Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco Sets Stage for Six Company Demos

TechWeb (Formerly CMP) and O'Reilly Media, Inc., co-producers of the annual Web 2.0 Expo, today announced the participants for the Launch Pad start up program. Launch Pad, (http://en.oreilly.com/webexsf2008/public/content/launchpad), which takes place Thursday, April 24th during Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco at the Moscone West, provides a unique public forum for unveiling innovative new companies and products. Web 2.0 Expo, in its second year, is the leading global gathering of developers, designers, marketers, and business professionals building the next generation Web. http://www.web2expo.com/sf.

Beyond having great products or services, successful Web 2.0 companies have to pass the test of investor scrutiny. With that in mind, Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco will host its VC Edition of Launch Pad -- where six finalists get five minutes on stage to present a live demo, while three members of the venture capital community review and provide real-time, genuine feedback.

A People's Choice Winner will be announced at the end of the program via the use of customized shortcodes provided by Mozes (http://www.mozes.com/). Audience members will be asked to play the role of VC and SMS vote for their top investment choice based on the demos. Votes will be tabulated in real-time and projected live on screen.

One hundred sixty submissions to Launch Pad were judged in multiple rounds and the six presenting companies were selected by a committee of notable Web 2.0 venture capitalists who include on-stage reviewers: Mike Jung, Panorama Capital; Maha Ibrahim, Canaan Partner; and David Hornik, August Capital. Launch Pad is sponsored by OATV and Panorama Capital.

Participants will make their announcements to the cutting edge audience on the main stage at Web 2.0 Expo Thursday, April 24th @ 1:30 pm:

  -- Acquia
  -- Triggit
  -- Chirp Interactive
  -- Oortle
  -- JobScore
  -- TradeVibes

"We're happy to welcome these innovative startups in front of the largest gathering of the Web community," said Brady Forrest, Web 2.0 Expo Co-Chair. "This year Launch Pad will not only spotlight some great new companies, but also give the budding entrepreneurs in the audience a taste of what it's like to be scrutinized by VCs."

A forum for creativity, engineering, and innovation, Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco includes a multi-track conference, an "unconference" program called Web2Open, a major tradeshow, and many networking events.

To learn more about the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco or to register visit: http://www.web2expo.com/sf

To see more details on Launch Pad: VC Edition, visit: http://www.web2expo.com/sf/launchpad

To apply for a media pass, visit: http://en.oreilly.com/webexsf2008/public/content/media

To read the O'Reilly Radar, visit: http://radar.oreilly.com/

If you have ideas about areas you'd like to see included at the conference, send a note to: webexpo-idea@oreilly.com

If you'd like to stay up to date on information relating to Web 2.0, sign up for the conference newsletter: http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/nl/home#conferences

About TechWeb

TechWeb, the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 10 million business technology professionals actively engage with and rely on our global face-to-face events, including Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, Wall Street & Technology, TechNet and MSDN Magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation performance marketing, custom media, research, and analyst services.

TechWeb is a division of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

About O'Reilly

O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly has been a chronicler and catalyst of leading-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism. For more information, visit: http://www.oreilly.com/.

O'Reilly is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc. Other products mentioned may be trademarks of their respective companies.

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SOURCE: TechWeb

CONTACT: Natalia Wodecki, PR Manager of TechWeb, +1-415-947-6762,
nwodecki@techweb.com; or Maureen Jennings, Conferences Publicist of O'Reilly
Media, Inc., maureen@oreilly.com

Web site: http://www.techweb.com/
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