Starting your own agency is nothing new. That’s been happening since before the Mad Men era. But quitting your agency job to start a completely different kind of business – now that’s interesting. Especially when the agency you left behind is a place that most creatives would kill to work for someday.

ADC has been connecting, provoking and elevating creative professionals for over 92 years, and recently we’ve been seeing this anomaly happen more and more often. A revolution is brewing in the ad industry. Countless creative directors are ditching their agency gigs to become entrepreneurs and launch their own ventures.

So, in an effort to bridge the gap between these two worlds – the creative industries and the startup community – we created an event series called StartUP.

This quarterly speaker event, sponsored by WeWork, is designed to inspire and educate creatives everywhere, and open their eyes to the world outside of Madison Avenue. For some, StartUP is the final push they needed to take the leap into their very own Silicon Valley.

Maybe you have an amazing idea that you think could turn into a business model. Or perhaps you’re fed up with the frustrations of agency life, and the idea of “being your own boss” is more appealing. Or, maybe you already have a startup of your own, and are looking to network with designers and other creative talent to help you grow your business. Either way, StartUP is for you.

Below are six presentations from StartUP 2.0, which took place on January 10, 2013 at the ADC Gallery in Manhattan. Feel free to share the inspiration with your friends.

Be on the lookout for the next lineup of brilliant speakers at adcglobal.org/startup.

To stay involved, join the official Meetup: Creatives In Startups.

Apply to be a speaker at the next StartUP event, here.

A word from our sponsor, WeWork:

About WeWork:
WeWork helps entrepreneurs, freelancers & small businesses succeed by making them more connected with each other and by providing them with services that allow them to focus their energy on what they do best.