From February 9 to 10 the sixth start–up and technology conference «TechChill» will take place in Riga, sharing inspirational experience stories and inviting industry key–figures, entrepreneurs, investors and media. The main topics include business development, marketing tendencies, community management and funding modelling.
According to the organisers, the non–profit association «TechHub Riga», the «TechChill», which started out as a small meet–up with just a few people under the «TechCrunch Baltics» brand in 2012, is expecting 1000 people to be in attendance in 2017, which is double the number of last year, with an impressive speaker line–up, two days of agenda and several side events. The focus, however, stays the same — to share global knowledge and help startups make the right connections to move them forward.
«TechChill» programme will be structured on the three main themes across two days and two stages. On February 9, «The Building Blocks of Entrepreneurship» on the main stage will focus on the practical side of creating a successful business, divided into three blocks — «Starting–Up Strong» will deal with the essentials of great beginnings, followed by the challenges of development and scaling at «Growing a Thicker Skin», and the final element — «Community Culture», discussing both the importance of the community and the challenges of creating a company culture. Day one speakers include «Startup Sesame» CEO Ben Costantini, «Wix» VP Operations Nurit Reder, «Zalando SE» Head of Innovation Marc Lamik, «Pirate Summit» founder Till Ohrmann and more.
The main day on February 10 will offer an agenda on two stages. The main theme on the Highway Stage will be «The Human Side of Tech» divided into three parts — «Tech That Solves Issues», «Founder stories», and «Change and Challenge». The first block will start out with Mike Butcher talking about his passion for the «TechFugees» initiative, ed–tech start–up «Edurio» founder Ernest Jenavs and Stephanie Kaiser from the Berlin–based health–tech start–up «Clue», sharing their stories of tech impact. The next block will host very different founders from all around the world, featuring personal stories of entrepreneurship, including Peter Halacsy, co–founder of «Prezi», Bob Tinker, co–founder of «MobileIron», Mai Medhat, co–founder of «Eventtus» and Hanna Aase, CEO of «Wonderloop». The main stage will follow up with stories on challenge, and a panel on the Baltic ecosystem with founders from the region, such as Karoli Hindriks, co–founder of «Jobbatical».
The second stage «Underground» will focus on trending products and industries in the news, such as VR, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and hardware. A highlight of the day will be «Startup Funeral», honest stories of start–ups that suffered failure, from founders who lived to tell the tale. The official programme will close with the final pitches of the «StartupWiseGuys» Pitch Academy start–up teams.
«TechChill» will also feature Startup Expo, an expo of ideas and products from the most promising Baltic start–up companies, as well as pre–arranged start–up meetings with investors. The official agenda is also only part of the event, as the evening programme across three days will be just as extensive.
«TechChill» will take place on February 9 and 10 at the National Library of Latvia, Mūkusalas iela 3, Riga. Full agenda is available on its webpage.
Viedokļi