CrunchTime people! TechCrunchTalk & Party next week. Got your ticket? [Update: Now Sold Out!]

UPDATE: This event is now entirely sold out. If you can’t make it follow Mike Butcher on Twitter and I’ll re-tweet the fact you have a ticket going spare.

So next week we’re having an afternoon session of panel discussions exploring the startup scene in the new economic environment, with some of the leading entrepreneurs and VCs in Europe. Are we looking at tough times for startups? Or does this represent the best opportunity in 5 years? Unfortunately the panel discussions are now sold out but, get a ticket and join us for the networking over drinks and an amazing party. Here’s the official press release…

The economy is collapsing

It’s Crunch Time

It’s time for TechCrunch

TechCrunch UK, the
key blog for tech startups hosts 2
nd TechCrunchTalk
and ChristmasCrunch party in London

– Key players discuss
where tomorrow’s tech stars will come from

9th December, 2008: TechCrunch
UK and Ireland will be hosting its second TechCrunch Talk followed by
a ChristmasCrunch party in central London in the afternoon and evening
of Tuesday the 16th of December in Digress City, EC2.

Following successful TechCrunch UK events
in both Berlin and Helsinki in the past couple of months, TechCrunch
UK will now host its second TechCrunchTalk event in London. The afternoon
seminar will see 150 startups, investors and key industry players gather
to discuss “CrunchTime: Opportunities and threats in the slowdown’
before enjoying ChristmasCrunch drinks and networking, including a Secret
Santa Raffle in support of the GlobalGiving project of providing orphaned
children in Rwanda with radios. (http://www.globalgiving.co.uk/pr/600/proj586a.html)

The afternoon of the 16th
will kick off with a keynote speech by German entrepreneur Stephan Uhrenbacher,
founder and CEO of Qype, the social networking and local review startup.
Qype is one of Europe’s fastest growing startups with over £8m in
funding. The keynote will be followed by three panel discussions involving
the audience in an interactive Q&A. The panellists will draw on
Europe’s best and brightest such as Simon Murdoch, founder of Amazon
in the UK and Danny Rimer, the venture capitalist that backed startup
Last.Fm, sold to CBS for £140m.

Finally, before the ChristmasCrunch party
kicks off, TechCrunch Pitch! will see ten fast startup pitches of 90
seconds each. The ten startups selected to put forward their pitches
will be revealed on the evening, having been specifically selected by
Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch UK and Ireland.

Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch UK
and Ireland, comments: ”It’s at times like this entrepreneurs need
to meet each other face to face and TechCrunchTalk is fast becoming
a key networking event for startups in the UK and Europe. With the economy
proving unpredictable, we will see many more startups emerge as people
try their own hand at business. TechcrunchTalk will tease out the issues
behind the trends in tech startups in this down market. Who will survive?
Who will thrive? These are some of the questions we will be looking
to answer.”

“We will also be announcing an on-going
regular ‘Pitch Preparation Workshop’ offered to selected startups
in conjunction with UK Trade and Investment. The workshop has been designed
by us and the UKTI to help startups with practical skills to make their
pitch hit the mark the first time,” Mike continues.

The full programme and panel topics are
as follows:

Venue: Digress City, City Point, 1 Ropemaker
Street, London, EC2Y 9AW

15.00 registration

15.20 Welcome

15.20 Keynote: "Building revenues
as a startup social media site in the downturn"

Stephan Uhrenbacher, Founder & CEO,
Qype

15.40 PANEL 1: What startups
"work" in a downturn?

Panellists:

Simon
Murdoch – Investor / Angel and ecommerce advocate

Charlie
Muirhead t5m.com

Pete
Ward, WAYN

Angel
Gambino, Angel investor

16.20 Break

16.35 PANEL 2: Will the startup service
providers (lawyers, PRs, hosters) thrive or suffer?
Will their startup clients appreciate their services… or not? Are
VCs interested in startups that act like service providers?

Panellists:

Barry
Vitou, Winston & Strawn

Stewart
Townsend, Sun Microsystems

Colette
Ballou Lamotte, Ballou PR

Ben
Tompkins, Eden Ventures, VC

17.15 Break

17.30 PANEL 3: What do VCs and Angels
do in a recession? What are they looking for?

Panellists:

Danny
Rimer

Azeem
Azhar, Angel

Madhuban
Kumar, Ereni Partners

Sean
Seton-Rogers, Balderton

18.05 TechCrunch Pitch! – 10 startup
pitches, 90 seconds each

Startups to be revealed on the night.

18.35 Closing remarks

Then… ChristmasCrunch Party till late…

The afternoon and evening events are
sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark, UK Trade and Investment, Bootlaw and
Iperium Consulting.

TechCrunch UK will be hosting TechCrunchTalk
and ChristmasCrunch, an event organised by TwistedTree in association
with rassami.

Ends

Notes to Editors:

Tickets to the full event are a nominal
£25 per person to minimise no-shows, and £12.50 for only the ChristmasCrunch
networking party – and can be purchased online here: http://www.amiando.com/techcrunch.html

Attendee identification will be checked
at the door. Due to the strong demand for tickets, we regret tickets
are not transferable and not refundable. If you use your name to purchase
multiple tickets, your guests must arrive with you to check in at the
door.

We have a few sponsorship opportunities
and demo tables available for companies to show off their products.
If you are interested in supporting the event, please contact
Petra Johansson of TwistedTree.

If you are a member of the press wanting
to cover the event, please contact
Rassami
Hok Ljungberg
of rassami.

About the sponsors:

– Microsoft BizSpark—Turning today’s
most promising Startups into tomorrow’s most successful businesses.

BizSpark is an innovative new program
that unites Startups with entrepreneurial and technology resources in
a global community with a common goal of supporting and accelerating
the success of a new generation of high-potential Startups.

– Bootlaw

Bootlaw is a free boot camp for emerging
technology, internet and digital businesses and the professionals working
in them who want to learn more about the legal issues they face. Its
brought to you by Barry Vitou and Danvers Baillieu the friendly lawyers
at Winston & Strawn in London. For more information go to
www.bootlaw.com

– Iperium Consulting

One World. Connected. Digital Media
Expertise

    Iperium have an empathetic understanding
    of the entrepreneurial nature required for success.

  • Experienced in the successful
    recruitment of multi discipline global opportunities.
  • Strong connections with Entrepreneurs,
    Bloggers, Venture Capitalists and Industry Leaders.
  • Tailored and scalable approach
    to facilitate long term relationships with emerging technology start
    ups.
  • Social Networks, Enterprise
    2.0, Mobile 2.0, Multimedia, Semantic Web, Technology Convergence.

– UK Trade & Investment

UK Trade & Investment is the government
organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy.
We also help overseas companies bring their high quality investment
to the UK’s dynamic economy – acknowledged as Europe’s best place
from which to succeed in global business. For further information please
visit
www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk or telephone +44 (0)20 7215 8000.

About TechCrunch UK and
Ireland

TechCrunch
UK & Ireland
is a blog
covering Web 2.0 and Mobile start-ups.

TechCrunch UK is part of the TechCrunch
Network, which includes country-specific blogs for
France and Japan. In August 2008, TechCrunch UK was named the
best “Web 2.0 and business blog” in the UK, by the readers of Computer
Weekly magazine.

TechCrunch, founded by Michael Arrington
on 11 June 2005, is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and
reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to new companies,
we profile existing companies that are making a commercial or cultural
impact on the new web space.

TechCrunch UK & Ireland is edited
by Mike Butcher. A former editor of New Media Age magazine (the leading
weekly trade title in the UK) and The Industry Standard Europe, he has
written for UK national newspapers including the Financial Times, The
Guardian, The Times and The New Statesman.

He has appeared on BBC News, Sky News,
Channel 4 and Bloomberg, commenting on technology and new media. Mike
has launched or re-launched several media web sites. In 2004 he was
voted ‘One of the 100 Innovators of the UK Internet Decade’ by GfK
NOP, the fourth-largest custom research business in the world. In July
2008 Mike was put at No. 47 out of the Top 100 people in London’s
creative industry the UK by The Independent newspaper and The Hospital
Club. In August 2008 TechCrunch UK was named the best “Web 2.0 and
business blog” in the UK, by the readers of Computer Weekly magazine.

For more information contact

Mike Butcher

Email: mike@mbites.com

Mobile: +44(0)7720291095