OpenCoffee Club - Santa Fe Startup and Creative Community
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"Autopsy of a Failed Software Startup"
These days it seems that everybody wants to get rich by starting a new company. And because just about anybody can create a “software product” with relatively little training and cost, software-based companies become a common goal. However, the building of the product (whether in software or any other medium) is the most trivial and usually the least expensive and least risky part of any commercial endeavor.
Our guest for March's OpenCoffee, Al Davis, will squash the mystique surrounding the creation of software companies. He'll discuss a software startup that survived and prospered for 4 years, only to meet an embarrassing death. Al was co-founder and president of the company for much of its life, and he talk about key aspects of the business, including personnel, financing, productization, marketing, sales, branding, establishment of appropriate boards, facilities, and exit strategies. Al will engage the group in brainstorming over the pro’s and con’s of key company decisions to help you get at the root of what works and what doesn't.
If you've got a business startup of any kind this discussion, rich with relevant experience and insight, is not to be missed.
Alan M. Davis was trained as a computer scientist (PhD, Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), but much of his career has been devoted to business leadership.
His experience includes:
Co-founder and CEO of Offtoa, Inc., an internet company that assists entrepreneurs in crafting their business strategies to optimize financial return for themselves and their investors [2012-present].
Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Omni-Vista, Inc., a software company in Colorado Springs [1998-2002].
Founding member of the board of directors of Requisite, Inc., acquired by Rational Software Corporation in 1997, and subsequently acquired by IBM in 2003 [1995-1997].
Vice president at BTG, Inc., a Virginia-based company that went public in 1995, acquired by Titan in 2001, and subsequently acquired by L-3 Communications in 2003 [1984-1991].
Non-Managing General Partner and Member of Investment Advisory Board, Catalyst InfoTech Development Fund, L.P., a small ($11M) venture capital fund [1995-2002].
Consultant for many corporations over the past thirty-two years, including Boeing, Cigna Insurance, FedEx, FrontRange Solutions, IBM, Loral, NEC, NTT, Rational Software, Rockwell, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Storage Tek, and Sumitomo.
Private angel investor in 13 start-up companies since 1983 and mentor for many dozens of entrepreneurs and startup companies.
He is a professor of entrepreneurship and international business at the University of Colorado Executive MBA Program, Denver.
Previously, he was a professor at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Atma Jaya University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, University of Jos, Nigeria, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
He was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Software from 1994 to 1998. Dr. Davis has published 100+ articles in journals, conferences and trade press, and lectured 2,000+ times in 28 countries. He is the author of 6 books. He has been a fellow of the IEEE since 1994. Find out more about Al Davis at http://www.a-davis.com.
Location: New Mexico Financial Partners,
613 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Date: March 15th, 8:45 am (sharp)
Join the discussion Tuesday morning, January 19th, with the Startup Santa Fe community over coffee and doughnuts and find out what's going on. As always, Santa Fe OpenCoffee Club is free.
The OpenCoffee Club (http://opencoffee.ning.com/group/santafe) is a global collection of real-world informal meetups started to encourage entrepreneurs, developers and investors to get acquainted, chat, and network. The goal was to help the investment community become more transparent and thus to encourage entrepreneurship. Santa Fe has held OpenCoffee Club meetups since 2008, being one of the early locations in the organization's 130+ locations worldwide. We are grateful to New Mexico Financial Partners (http://www.nmfinancialpartners.com/)for their gracious support.
OpenCoffee Club - Santa Fe Startup and Creative Community