Launch Party Vancouver

Anyone, who has been to LPV1, 2 & 3 knows that Sun has been a big supporter of our event and the tech community here. By choosing to launch their national start-up essentials program in Vancouver over other Canadian tech hubs on January 25th shows that they recognize things are heating up in our city.

Here's what Sun had to say about Vancouver in their press release:

Vancouver was selected because of the vitality and diversity of its local startup community spanning new media, gaming, Internet, networking, wireless, biotech and cleantech.

 

'Launch Party' is Vancouver's preeminent event for helping bring together the local technology community in a forum where new companies can introduce their products and network with their peers. Launch Party was co-founded by Dimitri Sirota, Maura Rodgers and Dan Robinson in 2007. "

Several Sun execs flew in to mingle with the crowd last Friday and talk about their new program, which I have read gives big discounts on hardware to start-ups, who have been in business for less than 4 years and have fewer than 150 employees. Start-ups have to apply and be approved to get into the program to receive the discounts.

Tried SSE? Let us know what you think.

Michael Schratter, who writes the On The Town column for Vancouver's 24 hours popped by the Lamplighter to check out the scene at LPV3.

Strutta's Jordan Behan, Maura Rodgers, Danny Robinson & Layer 7 founder, Dimitri Sirota

Photo courtesy of Michael Schratter, 24hrs.ca  

Naming an event or company can take a while and as busy entrepreneurs, Danny, Dimitri and I were eager to just get this party started.

So, one Friday afternoon over drinks, we chose the name Launch Party Vancouver “for now” and thought we could revisit it after planning was underway. I then created the Launch Party group on Facebook and it quickly grew to over 200 members. I soon realized two things:
1) We weren’t the only ones who were looking for more fun, networking opportunities for tech start-ups in this city and
2) once you create a group on Facebook, you cannot rename it later without removing all of the members, deleting the group and starting a new one.

And since #2 wasn’t an option, Launch Party Vancouver it is! ☺

It may not be a party for any company in particular but it is certainly a celebration for entrepreneurs and tech innovation in BC.