Not THAT Big Bang! The UC Davis Big Bang! Can you believe the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition was first held 20 years ago?! Running from October to May, this is the largest startup competition in our region. The Big Bang! provides a forum to collaborate, develop and test business visions and plans and is open to everyone, not just UCD students and faculty. The competition offers resources for team formation, education, mentorship and networking for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs. The 2019-20 competition launches next week at an informational and celebratory event on October 22 at UC Davis. It’s a great opportunity to find out more about the competition including how much money you might win (over $110K in prizes is available)! Learn more/RSVP here
Jeff and I frequently get requests to meetup with entrepreneurs and other startup enthusiasts who are interested in learning more about Sacramento’s startup community. In fact, we get so many requests we’ve decided to hold a monthly “Office Hours” event where you can both get an introduction to the community and ask us any questions you might have about how to get connected. The first StartupSac Office Hours event is this Tuesday, October 15, from noon-1pm at Buckhorn Grill on Howe Avenue. Buy your own lunch and then come hang out for an hour. More details/RSVP here
This Week’s Best Bets
Tuesday evening, Sonny Mayugba will be the Fireside Chat guest at Startup Grind at The Urban Hive. Sonny is the quintessential Sacramento startup founder! He launched Requested in 2015 which was then acquired by Waitr. Sonny stayed on board as CMO and was instrumental in taking the company IPO last year. He is an awesome story teller! You gotta come — it’s going to be so fun! Mingling, live music and appetizers start at 6:30pm and then we’ll sit down for a chat with Sonny. Use code “digest” to save $5 off registration. Get Tickets
HaneyBiz is hosting the next Entrepreneurs Unleashed this Thursday in Rocklin. The theme is “Market Domination Mindset… tapping into our killer instincts.” This is an invite-only event but if you’re not yet on the guest list, you can request an invite from sierrai@haneybiz.com. They are also offering free office hours before the event.
Plan Ahead
Five Wednesdays in the month means 1 Million Cups is heading out of Sacramento for TWO road trips! That’s good news for folks in Yolo County and Placer County! On October 23 we’ll be at Davis Coworking in Davis and on October 30 we’ll be at The Studio Coworking in Downtown Roseville. You can find out more about both of these events here.
Don’t fret Folsomites and El Doradoians: we aren’t leaving you out! StartupSac Happy Hour is coming to Granite City Coworking in Folsom on October 29. This month’s event features a panel of 3 seasoned entrepreneurs: John Bodrozic and Elizabeth Dodson, cofounders of HomeZada (John cofounded Meridian Systems which had a successful exit in 2006; Beth was also part of the Meridian team) and Kevin Kane, CEO of Linkd (Kevin’s background includes five liquidity events with three Fortune 500 companies). It’s free to attend but RSVP so we’ll know how much food and adult beverages we need to get! RSVP here
On November 7, the annual Sacramento Region Innovation Awards Celebration will be held at the Crest Theater in Downtown Sacramento. This year, instead of a same-old, same-old business luncheon, it’s going to be a more festive evening event (did someone say red carpet?). This event will honor innovations developed by technology ventures in a variety of industries. And good news — StartupSac has scored a 15% off discount for you. Enter code “startupdigest” in the promotional code field to take advantage of the discount. Get Tickets
Do you want free business mentorship, advising, or consulting? StartupSac and the Capital Region SBDC have partnered to provide free business support mentorship to help Sacramento region entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Learn more and sign up!
We’re building community! The StartupSac Community Facebook Group has over 500 members. Now we need you! Request to join here.
There’s lots of great stuff going on in the tech startup community–check out the details in this week’s Startup Digest. If you’d like to receive the digest in your inbox every Monday morning, sign up for free here. And for even more startup information, happenings and resources, browse the StartupSac Website.
If you’ve organized (or know about) an event you think belongs in the Startup Digest, please submit it here for consideration.
