It’s hard to believe that BRIIA has been up and running for nearly three months. And it’s unbelievable what has transpired!
Our mission is to build a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. We believe that by connecting passionate entrepreneurs with the rich entrepreneurial ecosystems of the Tri-Valley and Silicon Valley they will have the best chance of building a successful sustainable company. We support startups through our AI/Machine Learning-focused with a 12-week , mentor-driven curriculum that accelerates the development of their company by as much as 12 months. Locally, we bring together entrepreneurs, technical talent, meetups and experts to cultivate a collaborative community of innovation.
Melissa, Jon and I opened the doors to BRIIA on September 5 and we couldn’t be more delighted at what’s happened since. In our short 90-day existence (of which there were about 55 business days), we’ve held 43 events in our new facility. These events include:
- meetups
- fireside chats with experienced entrepreneurs, investors, experts and corporate innovation leaders
- training sessions on deep learning and coding challenges
- meetings of a high school computer programming club
- free co-working days
- accelerator workshops
These events attracted the interest of over 600 people! We consider our hypothesis that there *is* a nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem in our community confirmed!
And we’re not done. The next two weeks will mark some other important milestones.
Our Fall 2017 Accelerator cohort will complete our 12-week program on December 4. The very next day (December 5), they will be pitching their company to angel investors, corporate investors and venture capitalists at our first Investor Demo Day. (If you’re an investor and want an invitation to this special event, let us know! Email Melissa and we’ll get you set up.)
Later that same week (on December 7) , we’ve partnered with the San Francisco Business Times to have our biggest party so far! This year’s San Francisco Business Times East Bay Book of Lists party will feature presentations from BRIIA and our first cohort of accelerator companies. As this is totally a public event, please join us in celebrating our companies and other East Bay business leaders at the Roundhouse Conference Center (2600 Camino Ramon, San Ramon), and use promo code: BRIIApromo to receive 15% off your ticket. Tickets can be purchased here.
The other exciting development is that our collaborative coworking community is taking off. BRIIA supports entrepreneurs at all stages of their idea/product/company development. Entrepreneurs with nothing more than an idea to small teams who are nearing their first formal round of funding are finding the community at BRIIA to be an invigorating and supportive environment. When you’re surrounded by entrepreneurs, it’s easy to be inspired to continue the sometimes difficult journey of being one! Come check it out on December 14 for free!
Since we are all about connecting the entrepreneurial community, we hope you’ll attend an upcoming event or join our collaborative coworking community or apply for our next accelerator program (more on that soon)! If you’re an entrepreneur, we can help you connect with the people that can make a difference in your success.
In the meantime, let us know how we can help you support entrepreneurs or how you’d like to help us do the same. Contact Les, Jon or Melissa today.
Onward!
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