Venture Saturday
VENTURE SATURDAY™ is a a full-day event held every two months for anyone who is interested in either joining a startup, creating their own startup, or investing in startups. Filled with workshops, pitch competitions, demo tables, sponsor expo, and more.
9:00 - 10:00
Registration and Networking
10:00 - 10:25
Keynote Speaker: Heather Zindel, 2X Tech C.E.O. | Agentic AI Enthusiast | Angel Investor
Heather has successfully created, launched, and sold three businesses in her career in high-tech and has been a trusted advisor to some of the most innovative tech companies in the world. She is a qualified business leader with more than 20 years of experience and proven success developing strategies and executing business plans that drive revenue growth and profitability for companies across enterprise, mid-market, and consumer segments. She has worked with start-ups and some of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the world to increase sales revenue and growth, including, but not limited to, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Meta, Workplace from Facebook, VMware, Oculus, M12 Venture Capital, Vulcan Ventures, Red Hat, IBM, Cisco, HP, Poly, Caterpillar, HealthNet, and Citrix.
10:30 - 11:10
Session 1 - Every Marketing Channel Sucks and What Founders Can do About It with Gregory Kennedy, Chief Vibe Marketer, Vibe Your SaaS
You send a LinkedIn InMail, and it’s crickets. Cold outreach emails go straight to spam. SEO traffic at HubSpot and Salesforce has declined by 75% this year, and ads keep getting more expensive. What today’s founders need to do is change the game. They must exploit every quirk, loophole, and AI-powered advantage they can get. Gregory Kennedy, 3X startup CMO and the founder of Vibe Your SaaS, will reveal 19 unconventional strategies to break through the noise and market your AI and SaaS startup. This session is tailored for early-stage and technical founders who would rather be building than figuring out marketing, but know they need both to succeed.
11:15 - 12:00
Session 2 - Nearly Free IP with Jonathan Olson, Aeon Law
Tired of IP feeling like a four-letter word? Worried your ideas will get swiped before you launch? Then buckle up! In 40 brisk minutes we'll demystify patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets with a focus on pitfalls, measures that don’t cost much, and current events. Jonathan Olson has advised numerous IP clients and written hundreds of patents, including some for Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Satya Nadella. He has created potent IP in cryptographic security, machine learning, computer vision, drone and robotics applications, recommendation and curation systems, medical devices, and Web3/blockchain applications. His clients have used his patents to win licensing revenue, drive off competitors' investors, and navigate successful exits for more than 20 years. In this talk he'll share how startups can leverage practical, early-stage IP strategies for maximum impact.
12:00 - 1:00
Networking Lunch - Opportunity to meet fellow founders, funders and advisors. Lunch is provided or you can bring your own.
1:00 - 1:50
Raw Concept Pitch Competition - This low-stakes pitch competition is an opportunity for aspiring founders to pitch their concept for a venture-scale startup. They get three minutes to pitch and two minutes of Q&A with the judging panel. The judges will cast their votes for the most promising business concept, and the audience will be able to crowdvote their favorite as well. Will the winner of the two votes be the same or different? Come find out!
Applications Still Open
1:00 Judge Intros
1:05 Company #1 Aditi Bendre, SkillSheet
1:11 Company #2 TBA
1:17 Company #3 TBA
1:23 Company #4 TBA
1:29 Company #5 TBA
1:35 Company #6 TBA
1:41 Judge vote and crowd vote
1:47 Winners announced
2:00 - 2:45
Session 3 - Track 1 [Leonardo Room] - Workshop: Idea Validation and Brand Building with Angie Parker
Learn all about how to conduct a rigorous Customer Discovery process and flow the outcome into building a strong brand for your startup. The instructor, Angie Parker, is the Executive Director of the Alliance of Angels and long-time Venture Mechanics mentor and course instructor (Founder Workshop Series: Customer Discovery).
Session 3 - Track 2 [Airbus Room] - Workshop: Beyond the Slides – Delivering an Engaging Pitch with Dana Sather Robinson
Are investors staying engaged during your pitch? Do they seem to have tuned out? It might be time to rethink your delivery. A pitch that is too fast, slow, boring, or filled with jargon can turn off investors and make them lose interest. Dana's got some great strategies to make your pitch delivery compelling, engaging, and investor-focused. Remember, an engaging delivery is just as important as having an amazing pitch deck! Learn how to capture your listeners' attention and be remembered for all the right reasons. Dana is a professional pitch trainer who’s also an angel investor; she knows exactly what investors need to see in a pitch deck and hear from founders like you in a pitch presentation, so her investor-tested methods get results. The interactive Pitch4Impact Training Program will guide you through the process of crafting, preparing, and confidently delivering a pitch and accompanying investor deck that signals to investors: this one is worth my time and attention.
3:00 - 3:45
Session 4 - Track 1 [Leonardo Room] - Panel: How To Do Great QA When You're An Under-resourced Startup moderated by Tatyana Arbouvoza
Startups that rely on a good UX experience can have a hard time getting enough employees, beta users and friends to really put their website and/or software through its paces. Learn some valuable guerilla techniques that these career software QA professionals use to get the job done when you don't have a large team to help you. Panelists include Josh Green, a veteran QA analyst from the gaming industry. Other panelists TBA.
Session 4 - Track 2 [Airbus Room] Powering the Future: Investing in the Startup Ecosystem with Martha Chamberlin
An overview of what options are available for helping the future become a reality through your investing. Martha and husband Jon Sechrest operate Mossy Ventures - better known locally as the Seattle Angel Conference - where you can learn whether angel investing is right for you.
4:00 - 4:50
Venture Pitch Competition - This is the “high stakes” pitch competition as opposed to the raw concept competition earlier in the day. The five presenting startups will get 5 minutes to pitch, plus 4 minutes for Q&A with the judges (experienced investors). These startups will also have demo tables at the event where potential investors, customers, mentors, etc., can meet with them after the competition. The judges will cast their votes for the best investment opportunity, and the audience will be able to crowdvote their favorite as well. Will the winner of the two votes be the same or different? Come find out!
Applications Still Open
4:00 Judge Intros
4:05 Jason Puracal, ZILA BioWorks
4:15 Company #2 TBA
4:25 Company #3 TBA
4:35 Company #4 TBA
4:45 Judges vote and crowd vote
4:50 Winners announced
5:00 - 5:50
Introduction to the Venture Mechanics Catapult Accelerator Program - Learn all about the patently unique incubator/accelerator model we employ at Venture Mechanics to take in highly-vetted startups, fully train their founders to run a venture-scale business, and complete their funding. This is nothing remotely like the Techstars or YC model. Hear directly from the mentors who participate in the "mentor conclave" processes at the beginning and end of a founder team's journey through. Also hear from founders currently going through the process.
6:00 - 7:00
Founders & Mentors Mixer Afterparty - More than just a good time, founders and mentors can use this opportunity to get to know one another in a casual environment. Whether you want to speed date or spend quality time with particular individuals huddled in one of the conference rooms, this party is a great opportunity for founders to meet other founders, and mentors to meet other mentors, as well. Light snacks and adult drinks will be served.