aNewDomain.net — Launch Festival 2014 is San Francisco’s largest three-day startup conference, with more than 8,000 attendees and 40 companies attending to compete onstage for the $200,000 grand prize. Launch ran this year from Feb. 24th to 26th at the Design Center in San Francisco. Not only do entrepreneurs have the opportunity to win big, but they can also gain invaluable feedback from the very top entrepreneurs out there. New ventures can gain exposure from the media, and gain the attention of investors on stage and also from those in the audience.
The first day attendees were greeted by protesters who were picketing over a labor dispute with a conference vendor. Once inside though, attendees were greeted with enthusiastic vendors who were eager to pitch their dream startups. Also inside was the entire startup eco system: VCs, angel investors, tech founders seeking funding, media videotaping and photographing it all (as I did). Below are a few of the photo captures from the conference, including shots of serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban of Shark Tank who shared some of his success stories with the audience, and a photo of Jason Calcanis, founder of Launch Festival.
The Winner of the $200,000 prize at The Launch was Connect.com. The app is available at the iPhone store. It provides a social map and living address book that lets you stay connected with your friends from all your social networks. Connect.com has 8 employees and it launched today at The Launch Festival.
Image credits: Julie Blaustein
Launch Festival 2014 with founder Jason Calcanis at a fireside chat keynote with serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban
Day 1: Attendees were greeted by a labor dispute against the event producers
Launch Festival banner
The leaderboard keeping score of the startups vying for the $200,000 grand prize
Pijon is a delivery service for college students. It features organic and other products along with its own currency.
Food vendors and attendees line up outside the Design Center Concourse at the Launch Festival
Networking 24/7, especially during lunch
Signage for Mark Cuban’s keynote
The many faces of serial entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban
Vendors at Launch Festival
Volunteers at the Launch Festival
CO: A new way to register your domain
For aNewDomain.net, I’m Julie Blaustein.
Based in San Francisco, Julie Blaustein is a senior photojournalist here at aNewDomain.net. She also contributes to Bub.bliciou.us. A startup addict, Julie has served in various capacities at Photobucket, CitySearch, GeoCities, JamBase and Commission Junction. An avid sailor and triathlete, Julie’s email is jblaustein@aNewDomain.net. Follow Julie @julierb and on Google+ at +Julie Blaustein.
