Propelify is an innovation festival that will be held at the Hoboken waterfront on Oct. 6. The festival features entrepreneurial thought leaders, tech founders, C-suite executives, and a whole host of innovators that want to learn, grow their business, and make connections.
It’s a one day event with more than 70 exhibitors. There will be onsite investors taking pitches, startup competitions, and they will showcase a “teleportation” device that will have a 3D version of someone from the other side of the world interacting with attendees.
Propelify Brings Together Wide Array of Talented Entrepreneurs and Business Professionals Speakers
Event management brought in very notable speakers such as Jeff Hoffman, co-founder, Priceline; Amanda Cassatt, co-founder and CEO, Serotonin; Dr. Dan Karlin, CMO, Mindmed; Ben Sun, founder, Primary Ventures; Vinit Bharara, co-founder and CEO, Mojo; Ralph Izzo, executive chair, PSEG; Tim Sullivan, CEO, New Jersey Economic Development Authority; Sean O’Sullivan, managing partner, SOSV; and many others. Key topics will be featured such as climate change, diversity, smart cities, communication, wellness and venture capital.
Since launching in 2016, the event has welcomed more than 40,000 attendees, hundreds of exhibitors, and speakers such as Arianna Huffington, Gary Vaynerchuk and Gov. Phil Murphy.
New Jersey has benefited from the influx of Covid disenfranchised New York City residents in more ways than simply raising the value of our home values. New Jersey is getting new talent. The hope is that these new tech entrepreneurs will set up shop in the Garden State.
The event is a reflection of the momentum building up in New Jersey’s innovation space. New Jersey has all the right ingredients, but there’s still quite a ways to go.
“There is definitely a lot of enthusiasm and I think there’s a moment in time on the regional piece of this for us to capture talent that is no longer interested in commuting to New York to stay local,” said Aaron Price, Propelify CEO. He continued, “We need a lot more companies to start here and we need a lot more early-stage funding. But there’s certainly quite a bit of momentum and enthusiasm around everything that the state’s been pushing forward.”
Propelify does an impressive job of bringing in business and corporate partners, which makes this more than a pep rally. Price said, “Where we can not only give startups a cash prize and a significant cash prize, but also connect them to larger companies and mentors who can help them help their businesses grow.” Partners such as RWJBarnabas Health, PSEG, Labcorp, and Audible have a vested interest in seeing this community thrive.
We need more jobs, jobs, jobs in the New Jersey economy, especially in the coveted tech sector. Forbes has described Propelify as the “The SXSW of the Northeast.” All hyperbole aside, the potential is there. As a litigation attorney in New Jersey who specializes in minority shareholder oppression, business contracts, and a whole host of legal matters related to commercial law, my firm, Josh Curtis Law, welcomes new opportunities to serve this community.
Visit Propelify’s website at propelify.com
