At 3 Steps to Startup, we are excited to present an opportunity to attend our free, virtual venture fair on Tuesday, November 16th, from 9:00 am until 12:00 pm. Our second venture fair of 2021 builds upon the work we did earlier in March 2021 at the 3 Steps to Startup Venture Fair. If you missed our March event, all recordings are accessible here.
What exactly is a venture fair?
A venture fair provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs, funders, economic developers, and other startup stakeholders to gather and share information. The goal of a venture fair is to match small business startup founders with funding for their ventures while providing investors with ideas for investment.
Venture fairs assist small businesses to get up and running, particularly by helping them overcome the biggest hurdle for many startups: getting investment capital. Many traditional in-person venture fairs heavily focus on allowing several startup businesses to give a “pitch” or presentation to investors. The startup founders pitch their ideas either on stage or in a booth to potential investors, hoping to attract funding. Investors attend venture fairs to find opportunities to invest their capital. The pitches typically accompany seminar events designed to provide information to entrepreneurs.
What makes our venture fairs stand out?
The 3 Steps to Startup venture fairs change the focus. Instead of inviting a limited number of startups to pitch their ideas to investors, we empower an unlimited number of entrepreneurs (and others) with the information they need to attract investment on their own. We hold Watch and Learn sessions, allowing West Virginia startups to pitch to a panel of investors, who critique their pitches as attendees observe. Our November event features several sessions focused on startup founder enrichment. Panels of experienced investors, innovators, and assistance providers guide attendees regarding the pitch itself: when, how, and who. Attendees will also learn about investor relationships pre-investment and post-investment and will hear from recently successful startup founders.
3 Steps to Startup is committed to providing support for West Virginia’s tech-focused, research-driven entrepreneurs, and our venture fairs feature innovators, investors, and others who share our mission. Brad D. Smith, keynote speaker from our March venture fair, referred to West Virginia as the “Startup State” in his address. 3 Steps to Startup is here to help those startups reach success, and we are supporting them with our program, including our venture fairs.
This month’s virtual venture fair is open to all who would like to attend, free of cost. We encourage small business owners, assistance providers, economic developers, funders, and more to come to our event. Register to attend here. Finally, as with our March venture fair, all sessions will be recorded and posted to our website. If you cannot attend our virtual event live, feel free to view the sessions at your convenience.
Tags: 3 Steps To Startup, Business Loans, Business Networking, Business Start Up, Businesses, Client Base, creative thinking, Educational Resource, Entrepreneurship, generating ideas, Generating leads, Information Resources, Informational Blog, Innovators, solving meaningful problems, Startup, Startup Companies, successful entrepreneurship, Venture capital, Venture Fair