How’s the largest startup conference in Northeast Ohio taking place in Akron sound? That’s what Launch League, which recently hosted the successful Hack n’ Akron civic hackathon, hopes to accomplish December 2 when they host Flight, a conference for scalable startups and tech enthusiasts. It’s all part of the nonprofit group’s master plan to help startups thrive in Akron by supporting their founders.
Flight targets scalable startups, which are companies, often in tech, that may require large investment capital and offer little initial return but have considerable upside because they serve a large national or global market. The conference is designed to help the people who build, fund and support scalable startups — particularly those based in the Midwest — showcase their work, connect with investors and cofounders, and offer seven educational speaker tracks with 21 sessions covering front end development, devops, design UX/UI, hardware design, marketing, fundraising and startup operations.
Several local tech professionals and startup founders will be speaking on a range of topics from customer discovery and marketing analytics to website performance and term sheet negotiation. [Editor’s note: The Devil Strip’s Chris Horne has accepted a request to speak at Flight.] Prior to the event, Launch League is hosting a VIP cocktail hour to help attendees, investors, and speakers get to know one another. Afterwards, of course, they’ll also host an afterparty to cap the day’s serious business with some fun.
The conference is another way Launch League is proving itself to be, as Executive Director Courtney Gras says, “…the connecting piece for Akron startups and support organizations. We’re just the founders of some local startups who come together to create something bigger than ourselves.”
In addition to Hack n’ Akron, which drew over 50 developers, database admins, marketers and designers to help open up the city’s data and to create a cohesive identity for two of Akron’s neighborhoods, Launch League powered NEXTOhio, a one night mini-startup conference that took place in mid-April. That event saw almost 400 registrations and brought speakers from successful Akron and Columbus startups to share their experiences with the attendees.
Prior to this “Super Early Bird” tickets are available until 10/18 at launchleague.org/flight where you can also learn more about Flight.