Ready, Set, Launch - Knowing When You’re Ready and How to Start a Company

Ready, Set, Launch - Knowing When You’re Ready and How to Start a Company
IEEE BOSTON ENTREPRENEURS’ NETWORK – 7:00PM to 10:00PM, Tuesday, September 3, 2013

What happens before you begin your pursuit of entrepreneurial greatness? A key decision is needed before you decide that you will go all-in on your next big project. Are you the right person to start a company? Our speakers will go over what it takes to start a business. They will speak on the most crucial initial steps in taking the leap of faith into the entrepreneurial world. They will also discuss what it takes to start a company -- building a team, building a culture, identifying the 'right' market/channel, raising capital.

Our first meeting of the ENET year will be conducted in a conventional panel format. Each speaker will be presenting his or her “own take” for 15 minutes. Our panel consists of four presenters, who all have extensive entrepreneurial experience. They will go over the most important factors to consider as you move toward creating a business. Robert Adelson, Boston attorney for startup companies and chairman of ENET, will be moderator.

Starting with this meeting, our Waltham meetings will be held in a new location: Constant Contact, Inc., 1601 Trapelo Rd., 3RD Floor, The Great Room, Waltham, MA (Exit 28/28B, I-95/Route 128) with a pre-meeting dinner at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Winter St., Waltham.

Speakers
Vicki Donlan, Women’s Business and Health Coach, http://www.vickidonlan.com
As an entrepreneur, Vicki was founder and publisher of Women’s Business, a 25,000 controlled-circulation newspaper devoted to women in business in the Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island region, founded in 1998 and sold to the Boston Herald in 2004. She remained as publisher through 2007.Her first book, HER TURN: Why It’s Time for Women To Lead in America, was published in that year. She is a regular guest discussing women in business on New England Cable News’ Business Day and a well-known speaker.

Mark Kasdorf, CEO & Founder of Intrepid Pursuits, http://www.intrepid.io/ , a Cambridge, MA based mobile development company, building native iOS and Android apps.
In its first three years, Intrepid grew from 2 to 25, and has built 50 apps for a variety of companies ranging from Fortune 500s to startup companies. Mark also acts as CEO of Timbre, http://www.timbreapp.com/ , a live-music discovery app, which spun out of Intrepid Pursuits into its own entity, and serves as a TechStars mentor. Additionally, Mark is the Founder of Intrepid Labs, http://intrepid-labs.com/ , a coworking space in the heart of Kendall Square, catering to growing businesses of 5 to 25 employees. Over twenty companies call Intrepid Labs home in over 11,000 square feet.

Bill Seibel, CEO and Founder of Mobiquity. www.mobiquityinc.com
Prior to founding Mobiquity in 2011, Seibel was CEO of Gumball, a consulting firm specializing in helping CEOs grow their companies rapidly and effectively. In addition, he is executive chairman of LogMatrix. Seibel earlier served as chairman and chief executive officer of Demantra, a leading provider of supply chain and marketing collaboration and analytics that he sold to Oracle in 2006. Before Demantra, Seibel was chairman and CEO of the e-business services company, ZEFER. There, he oversaw the company's organic growth to more than $130 million in revenue in its first 18 months of operations. Prior to establishing ZEFER, Seibel was executive vice president of Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP) and one of its founding partners. At CTP, he helped take the company through a successful IPO, launched its international operations and led nine of the company's 12 business units.

Greg Skloot is a serial technology entrepreneur and web developer, currently, CEO & Co-Founder of Attendare, www.attendware.com, the fastest growing event check in and auto name tag printing software.
Attendware recently closed a $1M VC round from .406 Ventures. Prior to this, Greg led a 15 person team as COO of a marketing start-up firm, influencers@. There he increased revenue by 5x, launched a web product, acquired 2,500 users and built an internal ERP system using PHP. Prior to joining influencers@, he served as President of the Northeastern University Entrepreneurs Club, ranked #6 of its kind in the world. Before Northeastern, Greg started an IT consulting firm that developed 90+ websites and supported hundreds of IT systems. He also worked at Cisco Systems, where he maintained a $10M data center. Greg is the author of Getting Organized, a training manual that teaches student leaders how to build university student groups.

Moderator:
Robert Adelson, business and tax attorney and partner at the Boston law firm of Engel & Schultz LLP (www.ExecutiveEmploymentAttorney.com ), and Chairman of IEEE Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network (ENET) is the meeting moderator and organizer.
Rob has been an attorney for over 30 years specialized in business, tax, stock and options, employment, contracts, financings, trademarks and intellectual property. Rob began his legal career as an associate at major New York law firms Dewey Ballantine and later Weil Gotshal & Manges, before returning home to Boston in 1985 where he has since been a partner in small and medium sized firms before joining his present firm in 2004. Rob represents entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies, independent contractors and employees and executives. Rob is a frequent speaker on business law topics and author of numerous articles published in Boston Business Journal, Mass High Tech and other publications. Rob has been on the ENET Board since 2002 and Chairman since 2009 and is also a Board member of the 128 Innovation Capital Group.

Coorganizer: William Adelson is a marketing and social media consultant active in the emerging crowd funded start-up domain. He is a sponsor recruiter and publicist at the IEEE Boston Entrepreneur's Network. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Government from the University of Colorado.

PRE-MEETING DINNER at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham.

Information: Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network Website at ( http://www.boston-enet.org )
Directions: http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/office-location-waltham.jsp
Reservations: ENET Constant Contact meetings are free to ENET members and $20 for non-members. No reservations are needed for the dinner. To expedite sign-in for the meeting, we ask that everyone -- members as well as non-members -- pre-register for the meeting online at: http://www.boston-enet.org/september-3-2013. Pre-registration is available until midnight the day before the meeting. If you cannot pre-register, you are welcome to register at the door.