First-ever Maine Startup and Create Week to showcase entrepreneurs and innovators
CONTRIBUTED
When asked about the goal of Maine Startup and Create Week, organizer Jess Knox puts it eloquently: “To engineer serendipitous collisions between people, ideas and resources.”
The inaugural conference kicked off last night and will continue through June 20 in Portland, with over 40 events and more than 100 speakers to celebrate innovators, entrepreneurs and startups in Maine. So far, approximately 575 people are registered to attend. And combined with the conference’s speakers, some are coming from all across the country.
Knox, who previously worked for the U.S. Small Business Administration and now consults for businesses as president of Olympico Strategies, told Mainebiz that he conceived the idea of Maine Startup and Create Week after helping run the first two Portland Startup Weekend events last year. During that period, he said he realized there should be a larger umbrella event for the variety of events already happening that celebrate entrepreneurship.
“The goal is to provide a showcase for Maine entrepreneurs and companies,” he said, ”and [to allow them] to talk about themselves to [people from Maine and beyond.]”
On Thursday night, the conference began with the PROPEL Entreverge Young Entrepreneur Awards ceremony, where five local startups were honored out of 45 nominees, according to the Portland Press Herald. Starting tonight, around 50 to 60 people will gather for the Portland’s third Startup Weekend, where they will form into team and develop ideas into business plans over a 48-hour-period that finishes with a pitch session for judges.
Over the next several days, the conference will host a number of panels and networking events at various venues across Portland. Panel topics include emerging funding models for startups, marine innovation, how to build economies and communities that support startups and innovation and innovations in sustainable food systems.
Knox isn’t shy when boasting about Maine’s growing startup community as he promotes the conference he conceived last year. In promotional materials for Maine Startup and Create Week, a long list goes through why he and others feel so passionate about the state’s “small but growing community” of innovators and entrepreneurs.
For instance, the list refers to a 2012 study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that ranked Maine No. 13 for entrepreneurial activity across the country. In the same year, the list notes, Maine Angels was ranked the 10th most active angel investor group in the country. The list also points to a new bill signed into law this year that lets businesses raise up to $1 million through “crowd investing” with fewer restrictions than pending national rules.
“A lot of people [from out-of-state] think we’re just about lobsters and tourism,” he said. “I’m here to tell them we’re a world-class state of people and companies.”
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