Are you in or around Brisbane on the 28th of August? I am and I am going to be heading along to codeSmash!
codeSmash is a fun event for developers to come together and build innovative products, solve programming challenges and code new solutions to existing problems.
No matter what your skill level is, any and all developers and programming enthusiasts will enjoy this opportunity to learn and code with new ideas in creative ways.
Whether you want to show off your skills, learn something new, add to your portfolio, create new products or just have fun with other programmers, codeSmash is the place to be.
Plus, FREE PIZZA will be provided to all attendees!
WHEN IS IT?
It starts at 1PM on the 28th of August (Sunday)
WHERE IS IT?
It will be held at QUT in S Block, on Level 5
MORE INFORMATION
To find out more about codeSmash and to RSVP, go to www.codesmash.com.au
See you there!!
Its been nearly 5 months since we last held a Startup Camp! I don’t know about you but I am really looking forward to being involved in yet another one of these fantastic events.
What is a Startup Camp?
A Startup Camp is an intense event – not for the faint hearted. It brings together a combination of technical and business advice to help early stage startups bring an idea to proof of concept stage over an intensive 3 day period. The teams receive 1 day of technical training by Microsoft and Industry experts and then we also sprinkle the weekend with sessions from business experts to help develop the idea and provide advice around taking the solution to market & pitching for funding. Advisors will provide business advice and pitching coaching.
What’s in it for me?
Day 1: Attendees will receive an Intensive Deep Dive in Azure thanks to Steve Nagy Readify Senior Consultant and Azure MVP . He will provide attendees with a business and technical overview of the Windows Azure Platform
Day 2 & 3 are all about building your application. There will be many experts on hand to help you get your application up & running. You will have support with the presentation and delivery of your pitch with several practice run throughs scheduled across the weekend.
At the end of Day 3 you will be pitching to a panel of Judges and investors to win some awesome prizes including Xbox Kinect bundles and a PR piece for your business that will be featured in an exclusive interview in a technology publication!
Our Judging panel currently includes:
Gordon Bell (Principal Researcher at Microsoft , co-developer of the Bell-Mason Diagnostic and has also been involved with startup companies, investing time and/or money in over 100 companies),
Mark Pesce (writer, researcher, engineer, futurist and teacher – but most commonly known as Judge from The New Inventors) and
Sebestien Eckersley-Maslin (Founder of Venture Technology firm Blue Chilli investing in startups, Anthill 30under30 winner 2008 & 2010, top UNSW researcher, Kidpreneur mentor).
More details on the panel to be announced soon….
Throughout the weekend, the Microsoft Marketing team will be involved in helping you mould & define a marketing plan around your product and as you work towards your final pitch on Sunday evening. There will also be business tips & tricks sessions and technical experts on hand to help you really get your application humming along!
So, if you are interested in getting a days intensive training for Azure, then taking advantage of the technical, business and marketing experts on hand throughout the weekend to build a proof of concept and prove your business idea – This event is for you!
So…… I’m a Startup! How much does an awesome event like this cost to attend?
The event is free to attend.
Any costs incurred as part of attending the event are not covered.
Where & When is it Being held?
Friday 9th September 9am – 5pm
Saturday 10th September 9am – 7pm (ish) Its up to you when you stop work but we will have to vacate the premises!
Sunday 11th September 9am – 7pm (With drinks , nibblies & networking after the judging is announced)
The event will be held will be in Sydney – but at this stage we are still finalising the details of the location – stay tuned!
We Provide
You Provide
We look forward to seeing you there!
Register Now >
If you would like to volunteer to be involved in the weekend event or present a business session – please email your details to Catherine Eibner
PS – please register soon as places are limited
Events
AIIA National Awards 4th August 2011 Palladium Crown Melbourne Australia A big congratulations to BizSpark companies 99Dresses, Rome2Rio, CaterXpress and Ezi Data Solutions who have all won their State Finals and now make it to the National awards ceremony in Melbourne this week. Tickets to the Awards are still available – see here for more details
The Entourage Unconvention 6th August, 2011 Melbourne Australia The Young Entrepreneurs Unconvention is on again! This event is the coming together of Australia's top entrepreneurs, leading brands, executives and under 35 entrepreneurs. As part of Microsoft's ongoing partnership with The Entourage, we're giving away 8 double passes to the event! CLICK HERE to get yours while they're available. The Young Entrepreneurs Unconvention is Australia's largest event for young entrepreneurs and the upcoming speakers include; Matt Barrie, BRW Entrepreneur of The Year and Ruslan Kogan of The BRW Young Rich List. CLICK HERE to secure one of the 8 double passes.
Entrepreneurs Night Out (Sydney) 11th August, 2011 Sydney, Australia Are you an Innovative Business Owner Based in New South Wales With a passion for business and a desire to meet other like-minded business builders? If so, you are invited to join Anthill's 'Entrepreneur's Night Out' at our secret location Sydney location on Thursday 11 August 2011 (6pm-9pm). This time the super rockstar Ruslan Kogan will be the guest speaker. Book online here http://enokogan.eventbrite.com/
AnzaTech G-Score Events 11th/15th August 2011 Adelaide and Melbourne The G/SCORE, developed by leading global market analyst Chris Shipley of the Guidewire Group, is a standardized method to assess a startup as it grows from initial concept to scalable enterprise. It's designed to accurately and consistently assess companies regardless of their stage, market segment and geography. When you get your G/SCORE, you will be able to benchmark your company against thousands of companies worldwide, you'll get actionable, unbiased feedback about your strengths and opportunities. Find out how your startup or early-stage company is positioned on the global stage and be in the running for the 2011 Innovate!100 list of the world's best performing startups at our G/SCORE Pitch Slams. Don't miss out! Register now
PushStart Mentor Live! Sydney 16th August 2011 Sydney Startups - come and meet some of the PushStart mentor team and book yourself in for 1-on-1 sessions (i.e. 1 startup team per mentor), lasting 15 minutes each, with mentors of your choosing. GET ALL THE DETAILS HERE
Don't know what Mentor Live! is? CLICK HERE to check out how the last Mentor Live! went down
Tech23 August 23rd, 2011 Sydney Australia Once again congratulations to the 8 BizSpark members who have made it to the Elite tech 23 for this year: Centryc Solutions, Cinergix, Effective Measure, Go Catch, Kaggle, Orion VM, Roamz and ZeroMail.
You too can join the industry's brightest and best-connected at Tech23 2011 and be part of making innovation happen! With loads of time for networking - meet and be inspired by some amazing entrepreneurs, inventors and IT gurus. And just when you think the day can't get any better - soak up the festive spirit with old and new friends at the evening Awards Celebration event - and see who walks away with the $150,000 in cash prizes thanks to the NSW Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services. See more info here: http://www.tech23.com.au/
Tech ED Australia 2011 August 28 - September 2, 2011 Gold Coast, Queensland Australia Tech•Ed is the conference that can help you solve today's real-world IT challenges and prepare for tomorrow's innovations. Now it's coming to New Zealand. From hands-on learning to deep product exploration and opportunities to connect with industry and Microsoft experts one-to-one there's no better place to hone your craft. You can See info here and register here.
BUILD 2011 September 13-16, 2011 Anaheim, CA USA Discover how Windows 8 will change everything - make plans to attend BUILD, a Microsoft event that will show modern hardware and software designers how to take advantage of the future. Pre-conference sessions will be held September 12. Register now so you don't miss a moment!
News
PushStart Mentor Connect now Live + Major Sponsor Announced - Microsoft The big news is that Mentor Connect has gone through beta testing and is now open to the public. That means that if you're a startup or mentor that wants to be involved with PushStart, no matter where you are in Australia, you're more than welcome to come and apply.
Mentor Connect is a unique solution to the startup growth problem and there's interest from all over the world in how it goes, so we're very excited be officially live. I am also excited to announce that Microsoft is the new major sponsor for PushStart - Microsoft.
Microsoft has been a keen supported of the local tech startup community and we're excited to be working with the guys at PushStart.
Angel Cube Each startup that joins AngelCube will receive $20,000 seed capital, office space, travel opportunities and mentorship from some of Melbourne's most experienced web entrepreneurs (a community we're only just starting to build!) You can read more about the program & terms here and view key dates here. Applying is simple. There's no powerpoint, no video pitches and no 5 year financial models required. Simply fill out the form on our website and we'll notify you if you'd made it to the shortlist for an interview. For more information visit the website or email us at hello@angelcube.com. We look forward to helping make Melbourne a better place to build a startup!
Silicon Beach Drinks expands to Melbourne & Wollongong Silicon Beach Drinks started off in Sydney (and still happens every Friday night at Bar 77 at The Grace Hotel in the City) and is now spreading to other cities. The Melbourne Silicon Beach Drinks is now happening on the First Thursday of every month (see here), while the Wollongong Silicon Beach drinks is also now happening each Thursday night at the Hotel Illawarra (See here for details & the Mascot)
Sydney Startup Weekend Wraps The worldwide phenomenon of Startup Weekends hit Australia recently – with the first event in Melbourne a few months ago, followed by the Sydney event last weekend. 80 participants (spread over 13 teams) gathered on Friday evening, formed teams, built Proof of concepts and some even locked in their first customers! The competition was tough but the winner was @GetClassMate which officially launched their solution on the Monday morning. Their idea was to provide a collaborative consumption/sharing platform for teachers to share their lesson plans. Congratulations to Jesse Black & the team.
MEGA Pitch Fest Wraps The last 13 weeks of work of the mentors that have supported the NSW MEGA program culminated in the Pitchfest held on Thursday at the Australian Technology Park. The 12 high calibre teams pitched to a panel of judges and investors. Congratulations to Sajari with their clever multi word/level search tool for Recruitment who took out the grand prize.
BizSpark Company Rome2Rio Launches their Carbon Offset Rome2Rio is an Australian Startup company that allows you to calculate how to get from A to B via multi-modal travel options. They have just released their carbon neutral travel feature to its offering with a partnership with Offset Options.
This means that you can now compare the carbon footprint of every travel option available, at the same time as comparing the price of the different options. You can then decide which option to take to make your trip carbon neutral! Nice!
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Resources
Windows Azure Marketplace available in Australia in September! The Windows Azure Marketplace is a global online market for customers and partners to share, buy, and sell finished SaaS applications and premium datasets. Whether you are looking for new customers for your Windows Azure based application or datasets, or are seeking new Windows Azure solutions to power your business, the Windows Azure Marketplace is a one-stop location supported by Microsoft to help you succeed.
It’s time to start thinking about how to get your Application and dataset published to the Marketplace! https://datamarket.azure.com/publishing