Jay Bigelow is the Director of Entrepreneurship at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), an organization that helps entrepreneurs grow a successful business through mentorship, advice, and access to resources and capital. With a vast career in business services and technology businesses, he is known for starting two companies and joining three other venture-backed startups. In his role at CED, he is responsible for building relationships with lending and angel investors as well as strategic partnerships across the country. Jay holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and has experience in marketing, strategic planning, and business development.
Anil Chawla is the Founder and CEO of ArchiveSocial, a company that helps businesses maintain long-term archival records of social media content to meet their compliance and legal needs. He is a regular public speaker on the topics related to social media and entrepreneurship. His work has been documented in publications such as Forbes, CNBC, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. Anil holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Jay joins me today to share the programs, mentorship, workshops, and conferences that are provided by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development. He explains how the Connections to Capital program and Venture Mentoring Service helps entrepreneurs and the process they use to vet applicants for the CEO Round Table events. He also shares what you can expect by attending the upcoming Accelerate Series. I also spoke with Anil to learn more about ArchiveSocial and how CED helped him with advice, mentoring, and accountability.
“The research will tell you that mentors will probably make the biggest difference in the success or failure of most entrepreneurs, so finding the right mentors for you and your business is probably the most important thing you can do to be successful.” - Jay Bigelow
This week on the Supportedly Podcast:
- How the Connections to Capital program curates connections between investors and companies.
- How the CED Venture Mentoring Service creates a pre-board with two to four mentors.
- CEO round tables and upcoming CED Conferences.
- What to expect from attending the June Accelerate Series workshop.
- The vetting process for joining the CEO Round Table events.
- The application and screening process for the team-based Venture Mentoring Service.
- How Anil became an entrepreneur and started ArchiveSocial.
- How the Venture Mentoring Service helped Anil as a first-time entrepreneur.
- How accountability drives you to meet your targets.
“This organization would go out of their way to line up high-power, accomplished people to spend time with me. It was kind of unreal, but it was very nice in the beginning to have that.” - Anil Chawla
Free & Low-Cost Programs at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED):
- Connections to Capital
- CED Venture Mentoring Service
- CED Conferences
- Accelerate Series
Connect with Jay Bigelow:
- Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
- What makes a great mentor - blog post
- Jay Bigelow on LinkedIn
- Jay Bigelow on Twitter
Connect with Anil Chawla:
- ArchiveSocial
- Anil Chawla on LinkedIn
Subscribe, Rate, & Share
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the Supportedly podcast! If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe on iTunes and leave your honest review. Don’t forget to visit our website, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and share your favorite episodes on social media!
The Supportedly Podcast is produced by Podcraft. You can create your own great podcast – faster and easier – at Podcraft.com