Tag Archives: Bend Venture Conference

EDCO ANNOUNCES THE BVC EARLY STAGE SEMI-FINALISTS

2020 BVC Early stage companies

EDCO ANNOUNCES THE BVC EARLY STAGE SEMI-FINALISTS

Eight companies to present at the September 23rd PubTalk: Road to BVC

BEND, Ore. – September 14, 2021 – Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) announced the eight finalist companies advancing in the Early Stage competition for the 18th Annual Bend Venture Conference (BVC) on Thursday, October 21 – Friday, October 22, 2021. This group of companies is one step closer to presenting at BVC.

The following Early Stage semi-finalists will pitch against each other at the September 23rd PubTalk: Road to BVC. This high-energy entrepreneurial event showcases the BVC Early Stage semi-finalists as they deliver fast-paced, three-minute pitches to a live and virtual crowd. The audience, along with an expert panel of judges, will vote to decide which companies advance to present at BVC, competing for a minimum investment of $30,000 from Portland Seed Fund.

In alphabetical order, the BVC Early Stage semi-finalists that will compete at the September 23rd PubTalk are:

  1. cannecht (Bend, OR) – A digital marketplace to help cannabis operators find and secure service contracts with trusted providers.
  2. Field Day (Portland, OR) – An online platform that makes it easy for individuals and organizations to discover and engage with local nonprofits through group volunteer events.
  3. FoxFace Systems (Camas, WA) – Providing an easy and affordable online platform for the affordable housing compliance process.
  4. KinectAir (Vancouver, WA) – Private aviation made public. Affordable, soon-to-be electric, aircraft booked from your smartphone using local community airports.
  5. LifeAir (Portland, OR) – Saving millions of lives by pioneering the first ventilator that eliminates patient-to-patient transmission of diseases, such as pneumonia and COVID.
  6. Radious (Portland, OR) – An online marketplace for rentable home office and meeting space.
  7. Shilling (Portland, OR) – A micro-investing app that bridges the gap between the time you spend on your smartphone (screen time) and investing in the stock market.
  8. Tonsil Tech (Redmond, OR) – At-home handheld device to remove tonsil stones painlessly and effectively.

PubTalk Agenda

  • 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm Networking, drinks & appetizers
  • 5:30 pm to 7:45 pm Early Stage Company Pitches, Audience Vote, Winner Announcement

PubTalk Cost and Registration

  • In-Person: $26 EDCO & OEN Members (Become a member here.); $36 Non-Members
  • Virtual: $10 EDCO & OEN Members; $15 Non-Members

In-person attendance will take into account COVID19 precautions and includes appetizers and a free beverage (choice of beer, wine, or soda).

Ticket Sales
Tickets to the September 23rd PubTalk are on sale now. Register for in-person ticket here; register for virtual tickets here.
Tickets to the 18th Annual Bend Venture Conference are on sale now and are available here.

About Bend Venture Conference (BVC)
Now in its 18th year, BVC, hosted by EDCO, is one of the largest angel conferences in the country. Over the past five years, more than $10 million has been invested in 40 companies as a result of the conference. This year’s conference will take place October 21-22, 2021, gathering entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders. bendvc.com

About Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO)
EDCO is a non-profit corporation supported by private and public members and stakeholders, whose mission is to create middle-class jobs in Central Oregon by recruiting new employers to move to the region; helping entrepreneurs start new, scalable businesses; and working with businesses that are already here to grow their operations. edcoinfo.com

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2021 BVC Company Applications Now Open

2021 Bend Venture Conference

THE BEND VENTURE CONFERENCE RETURNS OCTOBER 21-22, 2021
COMPANY APPLICATIONS OPEN NOW THRU AUGUST 13TH

BEND, OR (July 8, 2021) – Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) will again host the annual Bend Venture Conference (BVC) on Thursday, October 21 – Friday, October 22, 2021, in downtown Bend and virtually online. Ticketing, speaker announcements and event details for the 18th Annual Bend Venture Conference will be announced in the coming months.

Over the past five years, investments, awards and prizes surpassing $10 million were awarded to 40 companies as a result of the conference. BVC is a yearly celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation, connecting investors, companies and business leaders.

APPLY

This year’s conference will feature three competition categories: Growth Stage, Impact and Early Stage. The application period is open now through Friday, August 13th and companies across the United States are invited to apply.

  • Growth Stage Competition: This category is open to companies that have a proven concept, have generated initial revenues and are prepared to scale quickly with investment. To apply, click here.
  • Impact Competition: This category is open to for-profit companies, whose business models are integrated with a mission to have a significant and measurable social or environmental impact. Applicants should be aiming to generate long-term enterprise value and attractive returns on capital. To apply, click here.
  • Early Stage Competition: This category is open to companies that have a great idea and are close to “proof of concept.” They are pre-revenue (or very early-revenue) and are in the process of testing their product in the market. To apply, click here.

Growth Stage Competition finalists could collect an investment of $250,000 or more. Companies in the Impact Competition have historically competed for investments ranging from $50,000-$100,000. Companies in the Early Stage competition could receive and investment of $25,000 or more. This year’s  BVC will feature impressive speakers from across the country representing angel investors, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

About Bend Venture Conference (BVC)

Now in its 18th year, BVC, hosted by EDCO, is one of the largest angel conferences in the country. Over the past five years, more than $10 million has been invested in 40 companies as a result of the conference. This year’s conference will take place on October 21-22, 2021, gathering entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders. bendvc.com

About Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO)

EDCO is a non-profit corporation supported by private and public members and stakeholders, whose mission is to create middle-class jobs in Central Oregon by recruiting new employers to move to the region; helping entrepreneurs start new, scalable businesses; and working with businesses that are already here to grow their operations. edcoinfo.com

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2019 Bend Venture Conference: Investing in Uncertain Times

BVC Speaker Bruce Abrams

2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Matt Abrams

General Partner, Seven Peaks Ventures

Winter is Coming: Startups & Investing in Uncertain Times

Matt is a General Partner with Seven Peaks Ventures with primary focus areas and expertise in: Enterprise Data & Analytics; Artificial (AI) & Machine Intelligence; and Information + Data Trust, Integrity and Security.

He also focuses heavily on Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain and Quantum technologies and spends a significant amount of time within the healthcare sector.  Matt also serves as an Innovation strategy & technology advisor to Enterprise, Governmental and Healthcare organizations. In addition, he currently serves on the board of Northwestern’s Master’s of Science in Analytics (MSiA) program as well as the Cyber Security Analysis Center (CSAC), an organization partnering with a network of academic institutions and select private sector entities focused on helping solve the threats faced by rural and underfunded critical infrastructure organizations.

Speaker Bruce Cleveland

2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Bruce Cleveland

 Founding Partner Wildcat Venture Partners

Winter is Coming: Startups & Investing in Uncertain Times

Bruce Cleveland is a Founding Partner at Wildcat where he focuses on early-stage software startups that enable digital transformation across business, government, and education markets. Bruce enjoys working with companies that use technology and data to increase revenue and decrease costs. He is interested in growing entrepreneurial hubs outside of Silicon Valley, with a particular focus on the Pacific Northwest. Bruce also is committed to sharing his knowledge and experience through the Traction Gap Framework®, which helps entrepreneurs navigate the critical go-to-market period between initial product release (IPR) and reaching minimal viable traction (MVT). Previously, he founded GreenFig, held senior executive roles with companies such as Apple, AT&T, Oracle and Siebel Systems. Bruce’s last operational role was as a member of the founding executive team of Siebel Systems, where he served as senior vice president and general manager of Marketing and Products. In this role, Forbes and IDC credited him with creating the most effective B2B alliance program in the software industry.

Speaker Luke Kanies

2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Luke Kanies

Founder and Executive Chair, Puppet

Winter is Coming: Startups & Investing in Uncertain Times

Founder and former CEO of Puppet, Luke started the company because he figured he’d be better off failing to start a software company than successfully getting an MBA. He grew it to 500 people and more than $50m in revenue, helping to start the DevOps movement along the way. Since stepping down from Puppet, he has been researching and writing at http://lukekanies.com/ about tools, venture capital, and crypto.

Speaker Patricia Moss

2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Patricia Moss
Former CEO, Vice Chairman, Cascades Bancorp, Bank of the Cascades

Winter is Coming: Startups & Investing in Uncertain Times

Patricia served as CEO of Cascade Bancorp and Bank of the Cascades from 1998 to 2012, previous to that time she served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.

She currently serves as a board member of First Interstate Bank Systems, (FIBK), MDU Resources (MDU) and as a trustee to funds under the Aquila Group of Funds. She currently serves on the Oregon Investment Council and recently served on the Oregon Growth Board.    She has served on several public boards and one private company board, ranging from banking, mutual funds, natural resources, health care, utilities and construction as well as multiple non-profit boards.

Patricia’s active involvement in local organizations is evidence of her strong commitment to community leadership.  She has served as a board member or chairman for Central Oregon Community College, St. Charles Medical Center, Bend Chamber of Commerce, Greater Bend Rotary, United Way, and Central Oregon Regional Advisory Board for Higher Education, Oregon State University Advisory Board, Oregon Ethics in Business and participated in several other community roles and fundraising campaigns.

She and her husband, Greg, have been fortunate to live and raise their family in Bend, OR for more than 40 years; they are outdoors enthusiasts and cyclists.

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2019 Bend Venture Conference: Where are All the Ladies?

 

2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Allie Magyar

Founder & CEO, Hubb

Barriers to Female Founders: Where are All the Ladies?

Allie Magyar is a skilled entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience driving successful technology-enabled service companies. She founded Hubb to build a technology solution that directly addressed the needs of meeting planners as they manage the overload of information involved in managing an event.  As CEO of Hubb, she is responsible for directing the company’s strategic direction with an emphasis on key partnerships, integrations, and growth.  Allie is also passionate about driving positive corporate culture and is a frequent speaker on women empowerment and diversity in the workplace.

 

2019 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Diane Fraiman

Managing Director, Voyager Capital

Barriers to Female Founders: Where are All the Ladies?

Diane serves as a Managing Director with Voyager and focuses on software and digital media investments in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Oregon. With over 30 years of technology company experience in leading marketing, strategy and business development, Diane works with startups in the enterprise software, Internet/mobile/social, and security software industries throughout the West Coast.

Diane was previously Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Sanctum, a VC-backed startup providing Web application security software (acquired by Watchfire) and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for the database company Informix Software (acquired by IBM), both based in Silicon Valley. Prior to her move to Silicon Valley, Diane was Vice President of Marketing for Tektronix (acquired by Danaher) in their Video and Networking Division and a marketing executive with Sequent Computer (acquired by IBM), both based in Oregon. She previously spent 16 years in sales and marketing roles at Digital Equipment Corporation in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Diane is on the boards of Act-On Software, Stackery, TiE Oregon, University of Oregon Seed Fund Advisory Board, the Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator, and Providence Child Center.  She is also a board observer of Chirpify, Lytics and SheerID.

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2016 Bend Venture Conference: Keynote Speakers

2016 Keynote Speaker REbekah

2016 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Rebekah Bastian

Vice President of Product at Zillow

2016 Keynote Speaker

Rebekah Bastian is Vice President of Product at Zillow, driving the strategy and execution of product teams focusing on advertising, financial systems, and connecting real estate buyers with agents. Rebekah was one of Zillow’s first employees, coming over from Microsoft in 2005, and has led the development of several areas of the site since its launch. She spearheaded the initial Zillow Listings Feed program, the introduction of the Zillow Mobile apps and the advertising products for the Premier Agent Program. Always searching for ways to connect her personal values to her technology career, Rebekah launched the Community Pillar program to help connect low-income renters with affordable housing and serves on several local boards related to rising housing costs and homelessness. Rebekah earned her Masters of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. She is also mother to two boys and an aerial acrobat.

Keynote Lori Stark

2016 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Loni Stark

Senior Director of Strategy & Product Marketing at Adobe

2016 Keynote Speaker

Loni Stark is Senior Director of Strategy & Product Marketing at Adobe. In her role, Loni leads business growth and go-to-market strategy and execution for Adobe’s digital experience management business. Adobe is a recognized leader in solutions for Digital Experience Platforms and Marketing Cloud Hubs by Forrester and Gartner respectively. She is also co-founder of Stark Insider, a leading media brand about All Things West Coast® with over 750K readers a year. Over the past decade at Stark Insider, she has interviewed more than 200 creative thinkers and doers who are pushing the boundaries of film, music, and technology. Loni is also a mentor at Alchemist Accelerator, named one of the top five accelerators in the U.S. in 2015, where she advises founders of startups. Loni frequently speaks at industry conferences and her articles on the impact of digital on customer experience and marketing have appeared in publications including TechCrunch, Entrepreneur and Content Marketing Institute.

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2015 Bend Venture Conference: Keynote Speaker

2015 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Darren Pleasance

Google’s Global Customer Acquisitions team lead

2015 Keynote Speaker

Darren Pleasance, who leads Google’s Global Customer Acquisitions team based at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA, was the 2015 BVC Keynote Speaker.

In his role, Darren leads a team of ~1,700 people in 32 countries focused on helping companies to use Google’s digital advertising services to grow their business.

His team works with companies in all industries and teach them how to harness the power of “Search”, “Display Advertising”, and “YouTube” to attract, grow, and retain their customers.

Prior to joining Google, Darren was a Partner in McKinsey and Company’s North American Marketing & Sales Practice and the founder and co-leader of McKinsey’s global Small and Medium Business (SMB) practice. Prior to this role, Darren spent 10 years as a professional pilot in California and Alaska while also helping to launch and grow several small companies.  Darren continues to fly for fun today.

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2008 Bend Venture Conference: Keynote Speaker

2008 Bend Venture Conference Speaker: Rich Karlgaard

Publisher of Forbes

2008 Keynote Speaker

Keynote speaker was Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes as well as the magazine’s “Digital Rules” columnist.  Karlgaard is also known as an entrepreneur, lecturer, Fox News Channel’s “Forbes on Fox” participant and author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller, Life 2.0 – How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness, where he identifies Bend as a place that has a strong telecommuting community.  Before joining Forbes, Mr. Karlgaard cofounded the 5,000 member non-profit Churchill Club, Silicon Valley’s premier business and technology forum, for which he shared a Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  Mr. Karlgaard is a graduate of Standford University with a BA in political science.

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