Seattle companies: Join us May 4 for a pitch and drinks at Madrona

If you’re a tech company in the Seattle region, and are considering launching your product over the next year or so, you should join us for a meetup at one of Seattle’s most respected venture capital firms, Madrona Venture Group.

We’re inviting up to 10 companies who are contemplating launching products at DEMO (either at the upcoming DEMO event in September 13-15 in Silicon Valley, or DEMO Spring 2011) to pitch on Tuesday, May 4 Thursday, May 6 at Madrona’s offices at 1000 Second Avenue.

Aside from editing VentureBeat, I’m the Executive Producer of DEMO and am in charge of selecting DEMO companies. So this is a chance to pitch me and other members of the DEMO team. You’ll also have the opportunity to meet with senior partners at Madrona. Each presentation will get at least 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of feedback.

We did something similar last year at Kleiner Perkins, one of the top firms in Silicon Valley, and it was a big success. That’s why we’re taking this on the road and doing it in other regions. We’re thrilled that Madrona has offered their support in doing this for the entrepreneur community.

As was the case with Kleiner, there’s no exclusive deal with Madrona; like us, they just want to hear about new companies and ideas. This will be just one in a series of informal DEMO gatherings we’ll be having over the next several weeks, in the run-up to the next DEMO. We’ll be posting soon about our plans for other cities and other top venture capitalists. If you’re interested in attending the open house, please fill out this form.

Not every company will make the cut for the pitch session. But even those who don’t make it may get a consolation prize: an invitation to an intimate cocktail reception at Madrona that will take place at the end of the day, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. There will be drinks and snacks, and we’ll basically just hang out.

We’ve tried to be inclusive, and so we’ve invited some other local investors and top angels, such as Andy Sack, who leads the Founder’s Co-op, the region’s most respected seed early stage fund.

After the Madrona meetup, we’ll all head over to cocktails at The Crocodile Club, which will be open to the entire Seattle tech scene, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Spread the word. Let’s have a big bash. We’ll be buying drinks there for the first 75 people who show up. Please register here for that.

If you’re selected as one of the 10 companies, we’ll follow up immediately with more information about the presentation and attendees from DEMO and Madrona.

Look forward to seeing you!