The EntreTech Forum originated out of North Eastern University School of Technological Entreprendurship to provide panel discussions comprised of industry experts for the benefit of Startups and Student Startups. We build the forum around a topic timely and of interest to the audience.
The February Topic is: Plucked from Obscurity: How to Get a Cash Rich Ally to Talent Scout Your Business to Funding Success
Investors don't want to hear about slow and steady growth. To grow quickly enough to attract funding, you need to get "talent scouted" by a VIP with power. Those power-VIPs are customers, distribution partners, journalists, or a superstar to join your team. Don't sell your company short by choosing the first business partner who comes along. What if you were to identify, pursue, and win your dream ally?
Our panel of "super networkers" will give their advice and tell you their success stories of making those VIP connections at the highest levels. They will bring you the insight you need from identifying your VIP target, using your networking skills and body language that allows you to approach the VIPs circle of influence, to finagling an introduction and making your case as powerfully as you can. Snap! Suddenly you have the attention of a person who can make your company fly. You won't see this unique topic anywhere else. Join us for a master session on moving the levers of the world.
All four of tonight's panelists have at least one thing in common: charisma.
It's that super networking talent that gets them noticed and lets them connect with the VIPs in the room.
Johnny Monsarrat's first company sold for $160,000,000. He was founder and CEO of Turbine, Inc., which got talent scouted by Microsoft and bought by Warner Brothers. Turbine pioneered online videogames with Asheron's Call, Lord of the Rings Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online. Now his new company, Hard Data Factory, is based in the Boston Globe building and powers their entrepreneur calendar. He's got a lot to say about how he's gotten plucked from obscurity over and over by VIP individuals and organizations.
Johnny has a BA and MBA from MIT and is an award-winning public speaker. See http://eventsinsider.com and http://harddatafactory.com/.
Jason Gardner is one of the top Twitterers in Boston with a following of more than 40,000, all real people, not spam or junk accounts. He knows that to work in sales, you must be a bit of a showman, so who better to train you in the art of super networking than an actual showman! Over twenty years he's performed as an escape artist and mentalist in 100's of cities and dozen of countries to more than 1,000,000 people, been invited to America's Got Talent five years in a row, and has a forthcoming Web TV show, JasonEscapeShow. He's also a savvy businessman and social media guru with a mesmerizing talent for connecting with people and creating "awe" in conversations. He is a super networker you will learn a great deal from. See http://jasonescape.com/.
Brian Smith has lived in 6 countries, speaks five languages, and has mastered the art of the sale in all of them, building extensive business for LTX Corp in Asia. He has built and led technical teams in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan; the first of these teams was responsible for grossing more than $10M in revenue while the last two teams generated $50M each over three years. He grew the Taiwanese customer base seven-fold with the Asian region accounting for 50% of new growth. Upon his return to America, he co-founded WAAV, the mobile broadband company that provides Internet access for the MBTA and many national bus lines, and he is presently serving as its CEO.
Brian is an exceptional speaker who immediately bonds with everyone he meets
- just the talent that a super networker needs to make friends quickly and get new acquaintances to help point you in the right direction. Brian is an alumnus of WPI. See http://waav.com/.
Rickland Powell has started or grown 16 companies, of which half have had big exits, so he knows what makes a great team. He's had executive and board member roles at Turbine, Sandstorm, Aware, and several other firms. When talent scouting VIPs in his role as a recruiter, his success comes from transforming acquaintances into real friends, thus understanding a corporation's culture and making a far better match to the job seeker. He maintains active relationships in the communities of several colleges, for example, even to the point of joining and volunteering for student organizations, all the better to find job-hunting graduating students and recent alumni. He also manages five rock bands. See http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickland/.
Joe Mangiacotti is a radio personality and entrepreneur who has run his own radio productions company for 25 years, talking about real estate, finance, restaurants, and events. He is also a business consultant to the restaurant and real estate industry whose adventures led him to become a licensed private investigator as well. If you want to master your voice and connect with people one-on-one or on the phone, no one can tell you better what tone to take. See http://www.readvice.net/ and http://outwithjoe.com/.