To kick off December, Curiosity Lab held Curious Connections on December 1, our first startup learning day event where attendees heard from VCs, industry leaders, Unicorns and more to aid in the launch and growth of their businesses. With more than 80 signups, the event was filled with startups from all verticals and all stages of growth. Serving as a learning and development day for entrepreneurs, Curiosity Lab wanted to use this event to not only show our support for Atlanta’s growing startup ecosystem, but also to showcase the abundance of resources that innovation centers, such as Curiosity Lab, can provide through our startup program partners. In addition, one lucky startup was awarded 6 free months of hot desk space in the Curiosity Lab from the event raffle.
Held in Curiosity Lab’s innovation center event space, the event started with a networking luncheon sponsored by our partner T-Mobile, where attendees mingled with other startups, panelists and startup program partners.
Following the luncheon, Curiosity Lab Executive Director Brandon Branham welcomed everyone to the event and handed passed the mic to Curiosity Lab Strategic Partnership and Brand Ambassador Mike Caudill.
Here, Mike moderated our first panel discussing how to build a long-term business plan and well-rounded team. Pannelists Jim Schutz, Shane Matthews and Justin Daniels highlighted key legal, patent, cybersecurity and business development tips that many startups may not prioritize or will miss during their beginning stages of development.
The second panel, moderated by Curiosity Lab PR and Strategy representative Kelsey Neely, discussed how startups can successfully make the jump from the startup to revenue phase. Panelists Kurt Baumberger, Justin Robinson and Andrew Armour shared their own experiences in launching startups, sharing insight into when to know it’s time to scale, how to scale and how to prepare your team accordingly.
After a short break, the event kicked off panel number three, moderated by Curiosity Lab Strategic Partnerships representative Jay Sinclair. Here, panelists Clayton Tino, Nick Marcarelli and Drew Bellcock tackled the complex topic of how to raise capital, how to choose the right VC for your company and how first-timers can navigate this space.
Following raising capital was a session focusing on how to craft a winning VC pitch, moderated by Kelsey, with panelists Jacey Cadet, VP of Marketing and Community at Atlanta Ventures, Dr. Caroline Ford, Investor Connect Catalyst at ATDC and Christopher Lindenau, CEO of Fusus. The panel kicked off with a pitching how-to deck, highlighting the 10 key slides you need for a full VC pitch, followed by advice on how to develop an elevator pitch and how to move a successful elevator pitch to the next step.
The last session, moderated by Curiosity Lab Operations Manager Valerie Chang, interviewed Curiosity Lab’s startup program partners at ATDC, T-Mobile, OVHcloud US, Shadow-Soft and Single Mom Network, to round out the event with Curiosity Lab startup resources. Francois Giraud, Bob Siegel, Nick Marcarelli, Tiana McNeil and Taujuanna Ware each highlighted their program offerings to startups here at Curiosity Lab and answered questions regarding their services.
After a day full of learning and panels, we wrapped up the event with OVHcloud US’ networking happy hour, which also celebrated OVHcloud’s one-year partner anniversary at the Curiosity Lab. While startups networking with unicorns, VCs, panelist and Curiosity Lab program partners, we also announced the winner of the event raffle.
This was an incredible event, and we are very excited to see how this event series further develops in 2023. Thank you to our incredible sponsors, T-Mobile and OVHcloud US, our panelists and attendees for making this event possible! To see the full agenda and schedule of events, visit the Curious Connections page here.
If you missed our December 1 Curious Connections event, do not worry. We are excited to share we are going to make this as series of events in 2023. Our next Curious Connections event will be held in March 2023 with additional details to come!
If you did attend the December 1 Curious Connections event, we would love to hear your feedback. If you have any topic or speaker requests or event suggestions, please reach out to Valerie Chang at valerie@curiositylabptc.com!