Equitech Tuesday #151: Mid-Atlantic Innovation

This week, we brought together a beautiful group of our ESO partners from across our ecosystem to align in efforts to improve the navigation of resources and opportunities for entrepreneurs. And with our ESO partners, we celebrated the 150th Equitech Tuesday at Waverly Brewing, Maryland’s smallest and Woman-owned microbrewery!

And in the spirit of connectivity, this Equitech Tuesday we have a number of groups from across the region joining us that’ll continue the serendipitous collisions. The roll call includes WTCI’s CEO Council and the Maryland delegation headed to the BIO International Convention as well as the Techstars Equitech founders getting ready for Demo Day later in the week and their peers from the Techstars Washington DC JP Morgan Accelerator who will be coming up to reunite and support!

Equitech Tuesdays remain a space for founders, innovators and talent to interact with founders, innovators and talent – AND ALSO the people, influencers, supporters, and connectors who want to support our thriving tech ecosystem. Breaking the fourth wall a bit: these invitation blogs are a way to elevate the voices of our ecosystem and highlight the people behind the names. Hear from some of our Techstars Equitech founders who are planning to plant roots in Baltimore:

Shauna Dillavou – Brightlines (DC): “Come and join this Techstars Equitech class at our final Equitech Tuesday happy hour! And bask in our gratitude for wrapping your arms around us these past three months! You all in Baltimore have built something that’s holistically and authentically supportive. Any company should count itself fortunate to grow in this Baltimore ecosystem. Thank you for all you’ve done to knit together this community and nurture Brightlines and all companies.”

Rich Trinh – Secured Health (Baltimore): “UpSurge has been tremendous in connecting us to the local business ecosystem. From potential partners to local investors, the team at UpSurge, along with Equitech Tuesdays, has provided us with an endless amount of value that will carry us to the next stage of our company.”

Kristin Bell – Review Tailor (Atlanta): “At ReviewTailor… We’re excited to be part of this thriving tech ecosystem that’s all about connecting talent, fostering innovation, and supporting startups like ours. Equitech Tuesdays have been a game-changer for us in making key connections as we drive to accelerate equity in the workplace and beyond. Come network, collaborate, and be part of Baltimore’s tech revolution. See you there!”

Sincerely,

Robbin Lee

Director of Partnerships & Mobilization

UpSurge Baltimore

Stay informed: Sign-up for the ‘UpShot’

Stay Connected: Create profile of Bmore Tech Connect

Highlight of the night: Keynote speaker and CEO of CareFirst Brian Pieninck encouraged the room to embrace the founders love in the form of not only applause, but willingness to talk to them, picking up the phone call and genuinely & unconditionally opening up your networks. He underscored the importance of “…[companies] in Baltimore to grow better ideas in industries that impact our communities.” After Founder & CEO of Secured Health (based in Baltimore) Richard Trinh pitched, he was asked on stage about his dream connection or meeting in Baltimore and, with Brian’s earlier open invitation, turned to the CEO of CareFirst – to which Brian replied without pause, “next week!” …This is #Equitech and why Baltimore’s unique #smalltimore culture is the backbone of our thriving tech ecosystem.

With many more founders & startups coming from as near as DC and as far as the west coast to Baltimore through our city’s incredible accelerator & incubators, let’s continue to show them love. From WTCI’s Maryland Innovation Lab bringing startups from across the globe, to Conscious Venture Lab (CVL) growing startups from Baltimore and the U.S., to Hutch scaling digital services companies, to Baltipreneurs focused on homegrown companies and more – we need them all to, as Brian Pieninck said it, grow better ideas that impact our communities. We’ll cap off demo season with CVL’s Demo Day on Equitech Tuesday June 25th – more details coming soon, but mark your calendars!

Coming up on Tuesday June 4, University of Baltimore’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and Center for Digital Communication, Commerce, and Culture will be kicking off a 3-day Generative AI summit with the goal to bring faculty, community and industry partners/leaders together to learn from each other about generative AI to better understand how AI is impacting careers and to build an AI literacy program that aligns with what students will be expected to know in their future careers. Join summit attendees to kick off the summit at Equitech Tuesday at Guilford Hall Brewery… where the tech community gathers!

Also, come help us welcome UpSurge’s summer interns! More from them soon, but come say hello to: Himalaya Kadari, Joey Lu, Susan Njoya and Marcos Karakousis.