The 2018 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference was held June 5-6 at the Union South in Madison. Over 500 people attended the annual conference with conference co-chairs Jennifer Javornik, Filament Games and Melissa Turczyn, Micheal Best. The #WiTreps conference featured two phenomenal UW alumni keynote speakers: Marsha LIndsay of Lindsay, Stone & Briggs and Tom Erickson of Acquia. The 2018 Ken Hendricks Memorial Seize the Day Award went to Kerry + Dude Frank, Comply365. We had guest appearances by Alan Yeung of Foxconn and Governor Scott Walker, who was on hand to help present th #GovsBizPlan awards. Twelve rousing, insightful panels highlighted important entrepreneurial topics over both days with many successful entrepreneurs lending their wisdom. Full agenda is linked here for reference. MOD Media provided the photography and Barb Luhring performed graphic recording for the keynotes and plenary panels. We featured a rousing social media plenary panel moderated by Spencer X Smith featuring Katie Hill, Rippe Keane Marketing; D.P. Knudten, COLLABORATOR creative; Chelsey Dequaine, Isthmus; Josh Klemons, Reverbal Communications and Sara Tetzloff, Hiebing Group on June 5.  Opening June 6 was a plenary panel introducing the individual fund managers of the Badger Fund of Funds: Dan Brooks, Sun Mountain Capital; Ross Leinweber, Bold Coast Capital; RIchelle Martin, Winnow Fund; Andy Walker, Rock River Capital Partners, Jonathon Horne, Idea Fund of La Crosse and David Trotter, Winnebago Seed Fund.  Congratulations to Mehrdad Arjmand, NovoMoto, for their grand prize win in the 2018 Governor’s Business Plan Contest.  Kevin BarnettPyran, won the “Bright New Idea” award. Alex Hart-Upendo, Build-A-Bow, won the Wisconsin YES! youth competition. Congratulations to all of the Diligent Dozen who presented their companies!

We can’t wait to see you for #ESSWI this fall: Mark your calendars now for November 7-8, 2018.

Catch up on all things #WiTreps on Twitter! Click here

2018 Governor’s Business Plan Contest Diligent Dozen Back row (L-R): Tom Dougherty (AquaMetals), Randy Nagy (Fast Forward Forensics), Joshua Cleveland (Impact Sports), Governor Scott Walker, Kevin Barnett (Pyran), Jignesh Patel (DataChat) and Lorne Forsythe (Shockray Self-Defense). Front row (L-R): Nancy Brekke-Jones (Replace-A-Lace), Terry Wakefield (Swirl Insurance), Dayne Rusch (Pxysee), Amy Jancewicz (Amebagone), Mehrdad Arjmand (NovoMoto) and Stephen Naylor (ReNeuroGen).

Articles written by UW-Madison LSC students on the 2018 BPC companies can be found here.

BizTimes Milwaukee: Swirl Insurance makes progress on $1.5 million funding round
JSOnline: Madison-based clean energy startup takes first prize in Gov Biz Plan Contest
Wisconsin State Journal: Madison is still on Foxconn’s radar, executive says
InsideWis: “Solving real-world problems may distinguish Wisconsin, Midwest ‘treps”
The Chippewa Herald: Tom Still: Upper Midwest is knocking off the rust
Channel3000: Entrepreneurs Conference in Madison offers help for start-ups
Milwaukee Business Journal: Foxconn looms large at state entrepreneurship conference
WisBusiness: Startup experts agree on importance of friends, family and advisors
Biz Times Milwaukee: Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest 2018 (Gallery)
BizTimes Milwaukee: Foxconn executives get a feel for Wisconsin entrepreneurship at Madison conference
Wisconsin State Journal: Madison clean energy startup NovoMoto wins top prize in state business plan contest
WisBusiness: Investment deals getting bigger in Wisconsin, panelist says
Milwaukee Business Journal: Milwaukee entrepreneur builds app that strategizes work performance
Clean energy in sub-Saharan Africa wins 2018 Governor’s Business Plan Contest
BizTimes Milwaukee: NovoMoto wins Governor’s Business Plan Contest
WisBusiness: Tech transforming the Midwest’s most important industries
WisBusiness: Bootstrapping seen as useful tool for startups that can afford it
Milwaukee Business Journal: Watch: Milwaukee-area entrepreneurs pitch at 2018 Governor’s Business Plan Contest (Video)
WisBusiness: Pyxsee founder: It’s time to put your phone down
BizTimes Milwaukee: Finalists named in 2018 Governor’s Business Plan Contest
BizTimes Milwaukee: Once homeless, now entrepreneurs
Count down! 10 reasons to attend next week’s Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Madison
‘Diligent Dozen’ selected to present live June 5 at Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference
Social media panel to inspire, teach tangible tips on June 5 at Entrepreneurs’ Conference
Military vets, students may register at discount to attend June 5-6 Entrepreneurs’ Conference
Serial software exec, UW grad Erickson to speak June 6 at Entrepreneurs’ Conference
Digital duet: Couple to win ‘Seize the Day’ award June 5 at Entrepreneurs’ Conference
Curtain raiser: Badger Fund of Funds team to speak June 6 at Entrepreneurs’ Conference
What’s your startup ‘brand’? Speaker can help you decide at 2018 Entrepreneurs’ Conference
25 finalists forge ahead in Govs Biz Plan Contest
Wisconsin YES! youth biz plan contest open for entries online
50 plans advance to semi-finals in 2018 Gov’s Biz Plan Contest
Count ’em down: Top 10 reasons to enter statewide Biz Plan Contest by Jan. 31