On Thursday, January 26th, the PyCon Startup Row hosted its first local pitch event of the 2017 season! Braintree hosted the Chicago event at their headquarters in Merchandise Mart. Lagunitas donated beer, while Braintree provided food and soft drinks. ChiPy — Chicago’s official Python user group — joined as a community sponsor.
Our panel of judges included Tamim Abdul Majid, Marcy Capron-Vermillion, and Keith Vermillion. Our panel selected Precognitive to represent Chicago in Portland at PyCon 2017 — congratulations! Precognitive scans user behavior and other analytical factors to identify and flag fraudulent transactions on-the-fly.
Will your city have a company on Startup Row this year? The best way to guarantee representation of your local startup community at PyCon 2017 is to host a pitch event. We want a startup from your city to join us on Startup Row in 2017. Here’s a kit explaining what’s involved in holding a local pitch event. Contact Startup Row organizers Jason Rowley or Don Sheu with any questions — our emails are at the bottom of the Startup Row page on the PyCon 2017 web site.
Coming up next are a Startup Row event in Seattle on February 22nd, and one in San Francisco with SF Python on March 8th. Currently Startup Row staff are working with WeWork and Big Apple Py for a late-February date in New York.
Coordinating pitch events in cities around the country is unpredictable — originally, we wanted to conclude all of our pitch events by today. But because we now have events scheduled out to March 8, 2017, we are extending our due date for online applications. Our new application deadline is March 8th. Startups that have already submitted applications are welcome to revise applications up to the deadline.