Organizers of “Startup Westport” who detailed plans for the technologies initiative to an introductory gathering at the Westport Library have been, from left, Matt Gorin, Stefano Pacifico and Jay Norris. / Images by Gary Webster
By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Can Westport come to be Silicon Valley East?
Yes, says a group of technologies entrepreneurs, investors and officials — such as Very first Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker — organized with the objective of assisting the town come to be “the quantity-1 spot for technologies startups in the Northeast outdoors of New York and Boston.”
That is the view of Stefano Pacifico, 1 of the founders of “Startup Westport,” a new technologies initiative, as he introduced the project to extra than one hundred persons gathered at the Westport Library on Thursday evening.
“Ten or 20 years down the road, there’s no explanation Westport cannot be an additional Silicon Valley,” Matt Gorin, co-founder of Contour Venture Partners and the keynote speaker, told the crowd.
“We have so lots of components right here in Westport,” he stated such as investors, technologies corporations and workers, and a inventive spirit. “Seeds of the ecosystem are starting to sprout.”
Startup Westport was born when Pacifico and Cliff Sirlin, each Westport residents, approached Tooker for town assistance for a “tech initiative” to bring with each other regional technologies corporations and other individuals interested in technologies. When the founding group grew to consist of 5 other members, the initial networking occasion was planned to introduce the notion.
When Jay Norris, 1 of the group’s organizers and a speaker at the gathering, took an informal poll of the audience, he discovered that about 95 % have been Westport residents, 90 % had been involved in startup ventures and 80 % have been investors.
“We want to come with each other in a meaningful way,” he stated.
Additional than one hundred persons networked Thursday as “Startup Westport” was introduced to the public at the Westport Library. The group’s objective is to develop a neighborhood of technologies startups in Westport.
The networking occasion in the library’s Trefz Forum attracted persons of many ages, mainly guys, but some ladies, circulating all through the space meeting and speaking to other individuals.
Amongst these attending was Troy Rambo, CEO of Clever Residences Westport, a corporation that installs residential and industrial safety systems. He was introduced to Startup Westport by Police Chief Foti Koskinas and came to the occasion “to network and brainstorm with persons,” he stated.
Elizabeth Shoup of Westport was there since her daughter is “a information scientist in an power-associated startup … I wanted to find out a small about her globe,” she stated.
And Tucker Peters, a junior at Staples Higher College, came to the networking occasion “to bounce some suggestions off extra knowledgeable persons.”
Amongst the initiative’s future ambitions, Tooker stated, is to present internship and educational possibilities in technologies for Staples students.
Startup Westport plans a bigger occasion June 13 at La Plage restaurant at the Inn at Longshore. The organization also has posted a mailing list at its web site.
Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for lots of years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for ten years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.