StartupBus goes TOA.berlin
Back when Keit Kollo and I became Directors of StartupBus Europe 2016 last year, right after Pirate Summit 2015, we had to choose a destination for our favorite competition called StartupBus. All year round there are awesome tech conferences to go to in Europe, but only a few of them fit with our StartupBus view on tech startups.
After a few weeks we nailed down a shortlist:
- Pioneers in Vienna (May)
- Tech Open Air in Berlin (July)
- Pirate Summit in Cologne (September)
- Bits & Pretzels in Munich (end of September)
We visited Pioneers in 2013 and 2014 but in the last two years they seemed to have outgrown us. Nevertheless, Pioneers is an awesome forward-looking festival.
Neither Keit nor I had visited Tech Open Air (TOA) but from the looks of it it seemed like an awesome interdisciplinary tech conference. They bring together people from the worlds of technology and arts, which aligns well with our vision of bringing tech & entrepreneurial talent together to disrupt the status quo. Only caveat: it’s in the middle of summer holidays!
Our 2015 competition ended at Pirate Summit in Cologne. We just loved the atmosphere at the festival: great talks, awesome attendees and let’s not forget the great food and drinks (and the impromptu party we threw after burning the man). One of our American friends said Pirate Summit is like a cross-over between SXSWi and Burning Man!
We were also considering Bits & Pretzels, a festival focused on founders which flows into the world famous Oktoberfest in Munich (pun not intended). However, we would have had lots of logistical problems (mostly regarding providing accommodation for our participants).
So, that’s why we’ve chosen to visit Pirate Summit once again with our StartupBus. But, a few of our organizing crew will visit Tech Open Air this week in Berlin anyway! We’re also participating actively in a few of the satellite events!
Satellite events affiliated with StartupBus crew:
- Wed 13 July 18h30: Berlin #insurtech meetup 3 hosted by R+V, zeb and StartupBus
- Thu 14 July 18h00: Tech Recruiting Innovations (Pecha Kucha) hosted by Young Targets
- Thu 14 July 22h00: Wonderland hosted by 99chairs
- Fri 15 July 23h00: Battala de los Despacionados unofficial afterparty at Carcosa (inside the Castle Pub), Berlin’s best mezcal bar
A selection of TOA talks we’ll definitely be attending:
- (Day 1) Are we cyborgs yet — future of fashion tech
- (Day 1) Bots: fun, mischief and whimsy
- (Day 1) Scaling Innovation Velocity inside Kayak
- (Day 1) A Design Sprint
- (Day 1) Fireside chat with Albert Wenger (moderated by Robin Wauters of Tech.eu!)
- (Day 1) Don’t Arrest Me with Susan Danziger
- (Day 1) Modern Design & Classic Aesthetics
- (Day 2) Working with Data: design?
- (Day 2) Adaptive music — a new era in music with Lars Rasmussen (co-founder of Weav, founder of Google Maps!)
- (Day 2) Why The Next Big Thing In Tech Is Disrupting Sex by Cindy Gallop!
- (Day 2) Order & Chaos in UX
- (Day 2) Mission to the Moon
- (Day 2) Designing Interfaces at Spotify
If you want to meet with us while we’re in Berlin, tweet us at @TheStartupBus on Twitter.
StartupBus is a global network of tested entrepreneurial talent. Our alumni have gone through a resource constrained 72 hour road trip crossing the continent during which they had to conceive, build and launch new startups together with and against teams of strangers.
Our next competition in Europe will depart on 2 September from seven countries and ride to the Corda INCubator in Hasselt for Demo Day on 5 September and arrive at Pirate Summit in Cologne for our final event where the 10 best startups will pitch in front of investors. Want to ride with us?
Apply now at http://europe.startupbus.com!
