The days are getting longer and spring is just around the corner. It can only mean one thing: it’s time to pack our bags and head to America for our first US trip of 2014.
Marked in our calendars each spring and autumn, we hit the road for the US twice a year to achieve one of our main goals at Seedcamp – to help European founders build bridges to the US to access capital, knowledge, markets and connections. We’ve been making the journey with startups in the Seedcamp Family since 2011 and in these past three years, over 50 Seedcamp startups have participated in the trip and over 1/3 of our companies have raised US funding.
And as the Seedcamp Family grows in number – we’re at 118 companies! – and also in depth, it means we not only have many excellent early stage companies, we also have a good number of growth stage companies who are making huge strides and looking to expand. This US trip will bring several companies from both of these stages together, making this trip about connecting and learning but also about ramping up growth. We’re excited!
10 Days of Action
For each of the startups joining us on the road this March, the goals of the trip are different. Most are actively fundraising a series seed or A round, many have their eyes on a move to the US in the near future, others are already there. A number are looking to form that strategic partnership with platforms. And it’s fair to say all are looking to learn, and, moreover, to make those serendipitous connections that can often signal a turning point or turbo charge a startup.
To help our founders accomplish all this and more, here’s what 10 days of action will look like:
4 Destinations
We’ll be making stops in the big technology hubs in the US – New York, Boston, San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Here’s our roadmap in brief:
- Touch down in New York from Sunday March 23rd to Wednesday the 26th
- Head to Boston Wednesday night, staying Thursday 27th, and Friday 28th
- Visit San Francisco from Saturday March 29th through Tuesday April 1st
- In the Valley for April 2nd through Friday the 4th
- Wrap up Friday the 4th with a few afternoon events back in San Francisco
100’s of mentors across four networking events
We are holding mentoring sessions in each city along the way. At each event we will bring together around 50 to 60 of the local rockstar entrepreneurs, professionals and investors to meet with the Seedcamp companies in brief networking sessions. The emphasis is on sharing, whether personal experience, knowledge or connections. This is a great opportunity to mingle with some of the most important startup builders in America. On past trips, teams have formed pivotal relationships at these events and we’re looking forward to what these sessions will bring for this batch.
15 venture firms
We’ve packed this trip with visits to the most active venture funds on both coasts, including Greycroft, Valar Ventures, Spark Capital, NextView, North Bridge, Greylock, 500 Startups, Felicis Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, and others.
8+ startups
We’ll be visiting several startups who are further along in their growth to hear from their founders on what they’ve learned along the way. Stops include among others: Sunrise in New York, Runkeeper in Boston, and out in California a few from the Seedcamp Family – Layer and Frontback.
Dozens of Angels
In Boston and San Francisco we’re holding meetups to connect with the most active local angels. It’s another great opportunity to meet some of the key players making startups grow in these hubs.
Several Platforms and Partners
We’re piling on the learning and opportunities to connect. We’ll be visiting major platforms and partners including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Rackspace to meet and learn from folks in their product, marketing, corp dev and other areas.
6 Masterclasses
We’re thrilled to have gurus in sales, growth, product and venture lead masterclasses for our teams. Building on our growth theme, we’ll have a workshop with Grow&Co, hear from Innovation Advisors on how startups can lay the groundwork for successful M&A, and learn some StartupSecrets from Michael J. Skok of North Bridge.
Some bbq and an unhealthy number of burgers – likely
It wouldn’t be a Seedcamp US trip without it.
And much more…Stay Up To Date With Us
You can follow along by visiting our Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter pages. We’ll be checking in, taking photos and sharing standout moments, as well as a few burger pictures, along the way.