I’ve spent the last six months working on programming for PHX SUW 2019 and am so excited to share this event with you! I could go on and on about all of the really cool sessions- but let me tell you a tiny bit about why I’m excited about Startup Week this year…
It feels like we’ve got something for everyone, regardless of what stage your business is in, what struggles you might be having, whether you need different perspectives on things from other industries, or want time to get your hands dirty and solve something in your own business with a knowledgeable presenter, we’ve got you covered.
Please note: I am NOT trying to discount sessions I don’t mention or recommend these specifically, they are just ones that come to mind in various categories and used to illustrate the variety of topics. I could literally go through each session and identify people who would find value in it.
Are you struggling with finance or funding questions:
- Explore how to get your startup noticed and funded with Dirk Beth, a Managing Partner at Hyalescent Ventures
- Get rid of those bootstrapping myths and Bootstrap Like a Beast with Arizona’s own Justin Gray, CEO of LeadMD
- Dive into your numbers in this SaaS Metrics workshop with Stephanie Sims, the founder of Finance-Ability
- Worried with how long funding takes and how to get organized, learn how Qwick raised $1.3 million in 8 weeks with Co-Founder and CEO, Jamie Baxter
- Crawl Inside the Mind of an Angel Investor with Tom Fulcher, Founder and President of The Idea Gardener as well as Entrepreneur in Residence of the Chandler Innovations Incubator
Are you building a product:
- Learn how to create experiences that are comfortable, delightful and meaningful with Ward Andrews, CEO of Drawbackwards
- Want the Design Thinking mentality but want more hands-on help? Work on the 2 riskiest parts of launching a product business with Kaitlin King, Director of Discovery at NUMA
- Want insights from someone successful at creating physical products? Check out Lisa Lloyd, of Shark Tank fame, and understand how to validate your product without spending tons of money
- Wondering how to prioritize development at different stages of your company with Dan Gill, Chief Product Officer of Carvana and successful entrepreneur from Silicon Valley
- See how to know if you’re building the right thing with 8 Elements of Validation for Rapid Growth with Michael Hunter, Co-Founder of Spiffy
Are you trying to build a diverse culture:
- Listen to Brett Heising’s story of building a business from the experience of need as he navigates the world in a chair
- Struggling to manage millennials (guess what, multi-generational workforce issues are not new)? Join Teresa Marzolph to dive into Creating a Workplace for the Ages
- Hear the dos and don’ts for building a diverse team with Build Your Company Culture like a Rockstar with LT Ladino Bryson, CEO & Founder of vCandidates
If you’re trying to learn or work on your culture, we’ve got that more than covered with some discussion all 6 days of the week:
- Kick off the week learning your 3 words to Leverage Your Purpose to Drive Results with Nicole Spracale, Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder of PowerVision
- Explore the interplay between a social mission and profitable business with Kelly Smith, CEO & Founder of Prenda
- Join an introductory session and get customizable culture-development tools with Valerie Cimarossa, VP of Marketing & Technology and Chief of Staff at University of Advancing Technology (UAT)
- Learn how to Cultivate a Culture of Community that Support with the group of Ebone Johnson, Keiona Eady, Devan Cunningham, and Qosmic Qadence
Are you wondering…
- What is this Blockchain stuff people talk about? Take the Introduction to Blockchain session with Quintin Baker at EZ Crypto Training.
- Is Blockchain applicable to me and my business? Listen to real-world use cases from across many different types of companies with Alan Zeichick, Director of Strategic Communications at Oracle
- How do I start scaling my company or help it grow faster? Jump into Greg Head’s session on The Three Levers of Scalable Growth
- How do I get more organized and help my projects succeed? Join Cerila Gailliard for Project Management: Three Ways to Improve Project Success
- How to get more PR for your business? Visit Yael Grauer for a workshop on how to pitch your startup to journalists
- Which platform should you use for advertising? Check out the Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, or… Agh! Which will be right for you!? Workshop with Adam Arkfeld, Founder & President of ParaCore
- How do I improve my pitch? Attend Steve Correia’s workshop on Perfecting your Powerful Persuasive Pitch
- What’s the journey like to build a software company as a non-technical founder? Listen to Lisa Porter of JobDocs share her journey of going from a nurse practitioner to a SaaS Founder & CEO with a product in revenue
Are you a founder wanting to learn from mistakes of others or not feel so alone in things you might have experienced, jump into one of our daily Founder F-Ups panels at 10 AM moderated by Kate Rogers.
I haven’t even mentioned any of our amazing keynotes, or the sessions on culture, social entrepreneurship, networking and happy hours, etc. etc.
If you haven’t found sessions that fit what you need, let me know on social media and I’ll try to point you in the right direction. Whether it’s a session on defining your purpose, expanding internationally, legal concerns you may have, we’ve got sessions spread throughout the week to help those who can only attend in one location. Session titles and vague descriptions sometimes don’t give you enough details to make a decision, so if you’re having trouble deciding hopefully the multitude of track tagging will help you decide, and if not, give me your use case and I’ll see what I can do to steer you in a direction that’ll hopefully give you value.