AccelerateOtt to Celebrate Past, Present, and Future of Ottawa’s Startup Community

Ottawa knows that entrepreneurs and innovators are wealth creators and the keystone to the city’s future economic prosperity. Which is why, on June 14, AccelerateOtt will bring together entrepreneurs, students, researchers, investors, and thought leaders to celebrate the past, present, and future of Ottawa’s startup community.

The speaker lineup is surprisingly robust for an event of this size: Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of The Social+Capital Partnership, C100 charter member, and previously a long-term member of Facebook’s senior executive team, will be flying to Ottawa to keynote the day. Other heavy-hitting speakers include Tobi Lütke, CEO of Ottawa-based Shopify (also known as Canada’s smartest company), and Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Inside.com, an active angel investor, and host of the popular podcast “This Week in Startups.”

SEE ALSO: Chamath Palihapitiya Says Canada is a Great Place for Entrepreneurs to Grow Up

“Sharing ‘war stories’, best practices, and inspiration from others who have been there before is invaluable for any entrepreneur,” says Harley Finkelstein, chief platform officer at Shopify and the lead of the AccelerateOTT planning committee. “Entrepreneurs take risks every day. Having someone share their experiences can help validate assumptions and provide others with the motivation needed to keep ‘hustling,’ even when things aren’t always going as planned. This event will provide incredible value to our startup community.”

RELATED: How Shopify Retains Its Startup Culture

The program includes a “lessons learned” panel discussion featuring three local startup successes: Blaze Software’s Michael Weider, FastLane Technologies’ Eric Kitchen, and TravelPod’s Luc Levesque. The event will also feature a “Startup Showcase” for companies to pitch throughout the day.

“We are excited to host our first C100 Accelerate event in Ottawa,” said Atlee Clark, Executive Director of the C100. “Ottawa is prime to breakthrough as one of Canada’s top startup communities. The city’s history as a technology hub combined with the new technology leaders that now call it home make for
an exciting time and place. We’re happy to celebrate and support that ecosystem in any way that we can.”

The event is on June 14 at the Ottawa Convention Centre from 8am to 4pm. Learn more or register online here.