It's hard outside of Silicon Valley for startup founders. Or, at least that's the idea behind Nibletz's Everywhere Else Conference Series, which wields a goal of helping startup entrepreneurs outside of California's Bay Area. This weekend the conference is making its second ever stop, bringing together 1,000-plus entrepreneurs, investors and startups to Cincinnati for a temporary hub of innovation and startup celebration.
Everywhere Else Cincinnati is a big deal for the D.C. startup ecosystem for a few reasons. Most importantly, leaders in the D.C. startup world are largely taking part in the conference. In total, of the dozens of speakers to address audiences throughout the weekend, four of them are from Washington: Jonathon Perrelli, founder of Fortify Ventures; John Bracken, founder of e-vite and Speek; Carla Valdes, a general partner at Fortify Ventures; and Justin Gutwein, the producer and director of the documentary startupland.
These local startup leaders will travel the more than 500 miles to Cincy to offer their anecdotes of struggle and success in an area that just recently has again become a growing blip on the startup hub radar. Founder of Nibletz and the Everywhere Else Conference Series Kyle Sandler said these speakers will be following up a great D.C. crew at the first conference in Memphis earlier this year, which included Scott Case and Danny Boice.
Perrelli and Gutwein will be focusing their engagements on the startupland documentary, which spotlights startups out of Perrelli's Fort, an accelerator in conjunction with Fortify Ventures. Valdes, according to Sandler, is scheduled to speak about "getting past the gatekeeper" both as a entrepreneur and a woman. And Bracken, much like his Speek co-founder Boice, is generally very supportive of startups across the country, and spends much of his time traveling to lend a hand where he can be of assistance, Sandler said.
Obviously, having the four travel and speak at the conference – essentially acting as mentors to other attendees struggling with the same lack of resources – is a great sign for D.C.'s advancement as a startup hub.
"DC Tech and the DMV has been very supportive of Nibletz and our conferences," Sandler said. "Danny Boice, Sarah Ware and Scott Case all spoke at our inaugural Everywhere Else Conference in Memphis last year. The DC group this year in Cincinnati is great as well. That's part of the reason the DMV is at the very top of our list for a summer 2014 event"
Additionally, Everywhere Else is the equivalent of the Occupy movement's 99 percent. It's everyone outside of the startup "in." Not that it's a fight or there's any bad blood, but there's certainly a barrier between Silicon Valley and everyone else. Everywhere Else, though, attempts to gives smaller, growing hubs like D.C. the nationwide community to foster growth, something we all need.
Oh, and D.C. startup Bracketeers is presenting at Everywhere Else Cincinnati's Startup Ave. Put another point on the board for the Capital.
