Entrepreneurs; Sustainabilty; Tech Transfer; Venture Challenge; 02/11/08 - PHOTOS and Events

439_ Welcome to the Sustainabilty Era - Defined and Debated
Addressing Climate Change for Sustainable and Profitable Business is no simple matter. Differing definitions and understandings along with misunderstood concepts make it challenging for some. Bud McGrath, Executive Director of CORE and Graham Russell, Director of the CORE Foundation discuss what is going on in the Clean Tech and Sustainability space and clear up many of the misunderstandings. Regardless on your position on the topic, the rules of business are changing. Climate change is at the height of media attention and has become an important part of current business trends. Companies are recognizing significant opportunities by creating new sought-after products, realigning the way they operate, and reducing their energy costs. Companies are finding that managing the risk of climate change and lowering their impact on the environment allows them to gain investor confidence, reduce their exposure to non-compliance, and increase their profits. The most significant conference (SOS) with world-renowned leaders will be in Denver February 27 - 29...w3w3.com will be there. LISTEN 2/11/08

437_ Colorado is as Quintessentially Entrepreneurial as We Could Ever Imagine
Our mission here is we have a responsibility of educating future business leaders to tackle the complex problems of tomorrow. And at the heart of that is entrepreneurial thinking and critical skills, approaches and innovation. Paul Jerde, Executive Director for the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder gives the credit to his team and his predesessors. Last year, MBA enrollments were up 60% and still climbing. Paul went onto explain," We launched the “Sustainable Venturing Initiative. We then launched the “Clean Tech Venture Challenge”, a business plan competition in the clean tech sustainable space, and began to do a number of other programs." The Clean Tech Challenge is really a program element of the Sustainable Opportunity Summit. The operative word in the name of this summit is 'opportunity'. Sustainability in the past may have been thought of as something having to do with environment and regulatory threats, but what’s happened today is businesses are looking at it as a necessary element of creating and pursuing opportunities and that is what the Summit (SOS) is all about. listen now.... LISTEN 2/11/08

435_ Raising Capital for Startups, Mentoring, and Much More
TechStars is essentially a mentorship driven investment model. We invest a small amount of money, $10 - 15,000. for a very early stage company explains David Cohen, the founder and Exective Director of TechStars. David goes on,"We bring them to Boulder; surround them with incredible mentors from Boulder, the Silicon Valley and elsewhere. It’s almost like a boot camp environment where they learn everything there is to learn about running an early stage company. At the end of summer we have an “Investor Day” and they get to pitch their ideas. We take ten teams every year and now is the time to get involved. The success rate has been extraordinary. In 2007, seven of the ten have done either venture or angel funding or a combination of both and an eighth that is quite profitable and hasn’t taken investment yet. They learn how to deal with early adopters, early customers; how to bring their product to market, figuring out what the right product is and tactically how to do that, really everything to do with startups, raising money, pitches, elevator pitches. They can also expect to build a really great network and that’s one of the key benefits of TechStars. LISTEN 2/04/08

Related Links: TechStars Home || Apply Now || Entrepreneur Channel || Colorado Startups || Keywords: TechStars, David Cohen, Startups, Mentoring, Raising Capital, Entrepreneurs > Bytes: 15438056 LISTEN

433_ Innovation, Economic Development and the University
Higher education plays an important role in economic development and retaining global competitiveness of the United States. "My focus is on innovation and how to guide a campus of our size towards a culture of innovation explains," Dr. Jeremy Haefner, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Dean, Graduate School Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Science, Director CITTI, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. UCCS is an important part of the CU Tech Transfer Organization effort and plays heavily on its Innovation focus. Dr. Haefner is very encouraged about the UCCS 'Mind Studio' (making prototypes, their 'emerging venture micro funds' their focus on 'security' as well as the partnerships and other areas they are developing. There is a great deal more...listen now... LISTEN 2/4/08

Related Links: UCCS || CU TTO Channel || CU Tech Transfer Office || Tech Transfer Awards || Awards Banquet Photos || Keywords: Jeremy Haefner, CUTTO, UCCS, CITTI, Innovation, Tech Transfer > Bytes: 29056839 LISTEN

432_ Global Ambition, Global Sales for Ambitious Mountain Entrepreneurs
Effective Sales and Sales Management is Mission Critical explains Ken Morse, Managing Director, MIT Entrepreneurship Center. Improving the effectiveness of the sales force in globally ambitious companies, large and small, is consistently cited by business experts as one of the highest priorities, year after year. In the current tough climate, every purchase by any prospective customer must be triple-justified at all levels of management. Ken has delivered hands-on workshops around the globe to CEOs and their top sales executives. He has developed a tailored program for Ambitious Mountain Entrepreneurs. In this interview Ken addresses the question, "Can mountain startups survive global competition?" and explains the 'Key Imperatives'. There is a hard-hitting message for CEOs that you need to hear. BTW, Brad Feld, Larry and Pat will be there. LISTEN 1/28/08

Related Links: Workshop Information || MIT Entrepreneurship Center || Entrepreneur Channel || Podcast Directory || Keywords: Ken Morse, MIT, Entrepreneurship Center, Mountain Entrepreneurs, CEO, Sales, Management, Brad Feld, Startups > Bytes: 16033418 LISTEN

440_ Going From Yoga to High-Tech: From Yokohama to Boulder

Her first business was a yoga studio in Yokohama, Japan. Gwen Bell, a serial entrepreneur went on to explain; After 3 years she realized she needed a web site and so she entered the world of “tech”. Since then she has created a small design firm and ended up doing blogging, branding, all sorts of work in the tech world. Today she is a member of the TechStar team.
      The TechStars success rate has been extraordinary. In 2007, seven of the ten team have done either venture or angel funding. It would be wonderful to get a team of women hooked up with TechStars. Now based in Boulder, that is exactly what Gwen is focused on accomplishing. David Cohen and the other founders of TechStars are delighted to have a person like Gwen working on this. This is a wonderful opportunity with a number of perks...$10 - 15,000, surrounded by incredible mentors from Boulder to the Silicon Valley and tons more support as well as connections. The application to apply takes only a few minutes to complete...do it now! 2/11/08  LISTEN

Related Links: TechStars Home || Apply Now || Entrepreneur Channel || GwenBell.com   Keywords: Gwen Bell, TechStars, Entrepreneurs, David Cohen, Startups, Mentoring > Bytes: 8519160 LISTEN

438_ Economic Development a Key to Making Important Decisions

He came from New Orleans with the Katrina refugees, after spending some time in Boston as a visiting professor at MIT, he landed here in Colorado just after co-founding a couple companies. Dr. Michael Larson, Professor of mechanical & aeronautic engineering and El Pomar Chair of Engineering and Innovation had many choices before deciding to come to CITTI. Before taking the position, with his desire to develop ideas that he would come up with, but also to help others do the same, it was very important to him that if he was at a university, the Tech Transfer office would take a very progressive view toward stimulating that kind of activity among the faculty. Michael talked with David Allen and many of his staff and found that really is the case. He appreciated the help they are giving him now and also just their general attitude toward economic development role that the university can play. Dr. Larson was awarded the New Inventor of the year, Colorado Springs Award by CU TTO. There are many facinating ideas for economic development in this interview and Mind Studios is one of them. 2/11/08  LISTEN

Related Links: UCCS: Engineering & Applied Science || Mind Studios || CU TTO Award Photos || CU TTO Channel || CU Tech Transfer Office   Keywords: Michael Larson, UCCS, Mind Studios, Mothers of Invention, CUTTO > Bytes: 19514830 LISTEN

436_ Sr. Software Engineers, Still in College & Winning

Here's a winning two semester sequence in which teams of students complete a substantial "real world" project provided by sponsors drawn from both industry and research organizations. These projects are developed under the direction of the course instructor (Bruce Sanders, Director of Software Engineering Projects) and members of the sponsoring organization (Applied Trust Engineering with founders, Trent Hein and Ned McClain). Here are the stages they go through: Initial Requirements, The student team interacts with the sponsor to gather requirements for the software that they are to develop. This first step involves a rather quick, but thorough, job of gathering Initial Requirements...and then System Architecture; Overview Presentation; Prototyping; Requirements Spec; Design Spec; Design Presentation; Development; Documentation; Final Presentation; Release...Listen to the 5-person student team. Applied Trust is excited about the deliverable. 2/04/08  LISTEN

Related Links: Senior Project Details || Applied Trust Engineering || Bruce W. Sanders || Best Book || Green IT Infrastructure   Keywords: Software Engineers, CU, Bruce Sanders, Trent Hein, Ned McClain, Applied Trust > Bytes: 27359924 LISTEN

434_ Will Sustainability and Cleantech Work Together in the Real World?
It’s all about the sea of change for the acceptance of the principals, practices and opportunities that intersect under the overarching umbrella of sustainability according to Paul Jerde, Executive Director of the Deming Center of Entrepreneurship, Leeds School of Business. What’s changed in the past couple of years with regard to Sustainability – trends, business acceptance and understanding of it? Will and how does Sustainability and Cleantech come together and if they do, will it last? How does Sustainability and Entrepreneurship intersect? These are questions that will be addressed head-on at the third annual Sustainability Opportunities Summit. Listen to Paul and you will gain further understanding of and some context pertaining to the ideas of sustainability, sustainable venturing, and business opportunity. He goes on to suggest," Perhaps some understanding of the myriad drivers...and hopefully some understanding of why this vague term has been so firmly adopted within business lexicon." 2/04/08 > LISTEN

Related Links: Conscious Economy Channel || CORE Home || 2008 Sustainable opportunities Summit || Cleantech Venture Challenge Keywords: Paul Jerde, Deming Center, Leeds School of Business, Sustainability, Cleantech, Green Tech > Bytes: 19275758 LISTEN