Looking for a Co-Founder in Austin? We have a Meetup for you!
The second Co-Founders Meetup happened this past Thursday, February, 17 and it was a good turn over; 65 people showed up forming a good crowd of entrepreneurs and techies. We had 9 people pitch their startups, and looking for everything from developers, designers, marketing and sales people.
The goal of this meetup is to get the techies and the business types in one room and let them talk to each other. Yes, when we all get along and hang out together, great things happen!
IF YOU ARE AN ENTREPRENEUR…
The Co-Founders Meetup works like this, if you are an entrepreneur and are looking for help building your software application, selling it and market it then you apply to pitch and pay $10.00. Relax, no one is getting rich with this, we use the money to pay for the food, drinks and other items needed for the meeting. We don’t serve pizza… we take it up a notch. You get to pitch for 3 minutes and show 3 slides, read the instructions here. It is OK to have 4 slides if you are using one to display your company name. It is strongly suggested to add your contact information to the last slide, make sure your name, email, twitter and phone number are visible, you want people to contact you if they are interested in your startup correct? Make it easy for people to contact you.
IF YOU ARE DEVELOPER…
If you are a developer, a designer, an IT person or the like, you get to attend this meetup for free, that is right, you get to drink and eat for free! We provide a variety of beers, wine, sodas and water, so there is something for everyone. The real benefit is that you get to attend a meetup where half of the people are successful entrepreneurs looking for people with the skills you have! This is better than looking for a job at a job site or a job fair. Basically, entrepreneurs are pitching their startup to you, to the audience. If you are interested in working with one of them or actually becoming a co-founder then all you do is approach them after the presentations where you can talk to them over a beer.
THE NETWORKING…
There are basically two chances to network at the Co-Founders Meetup, people start to show up at 6:30PM and we wait until everyone is there to start with the pitches, usually at 7PM. After the presentations we go back to the networking area where we can have another drink, eat something and chat with each other. Most people stay at least another hour or more (as it has been the case for the last two meetings). I have left the Meetup after 10PM on both occasions.
The Co-Founders Meetup is a great place to meet like-minded people and more importantly, a place to find the help you’ll be looking for, such as a developer, designer, marketing, business development, etc… Also, if all you have is an idea, come and pitch it to the group, perhaps someone would be interested and would help you make it a reality. Also, pitching to this group is a great way to practice your pitch before you pitch to potential investors, etc…
The next Co-Founders Austin Meetup is going to be in April, we hope to see you there!