Silicon Valley, that is. Below are the Top Ten Takeaways from our launch at the StartupGrind Global Conference in Silicon Valley.

As a startup entrepreneur and Founder, every dollar is precious. When we were contacted by organizers of the StartupGrind Global Conference and asked if we wanted to exhibit, we had to do our best cost/benefit analysis, having no clue what benefits the conference would actually bring us. On top of that, I was urged by one associate to not launch, to stay under the radar, that the risk was too great. In the end, deciding to exhibit at the Global Conference was one of the best decisions I ever made. What follows are our Top 10 Takeaways of what we learned, and why I would encourage every entrepreneur to exhibit if given a chance, or at the very least, attend the global conference

Working as a startup in stealth mode for two years is a exercise in faith. You know you’re on to something epic, but will others agree? You believe your research is bullet-proof and the data is undeniably powerful and convincing, but will others be undeniably convinced? You know your technology is cutting edge and is pioneering the future of medical wearable technology, but can you adequately express that via simple words and a PowerPoint on a loop. The answer for us was a resounding Yes!

# 1: Our Reputation Preceded Us

The StartupGrind Global Conference features 300 of the hottest startups in the world, attracting 8,000 global attendees and featuring 150 preeminent speakers, representing the smartest people in any room. Thousands of startups from around the world apply to exhibit, and less than 1 out of 10 will be accepted. We didn’t even apply; we were vetted, which means our reputation as a hot startup to watch preceded us as far as the West Coast and Silicon Valley, and we were still in stealth mode.

Kim Lavine at the StartupGrind Global Conference Networking Event

#2: We Networked like Ninjas

Chase sponsored a cocktail reception the first evening of the conference, and we took full advantage of every opportunity to meet and greet everyone who appeared in our line of sight. I’m old school so I was into collecting business cards, but if I did it again, I would have used the QR Scanner in the Global Conference App to easily collect contact info for the dozens of people I talked to who had drinks or food in their hands. We collected one card from a person representing a multi-national company who was almost as excited as we were about our mission to bring a patent-pending non-drug treatment to 46 million Alzheimer’s sufferers. We realized this one contact could transform our business model overnight, exponentially scaling our product distribution around the world in a fraction of the time that we had forecast, and we were just getting started.

#3: We Pitched Andreessen Horowitz

For those of you not familiar with the pecking order of Silicon Valley venture capitalists, Andreessen Horowitz is probably at the very top. It was an unconventional pitch; I waited until Anish Acharya was finished speaking at one of the conference’s panels and I got in front of him long enough for a classic elevator pitch. We were prepared with a great double-sided postcard handout piece and he took it and told me Andreessen Horowitz would look at us. For a Midwest entrepreneur, finding a way to get in front of Silicon Valley VC is a challenge and a mission. Well, mission accomplished.

#4: We Proved Less is More

All we had was a three foot wide cocktail table, our laptop and our postcard handouts. We had agonized over buying expensive swag giveaways, and we were prohibited from bringing any other signs than the small one that hung over our table, but we didn’t need any swag or signs to rock the conference, we just needed our PowerPoint on a constant slideshow loop to elicit the responses of literal dropped jaws and “Oh My God’s!”

The Heugenis Inc booth display at StartupGrind Global Conference

#5: We Validated our Business Model

#6: We Were Treated Like Rock Stars!

Me and our CTO Chokha took advantage of every opportunity to have fun, rolling from one free cocktail networking event to another, once by accident! After a long day and in search of something to eat at one of the posh restaurants that adjoined the conference venue, we found ourselves drinking designer cocktails and feasting on a gourmet buffet, without having to pay a dime! We were being entertained, we learned, by one of the event’s Fortune 500 sponsors, and we were being treated like ROCK STARS! It felt good to be given the star treatment, and we took advantage of it, realizing only in Silicon Valley were entrepreneurs treated like Rock Stars!

#7: We Were Part of a Community

As Founders and startup entrepreneurs, we almost always labor alone in anonymity. We usually work from home or other remote locations, with partners who are doing the same thing, often not even in the same state. We’re most of the time doing almost impossible things few people have the strength or determination to do, under incredible financial pressures while taking heart-stopping risks. Even our friends and family don’t know the whole story and most of the time can’t understand us or help us. It was energizing to feel community with people from around the world who were just like us, doing the same impossible things with almost no money, and to be cared about, support and celebrated.

#8: There Were DOGS!

That’s it. Just DOGS.

Australian Shepard Dogs.

DOGS!

#9: We ROCKED the Panels

There were so many great panels with so many great speakers, it was hard to choose one to go to. I went to as many as I could physically possibly do and learned that there are EPIC AMOUNTS OF MONEY available to startups in Silicon Valley and NOW IS THE TIME to raise it, to boldly go forward and knock down doors and get yours. I learned that Seed rounds were now in the millions, what used to be Series A rounds, and I saw women on stage who had raised millions talking about how to do it while taking care of yourself mentally and emotionally.

#10: We Made Friends, not Contacts

We had investors from around the world ask us how they could invest, and we boarded a flight just a day after we returned from the conference to meet with an investor in Milan, Italy. We also vetted a world-class COO who we’re working to add to our world-class team, and we basked in the California sunshine, leaving the snow and cold of the Michigan winter landscape behind, and believed for four days that anything was possible and that we could achieve it.

Thank you for reading and thank you for your interest in and support of our mission to bring hope to 46 million Alzheimer’s sufferers globally. Please connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on Twitter. I’m always happy to hear from you. Please email me anytime with your thoughts and comments.

Thank you,

Kim Lavine - Founder/CEO