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Wrapping up Cincinnati’s Second Startup Week

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Last year, Cincinnati Startup Week was this biggest event the community had ever put on – so big, in fact, that one of the biggest suggestions from guests was to scale down. People wanted a more-accessible schedule, better content and more chances to connect with the StartupCincy community. So the planners did just that.

However, with half the number of sessions on the calendar, just as many showed up for Startup Week 2018 – and the reviews came in positive. A crowded schedule gave way to 30-minute breaks between sessions, Monday-Thursday, and a crossover with OCEAN’s conference on Friday of the week. It was the sign of true collaboration throughout Cincinnati’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

From VR demos to valuation chalk talks to the unveil of a new Tech Census in Cincinnati – here’s everything you might have missed at 2018’s Startup Week.

Day 1 — Starting & Establishing

What went down:

Cincinnati’s second Startup Week kicked off with a bang! Headlined by Steven Boal (Founder and Executive Chairman of Quotient), the day’s first session packed the Beer Hall full of nearly 200 of early-arrivers at Startup Week. Later, one of the second largest audiences of the day gathered in the Beer Hall to hear the Main Street Ventures Story, where co-founder Tony Alexander surprised the audience with the announcement of a new Executive Director – Pete Brown. Speakers packed Union Hall full throughout the rest of the day, telling stories from women in the digital field, minority breweries and more. And to wrap it all up, Startup Week opened up the bar at 3 Points Brewery to celebrate the first day – and network!

Highlights:

Day 2 — Activate & Accelerate

What went down:

It’s always tough to match the excitement and energy from the first day of Startup Week – however, Startup Week had the Hillman Demo Day to ratchet things up again. Memorial Hall was filled with 200 participants eager to see the graduation of Hillman’s second cohort. After the morning at Hillman, one of the week’s highest-rated sessions took place in the Union Hall Beer Hall, with Dhani Jones telling the story of StartupCincy-made ActionStreamer. And to put a bow on the day, CROWNMOB founder Rico Grant led an “Accelerator Alumni” session during Tuesday night’s happy hour at Rosedale.

Highlights:

Day 3 — Accomplish & Give Back

What went down:

More people came in and out of Union Hall on Wednesday than any other day – and for good reason. The week’s most-streamed session (over 300 views!) led the AM programming as FC Cincinnati General Manager Jeff Berding talked about FCC’s StartupCincy story. A panel comprised of StartupCincy’s most-passionate techies told all about what they thought it took to scale a startup in the Queen City – and it turned out to be Wednesday’s top attended in-person session. And Wednesday wrapped up with a special IoT Pitch Night Event sponsored by Main Street Ventures and Losant with winners taking home $8,000 in cash!

Highlights:

 

Day 4 — Choose Your Own Adventure

What went down:

How do you go out in style at Startup Week? How does a AR/VR “circus” sound? That’s exactly what the Cintrifuse team had happen with the November installment of the Tech Frontier Series. With keynote speaker Lily Otron at the helm and a slew of StartupCincy’s AR/VR startups packing the room full with experiential learning and bleeding-edge tech– it’s needless to say that the Beer Hall was buzzing all Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon was Startup Week’s “baton passing” as it was called amongst organizers – a chance for the focus to shift from Union Hall and towards the OCEAN Conference at Crossroads Oakley. As Cintrifuse VP Eric Weissman said at the Startup Week / OCEAN crossover session, “anyone at either of these events are change-makers who have a healthy disrespect for the status quo.” And that’s what StartupCincy is all about.

Highlights:

So about those numbers…

Startup Week was another BIG spotlight on StartupCincy and all those who inhabit it. Despite cutting the number of sessions in HALF (based on feedback) from last year – we still had just as many registrants, even better feedback and the highest-rated Startup Week yet!

  • 1,110+ unique registrants (70% of whom were only “somewhat” familiar with StartupCincy before the week)
  • 5,500+ attendees (livestream + in-person)
  • 9.1/10 average session rating
  • +5 million social media impressions
  • 1,400 tweets
  • 63 sessions

See you all next year at Startup Week 2019!

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