bootup labs

Things are getting pretty interesting around lunch time at the office. It's the guys from Strutta, Bootups Labs and LayerBoom and some of the most delicious fresh ingredients you can put in a sandwich: 

I should say a proper thanks to my wife for supplying me with a steady of flow of great sammich fixins to keep my membership in Sammich Club current. 

Can you beleive it has been a year since the first Launch Party Vancouver?

Back then, Strutta Founders Maura and Danny, along with Layer 7's Dimitri Sirota, wanted to create an event that would bring together folks from all sectors of our burgeoning tech industry. Vancouver didn't have much in the way of opportunities to celebrate the exciting products that are launched locally.  Over 120 people came to the first event at Section 3 in Yaletown, and the turnout has only grown at each subsequent event.  

Well, it's been a year, and tomorrow is LPV5, the fifth in the series. Not surprisingly, it's the biggest one yet. Vancouver Mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson is scheduled to address the partygoers, with an announcement that includes the launch of a new tech platform he's launching.

For the companies that are demoing at the event, the stakes have been raised too. The six companies featured at the event are also competing in a contest (powered by Strutta, if you please) to win $1000, with the winner chosen by a panel of VIP judges. You too can vote, and the "people's choice" gets luxury box seats to a Vancouver Giants game. Watch for the videos to launch tomorrow morning (Thursday, Sept 18th) and cast your vote. Winners will be announced early next week.

In the year since the first event, Launch Party Vancouver has featured over 30 startups from Vancouver, and a few out-of-town "party crashers" as well. The second event was co-hosted by Twiistup, a sister event in Los Angeles. At LPV4, Techvibes hosted a startup job fair before the main event, and we at Strutta were among the companies showing off their new software.

For Launch Party Vancouver, there are no plans of letting up- the sixth event is already penciled into the calendar for November, and it's never too early to sign up to be among the companies featured.

Hope to see you tomorrow night!

With 1248 possible panels to vote on using the SXSW "interactive panel picker" it's a bit difficult to actually read through all of the descriptions (see previous post on contests with too many entries). Thankfully, Dave Olson at Raincity Studios slogged through the list, picked out the best (with a slight Vancouver bias) and posted them on the Raincity Studios blog.

Strutta's very own Danny Robinson and the rest of the Bootup Labs crew hope to present a panel on the evolution of the venture capital model called, "Booting up your Startup". Check out the description and rate it by August 29th.

Strutta's headquarters, a famously chic space that overlooks Burrard Inlet and shares space with Bootup Labs, has been invaded by youth.

Five students from the SHAD Valley Program, interning for Impact Entrepreneurship Group, joined us here in the office today. Their first task? Get to work building their new desks:

The Bootup Labs blog has more detail on this influx of bright young minds to our Gastown headquarters.