Startup Soiree is moving to City Garage

City Garage had its big debut last week at Beta City. This week, there’s news that the massive corridor that forms the center of the Kevin Plank-funded innovation hub in Port Covington will bring together Baltimore entrepreneurs on future Thursdays, as well.
Starting with this month’s edition on Oct. 29, Startup Soiree will be held at City Garage. Baltimore tech community leader and MissionTix CEO Greg Cangialosi will be the first featured speaker at the new space, leading a session on bootstrapping. The event will remain free.
The monthly event, which is organized by the founders of Pixilated Photobooth and Intrinsic Events, is designed to provide space for startup founders to swap tales and advice. Since debuting in January, it’s been held at Pixilated Photobooth’s headquarters on James Street.
Pixilated cofounder Patrick Rife, who emcees Startup Soiree, said last month’s Baltimore Innovation Week edition featuring Emerging Technology Centers President Deb Tillett sold about 130 tickets. That would’ve made for capacity issues at the current location.
The new space represents a chance to “scale up” the event to about 300-400 attendees, Rife said. As the event grows, Rife said the organizing team is looking to add breakout sessions and other features that allow for the one-on-one connections that the event has grown on.
While “startup” is often associated with tech businesses, Startup Soiree has built a core audience that includes founders of businesses in creative fields like photography and fashion, as well as people who produce consumer goods like food and beer. There are plenty of tech startup founders, too. And hey, they even make a podcast. (We’re doing a cool giveaway with them at the moment.)
For City Garage’s space to house local businesses, Demian Costa of Sagamore Ventures has been looking to bring in companies that make goods. So far, named tenants include Tapologie, which infuses glass and metal, and personal chef business Nutreatious.
“They recognized that there was a real lack of cross-industry pollination within the startup world,” Rife said of the City Garage team. “Just because it’s a startup doesn’t mean that you’re building an app. It means you’re starting a new company.”
Rife credited Dana Sicko, who runs Nutreatious and Gundalow Juice, with talking up Startup Soiree earlier this year. Costa unveiled the first public plans for City Garage at Startup Soiree in June.