Announcing Sprout Up 2012 Lineup

Since our acquisition by Postmedia Network Inc. in October 2011 we’ve been planning the next series of our popular Sprout Up startup events. The events have been running for two years as a way to bring together local entrepreneurs to learn, network and discover the best startup talent in their city. The events have been held in cities including New York City, London and Montreal; and have featured guest speakers including WineLibraryTV’s Gary Vaynerchuk, GetSatisfaction founder Lane Becker, Hootsuite founder Ryan Holmes, and TechStars mentor and entrepreneur Micah Baldwin. Startup demos have included BackType (acquired by Twitter), TinyHippos (acquired by RIM), and Rypple (raised over $7 million in funding). The events regularly have over 300 attendees.

We’re excited to announce our lineup of 2012 events in Toronto. We have a series of serial entrepreneur guest speakers from startup communities across North America, all of whom have worked at high-profile startups and launched their own companies. Here are our first three speakers, and head over to Meetup.com/sproutupto to buy a ticket to January’s event. Once signed up you’ll get notifications for all 2012 events.

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 (buy tickets now)

Guest speaker: Dan Martell, founder of Flowtown (acquired by DemandForce in October 2011)

Bio: With a background in computer programming but no formal business training, Dan’s passion for technology and business has meant he has had a hand in launching several companies to date. Dan sold his startup Spheric Technologies Inc. in mid-2008. Dan recently co-founded Flowtown, a social marketing platform focused on helping small businesses achieve real results in the world of social media. Now living in  San Francisco, Martell spends the majority of his time looking at ways to build a bridge between Silicon Valley and his home province of New Brunswick. As an informal angel investor, he is active in advising entrepreneurs using the  Lean Startup approach to gain market adoption. Martell is a board member of Propel ICT and StartupWeekend, and a startup advisor to YearOneLabs and 500Startups.

Dan has answered over 1,100 startup questions on Sprouter. View his Q&A at sprouter.com/danmartell.

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 (buy tickets February 1st)

Guest speaker: Daniel Burka, former Creative Director at Digg and co-founder of Milk

Daniel is currently the designer at and a co-founder of Milk Inc. They just launched their first app Oink. Recently, he was the director of design with a startup called Tiny Speck based in Vancouver and San Francisco working on a game called Glitch. He’s also one of the co-founders of silverorange, a web agency in Prince Edward Island, Canada. He was the creative director of Digg for four-and-half years – from near the site’s inception through to October 2009. Over that period, Digg grew from a small tech news startup into one of the largest news and entertainment resources on the web. During that period, he was also one of three founders of the social messaging service Pownce, which was sold to SixApart in late 2008.

Read Daniel’s startup advice on Sprouter at sprouter.com/dburka.

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 (buy ticket February 23rd)

Guest speaker: Tony Conrad, founder of True Ventures and About.me (acquired by AOL in December 2010)

Tony is a founder & CEO of about.me (acquired by Aol in 2010), and a founding member & Venture Partner at True Ventures. Prior to about.me, Tony co-founded Sphere (acquired by Aol in 2008) with Toni Schneider.  Early in his career, Tony spent nine years abroad, working in India, France, and Indonesia with Groupe Danone, focusing on brand extension opportunities through mergers and acquisitions in Southeast Asia. He then joined VSP as a general partner where he led consumer-tech and marketing software and services investments in Oddpost (acquired by Yahoo!), Iconoculture (acquired by Corporate Executive Board), MusicNow (acquired by Circuit City), and Centive (acquired by Xactly). Tony also played an active role managing investments in Post Communications (NASDAQ: NTVS) and Stonyfield Farms (acquired by Groupe Danone).

Read Tony’s startup advice on Sprouter at sprouter.com/tonyconrad.

We’ll be announcing speakers for our April, May and June events in the New Year, but until then mark the dates in your calendar:

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

Each event features three early-stage technology startup demos – we have spaces available for demos at our 2012 events, so get in touch at erin@sprouter.com to apply to present. Include your startup’s name, launch date, and a brief description. See you in 2012!