Sessions
Explore some of the presentations, panels, workshops, and parties we’ll have at Startup Week Louisville 2022
Choose Your Track or Mix & Match
Business 101 Track
Have a business idea or new startup? Tune into these founders and subject matter experts who will share their experiences and advice to having the greatest success when launching or growing your business.
Branding Products from the Outside In
Learn how to produce product labels that appeal to your customer base.
Presentation
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Branding Products from the Outside In
Learn how to produce product labels that appeal to your customer base.
Presentation
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Branding Products from the Outside In
Learn how to produce product labels that appeal to your customer base.
Presentation
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Creative Track
No matter what tool you use to express your creativity, these events will inspire you to use your gift t
Your Choice of Weapons
Learn the path photojournalist Jon Cherry followed to become a Pulitzer Prize winner who has found fulfillment by using his craft to affect change in the world.
Presentation
Jon Cherry
Pulitzer Prize awarded American photojournalist
Branding Products from the Outside In
Learn how to produce product labels that appeal to your customer base.
Presentation
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Branding Products from the Outside In
Learn how to produce product labels that appeal to your customer base.
Presentation
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Explore All Sessions
Our team is actively working on updating this page and is not reflective of all of the sessions we’ll have at the event. Check back regularly for updates!
Business 101
Healthcare
Presentation
Fraud is Not a Trade Secret
Tyler Shultz
Theranos Whistleblower & Startup Advisor
Growth & Scale
Pitch Competition
Render Capital Competition
Creative
Presentation
Your Choice of Weapons
Learn the path photojournalist Jon Cherry followed to become a Pulitzer Prize winner who has found fulfillment by using his craft to affect change in the world.
Jon Cherry
Pulitzer Prize awarded American photojournalist
Web3
Panel
Building Brand, Community, and Differentiation in NFT Land
Business 101
Panel
The Black Founder's Experience
Take a deep dive into what it’s like to start a tech company as a BIPOC founder. Rohan & Meagan share their own experience on the StartupBus and stories about how BIPOC have fought adversity getting started in the tech space.
Rohan Brown
Founder, Barley, Inc
Meagan Turner
Electrical Engineer, StartupBus: Advancing Black Entrepreneurs
Business 101
Presentation
Using Amazon's Writing Culture to Drive Fast Decision Making
Learn about Amazon’s peculiar writing culture, why it’s so important to the business, the various document types, and how to use document review meetings to drive quick decision making on your own team.
Wesley Eklund
Software Engineer, Amazon Web Services
Business 101
Q&A
Building Movements with Heart & Soul
Attendees will get to ask questions about my time as one of the first Airbnb employees. Through those exchanges, attendees will see how to build movements not machines and how it is necessary to tap into their own experience and values to initiate successful companies and lives.
Airbnb, Fiverr, Google
Creative
Panel
The Creative Economy
Explore how the cities investing in their creative economy are winning…and what Louisville can do to get ahead.
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
Greg Fisher
Mayor of Louisville
web3
Presentation
Getting Started in web3 & Crypto
Learn the history and major concepts of web3. We’ll discuss the positive disruptions the “internet of ownership” could present for our city’s social, cultural, economic and civic wellbeing. You will learn how to support an ecosystem of local creators, businesses, and communities embracing the next generation of human coordination technology.
Zachary Meicher-Buzzi
Co-Founder, Louisville Blockchain Collective
Andrew Lutes
Co-Founder, LBC & Dogebeans Coffee
Business 101
Panel
The Digital Transformation of Media
Angie Fenton
President & CEO, Extol Magazine
Eden Bridgeman Sklenar
CEO & Chairwoman, Ebony & Jet
Creative
Presentation
Working with Brands as a Travel Photographer & Filmmaker
This session will dive into the details of brand collaboration as well as working with various creative agencies across the industry. From both travel-based projects to locally-based projects, I will go into the process of what agencies are looking for in today’s content and an initial approach to presenting yourself to outdoor brands, lifestyle & leisure as well as urban brands.
Blaine Scinta
Commercial Photographer & Filmmaker
Business 101
Presentation
Building a Great Sales Funnel, from Top to Bottom
This talk will be geared towards companies that have some form of a sales cycle. This could be a B2B company selling to SMB’s all the way to contractors bidding out work. Everyone attending should leave understanding how to properly capture, qualify, and manage leads throughout their entire lifecycle. We’ll talk helpful tools and practices w/ a little sprinkle of general sales strategy!
Mitch Pangello
Growth Manager, Forecastr
Business 101
Presentation
Branding Products from the Outside In
Learn how to produce product labels that appeal to your customer base.
Brittiney Griffin
Small business owner & entrepreneur, Pocket Change
Business 101
Presentation
Innovation Through Co-Creation
At FirstBuild, we invent what’s next for the home. Rapidly taking product concepts from mind to market, FirstBuild’s global Co-Creation mission enables anyone to submit appliance product ideas or contribute to the ideas of others and participate in its hands-on, iterative process. This session will share how this community collaboration happens successfully, how to harness the power of early customer feedback, and how innovation through co-creation can be applied to other businesses.
Jack Manzella
Digital Marketing Specialist, FirstBuild
Growth & Scale
Presentation
Getting VCs to Run After You / Building a Best-In-Class Performance Deep Tech Company
Are you a founder? Discover a path to raise money in uncertain times and build stronger relationships with investors by building a company that focuses on traction, performance, and technology.
David Zamarin
Founder & CEO, DetraPel
Business 101
Presentation
Buried Treasure: Injecting Innovation & Excitement in a Stale Industry for Fun & Profit
There are many fundamental industries that exist in the world that never make the business newsfeed. Drive for change in those industries remains muted for this very reason. How does an enterprising person create value by finding and innovating in these spaces?
Mark Franco
CEO, MXD Process
Business 101
Presentation
Preparing the Next Generation for the Workplace
GenZ and Gen Alpha are heading to the workplace and taking courses in marketing, creative, and digital/social areas. What are the skills and experiences they are looking for? What can businesses, professionals and others do to make sure we are preparing for the next wave of talent entering the field? Insights, best practices, and educational trends will be discussed.
Karen Freberg
Professor & Award-Winning Author, University of Louisville
Business 101
Presentation
My Lens, My Journey and My Assignment - The Story Behind Harper Slade
So much of what we do, especially as entrepreneurs, is rooted in who we are. This is extraordinarily accurate in the case of my journey toward launching my business.
Nikki Lanier
CEO & Founder, Harper Slade
Corporate Innovation
Panel
The Future of Flight - UPS Flight Forward
This session will be an overview of UPS Flight Forward and the innovations underway in the new emerging advance air mobility industry. UPS Flight Forward has emerged as a leader in the space and is working closely with industry partners and regulators to safely deploy and commercialize these new technologies.
Jeff Lucket
Speaker, UPS Flight Forward
Naashom Marx
Monderator, CVG Airport
Growth & Scale
Presentation
ARK Invest – Big Ideas 2022
Innovation is the key to long-term growth. Despite its potential, innovation can take longer for the mass market to adopt. Perception is key and investors should focus on promising areas of disruptive innovation, including those missed or underrepresented by traditional investment styles. This program will discuss a series of critical technologies in the disruptive innovation categories that comprise the major innovation platforms, how they may lead to growth, and how to potentially capitalize on those opportunities.
Ryan Hodapp
Vice President of Sales, Resolute Investment Managers
Growth & Scale
Presentation
Network of Entrepreneurial Women with Cora Brown
Cora Brown shares how she has always held positions where she thrived because being a Social Butterfly was advantageous, and why she’s passionate about her photo entertainment company, TapSnap.
Cora Brown
President of TapSnap
Creative
Presentation
How Brands Can Partner with Creators to Tap Into Culture
Discover the cultural impact that influencer marketing has on the creator economy and take a glimpse at what the future of influencer marketing looks like.
Lindsay Calabrese
Vice President, Cashmere Agency
Business 101
Presentation
Your Brain and Startups
They’re in there – the operating systems of our minds that stay under wraps but make themselves known at some of the most inopportune times. The neurological miracle that is the human brain is both complex and simple, and as entrepreneurs achieve success, it is common to lose that sense of self along our path. This session explores self, the limits of our thinking, the obstacles that hamper our ability to expand our thinking capacity and building the relationships needed for startup success.
Patrick Malone
Director of Key Executive Leadership Programs, American University
Growth & Scale
Fireside Chat
Network N' Chill with Stacey Wade
A digital and in-person event series
Stacey Wade
CEO & Executive Creative Director, Nimbus
Ricky Mason
Founder, BrainSTEM University
Angel Investor
Growth & Scale
Interview
The Power of Crowdfunding: Cornbread Hemp on Wefunder
A discussion between Wefunder and the co-founders of Cornbread Hemp: Eric Zipperle and Jim Higdon. They will discuss the power of Reg CF crowdfunding in underserved markets, finding partners with local VC, and the advantages of raising a community round. The conversation will cover the challenges unique to their category as a hemp CBD brand, and the challenges that are universal to startups in small markets. Founders will learn how Cornbread Hemp succeeded on Wefunder and take away tips to apply to their own Reg CF campaigns.
Jim Higdon & Eric Zipperle
Cofounders, Cornbread Hemp
Jonny Price
VP of Fundraising, WeFunder
Business 101
Growth & Scale
Presentation
Taking on the Entrepreneurial Racial Wealth Gap: How Business Attorneys Can Be Part of the Solution
Black entrepreneurs tend to make decisions in the business-ideation stage that are likely to keep their businesses small. These businesses are not failing (foundering) in the traditional sense (lack of capital or lack of flexibility). These businesses are failing to scale. With a basic understanding of “scaling” and the “owner mindset”, attorneys can assist all businesses with “thinking big” and support them along the journey of entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
Dana Cosby
Legal Solutions Architect, Captain
Business 101
Presentation
Growing From an Idea to a Legitimate Brand
The session will be focused on how to take an idea and build it into a legitimate business. Focusing on developing the proper business plan and execution of the plan. Basics around brand building in multiple industries and maintaining that position over time.
Larry Rogers
Business 101
Creative
Presentation
Making a Movie is Just Like Any Other Startup - Except You May End Up at Sundance Film Festival
Things to think about in making an independent movie that can apply to other start-ups. From ideation, to building a team, budgeting, marketing and distribution of your vision/product.
Gill Holland
Founder & Producer, sonaBLAST! Records
Growth & Scale
Presentation
Fundraising 101: The Road to Series A
Whether they are new to the fundraising scene or have been to this rodeo before, early stage founders want all the advice they can gather before diving into the abyss. If you are starting to get some traction with your idea (at seed) or product (at A) and are ready to take on venture funding to help accelerate your growth, this session will give you advice gathered from top Silicon Valley VCs and seasoned startup CEOs who have been in the trenches, as well as specific guidance in building your pitchdeck.
Katie Bush
Founder & CEO, KBD
Business 101
Creative
Presentation
Monetizing Your Multi-Passions
This session will break the stigma society has led us to believe when it comes to having multi-passions/careers. Jess will briefly cover her journey and how she learned that having mutli-passions was her greatest strength (and likely yours too). She will include some lessons learned along the way and some tips to get you on track when it comes to monetizing your multi-passions.
Jess Amburgey
Photographer, Social Media Manager, & Business Coach
Business 101
Presentation
Anti-Goals & the 4-Day Work Week
Anti-Goals and the 4-Day Work Week are two methodologies we live and work by at Kale & Flax, focusing more on identifying what we don’t want our culture, work, passions to be, to truly make room for us to discover what we truly want. Going against the grain, we embraced the 4-Day Work Week over three years ago, and have nearly 2x’ed our revenue year after year, along with 100% talent retention 19 months in a row. It’s time to reimagine how our work minds are wired, and our two approaches can easily become tools for the modern work era you’re entering.
Tarik Nally
Principal & Founder, Kale & Flax
Business 101
Presentation
Brand Means Business: How to Leverage Your Brand to Accelerate Your Growth
In this session, you’ll learn how to build and deploy a powerhouse brand that gives you a seismic competitive edge, drives the team culture you need to succeed, magnetizes the customers you want, and accelerates the market value of your growing business.
No matter where you are on your entrepreneurial journey, you can’t afford to miss this one.
Cheryl Farr
Founder & CEO, SIGNAL.csk Brand Partners
web3
Presentation
Powering Small Biz with Web3
Navigate the ambiguity of Web3 with practical applications to your startup or small business. Hear how one Louisville small business approaches payments, building brand loyalty with NFT based rewards, and offsetting everyday costs with crypto. You will leave with Web3 resources to jumpstart your ideas and apply them to your business.
Andrew Lutes
Co-owner, Dogebeans Coffee
Business 101
Presentation
Cut Through the Noise
We’re constantly bombarded with information, overloaded with tasks, and inundated with mental noise. Our brains aren’t wired for it. Messages are lost. Work gets distracted. And we struggle to keep pace with the changing world. Learn about why information overload derails our brains and walk away with some techniques for coping, growing, and thriving in complexity.
Sae Schatz
Chief Product Officer, Bedrock Learning
Business 101
Presentation
Is Your Marketing Working?
We’ll discuss the ups and downs of running a startup and marketing and attribution to land your dream clients.
Chase Barmore
Sales Executive, WhatConverts
Business 101
Creative
Presentation
Your Idea has a Shelf Life– Take Action Now
Original ideas are long extinct, but that doesn’t mean your idea can’t evolve into something much greater. Let’s talk about creating your idea now, better, and for you.
Noah Rough
Founder, Groupie
Business 101
Presentation
Why is Branding Important?
Established well, designed, and expressed brands create trust with their customers creating an intangible value for your customers. Branding creates interest in customers to identify you, return to you, and stay with your product or service over others.
Jason Davis
CEO, NerdBrand
Growth & Scale
Presentation
Investing for Environmental Impact/Funding Strategies
Ginger Rothrock
Senior Director, HG Ventures
Business 101
Presentation
The Creative Economy
Explore how the cities investing in their creative economy are winning…and what Louisville can do to get ahead.
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
Greg Fisher
Mayor of Louisville
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
Business 101
Presentation
The Creative Economy
Explore how the cities investing in their creative economy are winning…and what Louisville can do to get ahead.
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
Greg Fisher
Mayor of Louisville
Business 101
Presentation
The Creative Economy
Explore how the cities investing in their creative economy are winning…and what Louisville can do to get ahead.
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
Greg Fisher
Mayor of Louisville
Business 101
Presentation
The Creative Economy
Explore how the cities investing in their creative economy are winning…and what Louisville can do to get ahead.
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
Shain Shapiro
Founder & Executive Chairman, Sound Diplomacy
Greg Fisher
Mayor of Louisville
JK McKnight
Founder, Art of Impact & Forecastle Festival
