the definitive guide to the phoenix arizona startup scene

The Definitive Guide to the

Phoenix, Arizona Startup Scene Chris J Snook & Brianne Snook

Version 1.3 Last Revision February 17th 2016

a publication of

With Partnership Support From

Contributors to this guide: 1.  Chris J Snook, Venture Catalyst; Entrepreneur In Residence @ASU @ethology Chris J Snook 2.  Brianne Snook, Co-Founder/Managing Partner; Launch Haus 3.  Jeffrey Pruitt, CEO; Tallwave 4.  Office of Entrepreneurship + Innovation at Arizona State University 5.  Steve Hamaker, Designer & Identity Specialist; Stevaker Design 6.  Jonathan Cottrell and Mario Martinez of #YESPHX and StartupAZ 7.  Nate Curran, Entrepreneur-In-Residence; Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation 8.  Arizona Commerce Authority

THANK YOU

Guidelines to Amplify Your Results and Adoption into Arizona’s Startup Ecosystems 1.  This ecosystem must be led by the Entrepreneurs, supported by Feeders, and amplified by Mentors 2.  Promote Greater Phoenix as an AWESOME place to live, work, and innovate by building something

great! 3.  Give Generously (of your time, energy, & network resources) Before you Expect to Get! 4.  Enjoy the culture, lifestyle, and people! 5.  No Whining…Act and Make a Positive Difference! 6.  When you have a BIG EXIT…Give back to the Ecosystem! 7.  Contribute Something to each interaction even when nothing immediate is in it for you! 8.  Have an “Open Door” policy when entrepreneurs and investors enter the ecosystem. 9.  Be in a constant state of “discovery”. Learn and Connect others to resources they need! 10. Promote your fellow ecosystems and the city nodes of Downtown Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe and

Scottsdale, and collaborate to assist smaller nodes such as Mesa and visit often, encouraging them to do likewise!

ETIQUETTE

Want to skip around? Here’s what we’re going to cover.

OVERVIEW 6. Why Phoenix? 8. Notable Successes 9. Movements 10. Meetups/Events/Maps 14. ASU Entrepreneurship 15. ASU Tech Transfer

RESOURCES 17. Incubators 27. Prototype labs 33. Venture Capital 35. Office Space 37. Co-Working 38.  Finding Talent/Jobs 39.  Get Connected

LIFESTYLE & ACTIVITIES 41. “HIPSTER” Places 42. Stay Caffeinated 43. Trails/Parks/Wine 46. Author Profile

The essential understanding that’ll get you up to speed and connected in a hurry!

OVERVIEW DISCLAIMER: Last Updated 2/15/16 We’re going to walk you through a snapshot of the most relevant resources, players, and movements to help you insert into, contribute to, and benefit from the Greater Phoenix Arizona Startup Ecosystem. We are continually adding to this guide as we become aware of new additions and changes in the marketplace. We don’t know it all but this is a great place to start! Your feedback is welcomed.

Phoenix is located in the heart of the fastest growing and most dynamic metropolitan area in the country with a population of over 4 million people.

#7 Best Places to Live Scottsdale (Money Magazine)

#9 Happiest Place for Young Professionals (Forbes)

One of the Best Cost of Living Indexes of any major economic hub in the West.

A Great International Airport (Phoenix Skyharber)

WHY PHOENIX? 1

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FUN FACT #1 Arizona is the most entrepreneurial state, with a 2011

startup rate of 520 startups per 100,000 adults Source: Kauffmann Entrepreneurial Activity Index 2012

SOME (NOT ALL) NOTABLE STARTUPS

Add your company and see the full list at: http://phoenix.startups-list.com/

NOTABLE SUCCESSES

•  www.yesphx.com •  Ignite Phoenix •  Innovate Phoenix •  Digital Media Entrepreneurship/ASU •  Hightide (www.luhrshightide.com) •  1 Million Cups Phoenix •  AZ Entrepreneurship •  Knight Foundation for Informed & Engaged Communities •  Digital Media Innovation (http://nmil.jmc.asu.edu/)

MOVEMENTS

MEETUPS • Startup Grind Phoenix • HackerNext Phoenix Tech Socials • Gangplank Avondale • Arizona Open Coffee (Weekly Tech Startup Networking) • Scottsdale Eureka! Loft (Free co-working) •  IoT (Internet of Things) Phoenix • Gangplank Chandler • PHX Startup • Cofounders Lab Phoenix Matchup • Phoenix Mobile & IoT Technology Group

Show Up–Contribute–Receive

EVENTS Mark Your Calendars! • Venture Madness • Phoenix Startup Week powered by Chase • Hightide powered by Tallwave at Luhrs City Center • PF Chang’s Rock & Roll Arizona Marathon and ½ Marathon • Phoenix Open • Spring Training Cactus League

• For Full list of annual and upcoming events go to www.visitphoenix.com and http://www.azcommerce.com/start-up

TEAM ARIZONA Join the Slack Channel!

• Visit http://www.team-arizona.slack.com to request an invite

TAG THIS www.yesphx.com

STARTUP BY NUMBERS Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler

“Arizona fosters the world's emerging technologies, encouraging and supporting business creativity and growth. We're a

nationally recognized Best Place for Business for a reason.” ~Gov. Jan Brewer

http://www.azcommerce.com/start-up

STARTUP GENOME Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler

ARIZONA STATE Entrepreneurship The Venture Accelerator provides entrepreneurship training, advising, and mentoring for student run ventures. Select entrepreneurs are incubated for a 12 month period to develop the idea and to better position it for a successful launch. The Accelerator program consists of two stages: the Immersion Lab which runs for four months and the Start-Up Spring Board which runs for eight months.

The Immersion Lab is a 16-week intensive track program that engages up to twelve student entrepreneurs and their teams in a hands-on, execution style training opportunity that is focused on launching their new ventures. During the Immersion Lab, participants will work with a mentor and multiple advisors who guide them as the venture teams deliver measurable outcomes in a time sensitive manner.

The Start-Up Spring Board is the second -stage of the accelerator program.

VISIT: www.biz.colostate.edu

VENTURE CATALYST • Discover I.P. & Co-Founders

• License, R&D, Incubate, and Commercialize New Solutions

• Access Capital, New Tech & World Class Research

• Visit http://entrepreneurship.asu.edu/

Technology Transfer

The Places and People You Need to Meet and Visit in Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun.

RESOURCES

INCUBATORS Mentorship—Acceleration-Commercialization!

STARTUP RESOURCES

The Arizona Commerce Authority has built a very friendly UI/UX that serves as a great starting point for finding resources, places, events, co-working spaces and a list of accelerators. No list or website is a complete resource in and of itself, but this is a tremendous place to start and we applaud the AZ Commerce Authority for investing resources into a significant effort to make this data available and easy to access.

Accelerating | Co-Working http://www.azcommerce.com/start-up

Pledge 1% By partnering with http://www.pledge1percent.org/, Arizona founders can join the founders of companies like Yelp, Atlassian, Salesforce, and Box and help support the long-term viability of the Foundation while continuing to build generosity into the DNA of the community. Learn more at http://www.startupAZ.org

Connectivity-Rally a generous community by leveraging existing assets like #yesphx, TeamAZ, and Pledge 1%

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Capital- Help connect capital in the community to the most promising early stage companies

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Talent- Support talent development and a sustained workforce that can grow companies and the economy

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ASU STARTUP ASU offers services for Arizona-based companies, including faculty spinouts, alumni

ventures and non-ASU startups, through the ASU Startup Accelerator.

Over 300 Mentors with deep domain experience 1

Access to Co-Working Space at ASU SKYSONG in Scottsdale 2

Free Perks from MSFT, GOOGLE, G.A.N., etc. and a well-attended Demo Day to pitch to capital providers 3

NEW MEDIA INNOVATION ASU Cronkite journalism students work side by side with computer engineering, design and business students to create cutting-edge digital media products for regional and national media companies and other organizations. Students with ideas for digital products or media-related businesses also may develop their entrepreneurial ventures in the lab. Students

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VELOCITY LABS

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We deliver customized solutions for your business with a focus on Web Apps, Code Audits and Application Maintenance www.velocitylabs.io

ASU TECH TRANSFER The Furnace Technology Transfer Accelerator is an innovative startup accelerator designed to form, incubate and launch new companies. Each company is created to license technology and intellectual property from a participating research institution. Teams compete for the opportunity to license and commercialize technologies, and selected teams participate in an intensive, nine-month accelerator experience that provides seed funding, office space, and access to top industry mentors.

View at https://vimeo.com/102271580

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HOUSE OF GENIUS Venue: Events happen monthly

Polsinelli, Downtown One East Washington, Suite 1200 Phoenix, AZ 85004

See more at: http://houseofgenius.org/location/phoenix/

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Co-Organizers:

Nima Jacob Nojoumi-City Director

Maggie Zehring

Evan Gilbert

APPLY AT: http://houseofgenius.org/apply/phoenix/

ACCELERATORS NEARBY BIG BOUNCE – Tempe Arizona 1

BIOACCEL- 501 c (3) providing funding for Early-Stage Life Science 2

CEIGATEWAY- No Equity Taken and Free Counseling in partnership with Maricopa SBDC 3

CHANDLER INNOVATIONS INCUBATOR– 60,000 sf of space offering resources to life science and emerging tech companies 4

ACCELERATORS NEARBY CHEF’S SHARE KITCHEN– Shared Commercial Kitchen Space and Incubator for Food-based Startups located in Mesa, AZ 5 STEALTHMODE PARTNERS- Founded by Francine Hardaway to help package and secure funding for early stage tech 6

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PROTOTYPE LABS

TALLWAVE We help startups get things done. It happens through a process of building products and taking them to market. We call it Commercialization.

SANDCASTLE: A 2-Week Sprint for Validation/UX Prototyping 1

HIGHTIDE: Accelerator Program 2

SPRINGBOARD: A 2-Week Sprint

for Sales Acceleration and Systemization 3

PADT For Over 20 Years Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies (PADT) is the Southwest's leading provider of Numerical Simulation, Product Development, and Rapid Prototyping products and services.

Visit them at http://www.padtinc.com/

7755 S. Research Dr. Suite 110 Tempe, AZ 85284 480-813-4884 Office 480-813-4807 Fax 1-800-293-PADT

TECH SHOP Each of our facilities includes laser cutters, plastics and electronics labs, a machine shop, a wood shop, a metal working shop, a textiles department, welding stations and a waterjet cutter. Members have open access to design software, featuring the entire Autodesk Design Suite. Huge project areas with large work tables are available for completing projects and collaborating with others. Free coffee and fresh popcorn are always available for your enjoyment. We also offer a number of experience-driven corporate events developed specifically to bring teams together and engage them in the act of making. Visit them www.techshop.com ASU Chandler Innovation Center���249 E. Chicago St. ���Chandler, AZ 85225Phone ���(480) 327-0820Email ���info.ch@techshop.com

IDEAS SQUARED Ideas Squared is a public maker space designed to offer the public access to equipment and opportunities for the purpose of self-development and the fulfillment of project-based goals.

It is also a professional maker space designed to offer those seeking professional fulfillment in the form of full-time employment professional skill development.

Learn more and come check it out www.ideas-squared.biz

HEATSYNC LABS We are…

•  A place where you can make things.

•  A Hackerspace

•  A grassroots co-op of volunteers (No Staff)

•  Open FREE every weeknight

•  Located at 140 West Main Street, Mesa AZ

Learn more and come check it out www.heatsynclabs.org

GANGPLANK Gangplank is a COMMUNITY. We aren't just a free coworking space. We are about more than shared space. We are about SHARED VISION. A grassroots co-op of volunteers (No Staff)

We are a collaborative WORKSPACE. We have EVENT and MEETING SPACE available as well as drop in workspace. Located at 140 West Main Street, Mesa AZ

Gangplank is a place to DO business, LEARN from other entrepreneurs, and GROW your business.

Locations in Avondale and Chandler AZ visit us at www.gangplankhq.com

VENTURE CAPITAL

• Tallwave Capital • Grayhawk Capital • MRTNZ Ventures • Sorenson Capital • Canal Partners • Valley Ventures • Arizona Tech Investors (Angel Syndicate)

LOCAL VCs

OFFICE SPACE

READY TO SCALE? Luhrscitycenter.com Flexible Space for Growth

CALL LUHR CITY CENTER AND REFERENCE OUR GUIDE AS YOUR

REFERRAL SOURCE: (602) 252 6891

CO-WORKING

GALVANIZE Phoenix was recently named as #2 metro region in the creation of software technology jobs between 2012-2014, and STEM jobs openings will increase in the US by 2.6 million through 2020. This new initiative between Galvanize, City of Phoenix, and Allstate will ensure that America can meet the growing demand for technical workers and is the first step toward eliminating technology’s talent gap.

Galvanize Co-Working (Opening 2016) 1

G-School/Apply now/6 month programs 2

Galvanize Ventures (early stage VC fund 3

NEED AFFORDABLE DESKS? Full List http://www.azcommerce.com/start-up/

FINDING TALENT/ STARTUP JOBS

• AZ Tech Beat (http://www.aztechbeat.com/jobs)

• Launch Haus Startup Job distribution list-Send your CV to Chris J Snook for distribution to dozens of local startups in Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler etc.)

GET CONNECTED Press/Newsletters/Social

• http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/topic/innovation/ • http://houseofgenius.org/location/phoenix/ • http://www.twitter.com/chrisjsnook • http://www.ceigateway.com

LIFESTYLE ACTIVITIES

HIPSTER PLACES •  FnB

•  Barrio Queen

•  Virtu

•  Citizen Public House

•  Tuck Shop

•  The Little Woody

•  Rula Bula

•  Phoenix Food Truck Fridays

•  Pizzeria Bianco

•  Beckett’s Table

STAY CAFFEINATED • monOrchid

• The Henry

• Arizona Coffee

• Echo Coffee (Scottsdale)

• Cartel Coffee Lab

• Lola Coffee

• Jobot

• Inside the Bungalow (Mesa)

• Lux Coffeebar

TRAILS, PARKS,WINE ETC. • Arizona State Parks

• Historic Trails of Arizona

• Sedona

• Grand Canyon National Park

• Havasu (“The River”)

• Verde Valley Wine Country

• Hike South Mountain

• Hike Piewesta Peak

• Superstition Mountains

THE PHOENIX NEWCOMER INTEGRATION CHECKLIST

Study and Review This Guide and its Links

Email c@launchha.us for personal introductions

Attend a relevant Meetup or Open Event

Take a Tour of the Luhrs City Center, ASU Incubators, and local makerspaces and plug in!

Welcome to the Greater Phoenix AZ Startup Ecosystem! Please help us make this guide more valuable in future versions by emailing c@launchha.us your feedback Thanks in advance!

WAS THIS HELPFUL?

CHRIS J. SNOOK & BRIANNE SNOOK

@chrisjsnook c@launchha.us

@launchhausfc b@launchha.us