The third annual Startup Stories event sponsored by Thinc UGA returns to Athens on Monday, October 19th at Live Wire. Hosted by Four Athens, Startup Stories offers the Athens community a unique opportunity to hear directly from startup founders about their entrepreneurial experiences. This year’s keynote is distinguished sports writer, founder of Deadspin.com, and Athens resident Will Leitch.

Will Leitch is a senior writer at Sports on Earth, culture writer for Bloomberg Politics, contributing editor at New York magazine and the author of four books. In September 2005 he founded Deadspin, a sports blog owned by Gawker Media. Originally from Mattoon and formerly of New York, he currently resides in Athens.

Also on tap to share his story is Tom Robertson, CEO of Cogent Education. Born and raised in Manchester, England, Tom Robertson moved to Athens in 2001 to take a position at the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. Tom resigned his tenured position at UGA in 2014 to become the CEO of Cogent Education (formerly IS3D) a startup science education company he co-founded in 2010 that makes cross-platform interactive software focused on helping students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

The evening's Master of Ceremonies will be Bob Pinckney, former CEO of Athens sports tech startup EvoShield, and current Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the UGA Terry College of Business.

Jim Flannery, Executive Director at Four Athens, said “We expect people to walk away from this event inspired by the possibilities for the Athens startup scene while having a realistic view of what determines a startup’s success. Beyond the numbers and business pitch of successful startup ventures is the story of the people who made it all happen.”

This year’s Startup Stories takes place at Live Wire in Downtown Athens on Monday October 19th. Doors open at 6pm, with stories to begin at 6:30, followed by an open Q&A with the speakers. The event is free and open to the public.

Speakers at prior Startup Stories events have included founders, CEOs, and UGA Alumni from startups such as Scoutmob, Insightpool, Yik Yak, and Path, among others.