Around here, we’re gearing up for our Leading in Local conference in San Francisco next month. It will feature the standard fare of heavy hitters from the likes of Google, Facebook, Airbnb, GoDaddy, etc.. We’ll even have California Lt. Governor (and fellow SCU alum) Gavin Newsom.

But the part I’m most excited about is our Local Liftoff competition. Branching from our Future Stars program, we offer heavily discounted rates to early stage companies to bring more startup energy into the mix. This culminates in a demo competition on stage. It’s a great peek at the future of local.

Today we opened up applications. If you are or know a startup operating in the local media space, we’d love to have you. There are a few requirements to make sure its a level playing field of early stage companies (funding & revenue caps, etc.). These can be seen on the program’s landing page.

You can apply on that same page, or email me if you have any questions (mbolandATbiakelsey.com). If you aren’t a startup but are still interested in attending the event, we’d also love to have you. Email me for a discount code to register. We’d love to see you there as competing startup or attendee.

Meanwhile our coverage of the past winners is here and here. My selfie video explaining the whole thing is embedded below. It’s within the context of our September Austin show but the spirit behind the program remains. More to come including blog coverage of our future stars as they file in.