Start Up Showcase

The Event

The DataConnect team is excited to announce our second Start-Up Showcase event, hosted at this year's DataConnect Conference in Columbus, Ohio. The event will bring together early-stage companies to showcase their innovative ideas, field questions from VCs, and increase exposure. The Start-Up Showcase on Oct 2, 2025 will attract aspiring entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts to highlight the latest trends and cutting edge-technologies in the data science and analytics ecosystem.

Our Mission

DataConnect is focused on providing growth opportunities for women in the field by increasing visibility to the individuals making an impact in the space, providing our conference as platform for them to lead the conversation, and supporting their success in communicating their expertise and experiences in their craft. Participating start-ups must have a woman founder, co-founder or c-suite level team member.

Benefits of Pitching at DataConnect

Gain the opportunity to showcase your innovative ideas and projects to an audience of 2000+ attendees
Receive valuable feedback on your business ideas, product offerings, and presentation
Events like the Start-Up Showcase bring together a diverse group of entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts, proving an excellent opportunity to network
Access to the recording of the session
Your pitch team (up to 3) will receive access to the rest of the DataConnect Conference

Meet Our Moderator

Sadie St. Lawrence

Sadie St Lawrence is the Principle of SSL Innovations & Founder and CEO of Women in Data. Women in Data is an international non-profit organization with representation in 55 countries and a community fo 40,000+ data leaders, practitioners, and citizens. Women in Data has been named a Top 50 Leading Company of the Year.

Prior to founding SSL Innovations and Women in Data, Sadie worked in data science and AI strategy, consulting for healthcare, high tech, and government organizations. She has trained over 450,000 people in data science, along with developing multiple programs in machine learning

Sadie has been awarded Top 30 Women in AI (2022), Top 10 Most Admired Businesswomen to Watch in 2023, Top 21 Influencer in Data (2021), Top 30 Most Inspiring Women in AI (2021) and is the recipient of the Outstanding Service Award from UC Davis (2019).

In addition, Sadie serves on multiple start-up and nonprofit boards, and is the host of the Data Bytes podcast.