors in cities around the world.
• Learn about trends in internet, mobile, and other tech platforms.
• Gain insight into local markets, demographics, business models.
• Meet cool people, new ventures, have fun on planes, trains, buses.

I’m an entreprenur and this sounds AWESOME! How do I win? You need to apply to present at StartupCampMontreal6. One of the presenting companies will be selected to get some mentoring from Dave McClure and a ticket to travel with Geeks on a Plane.