The City of Glendale hosted its annual Tech Week from September 17-19, offering a range of 22 interactive events aimed at bringing together innovators, entrepreneurs, and business professionals. The event series, which included an after-party, was designed to celebrate the city’s growing tech ecosystem.
The initiative to promote Glendale’s burgeoning tech environment and nurture local startups was spearheaded by Bradley Calvert, the city’s Community Development Director. Since its inception in 2016, Tech Week has evolved to support innovation within the city. Calvert explained that the event series was inspired by Glendale’s commitment to creating an ecosystem that highlights the tech sector’s growth in the area.
“We see everything from our local businesses to residents who just want to be a part of it. I think there’s a sense of pride to this event,” Calvert said during an interview with the News-Press.
In 2017, the Glendale City Council adopted the Glendale Tech Strategy, which served as a roadmap for developing the city’s tech ecosystem. According to Calvert, the goal was to nurture companies that were already establishing a foothold in Glendale and help them grow further.
Glendale’s tech sector received a significant boost in 2019 when the city secured a $1 million grant from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development Team, thanks to Senator Anthony Portantino’s efforts. This funding was crucial in launching a tech startup accelerator in the city, which ultimately led to the creation of Hero House and KidsX. SmartGateVC, the venture capital firm responsible for Hero House, has been a key player in organizing Tech Week and plays an active role in Glendale’s tech ecosystem.
Glendale is also home to several tech unicorns, including LegalZoom, an online legal service provider; Age of Learning, an educational technology company; and Titan, a cloud-based software platform for field service companies.
Tech Week, which draws over 1,000 attendees each year, is organized by Calvert and the city’s economic development team, with support from the Downtown Glendale Association. The event is funded primarily through the city’s economic development budget, which allocates $100,000 to $120,000 annually. Additional financial support comes from local organizations and civic groups.
David Crawley Delgado, Glendale’s Senior Economic Development Coordinator, noted that Tech Week saw its peak in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Although the event was canceled in 2020 and held virtually in 2021, the in-person series in 2022 experienced a challenging return. However, by 2023, the event was back to full strength. Delgado emphasized that the team adopted a more proactive approach in 2023, targeting marketing efforts across different regions in Los Angeles to solidify Glendale’s place in the county’s tech scene.
“There were some companies that were planting their seeds here and becoming very strong tech companies, and so that kind of opened the door to this area in Glendale,” Delgado said. He highlighted that the city is positioning itself as the “tech jewel of the northeast side of L.A.”
This year’s Tech Week included notable events such as “Mastering the Pitch: Insights from Investors and Entrepreneurs.” This panel featured angel investors like Avetis Antaplyan, CEO of HIRECLOUT, and Vahag Karayan, CEO of BrandLens. Karayan, who won $139,500 at the 2022 Tech Week Pitchfest event, praised Glendale for fostering a more supportive tech ecosystem than other cities in Los Angeles County.
During the Demo Day event, ten companies presented their business ideas to a panel of judges, including notable investors such as Juan Saez from Play Time and Armen Vartanian from Oceanview Capital Partners. TACTUN, a company that builds no-code software applications, won the Demo Day competition and received a prize package valued at over $20,000.
Vartanian, who has 16 companies headquartered in Glendale, described Tech Week as one of the city’s most active annual event series. He noted that Tech Week has led to investments and partnerships for many companies, including those in his own portfolio. Vartanian believes that future tech unicorns will emerge from Glendale as a result of the foundational impact of Tech Week and the state-funded tech accelerators.
