STIRR Backchannel

Entrepreneurs share tricks of the start-up trade at Silicon Valley’s STIRR Mixer

Silicon Valley’s leading event for early stage technology companies puts learning ahead of promotion

Palo Alto — July 17, 2007 —STIRR, a network for entrepreneurs, is re-inventing its popular monthly technology mixer to showcase veteran entrepreneurs. Founder Hacks is designed to give entrepreneurs a forum to share their experiences and benefit from hearing those of others, Founder Hacks continues STIRR’s commitment to short-form, interactive events, abandoning the traditional sit down and listen format. Each entrepreneur will have between 1 to 3 minutes to impart their wisdom on everything from financing to hiring to managing to scaling up and much more.

The inaugural Founder Hacks will take place on Wednesday, July 18 at 6pm PST at Trader Vic’s in Palo Alto. This month will feature Ted Rheingold of Dogster www.dogster.com, Munjal Shah of Like.com www.like.com, David Marks of Loomia www.loomia.com and David Weekly of PBWiki www.pbwiki.com. All will give 1-3 minute anecdotes on a Founder Hack they have used. Tickets can be purchased online at http://founderhacks.eventbrite.com

“There’s no set playbook on how to start and grow a company. Experienced entrepreneurs who have ‘been there and done that’ have inspirational, useful stories to pass on, we’re providing a regular forum for that conversation,” said Sanford Barr, Chief Stirrer and Co-Founder of The STIRR Network. “We feel that founders have just as much if not more to learn from the anecdotes and experiences of other founders. We’re aiming to take ideas off the PowerPoint and put them into the mouths and hands of real people.”

Founder Hacks, will continue STIRR’s model of having companies demo and showcase their companies and technologies, but will personalize the format placing the individual entrepreneur front and center. In addition to the anecdote and open mic sections, Founder Hacks also includes a Q & A session as well as over two and a half hours of networking and table demos. Entrepreneurs will converse and network with VCs, angel investors and journalists.

STIRR Mixers are a “must attend” and “must present” for CEOs in my portfolio because of the quality and wide reach of the audience,” said Jeff Clavier, a leading Silicon Valley Angel with SoftTech VC, “Having entrepreneurs share their experience, wisdom, lessons and failures will make STIRR Mixers even more interesting.

STIRR has a proven track record of being the first place in Silicon Valley for companies to present and demo their products, with over half of its presenting companies in the past year just emerging, STIRR is the first place for entrepreneurs to make their debut.

“Since our founding a few years ago, STIRR has been focused on building a community around entrepreneurs and their needs,” Barr added. “With Founder Hacks, the format and the wide range of attendees and participants, we’re taking that next step towards providing a complete menu of resources for entrepreneurs.”

About The STIRR Network

Founded by and for entrepreneurs, The STIRR Network is a networking company aimed at building a community of future business leader and catalyzing entrepreneurial activity in the SF Bay Area and beyond. STIRR has created and hosts a series of innovative networking events that break from the traditional “sit down and listen” format and focuses equal attention on the personalities and personal needs of founders and trendsetters. The first networking company to combine the tech demo and mixer methodologies into one cohesive event, STIRR’s suite of events includes:

- Founder’s Mixer: members of the tech community are invited to actively interact and listen to 60-second pitches from early-stage entrepreneurs

- Founder’s Table: a monthly event around held around the Bay Area, up to 7 start-up founders have dinner and discuss business challenges

- PitchLab: Interactive training and networking session designed to help CEOs practice and prepare their pitch to VCs and other investors

- Founder Hacks: innovative event gives founders an opportunity to share and learn from the stories and anecdotes of their peers in the entrepreneurial community

Founded in April, 2006, The STIRR is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information please visit: http://www.stirr.net/