#Celebrate2015

Yes, we are hashtag whores. Yes, we hashed all over #Vegas. Yes, you can filter through the Tech.Co #Celebrate2015 tag and find our (dare I say witty?) commentary. And yes, you should go and do that #rightmeow.

#Celebrate2015 was Tech.Co’s global conference for tech startups, which took place this past Sunday-Tuesday in Vegassss, baby! It was three packed days of networking, panels, meetings, (yes, some #parties), one-on-ones, mentors, new faces, and new friends. It also included a startup showcase, of which Pelonkey was a part last year. We didn’t win, but because the conference was gads of fun, this year Nicole and Danielle returned to network, strengthen connections, and of course, visit Vegas. (Though, with two red eyes in as many days, it’s not quite the same as it would have been with time to recharge to 100%.)

After the launch party and our first month post-site launch, our focus on managing the company shifts every day as we explore new aspects of outreach, marketing, partnerships, and more, and the conference was great in aiding our efforts to tackle these frontiers. The people we met were awesomesauce, and the business cards we got are spilling out of our purses in anticipation of follow-up emails.

We flew in to Vegas late Sunday night, so we missed the first day’s activities, but here’s what our schedule looked like:

See? Busy. Monday and Tuesday were no joke. Neither are my 24 pages of notes that are begging to be organized and prioritized, but I digress.

Frank Gruber, Co-Founder and CEO of Tech.Co

Nicole and Danielle split up in order to meet with more people and cover more ground. Monday’s highlights were a mix of some panels and great individual sit-downs. Tuesday was comprised of valuable lectures and some heavy duty speakers (Microsoft, Google, American Airlines, Yahoo News, and more were in attendance).

Danielle heard from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappo’s, a panel discussing partnerships, Susan Cooney and Stacy Parson, who led a workshop on Next Level Results from startup teams and how they can grow their business through leadership (one of my favs, and a class every young professional should take to teach them about owning their leadership potential), and Clarisa Lindenmeyer from Tech Wildcatters, among others. Nicole met with Gerome Sapp, NFL player turned tech master, Jermaine Dupri, record producer and founder of So So Def, and heard a lecture about investor meetings.

They both listened to talks by Danielle Morrill from Mattermark, who discussed the business of collecting and organizing the world’s data, and Lauren Fritsch from TCC Consulting, who blew their minds with her Customer Experience talk (right up Pelonkey’s alley!).

We took a little time to walk around Downtown, but did not make it to the strip (though Nicole did try unsuccessfully to get Danielle to go out with her). Instead we opted for Tech.Co parties and networking (a worthy choice).

After a Pelonkey brainstorm (read: brain dump), final speakers, and startup awards ceremony (shoutout to Blendoor!), the conference wrapped up with a closing rooftop party and a visit from Kuzco, the Tech.Co alpaca, which, naturally, was our favorite part.

And then it was back to the airport for red eye #2! And straight to meetings after that. #Tech stops for no one.

#Celebrate2015, you were fantastic! Let’s do this again sometime. Say, 2016 perhaps?