CTC attended this year’s Early Stage Symposium on November 5 and 6, 2025 at the Monona Terrace in Madison, WI. Overall, we were inspired by the content provided by the hosts, the Wisconsin Tech Council, and empowered by the connections we made!
Wednesday morning kicked off with “Breakouts in the Badger state: Founders success stories highlighted.” Maggie Brickerman, the new president of the Tech Council, asked questions of two of Wisconsin’s own success stories: Chris Fernandez,co-founder of EnsoData, and Zach Halmstad, co-founder of Jamf. Both have started companies in Wisconsin and gone on to fund them with large deals and splashy exits. The conversation was wide-ranging and interesting, as they talked about their history in the Wisconsin entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The open mic quick pitches event followed, where 20 startups pitched their ideas to the crowd accompanied by upbeat music and a DJ. Highlights were the pitches from clothing recycler Casita Prado, home UTI testing device inventor Nelambos, and cannabis-repurposing company RojoBio. All of the contestants did a great job on the small stage, and a lot of fun was had by all.
The Tech Council Investor Network (TCIN) pitch session was next. This is where founders had five minutes to pitch their companies using presentations and answering audience questions. Standout pitches included Sit By Me, a coworking and collaboration platform, Auvia Health, whose programming targets parents with postpartum depression, and Sea Change Silicides, whose proprietary coating technology can make titanium implants more permanent than other technologies. All of the founders made excellent presentations, and if we had $1B, we would have invested in most of them!
At lunch, Maggie Brickerman introduced herself to the Tech Council members and attendees, and handed out the Triple E award to this year’s recipient, Elaine Coughlin. Congrats!
That afternoon we attended “Building Market Validation without Burning through Cash.” Lauren Usher from Gener8tor moderated the panel, while Matt Key from Tundra Angels and Bradley Will of Mumbies helped out by fielding questions like “when is the right time to consider funding?” Some good advice: Bootstrapping is a mindset, and that small business owners really want to be in touch with their numbers before they go looking for funding. When looking for funding, they advised the collected small business owners that preselling is better than creating a waiting list, and that people should ask for advice, not money, when meeting VCs and Angels. It’s a numbers game, we were told, and they advised us to keep going.
After that, it was time for another round of 5-minute TCIN pitches. Like the earlier session, founders made themselves available for a single question from the floor after their pitch. Our favorites were Pyran, Syrenn, and Sunnyday Technology.
Day two opened big, with this election cycle’s first gubernatorial forum. Seven candidates fielded questions about the tech-based economy in Wisconsin and nationally. Kelda Reys, Josh Shoeman, Sara Rodriguez, Missy Hughes, Francesca Hong, and David Crowley answered questions about data centers, energy futures, K-12 education, health insurance, wages, and how to work with the opposing party in a split government. The respectful discussion drew chuckles and occasional applause.
The last workshop was an “office hours” presentation of “From innovation to protection: Navigating intellectual property in an AI world”. John Stone of Quarles & Brady lead a lively discussion about AI issues that are emerging in the Intellectual Property world. Is AI-generated content copyrightable? Most likely not, but if there is a ‘human component’ to the art, it may be. AI’s cannot make patentable materials either – there must be a human inventor.
Finally, the conference wrapped up with the, highly-anticipated, Elevator Pitch Olympics! Nineteen companies pitched to investors and the ecosystem before being critiqued by a panel of exceptionally qualified judges from across the state. Congratulations to Datalily AI of Verona and Higher Ground of Madison on their wins!
