Start Up Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Commerce offers a very helpful toolkit for aspiring entrepreneurs. The kit is now available online. Toolkit

Sharendipity will be showing off their wares in the demo pit at TechCrunch50 tomorrow. I always enjoy to see Wisconsin companies making the trip out to San Fransisco. If there are any other Wisconsin companies at tc50 that I am missing please let me know.

Tech Upgrade, Inc has two new openings this coming month and we thought we  would share with the ‘Start Up Wisconsin’ Community.  One position is for students and the other position is for a more a more experienced applicant.

Check out :

Tech Upgrade Careers

Here is an entrepreneur interview video series made in Milwaukee:

ActionsTalk #5 - Comet Branding from ActionsTalk on Vimeo.

Visit Actionstalk.com for more interviews.

Here is another interesting group which meets in Milwaukee. The concept is simple:

Pecha Kucha Night, devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture), was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.

But as we all know, give a mike to a designer (especially an architect) and you’ll be trapped for hours. The key to Pecha Kucha Night is its patented system for avoiding this fate. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.

Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor. This is a† demand that seems to be global – as Pecha Kucha Night, without any pushing, has spread virally to over 100 cities across the world. Find a location and join the conversation.

Pecha Kucha - http://www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/milwaukee

Here is a great story about how to get PR for your startup:

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/8/jason-calacanis-on-how-to-get-pr-for-your-startup-fire-your-pr-company

Comic Wonder’ headlines Aug. 14 WIN-Milwaukee

Learn how to give a successful presentation to investors from Kelly
Fitzsimmons, co-founder of Comic Wonder LLC, at the August 14 meeting
of the Wisconsin Innovation Network’s Milwaukee chapter.

“It’s no laughing matter: How the right presentation sealed the deal
for Comic Wonder” is the title of Fitzsimmons’ talk, which will
include the presentation that caught the attention of investors at the
2007 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium. Within a week of the
conference, Comic Wonder was engaged in negotiations with three
Wisconsin angel groups and on its way to securing $750,000 in
first-round funding.

The meeting will be held at Brookfield Suites Hotel and Convention
Center, 1200 S. Moorland Road, just off I-94 in Brookfield.
Registration and networking begins at 11:30 a.m., lunch at noon and
the presentation at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $25 for WIN members, $35
for non-members and included with WIN corporate memberships. To
register online, go to www.wisconsintechno logycouncil. com/events/ win

Fitzsimmons presentation will reflect an entrepreneurs’ pitch to an
investor who has already shown some interest in funding the company.
Fitzsimmons will illustrate this one-shot opportunity to say the right
thing, and avoid mistakes in order to seal the deal.

Fitzsimmons is a serial entrepreneur. She has started five companies,
with successful exits from Neohapsis and Sun Tzu Security.

Thank you to our event sponsor, The Cholive Company, which was
established in 2007 in Milwaukee. They are a small company dedicated
to enhancing your life with chocolate. They are the only top shelf
garnish available at bars, restaurants and hotels, bringing chocolate
to you 24/7.

WIN is the membership subsidiary of the Wisconsin Technology Council,
the independent, non-profit science and tech policy advisers to the
governor and the Legislature. To join WIN, go to
www.wisconsintechno logycouncil. com or contact Liz Katz at
608-442-7557, ext. 27 or lkatz@wisconsintech nologycouncil. com.

Gina Leahy

Wisconsin Technology Council

(608) 442-7557

gleahy@wisconsintec hnologycouncil. com

I met Jon Fisher while working for the Golden Angels Network. I plan to be first in line for his book coming to stores soon!