Watch this page for details on the 2019 Badger Startup Summit set for August 22, 2019

Our 2018 Keynote speaker was Gregg Fergus speaking on:

Democratizing Healthcare with Innovative Hardware, AI and the virtuous circle.

Our 2018 keynoter was Gregg Fergus, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Commercial Officer of 4Catalyzer, a Guilford, Connecticut-based startup accelerator dedicated to democratizing healthcare and maximizing societal impact. 4Catalyzer provides funding, support and mentoring.  4Catalyzer has raised over $450 million for four of its healthcare startup companies. In addition to management, his responsibilities include hiring the technical and commercial teams and serving on the Board of Directors of each startup.

Gregg graduated with a B.S. in Bacteriology from UW-Madison and is very active in the Madison community.  Gregg is a Co-founder and Board member at LUM- Live Undiscovered Music and a Catalyst at Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Gregg’s prior executive positions include President and Chief Operating Office at Ion Torrent, Executive-in-Residence
 at RW Baird/Baird Venture Partners, Chief Commercial Officer of Cellular Dynamics International and Senior Vice President of Sales and Global Operations at Affymetrix, Inc.

The MERLIN Pitch & Replay

We team up with MERLIN Mentors to bring you the entrepreneurs behind Madison’s newest ventures. 20 entrepreneurs start simultaneously at 20 tables and rotate every 15 minutes to a new table. Learn more about this fun event at the Pitch & Replay Page.

The 1 Million Cups VenFair

The Million Cups VenFair returns to the Discovery South Atrium.  Get to know the Madison landscape and how to find what you need whether it be partners, employees, customers, investors, consulting skills.

Disruptive (r)Evolution Showcase

Badger entrepreneurs who are building their companies around emerging hot, and potentially disruptive, technologies show you how their efforts will change the landscape.  In these mini-TED talks, you’ll learn where the technology is and how they are leveraging it.

The Summit is just one of the many cool events in Forward Fest19 – learn more…

August in Madison is never complete without the Forward Festival.  Run by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs since 2010, the technology and start-up communities come together to learn, share, and have some fun.  Check out more than 50 events – all related in some way to the Madison startup and tech scene.