It's day 1 of Digital DNA upSTART 17 - the startup pitching battle

by Startacus Admin

Hosted and facilitated by startup go-to community Startacus (that’s us!), upSTART 17 is an integral element of Digital DNA, Belfast and is a two-day startup pitching battle, which will once again take place within a boxing arena.



The boxing ring, lights, judges, bells and whistles brings the theatre of the boxing ring to the stage of a startup pitch playing out over a number of rounds, with one eventual winner.

We hope that you agree that the mix of pitching startups from all over the UK, Northern Ireland, Ireland and a few from Europe are really top draw - you can read over the full list of pitching startups here.

To keep our online audience in the loop on things, we wanted to highlight how you can keep an eye on proceedings, even if you aren’t at St George's Market in Belfast itself.

Day 1 key timings for upSTART 17 pitch comp

10am - 11am 1st Round pitch session 1

11.30am - 12.15pm: 1 Round pitch session 2

2 - 3pm: 1 Round pitch session  

4 - 4:15pm: Day 1 pitching startup finalists announced (who will come back on Wednesday afternoon for the ‘Final’). 

So throughout the day we will have a live feed of the pitches alternating between our Twitter account @iamstartacus and via Facebook @IamStartacus and also live tweeting as each startup jumps on stage to pitch.

The format is pretty simple with 4 first round sessions held over Tuesday day and Wednesday morning, with the top 8 startups then pitching back on stage on Wednesday afternoon, with one to be crowned the overall upSTART 17 winner later that afternoon. In round 1, the startups will not have the safety of a pitch presentation, and will have to pitch for three straight minutes to the judges and audience without accompanying slides. In the Final, 8 startups will then present with accompanying slides and then answer questions from the judges - simples.

So make sure to follow / like our Twitter account @iamstartacus and our Facebook page @IamStartacus to keep up with the pitch proceedings as they happen.

We will be back tomorrow morning to recap day 1.

Helping Startacus out with the upSTART hosting and stage are...

Christine James, Founder & manager of Blick Studios which provides space to inspire, support and encourage digital and creative startups across 4 locations in NI and who will be co-hosting the upSTART stage at times during Digital DNA.

Danny McLaughlin - Founder of Revolve Comics, which uses comics and visual storytelling to help engage, educate and connect with audiences in a new and innovative way. Danny will be helping with overall running and social media. 

Kieran Moore - 6 years experience as a marketing professional and founder of an award winning HubSpot inbound marketing and design agency - SupineDigital. Danny will be helping with overall running and social media. 

And of course ourselves, Alastair Cameron and Eoin O'Hara from team Startacus (it’s nice to give yourself a pat on the back every now and again!)

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Published on: 4th June 2017