Life of FBi | Non-Tech Start-up Founder

As I was arranging my schedule between driving Blank Label projects, starting up Open Gate Initiative, being a team leader at E-Tower, and classes, trying to squeeze startup networking events around my already compact schedule has been challenging. What that does mean is for a busy student entrepreneur, the following list has been whittled down as the essentials (and they’re all FREE!!!):

Mass Innovation Night – Wednesday, September 9

Mass Innovation Nights connect Massachusetts-based innovators with the marketplace using social media.  Held at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, the monthly Launch Parties are FREE for everyone — companies and guests alike.  All we ask is that guests help spread the word about cool new products they see at our events.

TiE ENTER Launch – Tuesday, September 15 (Free for Students)

Fireside/ interactive chat with Jeff Taylor, Founder of Monster.com, Paul English, Founder of Kayak.com, Chris Hughes, co-Founder of Facebook.com and MyBarackObama.com. This event is primarily for aspiring and first-time entrepreneurs. If you are a student working on a BIG idea – or searching for one – come join a lively discussion on how these successful entrepreneurs stumbled upon theirs, and how they built businesses around them. The speakers will share what has changed in their respective industries since they began their entrepreneurial journeys as well as what they recognize to be the prevailing trends now shaping these industries. This will be an interactive chat where you can also share your BIG ideas and get constructive feedback from the speakers.

Tech Tuesday – Tuesday, September 15

Join your fellow geeks, tech savvy professionals, DIY-ers, press, and other industry luminaries for this informal gathering. Bring your laptops, robots, OLPC XO’s, Amazon Kindles, new cell phones, gadgets, and other new-fangled devices. Got a great demo or YouTube clip? Bring it! LCD projector and wi-fi will be available for ad hoc show and tell.

Ignite Boston 6 – Thursday, September 17

If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.

Ignite was started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. Since then 100s of 5 minute talks have been given across the world. There are thriving Ignite communities in Seattle, Portland, Paris, and NYC.

WebInno23 – Tuesday, September 29

At 7pm in the Grand Ballroom we’ll hold our usual format of self-/angel-funded startups demo’ing to the audience in Main Dish showcases, and select an “Audience Choice” winner of the crowd’s favorite. After a brief intermission, at 8pm we’ll hold a strictly-optional special entrepreneur’s PR breakout session. During the entire evening’s event, Side Dish startup companies will provide informal demonstrations to the networking crowd from the Skyline Suites room.

MassTLC 2009 Innovation unConference – Thursday, October 01 (Stay in MA Scholarships Available)

Four generations of entrepreneurs will gather on October 1, 2009 with the focus on early stage entrepreneurship and driving innovation.  Unlike the planned sessions and passive audiences of typical conferences, MassTLC’s Innovation 2009 is an unConference where the agenda is formed organically by all attendees the day of the event. No podiums. No stages. Just small interactive sessions taking a deep dive into issues that drive innovation and the success of your company. A professional facilitator helps make it happen.

Eric Ries The Lean Start-up Talk – Thursday, November 19

2 hour talk by Eric Ries, the well known author of the blog Lessons Learned. He was the co-founder and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU, his third startup. He is the co-author of several books including The Black Artv of Java Game Programming (Waite Group Press, 1996). In 2007, BusinessWeek named Ries one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech. He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups including pbWiki, Smule, 750i and KaChing. Eric will discuss the approach of the Lean Startup.