This month’s StartupCU meeting is a part of Boulder Startup Week, and is focused on the topic of how to increase collaboration between the growing university entrepreneurial energy and the Boulder startup community. The discussion will be kicked off by a panel including Robert Reich, Brad Bernthal, and Dave Cass. Each of the panelists will give a unique perspective on how they have helped strengthen the connection. Robert is an educator in BDW, community entrepreneur, and creator of Boulder New Tech, which is held in the Law School. Brad Bernthal is the director of the Silicon Flatiron’s Center Entrepreneurship Initiative. Dave Cass is an educator in the cross campus entrepreneurship certificate program, author, and founder of Uvize. The audience will have a chance to ask the panel questions and give input on possible improvements for the future.

The panel will be followed up by two student pitches, and then an open mic. The open mic can be utilized to continue the conversation from the panel, or for any other topics that come up.

Patrick became a part of Northwestern Mutual in 2003 as a College Financial Representative. In 2004, he converted to a full time Financial Representative contract after graduating from CSU with a degree in Business Finance. In the summer of 2006, he earned the title of Field Director where he had the opportunity to mentor new Financial Representatives and College Interns, and was appointed Managing Director in our Broomfield, CO office in 2009 and co-manages that office with fellow Wealth Management Advisor, Luke Sturges.

Patrick is a member of the Million Dollar Round Table and has had the opportunity to share his story of overcoming challenges as a survivor of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings to a variety of youth and business organizations.

When: Apirl 24th from 6:00 to 7:30pm
Where: The Wolf Law School Room 301
RSVP here

When: March 20th from 6:00 to 7:30pm
Where: The DLC (map)
RSVP here

Meeting Followup

We had a great meeting last night with 25 entrepreneurs from inside and out of CU. Thanks for the feedback on the future of StartupCU and good luck to the two teams who pitched their idea.

When: Feb 20th from 6:00 to 7:30pm
Where: The DLC (map)
RSVP here

BIO: Ed Messman has 15+ years experience working with early stage technology companies and has spent his career involved with venture capital/private equity and is currently Founder/CEO of SpotRight – a social data company in Boulder. Prior to founding SpotRight, Ed was VP of Corporate Development and Finance at HiveLive, a social software company that offered white-label B2B social networks where he orchestrated the acquisition by Rightnow Technologies (Nasdaq: RNOW) in September 2009.

Prior to HiveLive, he served as Managing Director of Hercules Technology Growth Capital, a premier specialty finance company focused on providing debt and equity to early and later stage technology companies. There he established and managed a portfolio of technology centric companies covering software, internet and communications including investments in Ping Identity, Ancestry.com, Zayo Bandwidth, iWatt, MarketForce Information and Purcell Systems.

Ed holds a BS in International Finance from Grand Canyon University and an MBA from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Meeting Follow-up

The meeting turned out great as always. We had 25 people come, not surprisingly, most of them were new. I gave a short soapbox presentation at the begining about the Boulder culture of giving before you get, about how entrepreneurship shouldn’t be intimidating because we are all entrepreneurs deep down, and about how we need to not be so concerned about someone stealing our idea if we share it.

We mixed up the meeting a little bit and had one of the student pitches at the begining. Fletcher pitched the new student space for entrepreneurship on campus and asked for volunteers for the video we’re making.

Next, Ed spoke about the tenacity needed to be a successful entrepreneur. Among other things, he quoted Churchill when he said, “Never, never, never give up.” He also told the story of Angry Birds; how it was the 52nd game they made before they hit it big. Here are his slides: 2013.02.20 Ed Messman – Tenacity.

The last student pitch was Danny Tran and his team and their idea for StudentJumpStart.com. The meeting ended with a short presentation by Junior Achievement asking for volunteers to help teach Boulder kids entrepreneurship.

Happy New Year Movers & Shakers,

Hope you all enjoyed December’s presenter Ryan Ferrero, Founder and CEO of Green Garage, who spoke about ”How to Bring High-Profile Talent into Your Startup.”

Welcome back from break! We hope the holidays were great to you and your family and that this post finds you looking forward to the next killer StartupCU meeting which will feature Gary Gaessler, VP Sales & Marketing at Cloud Elements. Gary will be speaking about “Lean sales & marketing strategies for startups.”

Not sales and marketing inclined? Or just interested in learning how your sales and marketing skills best apply in a startup? Don’t miss this meeting!!

• When: Tuesday, Jan. 15th, 6:00-7:30pm
• Where: Wolf Law room 207
• Why: Pizza will be served!
• RSVP Required: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dElrbVZWajVxOEN5MmJXTnV3UjFGX0E6MA

Bio:  Gary is a sales leader focused on early stage software & Internet ventures.  Previously VP of Sales of StreamStep an enterprise software application release process startup, acquired by BMC Software in 2011. Responsible for the go-to-market sales strategy & revenue execution, Gartner selected StreamStep as the “Cool Release Management” vendor 2011.Gary has a passion mentoring startups on lean sales strategies and is a top rated Founders Institute mentor. He has presented & mentored at Founders Institute chapters in Denver, Chicago, Puerto Rico, Tel Aviv, Bogota and Paris. He also mentors youth entrepreneurs and Denver inner city college students on finding jobs in the tech industry. Gary is an adjunct faculty instructor at the University of Denver, Information & Technology program. Gary Also co-founded VoIPReview.com, acquired in 2008, the most popular web site in the world for VoIP comparisons and reviews with over 8 million visitors shopping for VoIP services.

Gary has more than 20 years of experience in sales & marketing leadership positions including BMC Software, Sprint, High Speed Access, Trillion & e-Globe. Gary holds a Master of Telecommunications from the University of Denver.

Meeting Followup:

Gary’s talk was filled with great pointers on lean sales strategies. Here are his slides.

I was really excited about the quality of comments, feedback, and help that was offered to Jessica who pitched her new makeup tool. Not only was the student feedback on point, but we had a couple guests from the community who share their rich experience.

Thanks to the 25 members who came. I look forward to seeing you all again at the next meeting.

 

This intense 6 credit practicum is a graduate level, semester-long class that will teach you what it is like to be an entrepreneur. You’ll get (1) “real-world experience through the conception, build, and launch of an original product or service“, (2) functional and skill based mentorship, and (3) access to over 28 labs throughout the semester on topics that range from branding to hacking.

StartupCU will award 3 scholarships before Jan ’13, so apply here, or fill out the attached word document and send it to mail [at] benbuie [dot] com.

The application deadline is Friday, January 4th, 2013.

For more info see “Semester Two” at this link: http://bdw.colorado.edu/graduate.

If you want to take the Startup class for school credit, you need to fill out the Startup Registration Form before Thursday, January 3rd, 2013. Note: the registration form is due before the scholarship application deadline. If you only want to take the class if you are awarded a scholarship, don’t include credit card information on the form.

Fellow Movers & Shakers,

Hope you all enjoyed November’s presenter Nathan Seidle, Founder and CEO of SparkFun Electronics, who spoke about ”Open Source Hardware.” You can view and download his full presentation here.

As we’re all pushing through final exams and projects, be sure to set aside next Wednesday evening for December’s meeting featuring Ryan Ferrero, CU alumni (’92) and CEO/Founder of Green Garage. Ryan will be speaking about “How to Bring High-Profile Talent into Your Startup,” and if you’re at all interested in learning how to recruit and build your team or what elements are needed to build a strong organization you won’t want to miss this meeting!

• When: Wednesday, Dec19th, 6:00-7:30pm
• Where: Wolf Law room 207
• Why: Pizza will be served!
• RSVP Required: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEEyc2hMZFVvWHFnU0UtYk5ETmlrUUE6MA

Bio:  Ryan Ferrero is the Founder and Chief Carhugger of Green Garage….a ‘self-described’ recovering car dealer.  After 20 years as a young dealer principal in Northern Colorado, Ferrero took his juxtaposed interests to task, a Boulder-born tree-hugger and car fanatic.  He is a Graduate of CU with an individually structured major, Psycho-Social-Economic Behavior that helped him pave a road to transforming the diseased industry of car care.  Ferrero has assembled a world class team that has prepared for fast growth in a multi-unit retail strategy of both corporate-owned and franchised locations.  Partnering with the Past CEO of Chrysler, Past and Current CEOs of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, 17+ yr Director for Whole Foods, Past President of Starbucks, Founding Partner of Dominos and Founding Partner of Kinkos amongst others.  He is a Past Director for the Bank of Commerce, Past Director and President of Rotary, Past Director for Jeep Marketing, and Chaired a regional Auto Division for United Way and a National Auto Dealer Association 20 Group.ring High-Profile Talent into Your Startup

Innovatively,

Ben Buie | @benbuie

When: Wed. Nov. 28th from 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Where: Wolf Law Room 301
RSVP: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFU4SUtfU0kxbmQwZ2hjX1B5WVJhMUE6MA

BIO: When Nate first started SparkFun, he was a junior in college, studying engineering, and was frustrated by how difficult it was to get his hands on the electronic parts he needed. Nate hoped for a website where he could easily find parts, where he could see clear pictures of what he was buying, and where he didn’t have to scour for hours to find data sheets and documentation – but that website didn’t exist. So he started SparkFun.

His goal was to make electronics easily accessible to the average person because, to put it simply, he thinks this stuff is awesome. Nine years after starting SparkFun, Nate still loves settling in with his soldering iron and creating a new project – and that’s what it’s all about. Creating, inventing and sharing ingenuity.

Meeting Followup:

Big thanks to Nathan for coming. I’ve included a PDF of his slides below. His thoughts were some of the best I’ve heard at StartupCU. Way glad I came. However, we had a small showing this time. Only 20 people made it. The good news is, these are the 20 most passionate club members and I’m way excited to see them every month.

I’d really like to see about 40 to 50. I’m sure Nathan didn’t mind the small crowd, but it doesn’t send the right message to our guests when so few people come. After the meeting we talked about ways to increase attendance. Some ideas are holding future meetings in the UMC and analyzing our club messaging. Please share any thoughts you may have.

Nathan’s slides: Nathan Seidle – CEO of SparkFun

Tim’s track record includes the Esprit Award Winning Entrepreneur of the Year (2012) and operating executive of a 50-person/$5M revenue company (Solista) and a 200-person/$25M revenue company (Tendril) and angel investor in 10 startup companies. Mentor to award-winning startups including Snap-a-Bug (TechStars ’10), SimpleEnergy (TechStars ’11) and LinkCycle (MIT Cleantech ’11).

He is a board member for several non-profits such as Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneur Initiative, Demand Response/Smart Grid Coalition, and Young Entrepreneurs Organization and for-profits such as Tendril, Adeptive, SkyeTek, Oxlo, Intellocity and LeadWorks.

• When: Wednesday, Oct. 17th, 6:00-7:30pm
• Where: Wolf Law room 207
• Why: Pizza will be served!
• RSVP Required: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGlFS254NDFvWTZDamJrNHhkU2lTYWc6MA

Tim’s career has also spanned companies like Apple, Access Graphics (Lockheed-Martin/GE company), General Electric, Requisite Technology, Gartner, Kalos Strategy Group, and Comstock Ventures.

@mobiplugnetwork: Co-founders Lee Taylor, Mike Soucie, and Jeff Mathews started Mobiplug in 2012 with a vision of connecting everyday objects with the cloud and mobile devices… to make the Internet of Things (IoT) a reality. The company entered the TechStars Boulder accelerator and late in the summer of 2012, as the idea and business model was becoming clear, it also became clear the team needed a seasoned leader who could drive the vision to bring Mobiplug’s solution to the mass market. Lead mentor Tim Enwall was the perfect fit. He joined Mobiplug on Demo Day and was announced on stage as the company’s New CEO.