History Uncorked is Pittsburgh’s premiere event for young professionals! Now in its 12th year, History Uncorked 2010 promises to be a fun, festive evening for all. Join us for good food, entertainment, and a look at our groundbreaking exhibitions.

History Uncorked is a fundraising event for the Senator John Heinz History Center. Its purpose is to generate revenue for and interest in the History Center’s exhibitions and educational programs. As Pittsburgh’s premiere event for young professionals, History Uncorked offers an opportunity for young men and women to experience the History Center in a casual, festive atmosphere and is attended by nearly 1,500 young professionals each year. For more information on the event visit the link above.

History Uncorked 2010: Black and Gold Celebration

Friday, Feb. 26 – 6:30 – 10:30 p.m.

VIP Reception – 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

History Uncorked welcomes all guests age 21 and over. Proper ID is required.

Cocktail or business attire.

Tickets are available on the History Center’s website!

VIP Ticket:  $75 – includes one ticket to History Uncorked, VIP reception on the night of the event with local personalities, and a one-year individual membership to the History Center with free admission all year.  (VIP tickets are available for advance purchase through Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 at 5 p.m. only.)

General Admission Ticket:  $40 until Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. or $50 at the door.

All tickets include:

• Three drink tickets plus cash bar

• Unlimited soft drinks

• Unlimited appetizers and desserts from local restaurants

• Entertainment by Ian Arthurs Band and DJ Mad Maxx

• Chance to win fabulous History Center prizes

• Opportunity to bid on silent auction items

• Admission to the History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum

I am an advisor with AlphaLab, our local Pittsburgh business accelerator, and if you have a killer startup idea and are looking for the motivation to just GTD, I would strongly encourage you to consider applying to be a part of the program.  I have participated on the selection committee for all the entrance classes since inception, and I expect this upcoming summer session to be very competitive and very compelling.  There are good things happening in Pittsburgh!

AlphaLab is now accepting applications for its Summer/Fall 2010 session that officially starts on June 14th, 2010!  The application deadline is April 8th, 2010.

AlphaLab will be holding “office hours” that will allow applicants to meet the AlphaLab team and ask questions about AlphaLab and the application process. In order to ensure they spend some 1:1 time with each applicant, they are asking interested applicants to schedule a timeslot with them in advance. The “office hours” are current scheduled for the following dates/times:

Thurs, February 25th  1:00-2:30 PM

Friday, March 19th  9:00-10:30 AM

Weds, March 31st  5:00-6:30 PM

They’ve provided a method to allow interested individuals to schedule themselves for a meeting slot the following site: http://www.doodle.com/tr8rwc4i2g9azzqy. Two slots for a given 20-minute time period exist. If a particular slot is grayed out, it has already been reserved. For any issues or questions, one can e-mail: application (at) alphalab [dot] org.

For more information about the application process and to access the AlphaLab application, visit: www.alphalab.org. Additionally, follow our blog (alphalab.org) and Twitter account (twitter.com/alphalab) for additional up-to-date information.

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I am going to be making roughly monthly appearances on the show to help broaden Glen’s discussion about “Success” to include what we do at Meakem Becker – help fund and grow large, successful enterprises.

Here is my first crack at the Top Ten topics to discuss:

• Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?  [It not so much about risk-tolerance as it is about passion, enthusiasm, and commitment]
• The idea (Entrepreneurial Basics Part 1) [Start with the problem, not a technology; startups that succeed generally provide solutions to real problems]
• Building your team (Entrepreneurial Basics Part 2) [You need a balance of skill sets, but someone with real sales skills is a non-negotiable]
• Is your market big enough? (Entrepreneurial Basics Part 3) [BILLIONS, not millions – this is the difference between a lifestyle/family business and a big enterprise]
• Think about making money – the business economics (Entrepreneurial Basics Part 4) [Discussion of different business models/ways to build revenue]
• Competing:  how do you differentiate? (Entrepreneurial Basics Part 5) [Discussion of the importance of differentiation; IP, innovation, etc]
• Why you need a business plan [The business plan is more for YOU, not as much for investors; excerpts to The Pitch Deck, Executive Summary, Elevator Pitch]
• The stages of company growth – from seed to late stage [Discussion of our lifecycle chart and indicators of stage maturity]
• How to present to venture capitalists [How to get to us, What we need to see, How we like to see it]
• Top Ten VC rules [This could be a lot of fun…]

Let me know if you think these are the right topics or if there are other things you want to hear Glen and I discuss; we have a blank slate.  I would also love your feedback on how I did (I know… I said, “That’s right” too much, and I could probably work harder to find my “radio voice” – it is somewhere deeper in the diaphragm…).

Blurb from Glen’s Email:

Alan Veeck, one of my partners at Meakem Becker Venture Capital, joined me on the program this past week to discuss what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. In order to attract venture capital investments, entrepreneurs must create compelling products or services that are sold into potentially large markets. They must also be able to surround themselves with the right team of people, and be able to defend themselves against the inevitable competition. Successful entrepreneurs must also have a lot of passion and a strong belief in their abilities. For successful entrepreneurs, failure is not an option. If you have a business idea, or wish tor receive more information from Alan, contact him at AVEECK@MBVC.com or on his blog at www.pittsburghventures.com.

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And now our next meeting will be held tomorrow (here is our Facebook page) – Thursday, February 4th, 2010, at 9:00am at AlphaLab on the Southside.  This is something like our 12th or 15th meeting, and we have 60 confirmed attendees and  50+ other “maybes”.  You’ve come a long way, baby.

Our first meeting attracted about 8 people – and we met locally here in Sewickley near our offices at the newly-opened Crazy Mocha coffee shop.  I remember hearing a pitch about a new type of image/video based CAPTCHA coming out of CMU and a couple other interesting startup ideas.

Lynsie Camuso was one of those first OCCers (and still a regular!), and that was the first time I heard about her startup, ShowClix.  It was at an OpenCoffee Club meeting in Shadyside that I first Jeff Mullen and heard about his idea for Dynamics.

This event is growing in Pittsburgh – and if you are in the region and want to find out what is happening in our entrepreneurial ecosystem, I strongly encourage you to come.  It is very casual and will give you a chance to talk to some very interesting people.

I like to say that Pittsburgh is on “Step 2, of 10″ in terms of how we are growing our startup community.  I think we have a good balance of money/investors and entrepreneurs, but we are very nascent in terms of big, cutting-edge ideas.  It is when you get smart people together that big ideas are cooked up.  Pittsburgh needs to bring together more of the smart people we already have in order to really move the needle on becoming the next Seattle or Austin.

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My list has 14 non-fiction selections and only 8 fiction selections; it started with NO fictions, but I really like to read fiction, so once I saw the deficiency, I added some I had been meaning to read for some time.

One of the fun aspects of this competition is the unexpected joy of being able to add more books to the list as I realize that my throughput is up – so I have started asking my friends for their SINGLE RECOMMENDATION (you can send multiple titles, but what is THE ONE you are recommending?) for a great read.  As I read each book, I will write a short review and let you know who recommended which book and what they have to say about it, too.

Anyone else have a book suggestion for me?

Here is my INITIAL reading list for 2010: