The Tech Entrepreneur Podcast

Sanjay Manandhar, Mark Thirman and David Powsner discuss an upcoming program, to be hosted by the MIT Enterprise Forum Software Circle, on February 28, 2013, on the topic "Businesses that Push the Boundaries of the Law."

In this session, we are pleased to present excerpts of a recent panel discussion BIG DATA offered by the MIT Enterprise Forum Software Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group in connection with the Tufts University.  The panel discussion was held on October 25, 2012,  on the Tufts  campus in Medford, Massachusetts

Our panelists were David Dietrich and Jeanne Hopkins.   David is advisory technical education consultant on big data and data science for  EMC Corporation, where he recently co-developed that company's first course in those areass. David has been involved with data analytics for nearly 20 years. Prior to taking on his current role at EMC, he managed a line of analytical software products for regulating the US banking industry, and developed Software-as-a-Service and Business-Intelligence-as-a-Service offerings. He’s worked with many Fortune 500 companies, and collaborated with the U.S. Federal Reserve to develop predictive models for monitoring mortgage portfolios.

Jeanne  Hopkins is chief marketing officer executive vice president of Smartbear Software.  She also authored“Go Mobile,” the #1 best-selling mobile marketing book on Amazon. She has expertise in data-driven on-line marketing. Jeanne’s background is in customer acquisition expertise across channels including SEM, SEO, Email, Display, Affiliate Marketing, Facebook, Retargeting, Customer Referrals, and Partner Marketing.  Prior to joining SmartBear, Jeanne was vice president of marketing for Hubspot, where she was responsible for creating and converting organic and paid demand into 50,000+ new sales-ready business opportunities for the team of 100+ Inbound Marketing Specialists.

The moderator for the program was Shirish Ranjit, a recovered entrepreneur and now software developer with the MIT Lincoln labs. Organizers for the program, in addition to Shirish, were Mark Thirman, former founder and CEO of Air Print Networks and, now, a director of partnerships  for Vodafone; Vineet Sinha and Chris Deschenes, both of Architexa, a software solutions provider where Vineet is founder and CEO and Chris heads up  business development efforts; Sanjay Manandhar, founder and CEO of Aerva, a digitale signage technology company; and yours truly, David Powsner, an intellectual property lawyer partner with the law firm Nutter McClennen Fish.  

Excerpts of a recent panel discussion offered by the MIT Enterprise Forum in a Get Smart program  entitled "Angel Investing. It's Right for Many Startups.  Is it Right for Yours?"

The program was hosted by Nutter, McClennen and Fish, LLP, a Boston-based  law firm with corporate, litigation and IP practice, and  was held on October 30, 2012,  at the law firm's Louis Brandeis conference center, in downtown Boston.

Panelists were from Boston Harbor Angels,  a Boston-based angel investing group made up of business leaders who invest in high-growth, early-stage companies. Since 2004 the group has made investments in companies in medical devices, IT, consumer products, business products, specialty materials, Internet, aviation, etc.   

In the session, you'll hear from Mic Williams, the founder and president of Boston Harbor Angels.  He has been an investor for over 34 years, with investments ranging from commercial real estate to manufacturing, mining, movies, lumber products, ships and a television enterprises. Since he founded the Boston chapter of Keiretsu Forum in 2004 and then Boston Harbor Angels in 2006, he has personally invested in more than a dozen "portfolio” companies. 

You will also hear from Jeff Arnold, a member of Boston Harbor Angels and the CEO of Arnold Strategies, LLC, which assists early stage and growth companies in strategy, marketing, financing, organizational development and strategic partnerships. He was formerly a CEO of multiple technology and life science companies who raised over $140 million in venture capital and public financings and achieved four exits through acquisition and IPO. Jeff is a mentor to early stage companies at the MIT Venture Mentoring Society, on the grant review board at the MIT Deshpande Center and an investor with Boston Harbor Angels and Mass. Med. Angels. He was formerly Chairman of the Greater Boston Chapter of the American Heart Association. He received a BSEE from MIT in 1972.

And, finally, you will hear from Bill McPhee, also a member of Boston Harbor Angels who currently serves as the director of outsourced business development services for Health Advances LLC, a life science strategy consulting boutique.  Bill has 25 years experience in transactions, strategy and operations consulting and venture capital. He has served as founder and managing general partner of Mi3 Venture Partners, an early stage life science fund; founder and managing director of Lucas, McPhee & Co., an international strategy firm; and, a consultant at Bain & Co. 

You can read more about the panelists and the MIT enterprise form of Cambridge get smart program at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/get-smart-on-angel-funding

Here's a little background . . . 

Angel investment in startups totaled over $22 billion in 2011 and funded some 66,000 companies, according to UNH’s Center for Venture Research. With average funding-round sizes well over $500k, angel groups are increasingly joining forces with other investors to bring that average closer to $1.5 Million. So says the Halo Report, which also notes that Internet, healthcare and mobile/telecom companies are the largest beneficiaries of those monies.

So who are angel investors? Many are former successful entrepreneurs, who provide advice, in addition to money, to target companies. Angels, however, can also be individuals of lower wealth and/or with non-entrepreneurial background who are drawn to startups for a higher rate of return than might be expected in the stock market, notes the Kauffman Foundation.

The popular press suggests that venture funding is the key to every startup’s success. But that sort of funding comes at a high price in terms of equity and performance expectations. Angels expect equity and performance, too—yet at levels better geared to the realistic trajectories of many startups. Angels, according to the Wall Street Journal, are a “good funding source to consider after you’ve tapped your friends and relatives.”

A panel discussion on using social media for marketing the start up business, excerpted from a program offered by the MIT Enterprise Forum Software Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group in connection with the Babson College Olin Graduate School of Management.  The panel discussion was held on September 27, 2012,  at Babson's downtown Boston campus. 

Panelists were Todd Van Hoosear, principle of Fresh Ground, a Boston-based Public Relations and Social Media Firm, and Matthew Growney, founder and CEO of Isabella Products, a mobile Internet device and services company focusing on consumer-products. 

There is more information on the program and panelists at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/software-sig-event-%E2%80%A8state-of-the-art-social-media-and-business-four-years-on/

The moderator for the program was Shirish Ranjit, a recovered entrepreneur and now software developer with the MIT Lincoln labs. Organizers for the program, in addition to Shirish, were Mark Thirman, former founder and CEO of Air Print Networks and, now, a director of partnerships  for Vodafone; Vineet Sinha and Chris Deschenes, both of Architexa, a software solutions provider where Vineet is founder and CEO and Chris heads up  business development efforts; Sanjay Manandhar, founder and CEO of Aerva, a digitale signage technology company; and David Powsner, an intellectual property lawyer partner with the law firm Nutter McClennen Fish.  

In addition to listening to this podcast, we welcome you to visit our website at techentrepreneur.info

In this session, we focus on turning a passion into a business.  Our guests are Randall Levere owner and founder of Erba Cycles, Nadeem Mazen co-founder and co-owner of danger!awesome and the CEO of NimbleBot.com, and Arthur Ganson, a sculptor.

Joining in the discussion were  Shirish Ranjit, a former entrepreneur and now software developer with MIT Lincoln labs, Mark Thirman, director of partnerships with Vodafone and former cofounder of AirPring Networks, Sanjay Manandhar, CEO of Aerva Inc, and Dave Powsner, a patent lawyer and partner with the Boston law firm Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP

Nadeem Mazen, Co-Founder/Co-Owner, danger!awesome, CEO, NimbleBot.com

Nadeem has had the good fortune to work professionally along many of his passions: he has led education teams in innovative research, directed award-winning viral music videos, created commercial animations, programmed software, and generated digital and interactive media for Discovery, Showtime, and CNN. His next venture brings a low-cost, disruptive education platform to market. 

For the present, though, Nadeem is a co-founder/co-owner of danger!awesome, a laser cutting and engraving studio, based in Central Square, Cambridge. danger!awesome’s aim is to bring high-end fabrication equipment to the community. Nadeem is also the CEO of NimbleBot.com, a design and consulting firm that works in strategy & interactive media, video production, and web app design & development.

Arthur Ganson, Kinetic Sculptor

Arthur Ganson began making kinetic sculpture in 1977. Since receiving a BFA degree at the University of New Hampshire in 1978, his work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums in both the United States and Europe. He has held residencies at a number of institutions including the Exploratorium in San Francisco and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where he has maintained an ongoing exhibition of his sculpture since 1995.

His work has been featured in numerous magazines, including Smithsonian Magazine and The New York Times Magazine. In 2005 his work was profiled on Nova: Science Now by WGBH television in Boston, and in 2003 where he appeared as an animated bear on the cartoon series Arthur. He has been a guest speaker at universities and conferences throughout the country, including the TED Conference in 2004 and the Long Now Foundation in 2010.

Besides making and exhibiting sculpture, he occasionally teaches classes in mechanics and wire bending. For the past 13 years he has been the ringleader of the MIT Museum’s Friday After Thanksgiving Chain Reaction, a community event in which families and students of all ages assemble a giant chain reaction. He is the inventor of the children’s toy Toobers and Zots.

Randall Levere, Owner/Founder, Erba Cycles

Randall is the founder and CEO of Erba Cycles, a Boston-based manufacturer of hand-built bicycles made from bamboo and natural fibers for city and comfort cruising. From the time he raced them as a child, Randall has had a passion for bicycles. His early business career began with stints in engineering and internet marketing. On a lark, Randall decided to try making a bicycle from bamboo—-mostly, as a night/weekend project—-having been impressed trial rides on bamboo bikes made by others. That project became a passion and, then, a business. Randall started Erba Cycles and has been making bamboo bikes, which sell worldwide for $2000 and up, at their South Boston facility since 2009.

A conversation with Jeffrey Solomon and Sanjay Manandhar about working with accountants.  

Jeff is managing shareholder at Katz, Nannis and Solomon, based in Needham Massachusetts.  A certified public accountant and a certified valuation analyst, Jeff heads up his firm's technology and emerging companies practice group.  His expertise includes advising computer software and high technology companies.  Sanjay Manandhar is the Founder & CEO of Aerva, a Boston-based start-up that develops platforms and applications for delivery of content on networked digital displays. Also in the conversation:  Mark Thirman, a director of partnerships with Vodafone and former CEO of the high-tech startup  AirPrint Networks, and David Powsner a patent lawyer and partner with the Boston law firm Nutter McClennen and Fish, LLP. 

Disclaimer:  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice either on matters of law or on matters of accounting. If you have questions in those areas, you should consult your lawyer or accountant to discuss specific facts or circumstances.  Moreover, according the rules of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the material here may be considered advertising.

A conversation with Matthew Field, managing partner at EBS Capstone, an insurance provider based in Newton Massachusetts. Matt, a former tech entrepreneur himself, has built a career working with emerging and middle market companies on all aspects of insurance from property insurance to directors and officers insurance. Matt is interviewed by Mark Thirman, a director of parterships with Vodafone and former CEO of the high-tech startup AirPrint Networks, and Dave Powsner a patent lawyer and partner with the Boston law firm Nutter McClennen and Fish, LLP.

Download a rough transcript at Transcript

A disclaimer ... The comments in this podcast are for informational purposes only. They are not professional advice on matters of law or insurance. If you have questions in those areas, consult your lawyer or insurance agent to discuss specific facts or circumstances. Finally, according to the rules of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the material here may be considered advertising.

A seventh in our series of discussions on "StartUp Algebra," that is, on the mathematics of start up high tech businesses.  This session focusses on boards of directors and advisors.

For this, we are again pleased to present excerpts of a recent panel discussion offered by the MIT Enterprise Forum Software Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group, on April 19, 2012 .   The program was organized by Shirish Ranjit, Sanjay Manandhar, Chris Deschenes and David Powsner.  Chris also served as the moderator.  You can read more about the program, the Software Entrepreneurship special interest group and the forum itself at www.MITforumCambridge.org. 

The excerpts in this podcast are remarks made by panelists Carm Huntress (Co-Founder of Cardvio, a web start up for greeting cards, and a chief Technology Officer of web companies Reef Partners and Audiogon), Mark Thirman (founder and CEO of Airprint Networks), and Brad Rosen (Founder of Mobile device app companies Drync and Colorstripe LLC) in respon to questions posed by the audience and by moderator Chris Deschenes.

A sixth in our series of discussions on "StartUp Algebra," that is, on the mathematics of start up high tech businesses and, particularly, on compensation for outside CEOs.

For this, we are again pleased to present excerpts of a recent panel discussion offered by the MIT Enterprise Forum Software Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group, on April 19, 2012 .   The program was organized by Shirish Ranjit, Sanjay Manandhar, Chris Deschenes and me.  Chris also served as the moderator.  You can read more about the program, the Software Entrepreneurship special interest group and the forum itself at www.MITforumCambridge.org. 

The excerpts in this podcast are remarks made by panelists Carm Huntress (Co-Founder of Cardvio, a web start up for greeting cards, and a chief Technology Officer of web companies Reef Partners and Audiogon), Mark Thirman (founder and CEO of Airprint Networks), and Brad Rosen (Founder of Mobile device app companies Drync and Colorstripe LLC) in respon to questions posed by the audience and by moderator Chris Deschenes.

A fifth in our series of discussions on "StartUp Algebra," that is, on the mathematics of start up high tech businesses and, particularly, on compensation for early team members.

For this, we are again pleased to present excerpts of a recent panel discussion offered by the MIT Enterprise Forum Software Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group, on April 19, 2012 .   The program was organized by Shirish Ranjit, Sanjay Manandhar, Chris Deschenes and me.  Chris also served as the moderator.  You can read more about the program, the Software Entrepreneurship special interest group and the forum itself at www.MITforumCambridge.org. 

The excerpts in this podcast are remarks made by panelists Brad Rosen (Founder of Mobile device app companies Drync and Colorstripe LLC), Carm Huntress (Co-Founder of Cardvio, a web start up for greeting cards, and a chief Technology Officer of web companies Reef Partners and Audiogon) and Mark Thirman (founder and CEO of Airprint Networks) to questions on compensation posed by the audience and by moderator Chris Deschenes.