Balancing a Cool Idea with Profitability

Balancing a Cool Idea with Profitability

Dotcomers don't HAVE to be glamorous to be profitable. In the late 90s the dot-com boom was in full swing. It seemed that everyone was jumping on the Internet bandwagon to ride the electronic highway to untold fortune and fame. Everyday new businesses were being formed and funded with only a name, a concept, and the promise of future revenues. There were literally thousands of new dot-com businesses being introduced to the market on a wing and a prayer. The operating model during the dot-com boom was the antithesis of some unsexy companies structured approach to making money. The eventual dot-com collapse validated the benefits of operating disciplines and financial controls on the production of genuine profits. It crystallized the belief that the purpose of every business is profit.

Each of these new businesses was in hot pursuit of customers, striving to take the high ground and become the industry standard without enough capital to stay afloat. Of course, there were exceptions. Nowadays, investors are more selective about the product, the team, and the real opportunity to capture users and become a dominant player in its market.

Panelists-

1st Panelist: Ed “Skip” McLaughlin, Entrepreneur & Investor

Skip is an Entrepreneur, Executive, and Author. Founder of four B2B businesses. Investor in start-ups and real estate. Executive with Johnson Controls and Partner at Trammell Crow Company. Regional Marketing Manager at Hewlett-Packard and salesman for IBM. Founded real estate services company United Systems Integrators Corporation (USI) in 1991, grew USI into an Inc 500 Company and sold it to a Fortune 100 company, Johnson Controls in 2005. Became CEO of JCI's Global Workplace Business for the Americas from 2005 to 2007. Honored by Ernst and Young as Entrepreneur of the Year for Business Outsourcing in 2001.Having bootstrapped four companies, Skip will be releasing a new book: "The Purpose Is Profit: Secrets of a Successful Entrepreneur From Startup to Exit."

2nd Panelist: Harry Edelson, Legendary VC

Harry has had a distinguished career as an investment manager, venture capitalist, securities analyst and engineer. In his investing career, 11 of his early stage investments attained valuations of $1BN to $80BN. For the decade that he worked on Wall Street, he was the most quoted securities analyst in the world. While on Wall Street he did 60 consulting assignments for a wide variety of technology companies and was one of the first to manage a hedge fund. Later, he was asked by the CEOs of Viacom and AT&T to be an advisor and consultant and was given corporate money from those two companies to invest in venture capital situations. Soon 8 other multinational corporations joined under the umbrella of Edelson Technology Partners that invested in over 100 companies throughout the world. In 10 of those investments the Edelson Funds were the first VC investor in companies that achieved market capitalizations in excess of $1BN.

3rd Panelist: Thatcher Bell, VC

Thatcher is an Investor-in-Residence at Cornell Tech, working with the students, faculty and administration to productize academic research. He have been fortunate to work with the team at Gotham Ventures, as well as Gotham’s portfolio companies Sailthru, AdStruc, LendKey, Altruik, EXPO, Lumeta, Verterra and Widetronix. He also had the privilege of working with the team at SinglePlatform through the company’s acquisition by Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT). I serve on the Board of Directors of the NY Tech MeetUp and the New York chapter of Wharton Private Equity Partners. - See more at: http://thatcherbell.vc/#sthash.Yu6vWC3l.dpuf

4th Panelist: Patrick Freuler, Founder & CEO

Patrick is the founder and CEO of Audicus, which offers high-tech, affordable hearing aids online. Audicus has disrupted the hearing aids industry and have saved more than $10M to date.Before Audicus, Paatrick worked as a private equity healthcare investor at Bain Capital and as a strategy consultant at McKinsey. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from MIT.

Moderator: Bruce Bachenheimer, Professor & Director

Bruce Bachenheimer is a Clinical Professor of Management and Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Lab at Pace University. He is also a member of the Board and past Chair of the New York City Chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum and has served on the organization’s Global Board. He has been widely quoted in a variety of domestic and international publications, interviewed on radio and television and has spoken on entrepreneurship at numerous organizations, including the Youth Assembly at the United Nations and the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

Please pay PayPal as you RSVP. Students are free at door with valid school ID.

Make sure to include your full name and those of your guest for security reasons. For guests names please send an email to: LKeyson@DisruptiveTechnologists.com .

Links to the videos of our last two events:

NYC Social Infrastructure & Tech Ecosystem: Are We At An Inflection Point?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbBT9-ZzDJw

Disruptive Technologists in NYC - Internet of Things:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0f5ochN3LM

About: Disruptive Technologists is an organization dedicated to finding out what makes Disrupters tick – what they are thinking, how they do what they do and then inspire, promote, support, mentor and advise in order to future Disruption in NYC through tech. We do this through the weekly publication DisruptiveTechnologists.com, monthly panels through our organization Digital Technologists in NYC and through our monthly newsletter. We also report on and cover new Disrupters and attend the hottest events in order to spread their Disruptive words. We offer an intimate look at this new breed of tech entrepreneurs and their innovative products and services.

Join us for the event to hear from some of the most qualified, dedicated, and passionate Disrupters in the business.

Please pay PayPal as you RSVP. Students are free at door with valid school ID.

We need your full name of you and those of your guests for security reasons. For guests send an email to: LKeyson@DisruptiveTechnologists.com

WHEN: April 1, 2015 from 6.15 PM to 8.15 PM

WHERE: Microsoft, 11 Times Square, 8th Avenue - 6th Floor room: Central Park West Floor

AGENDA

6:15 to 6:45: Pizza & Soda thanks to FundingPost, Beer & Wine, Hint Essence Water and more....

6:45 to 8:15: Announcements, Panel and Group Discussion

8:15 to 8:30: Q&A

8:30 to 10:30 Special Disruptive Happy Hour

If you want to have updates and reminders about the event, you can join as a Member at:

https://www.meetup.com/Disruptive-Technologists-in-NYC/. (https://www.meetup.com/Disruptive-Technologists-in-NYC/)