Celebrating 'National Startup Day' In Davis

Photo: Rep. Garamendi (center-left) meets with local startup leaders.

--------------------------

News from the Office of Congressman John Garamendi:

In the spirit of National Startup Day this past Wednesday, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA) visited Davis Roots, a non-profit startup business accelerator.

Davis Roots cofounders Andy Hargadon (UC Davis Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship), Anthony Costello (Mytrus), and Joe DiNunzio (UC Davis Graduate School of Management) met with Garamendi to explain their public-private partnership model, which leverages the research, technology, and workforce from the University of California at Davis to incubate local startups.

The Davis Roots meeting included a presentation from three local startup companies: Foodful.ly, which provides an app designed to reduce food waste by providing automatic reminders and recipes to help cook food before it spoils; The Gift of Education, which provides an online crowdfunding platform for families and friends to securely contribute to children’s education funds; and SonanuTech, Inc., which provides technologies driven by self-containing biological assays, with commercial applications in the food industry.

“These start-ups speak to the dynamic ingenuity and innovative spirit that local entrepreneurs are bringing to our regional economy. Encouraging the development of commercial applications for the research and innovation our public universities create has been a longstanding priority during my service in state and federal government, and groups like these are making things happen,” Garamendi said.

National Startup Day was organized by the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Innovation and Entrepreneurship to educate Members of Congress and entrepreneurs on how the federal government can stimulate robust job-creating economic growth by fostering conditions that support entrepreneurs. Garamendi, who is himself a small business owner, understands that it is important for his office to be accessible to small businesses to understand and address their needs and concerns.

That’s why on August 26, Congressman John Garamendi will be hosting the Small Business Boost Conference at the UC Davis Conference Center from 8:30am – 1:00pm.

The conference brings together 40 public-private small business service and resource providers. The conference will have a keynote program featuring a core founder of Constant Contact, the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, and the Sacramento State College of Business Administration. The conference will also feature an “Access to Capital” panel and three boot camp-workshops covering business marketing, operations and networking.

The conference is complimentary, but seating is limited. Please RSVP by calling (530) 753-5316.

A live stream will be available at http://www.garamendi.house.gov/smallbusiness.