April showers (snow or rain) will eventually bring May flowers. While we are waiting for those flowers to sprout, there are a whole lot of events happening in Pittsburgh this month. From StartUp Weekend to the Dirty Ball – there is plenty to do in Pittsburgh this month.
votePGH events : May 21st is Election Day in the city of Pittsburgh. Voters will head to the polls to choose the next mayor. There are lots of events where you can meet the candidates and learn more about their visions for the city of Pittsburgh. We’ve included some of the mayoral forums below. If you know of other candidate events – please let us know in the comments.
INCH BY INCH, BLOCK BY BLOCK – A 1″ Button Art Show Opening
Location: Roboto Project
Over 250 pins will be on display
There will be a new slate of ROBOTO pins and new custom pins from (at least) five local artists including Max Traffic, Mike Q Roth, Jes LaVecchia, Andy Scott and Dave Scheponik.
The Scrimmage in the Rustbelt is about supporting and accelerating businesses based in the Rustbelt region that are striving to improve our community and environment. Learn Google’s method for rapid prototyping through an interactive day of problem solving with the region’s top entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Location: Union Project 801 N. Negley Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15206
For a $10 donation, SOUP N’AT attendees receive a tasty meal and a ballot. All proceeds are pooled into a cash award. Artists present their ideas, and attendees cast their votes to determine which proposal will receive funding. The winning proposal is announced at the conclusion of the evening.
Andrew Butcher, Executive Director of GTECH (Growth Through Energy & Community Health) which works in Larimer, the North Side, and all around Pittsburgh, doing land reclamation will speak at this monthly meetup.
This is a panel discussion on the possibilities of indie publishing in the age of Amazon. Two touring NYC writer/publishers will be on the panel, along with three Pittsburgh small press folks.
Location: Welker Room, James Laughlin Music Hall, Chatham University
Join Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates & PAC and candidates for the Pittsburgh Mayoral race and City Council candidates for an in depth conversation about the status of women in Pittsburgh and their plans to support and improve issues that affect women in our community
The following is a guest post from Eric Silver who is the founder of the Pittsburgh based company WebKite. I have crossed paths with Eric a few times over the past couple of years – coincidentally I think I may have first been introduced to him at Bacon Night at the Harris Grill (All good things on this blog related back to bacon night). Over the past few months I have been learning more about WebKite and how to use their tools to build some more great and Pittsburghy features for IheartPGH. You can learn more about WebKite and sign up to create your own kite at webkite.com/beta.
Today is also a good day to share this post from Eric because the Post-Gazette published a great article checking in on some of the companies that got their start at the last Pittsburgh StartUp Weekend in October – #ixzz2I9s8WmIu ” target=”_blank”>Less than a year after the first Pittsburgh Startup Weekend, firms make strides. Keep an eye on ThinkTiv, a Pittbsurgh and Austin based venture accelerator, and some of the companies that they are working with. Paul Burke who heads ThinkTiv’s Pittsburgh based office is working hard to help launch more successful companies in the Pittsburgh area.
I have participated in both of the Pittsburgh StartUp weekends and it has been an incredible experience to meet a whole new group of Pittsburghers. I am so happy to see that the folks from Thoughtful Husband are still working on their business idea. Another one of the teams from the last Pittsburgh StartUp weekend is MegaBits App – you can learn more about their business idea and support their Kickstarter project here.
Eric Silver speaking at StartUp Weekend Pittsburgh
Eric Silver was the keynote speaker at the October 2012 Startup weekend – check out some of his thoughts on the state of the Pittsburgh startup scene:
I was fortunate to have the chance to take the stage at Pittsburgh Startup Weekend this year – front and center in front of 140 Pittsburgh entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs had paid to trade their weekend for a chance to work to build something meaningful. To put this in perspective, this was the second Pittsburgh Startup Weekend and attendance nearly doubled from last year’s 80. While it’s a small sample size, it’s a good indication of the startup culture in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh, which has done wonders to break free of its rust belt heritage, has reinvented itself to become a livable city, facilitate a biking infrastructure, and most recently a center of innovation. Growing up in Sunnyvale, California, I watched cherry orchards slowly replaced by Apple. I saw technology come to fruition and exceed my wildest expectations. And yet, I chose to grow my startup in Pittsburgh – a city that reminds me of what my hometown looked like as a kid; full of promise, technology, and people ready to take a chance.
Why the shift? To start, the Internet has broken down all geographical barriers, but it’s much more than that. Pittsburgh was a city founded on a series of rivers and mountains of coal. The wrinkle of rivers in Pittsburgh created micro-cultures and a city with multiple identities. Because of these resources and opportunities many entrepreneurial folks scattered to these regions creating a rich legacy. From that, Pittsburgh is home to magnificent museums and an eclectic culture. More obvious, Pittsburgh hosts a set of Universities, yielding generations of thinkers.
The challenge that Pittsburgh faces is that the selfsame legacy created a mental model of how business works. That mental model expects capital-intensive businesses with a quick path to profitability, while the web presents us with lean startups, quick iterations, and a series of opportunities to learn. Too many early entrepreneurs, after having their learnings dubbed “failures”, leave for greener pastures and build their networks in California or New York. Without local leadership, recent graduates follow, leaving the local startup scene fallow. For a long time Pittsburgh couldn’t figure out how to enable successful local businesses to attract capital, mentor new companies, and for entrepreneurs with experience under their belts (but no success) to continue to grow their local networks.
We’re currently at a tipping point. Startups are sticking around Pittsburgh instead of exiting for the coast. Some entrepreneurs are starting their second company in Pittsburgh while several notable examples bridge the local market for talent to remote markets for talent. Our startup community is fragmented with pieces near the Universities, others near AlphaLab, and yet others distributed through sparsely populated areas created by well-meaning government incentives. And yet, these pieces do compose a thriving whole. Pittsburgh, an early home to the AlphaLab incubator, is expecting a number of new hardware incubators, has seen new co-working spaces springing up, and is starting to retain a caste of experienced entrepreneurs.
Much like how Pittsburgh once attracted the cream of the crop with its natural resources, we’re seeing a renaissance in technology and investments. The climate is right for Pittsburgh to propagate a series of successfully funded startups. What is apparent is a sudden explosion of new incubators, spaces, and entrepreneurs, the change has been gradual and the opportunity remains vast.
This weekend is the 2nd Pittsburgh StartUp Weekend – teams have 72 hours to create a business. The fun starts on Friday night and teams work all day Saturday and Sunday – the weekend concludes on Sunday evening with presentations to judges.
If you would like to attend and see the final presentations on Sunday afternoon – Tickets are still available here.
My team has created a business called InvenStory – the idea is a super simple app that lets you create an inventory of stuff you own.
WE NEED YOUR HELP – part of our presentation to the judges on Sunday is getting user feedback – if you could help us with any or all of the following by Sunday, September 23 at Noon – we would greatly appreciate your help.
Take Our Survey – CLICK HERE to fill out a quick survey with what options you think would be most helpful
Let us interview you – Sunday AM – we would love to get your feedback on our idea – if you are in the East Liberty area – coffee and donuts on us! email iheartpgh@gmail.com if you are available for an interview.
