Startup Riot will rock Atlanta on May 19th, 2008. ~70 startups will have 3 minutes each to pitch themselves before an audience of other startups and prospective investors, employees and customers. Bilgistic creator Sanjay Parekh has been a force in organizing this event, recruiting his high-school colleague Drew Curtis of Fark.com as the keynote speaker, and getting more than 70 regional startups signed up to pitch.
Atlanta has had several cool startup community events. TAG‘s annual business launch competition is underway again, Atlanta Startup Weekend launched Skribit, and we have had awesome unconferences such as 2 years of SoCon and last year’s BarCamp Atlanta.
What sets Startup Riot apart is that it is ORIGINAL and UNIQUE. I haven’t heard of ANY other cities hosting events where an early stage company can pitch their company to investors and customers for FREE. Sanjay has certainly been working hard to make the event happen, and the costs seem to already be covered by sponsors. It is an event I can see other cities copying, and it’s starting here in Atlanta.
Of course I have a vested interest in Startup Riot. My previous startup, WeTheCitizens. will be pitching. I’ll be pitching (for a whopping 3 minutes) FeatureFrame, a video platform for independent film-makers and commercial content-producers, but I’m also interested in the community aspects. Many, many startups that I know of will be using this event as a major catalyst for them to build their pitch and move their business forward. I can’t wait to hear about what dozens of other Atlanta startups are working on, and for Atlanta to pioneer an event that other cities will undoubtedly look to reproduce.
Rob's Blog - Technology, Atlanta, Startups and Stuff 
I was thinking about attending just to watch and get a feel for the startup vibe. How far along should one be before presenting at something like this? I would think that if I presented before having a real up-and-running product, I would look and feel unprepared, and maybe even someone else would take my idea.
Daniel – the presenting slots are full at this point, but you can still attend as an individual or as a non-presenting startup – your choice. There will be time and space to network and do demos, so whatever stage you’re at should fit right in.
Most events that give startups an opportunity to present a) charge a lot more than $0 to presenters, and b) give people a lot longer than 3 minutes to present. So other events more of a bent toward established companies. Startup Riot is geared toward anything from idea-stage ventures looking for co-founders to well-funded, VC-backed companies with product and revenue.
As for someone taking your idea… someone else probably already has your idea, or at least something pretty similar. Solid execution of that idea is what matters. Milestone events like this can be a good kick in the pants to take action. Maybe you could have a demo cranking by May 19th? Or are you cooking up a rapid growth plan for http://digibutter.nerr.biz/ ?
Rob – thanks for the kind post. One clarification, I went to elementary and jr. high with Drew, not high school. We spent a lot of time together during the summers when Drew, his sister (who was in my grade), and I would take classes at the University of Kentucky. I’ll stop going into it so as not to ruin my intro to Drew at Startup Riot.
Daniel – Like Rob said, this is really a different type of event. Really, it’s for entrepreneurs by an entrepreneur. Some events (including one going on next week in town) ask entrepreneurs to pay thousands of dollars to attend and present. I think that’s bogus. There are some folks presenting who are very early stage – these guys can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars to present their ideas. Even if an entrepreneur could, they shouldn’t. If you really have a good business money people will want to talk to you. Also, like Rob said all the slots are taken at this point (although I’m still trying to figure out who will and won’t get slots from the applicants). As for people taking your idea – again, Rob is right – at the end of the day, it’s all about execution. Everyone has ideas. Not everyone can execute their idea.
Hey Rob,
Good luck! You have a talent for presenting — let me know how it turns out 🙂