Techstars Startup Week Fort Wayne 2019

SCORE is a nationwide partner organization of the US Small Business Administration. SCORE offers over 10,000 current and former CEO’s, business owners and senior executives providing free and confidential business advice to startup and ongoing small business owners and entrepreneurs. SCORE offers face-to-face and email mentoring, local workshops and on-line recorded webinars which are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

This workshop will cover the essential legal areas that entrepreneurs need to be aware of when starting their business, including determining choice of entity, formation documents, governing documents, tax registrations and much more.

City of Fort Wayne Mayor Henry is hosting a luncheon with speaker and author, Dr. Ron S. Lewis about G.R.I.T. (Guts, Resilience, Intensity, and Tenacity). Afterward, connect with individuals representing State/City business incentive programs, SBA loans, SEED tax incentives, business planning, Federal contract qualification process (PTAC), Summit City Match, and more. A $5 donation at the door is requested to help fund Startup Week 2020.
11:00 - 11:30am - Registration
11:30 - 1:00pm   - Mayor's Luncheon
1:00 - 2:00pm     - 1:1 connection availability with City resources

Build a thriving organization through this research-influenced session that highlight common challenges and offers user-friendly solutions.

Have an innovative idea? Not sure how to commercialize it? Attend the two-day, 2-hour, back-to-back workshop. Each workshop builds on the other, though you are welcome to only attend one.

Monday Sessions:

1) Evaluate risks of the idea - Innovations are really an accumulation of risks and entrepreneurs are in the business of identifying, moderating and eliminating risk. This session will highlight the strategies the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame is taking in risk analysis of early stage innovations/business ideas.

2) Validate problem - One of the biggest reasons companies fail in America today is developing a product or service for which too few customers care or care enough to pay for a product. This session will discuss the importance of and methods to validate the problem your customers have that your company’s product is intended to solve. This is not selling your solution but validating and quantifying customer pain leading to building a product customers will purchase.

Tuesday Sessions:
Building on Monday’s sessions, this workshop addresses:

3) Market testing - A primary risk to any early stage innovation is not understanding market trends and customer interest in your product. Investors are looking for companies in which market traction has been established. The best type of market traction is orders/sales however the second best is market signals that your product meets a customer pain and that customer is willing to pay to purchase the product. This session will review practices of marketing testing.

4) Tech Development (concept to product) - One of the biggest risks facing an early stage company is the innovation/technology itself. Does the technology work and can the company make the product at a cost the customer is willing to pay while still leaving enough room for the entrepreneur to make money? This session will review current practices in technology development - bridging the gap between proof of concept to a functional prototype.

Startup Week Fort Wayne will kickoff the week with the Opening Ceremonies, which features:

A keynote presentation entitled “How Open Secrets Lead to Innovative Communities” by Steven Reading, global innovation practitioner

• Keynote is followed by a panel discussion moderated by Crystal Vann Wallstrom, managing director of innovation for Electric Works. Panelists include: Steven Reading; Beth Bechdol, President and CEO of AgriNovus; Jolynn Suko, Chief Innovation Officer for Parkview Health; and James Thompson, Associate Vice President for Innovation at Notre Dame's Idea Center

A spotlight on nine northeast Indiana startups in the first annual Festival of Startups

Food by Hoppy Gnome and a cash bar.

Doors open at 5:00 p.m. with food and drink, and the program begins at 6:00 p.m.

The event is free. Seating is limited. Registration required.

About Steven Reading
Steven Reading is a startup founder and global startup community builder. Steven has traveled the world working with entrepreneurs and local leaders to build startup communities based on a culture of open innovation. He has also spent 25 years living the startup culture of Silicon Valley and navigating its booms and its busts, all while founding his own successful company. During his talk, he will share what he’s learned from his international work and why it’s essential for innovation and startup communities to foster a culture of openness, how to develop internal and external networks of collaboration, and what Fort Wayne can do now to take that next step in our journey.

NOTE: This event is SOLD OUT. If you are interested in attending as a NIIC or WEOC guest, contact Suzie Haga, WEOC Coordinator, shaga@niic.net, by October 8.

Panel Discussion Featuring: 
Jolynn Suko, Senior Vice President, Chief Innovation Officer, Parkview Health.
Jolynn started her career in healthcare wanting to work with the underserved and underprivileged. She spent 14 years in traditional healthcare administration roles at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. She now manages Parkview Mirro Center for Research & Innovation.

Cheri Lantz, President, Global Recruiters of Covington.
Cheri held several roles at retailer Vera Bradley prior to becoming Executive Vice President of Sales. Two years ago, Cheri left Vera Bradley to start her own recruiting business.

Rebecca Fleetwood-Hession, President of Fleetwood Hession Consulting.
Rebecca was once a successful Covey Senior Consultant earning a $20 million club seat designation. She decided to change gears and create her own business as a coach, author, speaker and podcast host.

Our panel will share personal stories of business challenges and successes. If you have thought about starting a business, pivoting roles within your current organization or changing gears completely, this discussion is for you!

Registration and breakfast buffet begin at 8:00 am. Program will begin at 8:15 am

Presenter Steve Franks has worked both as an innovation consultant and as an entrepreneur coach. In this workshop, he shows you how to blend techniques from both worlds to plus up your new product success.

Have an innovative idea? Not sure how to commercialize it? Attend the two-day, 2-hour, back-to-back workshop. Each workshop builds on the other, though you are welcome to only attend one.

Monday Sessions:

1) Evaluate risks of the idea - Innovations are really an accumulation of risks and entrepreneurs are in the business of identifying, moderating and eliminating risk. This session will highlight the strategies the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame is taking in risk analysis of early stage innovations/business ideas.

2) Validate problem - One of the biggest reasons companies fail in America today is developing a product or service for which too few customers care or care enough to pay for a product. This session will discuss the importance of and methods to validate the problem your customers have that your company’s product is intended to solve. This is not selling your solution but validating and quantifying customer pain leading to building a product customers will purchase.

Tuesday Sessions:
Building on Monday’s sessions, this workshop addresses:

3) Market testing - A primary risk to any early stage innovation is not understanding market trends and customer interest in your product. Investors are looking for companies in which market traction has been established. The best type of market traction is orders/sales however the second best is market signals that your product meets a customer pain and that customer is willing to pay to purchase the product. This session will review practices of marketing testing.

4) Tech Development (concept to product) - One of the biggest risks facing an early stage company is the innovation/technology itself. Does the technology work and can the company make the product at a cost the customer is willing to pay while still leaving enough room for the entrepreneur to make money? This session will review current practices in technology development - bridging the gap between proof of concept to a functional prototype.

A hands-on, activity-based session built around the Design Thinking process where we will use techniques to understand the needs of local startups and answer the question – “How might we use Design Thinking to support a culture of start-up innovation in Fort Wayne?” Learn the five phases of Design Thinking and how a human-centered approach to innovation will strengthen your startup.

Gives non-technical professionals a process for creating MVPs with flexibility and confidence while searching for the ideal technical co-founder

Day one of a startup can be exhilarating, overwhelming, and maybe even a little scary. It's the beginning of a long journey toward success as an established corporate member of our community. Join us for cocktails, heavy hors d'oeuvres, networking, and inspiration as Greater Fort Wayne Inc. and the Fortitude Fund join forces to celebrate the entrepreneurs taking that journey—particularly, the dedicated companies working together in GFW Inc.’s Bridge Program to make the journey more productive.

Join us for the first annual Exalt Awards recognizing three amazing women entrepreneurs from our community.  At our champagne breakfast, we'll honor these women with Lift, Aileron, and Ruby awards for successfully demonstrating social responsibility, work-life blending, and elevating other women. Through the elevation of of these three outstanding award recipients, we hope to shine a light on all women entrepreneurs, and the teams that support them. Learn more at ownyoursuccessfw.com/exalt

Has your [small] business ever considered selling to the federal government? Or the State of Indiana? Does a new market with the World Largest Buyer interest you? Join Indiana PTAC for this free workshop and learn more.
Topics Include:
· What Does the Government Buy?
· How Does the Government Buy?
· How do I find sales opportunities in these markets?
· How can I get an advantage with Small Business Certifications?

Workshop using hands-on learning to cultivate entrepreneurship through science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) disciplines.

If you are an owner or leader of an open-minded, growth-oriented, entrepreneurial company - who wants to have your business consistently run better/stronger, and grow faster/smarter - please join us to learn how the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)®, can help you generate more, with less. By more: we mean more growth, productivity and profits. By less: we mean less stress, expense and uncertainty.

Visit http://www.straticos.com/ for more information about EOS related to this talk!

Founders Spark will be hosting Barbara Baekgaard, the co-founder of Vera Bradley, during the monthly Origins event to discuss how the internationally recognized Vera Bradley became what it is today in an authentic and vulnerable way. Since it is also Breast Cancer Awareness month, we will be raising funds by selling raffle tickets for various Vera Bradley merchandise for the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer!

5-6pm: Startup Week Fort Wayne Cocktail Hour
6-6:30pm: Check In & Networking
6:30-7:30pm: Discussion with Barbara
7:30-7:45pm: Q&A with Barbara
7:45pm-9pm: Door Prizes and Networking

Hope to see you at Origins!

Learn how to accelerate growth by overcoming the very challenges that hold your business back through manageable, actionable, and measurable work plans.

YES will take a relatively low tech business, a pickup only pizza parlor, and show low and no cost tech solutions to increase revenue and efficiency inside of the business.  Participants will learn how the cost savings and revenue generation from these simple solutions can be applied to any business.

View the presentation here.

Ignite, LLC is a Small + Smart™ strategic growth & brand advisory firm. We feature certified brand strategists offering thought leadership and proven proprietary processes.

Businesses and organizations seek Ignite out when they are struggling with these three critical challenges:
1. How to unearth their compelling, competitive, distinction (their corporate brand)
2. How to powerfully position and communicate that distinction
3. How to strategically propel their business from the resolution of the first 2 challenges.

The distinctive work that we do empowers organizations, through brand driven cultures and practices, to become a competitively strong and even dominant businesses. When this occurs, sustain profitable growth is assured.

Our purpose is to enable our clients to become a better and more powerful version of themselves — to take them to a higher, better place — to a new plateau.

Our presentation aims to give entrepreneurs essential insights into how to empower their organizations through their most valuable asset for growth and success — insights they can immediately grab hold of and apply to their businesses.

Many companies approach venture firms with grand plans of raising millions of dollars and taking over the world.  Do you really understand what that means though?  The IU Ventures team will explore the conversations you should have with yourself and your cofounders to better understand if raising capital is the right move for you.

Ag+Bio+Science – where food, agriculture, science and technology converge. Agbioscience leadership in Indiana requires a robust entrepreneurial and early-stage company ecosystem. Join this conversation between two local agbioscience start-ups and their story on how they are making an impact in the food and agriculture innovation space.

You've made it past the first hurdle and started your own business. Growth has been steady, but slow—you seem to have hit a plateau. It’s time to take your business to the next level, but you find yourself asking: Where do I go from here? How do I keep my business moving forward? OCEAN NEI’s event—PROPEL: Keeping your business moving forward—will help answer these questions and inspire you to take your next step.

We’ll start off the evening hearing from Jay and Niyoki Chapman’s story of how they started & are running their two businesses: Faithfully Fitted Apparel and Faithfully Fitted Automobile Detailing. Then TK Herman will share the lessons he’s learned on company growth throughout his 20+ years at Aptera, Inc. Finally, we’ll end with a special treat: Ask the Coach – a panel of 3 business coaches ready to answer YOUR questions. This panel will feature TK Herman (Aptera, Inc), Brook Steed (Brook Steed Coaching & Consulting), & Theresa Steele (Theresa Steele Business Coaching).

5:00pm – 6:00pm – Eat, Drink, Connect
6:00pm – 6:15pm – Jay & Niyoki Chapman
6:15pm – 6:30pm – TK Herman
6:30pm – 7:00pm – Ask The Coach Panel
7:00pm – 8:00pm – Book Giveaway, Eat, Drink, Connect

OCEAN NEI is a community of entrepreneurs and small business owners in Northeast Indiana. We host monthly networking events providing inspiration, tangible skill, story, and connection. OCEAN NEI also hosts a weekly podcast highlighting local small business owners, live event content, subject matter experts, and other entrepreneurial support organizations.

From product designers to artistic directors, Yellow 2019 attendees will experience keynote presentations and hands-on sessions from thought leaders of the creative industry. Guided technical workshops & classes will enhance attendees' creative capacity, strategy, and design applications.

See the all star lineup of Yellow Speakers here!

Is Yellow for You?

Performance Venues | Arts Organizations | Publication Groups| Architecture Firms | Product and Design Groups | Non-Profits | Entertainment Labels | Marketing Teams | Event Planners

Interactive booth and showcase spaces will provide opportunities for Yellow 2019 attendees to network, directly connect with opportunities to discover and begin creative collaborations.

Regular $60 — Student $20 — 3 Ticket Bundle $150

Register today and use this exclusive Startup Week promo code FWSW and receive 50% off your tickets.

Purchase your ticket here

Join the community for a wrap party at the top of Fort Wayne! Drink, dine, connect, and make plans and connections for the next year.