A Note of Thanks
It’s been a week since our joint AlphaLab Gear / AlphaLab Demo Day and I wanted to share some reflections and thanks.
A Community Event
As I was reading some of the tweets the morning of Demo Day, I was struck by the ones with excitement and anticipation from people in the community.
One of our founding goals with AlphaLab was to build community as part of building “3 C’s” for the Pittsburgh ecosystem (companies, capabilities, community) so feeling this sense of community was especially gratifying. We had over 1000 people register for the event and another 600+ watch online, as an enthusiastic and supportive audience for the startups launching. To all of you who took time out of your busy days to join us at Demo Day and online, thank you.
Demo Day can’t happen without the generous support of sponsors who cover the costs of the event. One of our fundamental principles has been to avoid charging startups and entrepreneurs for events and we thank the following for their support:
Network of Support
The companies who launched at Demo Day also received tremendous support from the community throughout the program. Mentors, alums, partners and many others generously provided feedback and help to the companies. They made numerous introductions, connecting them to potential customers and beta testers.
These valuable connections had an impact. An observation that many have made to me after Demo Day was the number of companies who had customers and revenues, including many who cited Pittsburgh companies (Philip Pelusi Studios, Industrial Scientific, Highmark Inc., Giant Eagle, American Eagle) as early customers and testers. This has always been an important goal in growing the tech community and it has been exciting to see the greater corporate engagement. Thank you to everyone who helped one of the companies with an intro or connection.
In addition to providing intros, our fantastic group of mentors also spent numerous hours with the teams, challenging them with honest feedback, reviewing product and presentations, and supporting them in whatever way possible. Our companies always tell us that the mentor network and connections is one of the most valuable aspects of their experience. We have enjoyed highlighting some of these fantastic mentors and partners by having them introduce the companies which has led to some memorable moments. Thank you to all of our mentors for being there for the companies throughout the programs.
Finally, the companies benefitted from free and discounted services, free software and other perks throughout the accelerator programs, ranging in value up to $100K and more. These companies have demonstrated their commitment and support to the startup community by making these valuable resources available to our companies during this critical point in the startup’s life.
I’d like to especially thank Cohen & Grigsby as they set the example by being the first to offer such a program to our accelerator companies and as you can see from the graphic below, many others have followed their lead. Thank you to our program partners for the invaluable services they provide the companies to make them successful.
It’s About the Companies
Finally, I wanted to share my gratitude and thanks to all of the entrepreneurs and their teams who presented and participated at Demo Day.
Without your incredible hard work and efforts, AlphaLab, AlphaLab Gear and Demo Day would not exist. You’re the ones who have the vision to start your companies, the courage to forego lucrative alternatives available to you, and the conviction to push forward when things get difficult. You are also the ones putting yourselves out there, willing to share your company’s story with the community, embracing the philosophy that by being open and transparent, your company will learn faster, identify more opportunities and have a greater chance for success. I truly meant it when I said that we have the best jobs in the world because we get to work closely with you every day. Thank you for leading the way in helping to grow Pittsburgh, teaching all of us, and inspiring future entrepreneurs.
