Why I’ll be spending the day at Startup Riot

If you aren’t familiar with Startup Riot, according to the website its a:

…one day conference on February 17, 2010 in Atlanta, GA. Throughout the day fifty startups will take the stage and present themselves in 3 minutes and 4 slides. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to win prizes throughout the day.

If that doesn’t sound like a great time, I don’t know what is. I realize that most of the time this blog is focused on social media so I thought I’d give you some reasons why I wouldn’t miss an event like Startup Riot.

1. I’m an entrepreneur. A startup junkie. This will always be my #1 passion. I started my company in 1998 at the age of 21 and never looked back. In 2008, I sold my company to Engauge and I’ve stayed on as Engauge’s Chief Digital Officer, leading the Digital Innovation Group out of Atlanta. And although I don’t technically have my own company any longer (though I’m on the board of Engauge), I still remain connected to the startup community and have invested in several startups over the last year and a half. For the one person reading this that’s interested, you can read about my story in more detail here.

2. I want to support any efforts like this that support the startup community in Atlanta. I’m a staunch believer that Atlanta can and will be a mecca for entrepreneurship success and I’ll always fight for that to be the case. Some friends of mine and I started Shotput Ventures last year with that goal in mind.

3. My friend and one of the most active people in this space in Atlanta and a very successful entrepreneur and investor, Sanjay Parekh, puts this event on and anything he puts on is worth going to.

4. Bo Peabody is giving the keynote. Psyched about seeing him present.

5. Robert Scoble is going to be there. I need to meet that guy.

6. Lastly, I believe its imperative for someone in my position at a company to attend these types of events. If you are tasked with leading innovation within your company then there is no better place for you to be than at a startup event like this. In fact I wish all of my clients could come to this event. It would REALLY open their eyes. In the course of one day, I’m going to get to see 50 startups!  Fifty.  Five Zero.  That’s unreal.  You want to talk about tapping into the newest new? This is one of the only ways to do it. And damn if its not happening right in my backyard. I’ll also be attending SxSW in Austin, TX, next month with the same goal in mind.

So if you’re not going to be attending Startup Riot this year, make a note on your 2011 calendar and sign up for the mailing list so you don’t miss out next year.  You should be here.

For more about Startup Riot, check out this video:

Startup Riot 2009 Video Mashup from www.TechDrawl.com from Producer Celia Dyer-TechDrawl on Vimeo.