On the 11th floor of the Microsoft NERD Centre, 55 start-up entrepreneurs pitched their company to an audience of almost a 100 people. Not a bad turnout for the first edition of FounderMatchup that was held on Wednesday the 21st of September.
The three organizers: Smit Patel (just 18 years old!), Jeffrey Tagen and Marsh Sutherland noticed that a lot of startup companies are at some point all looking for co-founders or business partners who can help them get to the next level. Instead of keep connecting startups to people from their own network, these three entrepreneurs figured: why not bring startups and professionals from the Boston area who want to become part of a startup together during an event? And that’s how FounderMatchup was born.
How does it work?
Those who arrive early get the chance to meet with some of these startups already. Over a drink and a slice of pizza (sponsored by Wilmerhale), ideas and business cards are exchanged. At 7 pm all entrepreneurs pitch their company and what they’re looking for within 60 seconds. Then, every founder leaves its name on an excel spreadsheet and receives a piece of paper with a number and the company name on it. If you’re in the audience and you think you can help out, you simply remember their number and you can go talk to the startup of your interest afterwards.
Who should go?
The diversity of startups that presented themselves is very wide and ranges from an app development company for Graphic Novels (Graphic Novel +) to a startup that want to solve world problems, called Play2thefuture. During the pitches, almost all startups seem to be looking for one type of co-founder in particular: the CTO. However, advisors, business partners, operation managers and marketeers were also wanted. Whether these startups succeeded in finding new co-founders or partners is the question. However, for both startups and business partners who are looking to join a startup, Foundermatchup is definitely worth going to.
More information
- Organizers: Smit Patel, Jeffrey Tagen, Marsh Sutherland, FounderMatchUp
- Social: @foundermatchup, Facebook.com/foundermatchup
- Registration: Eventbrite.com
- Sponsor: Wilmerhale
