After nearly a year in the making, Startup Spokane’s inaugural Triangle Venture Expo did not disappoint. The September 15th day-long event attracted more than 230 entrepreneurs, community leaders, and investors. Stacey Cowles, CEO of Cowles Company kicked off the morning with an energizing keynote presentation about the robust entrepreneurial ecosystem in our region and the extensive amount of capital invested in our regions’ high growth companies.
Brief company presentations were made throughout the day from thirteen of our regions’ high growth companies, including etailz, 2nd Watch,APANA,Demand Energy Networks, H-Source, HyperSciences,Imprezzio,Kochava,Next IT,PawPrint Genetics,RiskLens,Rohinni, and StayAlfred. These companies currently represent nearly 1,000 direct jobs in our region and continue to expand.
The day concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Tom Simpson, with Chip Overstreet and Jim Fowler who spoke about their entrepreneurial success and what attributes exist in our region to support entrepreneurship.
The feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive. A huge THANK YOU to the organizing committee (Tom Simpson, April Needham, Meagan Garrett, Chip Overstreet, Rick Repp, Bill Savitz, and yours truly) as well as the GSI Events and Marketing team (Lisa Bridston, Carsen Quinnett, Maria Vandervert, and Tammy Pruitt)!!! This event would not have been possible without our generous sponsors, including the Spokane Angel Alliance, Cowles Company, US Bank, Avista, Ignite Northwest, Numerica Credit Union, and Moss Adams.
Planning is already underway for next year’s event, so stay connected with Startup Spokane to learn about events and programming coming your way!!!
