April 13, 2017: All Points, Maryland - Today Startup Maryland announced initial dates and the route for Stage One (April 15 - May 31) of the STRT1UP Road Show , the sixth annual state-wide tour and celebration of entrepreneurship and high-growth innovation-centric startup companies.  

Additionally, Startup Maryland is announcing that the first stop on the 2017 tour will be the TCO Labs Hatch Innovation Conference being held on the Homewood Main Campus of Johns Hopkins University from 1:00-5:00pm ET.  The event is free and open to the public, however, registration is required.  Details and additional information can be found here: http://hatch2017.com/

The STRT1UP Road Show will again traverse the state all in the name of celebrating Maryland's diverse ecosystem of innovation venture building.  A sampling of details, key data and results from previous tours follow:

"After celebrating our fifth anniversary last year, we are now refining our mission and attention to the next 50 years and what we have learned in our first five years is how dynamic the Maryland and broader Mid-Atlantic region are with regards to industry sectors and innovation categories," stated Michael Binko, Founder | CEO of Startup Maryland.  "In order to drive a deeper awareness of Maryland's entrepreneurial ecosystem we decided to extend the STRT1UP Road Show and the Pitch Across Maryland competitions to be a year-long series of events.  This change affords us more time to be on-site with each tour stop host community and to share more of the Startup Maryland mission and initiatives."  

The expanded STRT1UP Road Show efforts will include programming tailored jointly with the Startup Maryland Champion community and designed to help the Startup Maryland portfolio inflect their visions forward.  At each STRT1UP Road Show tour stop hosts will again convene rallies sharing information about their entrepreneurial ecosystems.  Entrepreneurs are provided coaching, guidance and support from business mentors and other leaders from academia, incubators/accelerators, economic development agencies, service providers as well as active angel/VC investors.  

As the tour unfolds, entrepreneurs climb onto the Startup Maryland bus and pitch their idea/business in the mobile UpStart Show ™ video studio.  Videos are uploaded to the Startup Maryland YouTube® Channel and then open to public viewing/voting.  This aspect of the STRT1UP Road Show embodies the Pitch Across Maryland competition allowing the entrepreneurs, sponsors, investors and tour hosts to activate social networks for even broader awareness and celebration.

For more information see scheduled STRT1UP Road Show tour dates and tentative route locations below or visit http://www.startupmd.org for regular updates:

Where Does the Tour Take Place? 

(Stage One Schedule - TBC )

About Startup Maryland:

Startup Maryland ( www.startupmd.org ) is an ecosystem and venture development initiative driven from within the community of innovation-centric entrepreneurs.   Forged with Maryland Pride By Entrepreneurs ... For Entrepreneurs Startup Maryland strives to remain nimble and inclusive.  Startup Maryland works to connect innovation communities and rallies entrepreneurs, supporters and other innovation stakeholders around four main initiatives: Celebration, Coaching, Curation and Capital while also bringing together entrepreneurs in a community of support to drive greater social as well as economic outcomes.

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