Among the bouquet of events happening at ITEXPO East 2012 this week in Miami is a rose which, by any other name, would not smell as sweet (sorry, Shakespeare). Startup Camp 5 is proving to be one of the most riveting events at communications technology conferences on a global scale, and for good reason. A few good reasons, actually.
With numbers of attendees increasing almost exponentially at each show, Startup Camp brings the brightest, most innovative startups to the ring in combat for funding and ultimately the attention of future investors.
It’s about as competitive as developers are going to get. With five minutes each to wow the judges, each lucky startup representative must leverage the precious seconds it will take to gain their votes over the competing startups. The resulting speeches are true studies in the human urge to win when each representative is faced with such a tiny window in which to convince the panel and audience that his or her idea is the most deserving.
Some pretty big names show up to speak. Last September in Austin, TX at ITEXPO (News - Alert) West 2011, Bob Metcalfe gave the keynote speech at Startup Camp 4 – a treat for all. This time around, Sir Terry Matthews is on the menu, a world-renowned entrepreneur who has either founded or funded over 80 companies since 1972 including Newbridge Networks and Mitel (News - Alert).
Get to know “who’s who” before everyone else does. I knew who Michael Koetting was before most people did as he was the gem of Startup Camp 3 last year in Miami. A young whippersnapper studying at the University of Texas, Koetting floored audience members with his succinct and creative social networking study app called Hoot.Me. By the time Startup Camp 3 was over, Koetting was having virtual money tossed at his toes by vying investors.
Networking. Startup Camp is always a fabulous time to catch up with those whom you haven’t seen in a while, and make new connections with those in the industry you would otherwise not have a chance to meet.
The startup businesses are actually really cool. Aside from Hoot.me in 2011, different Startup Camps have witnessed the arrival of applications and innovations that prove to bear hefty influence on the future world of technology.
Trent Johnsen, co-founder of hookflash, a company present during Startup Camp 3, stated, “It would be hard to overstate the value hookflash received as a result of being selected, and presenting at StartupCamp3 ... The hookflash pitch, to an audience of over 500, created tremendous industry exposure and awareness, accelerated the close of our oversubscribed seed round financing and resulted in the addition of a senior Google (News 
- Alert) executive to the hookflash Advisory Board. To top it all off; it was in incredibly fun event to be a part of.”
So, what are you waiting for?
Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
