Thursday, February 27, 2014
Montgomery Reboots With Oasis Conference
Over the years, one of the go-to conferences in the region for technology executives was the exclusive, invite-only Montgomery Conference -- an annual, private investment pitch conference run by investment banking firm Montgomery & Co. The conference was known for a very exclusive attendee list (almost entirely CEOs, founders, and VCs, both from here as well as Silicon Valley), and the opportunity to hear what both startups and some of the technology industry's hottest public companies were planning, directly from their executives.
However, after Montgomery & Co. exited its advisory business last year, attendees were wondering what would fill the place of the annual conference. The answer? Montgomery & Co. co-founder Jamie Montgomery is launching a new, exclusive conference -- Oasis: The Montgomery Summit, which looks to capture that exclusive atmosphere and deal making which was the hallmark of Montgomery & Co's conferences over the years. The new conference--being held on March 5th and 6th in Santa Monica--includes keynotes from such folks as Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman of Google) and others.
The new conference has been switched from sponsored as part of an investment bank, and now has a wide range of sponsors--plus, it's now charging for tickets from participants. According to Jamie Montgomery, he kept the rights to the conference after the divestment, in an aim to foster, support and celebrate creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. Montgomery said that Oasis will include 145 companies presenting, and will also add talks around creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Montgomery also said he hopes to grow the conference beyond an exclusive event, with hopes to create a "festival" ala SXSW around innovation in the region.