Friends,
Make the most of your experience this Thursday by practicing the Law of Two Feet as we host our 4th theme night on women in entrepreneurship: A Night with Female Founders with four Feature Events, of which, three panel discussions will happen down the hallway in the Havana conference room; meanwhile, TCN UpStart Roundtable will occur in the Cancun conference room located inside the Café.
Also, get advice and seek feedback during six sets of Office Hours with adept advisors and investors throughout the first half of the Café; and learn about supporting organizations at ten Info Tables in the latter half of the Café.
Thursday’s session is sponsored by Cambridge Trust and IBM Cambridge. And, like every other Thursday, adopt a pay it forward mindset while finding resources to grow your startup.
Hope to see you Thursday!
Pic of the Week: Last Thursday’s Intro to Mobile Design and Prototyping workshop.
Thursday – Feb. 26, 2015
3:00 – 8:00 P.M. | Venture Café: A Night with Female Founders
Sponsored by:
Feature Events
Event location in italic.
4:00 – 5:00 P.M. | Building Strategic Partnerships to Transform Your Business (Havana)
Come early and join Sam Hammar, Director of Strategic Partnerships of MassIT, Bobbie Carlton, Founder of Mass Innovation Nights, and Irina Mladenova, President and EVP Product Strategy for Rifinit, for an informal discussion on Building Strategic Partnerships to Transform Your Business.
4:00 – 6:00 P.M. | TCN UpStart Roundtable with Paulina Hill, Polaris Partners (Cancun)
TCN UpStart Roundtable, a monthly gathering at Venture Café, brings together Boston-area early-stage startups and seasoned entrepreneurs. This free series from The Capital Network, Venture Café, and Silicon Valley Bank is a great opportunity for you to ask burning questions about starting a company and meet other like-minded entrepreneurs in a casual setting. This Thursday, hear from Paulina Hill from Polaris Partners.
RSVP here.
5:30 – 6:30 P.M. | Founding a Startup as a Woman: Overcoming Challenges Panel (Havana)
This panel will address the challenges women entrepreneurs face as they build their businesses. Panelists include:
· Manijeh Goldberg (Privo Technologies)
· Melanie Berger (Mariwear)
· Mimi Evans (Fast Turtle Ventures)
· Sarah Boisvert (3D Microfactory and Fab Lab Hub)
Moderator: Jane Mason (Cambridge Trust)
Please RSVP here.
7:00 – 8:00 P.M. | Founding a Startup as a Woman: Finding Solutions Panel (Havana)
This panel will focus on overcoming obstacles and creating solutions to achieve success. Panelists include:
· Bettina Hein (Pixability)
· Beth O’Sullivan and Mary McGowan (Science Club for Girls)
· Jules Pieri (The Grommet)
· Stefania Mallett (ezCater)
Please RSVP here.
Info Tables
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | IBM Cambridge (Sponsor)
Learn about the programs and services IBM has to offer entrepreneurs and developers at their Innovation Center in Cambridge.
Ask them about Bluemix, our open-standards, cloud-based platform for building, managing and running apps and services of all types and their Global Entrepreneur Program for Cloud Startups which enables emerging companies to harness the power of IBM Cloud and connects them into IBM’s vast global network of clients, consultants, Innovation Centers, developers, and more. They’re also offering up to $120K worth of Cloud credits to eligible startups.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | Association for Women in Sciences (AWIS)
AWIS champions the interests of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics across all disciplines and employment sectors. Working for positive system transformation, AWIS strives to ensure that all women in these fields can achieve their full potential.
Stop by their table in the Café to learn about the largest multi-disciplinary organization for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) dedicated to achieving equity and full participation of women in all disciplines and across all employment sectors.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | Center for Women & Enterprise
Center for Women & Enterprise provides opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women in business to increase professional success, personal growth, and financial independence. They’ve worked with more than 30,200 Massachusetts and Rhode Island entrepreneurs since 1995.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | de la Femme
de la Femme is a Massachusetts organization passionate about promoting the advancement of women and bridging the gender gap. This can be seen in the wage gap and under-representation of women in senior-level positions and the boardroom, from Corporate 100 to startups. Their mission is to provide a centralized network and community where career-focused women can access resources tailored toward their career goals. They provide resources and information to help women efficiently navigate work opportunities and to provide a supportive environment that will nurture female leaders. Their vision is to generate a community of like-minded, high-achieving women, whom help each other to succeed in the workplace.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is an investment to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital, and business support services. The business management education portion of the initiative is currently available to business owners across the United States. Babson College is the national academic partner that developed the curriculum, and the program is offered at no cost to the business owner, fully funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation. All accepted business owners participate in a 12 week entrepreneurship education program, receive a one-on-one business advisor, and are connected with a professional network of experts and peers. Business owners graduate with a customized 5-year strategic growth plan for their business!
Learn about the program and the application process by stopping by their table in the Café. To learn more and access their online application, please visit www.10ksbapply.com!
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | Innovation Women
Innovation Women is an online speakers bureau for entrepreneurial and technical women. A project of Innovation Nights, Innovation Women is designed to provide more opportunities for women to speak at events, be invited to be on panels, and to get more recognition and visibility for their careers and companies. Visibility = opportunity.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | MassChallenge
MassChallenge is the world’s largest startup accelerator and the first to support early stage entrepreneurs with no strings attached. Every year, MassChallenge selects 128 of the highest impact ventures from every industry and any stage to participate in a four month startup accelerator program. 35+% of startups in the 2014 MassChallenge cohort were female founded.
Applications are now open until Apr 1.
Come learn how MassChallenge empowers women in entrepreneurship with mentorship, office space, fundraising opportunities, and even a Women in MassChallenge Showcase!
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | reacHIRE
Chat with Mimi Moss of reacHIRE to devise strategies for re-entering the workforce after a voluntary break. Explore subjects like resume writing, how to handle a behavioral interview, networking, and social media’s role in recruiting.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | WEST
WEST is a learning community that provides women in the enterprise of science and technology with the inspiration, knowledge, and connections to reach their full potential.
Their diverse membership represents industries ranging from information technology and biopharmaceuticals to cleantech and environmental sciences. WEST is a community and forum, for early, mid-career, executive, and entrepreneurial women in STEM careers. WEST members are committed to developing themselves as leaders through education, mentorship, networking, and information sharing. WEST encourages women to cultivate entrepreneurial thinking and creative risk-taking.
5:30 – 7:30 P.M. | Women in Technology International (WITI)
WITI is a leading global organization empowering women in business and technology to attain their professional goals and dreams. With a global network of smart, tech-savvy women, WITI has powerful programs and partnerships that provide connections, resources, opportunities and a supportive environment. Since 1989, WITI has delivered value to individuals, small businesses, and corporations.
Office Hours
3:00 – 5:00 P.M. | Bobbi Carlton
Bobbie Carlton has combined more than 30 years of marketing, PR and social media marketing experience. She works with startups and small companies to help them hone their message and gain more visibility for their company and new products. She founded Mass Innovation Nights, a monthly new product showcase; Carlton PR & Marketing, a boutique agency; and Innovation Women, an online speakers bureau for entrepreneurial and technical women.
Reserve 30 minutes with Bobbie here
. Bobbie’s Office Hours are full.
3:00 – 5:00 P.M. | Investors Collaborative
Investors Collaborative (iC) provides venture capital to select early stage companies in a wide range of industry sectors including software, IT, biotechnology, clean technology, healthcare, energy, communications, hardware, and professional services. They seek to help individuals developing innovative technologies build world class companies.
Investors Collaborative’s Office Hours this Thursday are full. The next available appointments are on March 12.
Reserve 15 minutes with iC here
. Investors Collaborative’s Office Hours are full.
3:00 – 5:00 P.M. | Golden Seeds – Ann Barlow, Deb Kemper, and Gail Hoffman
Golden Seeds is the early-stage investment firm with a focus on women leaders. Meet with Golden Seeds members, Ann Barlow, Deb Kemper and Gail Hoffman, and seek advice on your start-up from experienced investors.
Reserve 30 minutes with Ann here.
Reserve 30 minutes with Deb here.
Reserve 30 minutes with Gail here
. Gail’s Office Hours are full.
3:00 – 5:00 P.M. | Foley Hoag – Meredith Haviland and Janine Ladislaw
Questions about legal issues about forming of your business, issuing equity or protecting your intellectual property? Stop by Foley Hoag Office Hours with Meredith Haviland and Janine Ladislaw for an opportunity to have your questions answered.
Reserve 30 minutes with them here.
3:00 – 6:00 P.M. | Joe Caruso
For the last 20 years Joe Caruso has served has been an “Advocate for entrepreneurs” as a mentor, coach, and personal advisor to CEO’s and entrepreneurs. In recent years, he has served an investor, advisor and active director with dozens of companies, public and private. He also maintains an active consulting practice dealing with structuring and negotiation of acquisitions, strategic partnerships and financings, and issues related to dispute resolution.
Reserve 30 minutes with Joe here.
4:30 – 6:30 P.M. | Jennifer Jordan
Stop by and chat with Jennifer Jordan, Vice President of MassVentures, an early-stage venture capital fund dedicated to investing in Massachusetts high growth technology companies. MassVentures is currently focused on Series A investments in software, data, analytics, crowdsourcing, and the intersection of healthcare and IT.
Please bring a high level pitch deck, covering at least:
a.) The problem you are addressing
b.) The size of the market
c.) The team
d.) The product offering
e.) The exit strategy
Reserve 30 minutes with Jennifer here.