Each day is designed to solve some of the most common problems encountered when creating, starting, growing and exiting a company.
Monday is for anyone looking to become their own boss or avoid common startup mistakes caused by doing things in the wrong order and has two keynote speakers.
Tuesday is for anyone looking to get into an accelerator program, gain early traction, get their first customers, or generate initial sales and has a kick-off speaker, five sales experts on a panel, Ask Me Anything sessions with top sales experts, and a pitch competition.
Wednesday is for anyone looking to attract early-stage investors sooner, hire their first salesperson or build a highly effective and scalable sales team and has a kick-off speaker, five sales experts on a panel, Ask Me Anything sessions with top sales experts, and a pitch competition.
Thursday is for anyone looking to get acquired faster, scale sales easier or sell to large companies and has a kick-off speaker, five sales experts on a panel, Ask Me Anything sessions with top sales experts, and a pitch competition.
Friday is for anyone looking to build a billion-dollar business or wants to perfect their pitching skills and has a keynote speaker and two pitch competitions.
See below for details on the schedule for each day.
Monday
12:00 – 12:30: Online Platform Opens
The virtual event platform will be open for virtual networking starting at 12:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.
12:30 – 3:00: Keynote Speech
12:30 – 3:00: Startup Commons Co-Founder Valto Loikkanen from Helsinki, Finland will lead a session on how to master the keys to company development while progressing through the six different company development stages of the Startup Commons model faster.
3:00 – 3:15: Coffee/bio Break OR Virtual Networking
Take a 15-minute break or take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform.
3:15 – 4:00: Keynote Speech
3:15 – 4:00: Keynote speaker and Best Selling Author Melinda Emerson will share insights from 20+ years as a frontline executive and her journey to becoming the @SmallBizLady with 300,000 twitter followers and resources on how you can become your own boss.
4:00 – 4:30: AMA Session OR More Virtual Networking
During this 30-minute time slot participants can choose or move between and Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions with Melinda Emerson or take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform to connect with other participants from the event.
Tuesday to Thursday
11:30 – 12:00: Online Session Opens
The virtual event platform will open for virtual networking at 11:30 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time.
12:00 – 2:00: Take Your Business To The Next Level
Each afternoon Startup Commons Co-Founder Valto Loikkanen from Helsinki, Finland will lead a 2-hour deep dive on how start-ups and scaleups can get to the next level of the Startup Commons stages faster.
Tuesday: Ideating (-2) and Concepting (-1)
Wednesday: Committing (0) and Validating (+1)
Thursday: Scaling (+2) and Establishing (+3)
2:00 – 2:15: Coffee/bio Break OR Virtual Networking
A 15-minute break where you can take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform.
2:15 – 3:30: Sales Experts Panels
Each afternoon five different world-class sales experts will share their best sales tools, preferred sales techniques and favourite sales tips that show how participants can take their businesses to the next level.
Tuesday
How company founders can make early sales with sales experts Lisa Dennis, Donald Kelly, Sam McKenna, Sean Sheppard and Amos Schwartzfarb
Wednesday
How to build a scalable high performing sales team with sales experts Brandon Bornacin, Kevin “KD” Dorsey, Colleen Francis, Liz Heiman, and Doug Landis
Thursday
How to maximize your lead generation, prospecting and funnel management with sales experts Julie Hansen, Roderick Jefferson, Rob Jeppsen, Lori Richardson and Jamie Shanks
3:30 – 4:00: AMA Sessions OR More Virtual Networking
During this 30-minute time slot participants can choose to join, or move between, the different Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions many of the sales experts are offering or take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform to connect with other participants from the event.
4:00 – 5:00: Student Pitch Competition – Regional Rounds
Each day some of the most promising first-time Entrepreneurs from Alberta’s publicly-funded colleges, universities and polytechnics compete for daily cash prizes of $2,500 in regional rounds of the Most Promising Student Entrepreneur pitch competitions.
The top two from each day of the regional pitch competitions move on the finals on Friday afternoon where they compete for an additional $17,500 and the chance to win one of three $12,000 US scholarships to the top Entrepreneurship Program in Silicon Valley.
5:00 – 5:30: Meet the Students or Virtual Networking
Each student who pitches will have their own breakout room where you can connect with them to provide feedback, share suggestions or make introductions to people you think they should meet or you have another 30 minutes where you can take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform to connect with other participants from the event.
Friday
11:30 – 12:00: Online Session Opens
The virtual event platform will open for virtual networking at 11:30 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time.
12:00 – 1:00: Starting, Scaling and Exiting a Billion Dollar Business
Ravi Belani, Managing Director of the Alchemist Accelerator in San Francisco – one of North America’s premier B2B Accelerators – will share “How to Build, Start, Scale and Exit a Billion-dollar Company.”
1:00 – 1:15: Coffee/bio Break OR Virtual Networking
Take a 15-minute break or take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform.
1:15 – 2:15: Crowd Favourite Pitch Competition
Six of Calgary’s newest tech startup founders, from Calgary’s technical upskilling programs (EdgeUp, EvolveU and Lighthouse Labs), compete in a pitch competition that gives away all ticket proceeds from the week-long event and Friday’s participates pick the winners.
2:15 – 2:30: Coffee/bio Break OR Virtual Networking
Take a 15-minute break or take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform.
2:30 – 3:30: Student Pitch Competition – FINALS
The six finalists from the regional rounds of the student pitch competition pitch to early-stage investors as they compete for an additional $17,500 in cash and the chance to win one of three $12,000 US scholarships to the top Entrepreneurship Program in Silicon Valley.
3:30 – 3:45: Winners of the pitch competitions announced
3:45 – 4:30: Meet the Students or Virtual Networking
Each student who pitches will have their own breakout room where you can connect with them to provide feedback, share suggestions or make introductions to people you think they should meet or you have another 45 minutes where you can take advantage of the totally cool virtual networking capability of the virtual event platform to connect with other participants from the event.