#LAUNCH Festival: Marketing Entrepreneurs Chasing the Dream

“The best place to launch your startup, raise money and learn about starting a company.” So goes the tagline for Jason Calacanis’ Launch Festival in San Francisco, which kicked off yesterday.

The annual 3-day startup competition showcased all walks of entrepreneurial life: tech founders seeking funding and airtime while vying for attention from VCs, angel investors and seasoned entrepreneurs who were there to check out the goods and kick the tires.

While wearable technology, gaming and B2C plays were prevalent, there was plenty to be had in the internet marketing sandbox, such as analytics platforms and both fledging and re-born social networks.

The atmosphere at the conference seemed buzzy and hopeful, the crowd perhaps still feeling the aftereffects of last week’s $19 billion Whatsapp acquisition bombshell. Attendees bounced between two demo stages and a demo pit.

The event got off to an odd start, as attendees were greeted by enthusiastic protesters outside the venue. The picketers were highlighting a labor dispute with a conference vendor, and in a brilliantly effective move, created a cacophony with drums that nearly drowned out the opening speakers Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, and Calacanis.

It was rumored that Calacanis paid off the protestors to cease and desist, as the drums went silent towards the end of Kalanick’s talk.

Panelist judges such as Sherpa Foundry’s Tina Sharkey, the iconic Mark Pesce and tech media pundit Kara Swisher of re/code offered critiques and succinct advice for founders who had been picked to demo their ideas on the main stage; the latter often squirming while being asked hard questions about their target markets, business models and chosen technology.