Museum event set to feature startups
The tech firm Plug and Play, which recently started a supply chain and logistics accelerator program in Northwest Arkansas, will hold its first local event Monday at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. Highlights will include pitches by startup businesses and an executive panel discussion.
Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play helps new businesses grow by connecting them with educational opportunities, investors and other resources, including large corporations. Its goal in Northwest Arkansas is to draw new companies from around the world to Arkansas and help solve industry issues facing the region’s employers. The program will offer workshops, mentorship sessions, business
development and investment opportunity classes.
The Northwest Arkansas Council coordinated Monday’s event with support from the Walton Family Foundation and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission along with Walmart Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.
The Walton Family Foundation is the charitable arm of the Walmart heirs.
Plug and Play founder and Chief Executive Officer Saeed Amidi said in an earlier interview that his company’s network of startups with expertise in various fields can help lower supply-chain costs by solving problems and inefficiencies faster.
“The idea is, if you get the commitment from these Fortune 500 companies, that they embrace the culture of innovation, change, working with entrepreneurs — then I think we will be super-effective,” Amidi said.
The invitation-only event begins at noon with registration and lunch. At 1 p.m., Amidi and Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, will welcome attendees.
Beginning at 1:20 p.m., representatives from startups will make pitches for their companies. Yee-Lin Lai, a program officer with the Walton Family Foundation, said these businesses haven’t been through Plug and Play’s accelerator program and aren’t competing for prizes or funding. Instead, she said, Plug and Play selected them to give a “flavor” of the type of startup that might participate in one of the 12-week programs that will be conducted each spring and fall.
Startup businesses from all over the world were invited to pitch Monday, Lai said, but some are based in Northwest Arkansas. She said one of these is SupplyPike, a spinoff of logistics provider CaseStack.
A panel discussion starts at 1:50 p.m. with Greg Smith, executive vice president of supply chain for Walmart; Nick Hobbs, president of dedicated contract services for J.B. Hunt; and a senior executive with Tyson.
Another half-hour of startup pitches begins at 2:30 p.m., followed by a keynote presentation. The event wraps up with networking from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.