Tallahassee, FL – With three top-tier colleges and a host of community partners stimulating a vast, diverse pool of intellectual and labor capital, Tallahassee is uniquely situated to serve as a destination for business, capital, talent, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
The Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, the nation’s first stand-alone college of entrepreneurship, spearheaded Tallahassee Startup Week (TSW) to be a celebration of entrepreneurs in the Big Bend ecosystem that connects motivated professionals with resources, education, and opportunity.
TSW kicks off on Monday, November 18th, with an opening reception at the Jim Moran Building featuring guest speakers Mayor Dailey, President Thrasher, and Commissioner Rick Minor.
The schedule of events picks up on Tuesday the 19th with the Office of Economic Vitality (OEV) leading an ideation workshop on Solving Startup Financing in Tallahassee. Richard Fetchick of OEV and Matt Johnson, managing partner of Johnson Venture Partners, will lead the workshop along with John Wilcox from Diatech Diabetes Technology. After OEV, Innovation Park will host its TechTopics on the annual $3.7B federal grant funding program available as seed capital to startups: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR). For those interested in nonprofit businesses, the Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence will close Tuesday with Nonprofit 101 where Felina Martin, Executive Director of the Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence (INIE), will review the step by step process to becoming a 501(c)(3). INIE will also provide a helpful toolkit.
Domi Station will open Wednesday morning the 20th with 1 Million Cups. Two teams of entrepreneurs will present their business to an audience of audience of mentors, advisors, and entrepreneurs. Wednesday afternoon is action packed with the Jim Moran College hosting its annual 7 Under 30 panel and celebration of alumni. An afterparty follows the 7 under 30 celebration.
On Thursday the 21st, Domi Station will host a design sprint workshop where participants will get to work collaboratively to rapidly mock up and prototype ideas and concepts. Also on Thursday evening, Lisa Boyd, the senior manager of corporate impact at LYFT, will video into the JMB from California to present on social entrepreneurship.
TSW wraps up on Saturday, November 23rd with a full schedule of awesome. Saturday morning will display a vibrant festive showcase of entrepreneurs in the Big Bend ecosystem at the Entrepreneur Showcase. After the showcase event, TSW will host its first pitch competition with $500 in prizes and $1,000 in legal services at the Tallahassee Community College Center for Innovation (CFI). The pitch competition is sponsored by Polsinelli. Following the pitch competition, Milton Vescovacci and Curt Bender will present to TSW attendees on hot legal topics for entrepreneurs. TSW will wrap up with Law Day at FSU Law where TSW attendees can connect with attorneys from Polsinelli.
Visit www.entrepreneurshiptallahassee.com for the schedule of events. Also, connect with Tallahassee Startup Week by downloading the mobile app Startup Space from the App Store or Google Play.
TSW partners include Entrepreneurship Tallahassee; Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship at FSU; Tallahassee Community College; Innovation Park; Domi Station; Institute for Nonprofit Innovation and Excellence; The Pod Advertising; For The Table Hospitality; Working Class Wednesday; Women Wednesday; Office of Economic Vitality; Community Redevelopment Authority; Downtown Tallahassee.