Now there's only one Bootup in town
With the announcement that Bootup Labs' Danny Robinson has joined the BC Innovation Council as their new CEO, many have been wondering what will happen to the similarly named Bootup Entrepreneurial Society (BES).
Yesterday Executive Director Maura Rodgers set the record straight with a blog post titled Bootup - We Are Just Getting Started and seems pretty relieved to now be the only Bootup in town.
There has always been a bit of confusion with the Accelerator and the Non-profit b/c we share the Bootup name and understandably so. But, BES has always been an independent organization. We have our own team, an independent Board, have to make our own money and raise our own funds. When Danny moved on to BCIC, the only thing that changed was he stepped down from our Board and Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures stepped up as our Chairman.
So, what's next for Bootup? Rodgers and her team will be repurposing the old Bootup Labs office space to create an open space for Founders to "bootup" and they're calling it the Bootup Garage Pilot Program.
The Bootup Garage is something we believe every healthy startup ecosystem needs and we want to create a space where Internet founders and developers know they can come, connect and hack away on their idea in a very supportive, collaborative and inspiring environment. It is not meant to be a co-working space, where you rent a desk on a monthly basis.
Rodgers insists that the Bootup Garage will be far more than just a co-working space where you rent a desk on a monthly basis. The space will support new ventures from idea stage right through to the point that they are ready to rent their own workspace. All the while supplying valuable mentorship with on-site weekly office hours including local mentors Jason Bailey of Super Rewards, Boris Mann of IQMetrix, David Ascher of Mozilla Messaging and Stewart Butterfield of TinySpeck among others.
If you're interested in learning more about the Bootup Garage Pilot Program, drop by Bootup (Suite 200 - 163 West Hastings) on December 1st from 12:30pm - 2:30pm for their Open House. You'll be able to ask questions about the program, meet the mentors and check out the space.
