This week’s series of events features:

• Common Angels Office Hours
• HealthBox Accelerator Info Table
• Startup Leadership Program Info Table
• Funding a Start-up Roundtable (TiE Angels)

Thursday, May 17th, 2012 3:00 – 8:00 PM Venture Cafe in Session

3:00-5:00 PM CommonAngels Office Hours

Have questions for angel investors? Looking for advice for you startup? Meet with CommonAngels (@commonangels) team members  Ann Brady, Brian Eberman and Steve Willis to get the answers. CommonAngels members are current and former entrepreneurs and senior executives of technology companies who have a passion for working with great entrepreneurs and building new companies.

3:00 -7:00 PM Healthbox Accelerator Info Table
Healthbox (@healthbox) is heading to Boston. Healthbox has assembled a world-class mentor network that will provide healthcare startups with invaluable advice and connections. You’ll be able to generate ideas, test assumptions and focus your business in a dynamic workspace alongside other promising startups – with some seed capital to boot. Applications are now open for the Boston 2012 program. To apply online, visit here.

4:00 – 6:00 PM Startup Leadership Program Info Table

The Startup Leadership Program is a 12-class, 6-month long program aimed at grooming the next generation of startup CEOs in the life sciences, technology and cleantech sectors. SLP offers a world-class curriculum, access to mentors and funding, and an active global network of Fellows. SLP Fellows number over 480 Fellows across 12 cities globally representing over 300 startups. Learn more about the program here.

5:00 – 6:30 PM Funding a Start-up Roundtable

Looking to fund a start-up company? During the Roundtable, TiE Angels will discuss terms sheets, the angel funding landscape, what angels look for, pre-money valuations, and other practical tips that could help new entrepreneurs avoid costly mistakes.

About TiE Angels: TiE Angels is an angel investment group in the Cambridge area that provides entrepreneurs and start-ups with much needed seed capital and the support that they need to get to the next level. They play a critical role in bringing together investors and entrepreneurs to create an eco-system that fosters the genesis of great companies. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to visit TiE Angels to submit their business plans for investment consideration.

We hope you stop by, grab a drink and connect!

See you in the Café,

Pardis

About the Venture Cafe

The Venture Café was created to provide a resource for the Boston entrepreneurial and innovation communities. Our mission is to enable fresh and useful conversations and to serve as a nexus for helping innovators and entrepreneurs find one another and collaborate to bring their dreams to reality.

Even in this digital world, it’s important to have a physical space. Shared physical spaces provide common meeting ground and a forum for semi-serendipitous encounters that often foster brainstorming and drive creativity. Meeting in person establishes the trust that’s so crucial to working together, particularly on risky, underfunded projects. The Venture Café also provides the framework upon which numerous experimental “applications” and events can be nurtured and launched.

Venture Cafe has been in existence for over two years and has supported over 11,000 visits. An average night has 250+ visitors throughout the evening, while maintaining a healthy balance between fresh new visitors (40%) and regulars who are contributors or affiliates (40%).

About the Events Manager position

Every week Venture Cafe Foundation hosts a venue with on the order of a half-dozen events at its Kendall Square Venture Cafe location.  This venue currently takes place on Thursdays, from 3-8PM, and requires some setup and cleanup before and after.  These events are large and small, ranging from regularly scheduled venture capital fund “office hours” (1:1 chances to meet with venture capitalists) on up to multi-part mini-conferences, such as the HackKendall event.

In addition, there are usually a half-dozen “information tables” where various organizations supporting the startup community attend and share information about their offerings.  These have recently included, for instance, the US Small Business Administration, MassChallenge, TechStars, etc.

Venture Cafe’s model is to host events and information tables proposed by, or run by, outside partner organizations.  As such, there is nearly always a counterpart for each event at the partner organization.  These events are nearly always open to the Venture Cafe community (e.g. they are not private events, but rather events that are widely publicized and open to a broad cross-section of the innovation community).

In addition, Venture Cafe Foundation is planning to expand to holding events in Boston in the Boston Innovation Center, which is under construction.  The types of events would be similar to those in VenCaf Cambridge, and the schedule would be similar, but on a different evening (most likely Tuesdays, 3-8PM).

In the future, there may be Venture Cafe-branded events held in other venues, such as the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center (Microsoft NERD) also in Kendall Square.

Responsibilities of the Events Manager

* Work with event organizer counterparts to plan each event.  Handle all communications regarding the forthcoming event.  Communicate the philosophy of venture cafe events, explain the parameters for having events at Venture Cafe, describe the facilities and plan on the ideal use of them for each event.  Ensure the multiple events during a single day interlace logically with each other (often we stagger events to even out load on the check-in desk), etc.

* Be present at (nearly) all events, help with the setup and cleanup for the events, and generally ensure that they run smoothly.

* Develop and maintain a positive and collaborative working relationship with our contact people at our (approximately) 4 dozen partner organizations.

* Maintain the event-feedback system (iPad based scoring system on the quality of the event) to gain feedback about how specific events went.

* Brainstorm (with partners) additional types of events that make sense for Venture Cafe.

* Learn to screen potential new event partners for suitability to run events at Venture Cafe.

* Write announcements of events, and manage promotion of Events at Venture Cafe through Venture Cafe’s channels (blog, twitter channel, email, existing links with news publications that  publish community calendars, etc.)

Experience

Candidates should have at least one year of demonstrated events management experience.

Compensation

The Events Manager role is a full-time paid position with salary of $30K-$40K per year, plus benefits, depending on experience.

This week’s series of events features:

• The Future of the Web – Roundtable
• Joe Caruso Office Hours
• Advanced Technology Ventures Office Hours
• Sandox-IdeaLaunch Pitch Contest Info Table
• TiE Challenge info table
• youthCITIES pitch practice and info table
• Networking with Russian and Portuguese Entrepreneurs

Thursday, May 10th, 2012 3:00 – 8:00 PM Venture Cafe in Session

1:00 – 4:30 PM Joe Caruso – Office Hours

For the last 20 years Joe Caruso has served has been an “Advocate for entrepreneurs” as a mentor, coach, and personal advisor to CEO’s and entrepreneurs. In recent years, he has served an investor, advisor and active director with dozens of companies, public and private. He also maintains an active consulting practice dealing with structuring and negotiation of acquisitions, strategic partnerships and financings, and issues related to dispute resolution.  Signup for office hours with Joe here.

4:00-5:30 PM Office Hours with Advanced Technology Ventures

ATV (@atvcapital) focuses on three core technology markets – IT, Healthcare and Cleantech and they’ve established a legacy of partnering with entrepreneurial teams at the forefront of technology innovation. Meet with Bob Hower, ATV’s East Coast lead partner for investments in information technology.  Bob was named to Forbes’ Midas list for two consecutive years, and was instrumental in Acme Packet’s public offering, one of the most successful IPOs in the communications sector of the decade.

Sign up to meet with Bob for 15 minute sessions by adding your name to the list located near his table.

5:00-7:00 PM Sandbox-IdeaLaunch Pitch Contest Info Table

The goal of IdeaLaunch is to encourage as many people to share their ideas for products, businesses, and solutions to problems – and then help get those ideas closer to reality.

The first IdeaLaunch program is a series of Pitch Contests– the first, coming May 30 for Tech/Web/Software and App concepts in Lawrence, MA. The deadline is coming soon– May 15th. It’s free to apply, you get instant feedback, and get a chance to compete for cash prizes awarded at each pitch session.

The application and more information can be accessed here

4:00-6:00 PM TiE Challenge Info Table

TiE Challenge is a new Startup Accelerator Program for entrepreneurs. Have a company or idea with great potential?

All companies regardless of stage can apply. The 5 winners of the Challenge will receive: 2 advisors from TiE Charter Members, office space in Cambridge, cash award, automatic pitching to TiE-Angels, introductions to other investors, access to TiE events. Deadline to apply is May 15th.

4:30 – 6:00 PM The Future of the Web – Roundtable 

Join us for a conversation about the future of the Web: What are the new technologies and business strategies that will shape the Internet going forward? What problems is the Web facing, and how will we solve them? How are you part of this? Renowned angel investor Esther Dyson, will lead a roundtable discussion on where the Net is headed.  She is a director of nonprofit anti-malware organization and CIC resident StopBadware (@stopbadware). Stop by and join the discussion!

6:30 – 8:00 PM YouthCITIES pitch practice and info table

Youth CITIES’ (Creating Impact Through Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability) budding entrepreneurs are hoping to get a taste of real-life networking by mingling among the Venture Café’s entrepreneurial community.

Focusing on middle school and high school students, Youth CITIES provides education, mentorship, a wide network of contacts, funding, and real-life application opportunities in the areas of entrepreneurship and community-building. Its mission: to empower youth to use the principles of entrepreneurship to drive change in their communities. For the past 6 weeks, these young entrepreneur wanna-be’s have been getting a crash course on things like “value proposition”, “elevator pitch”, and “business model”, and applying it to a problem they’d like to address. These kids would love the chance to introduce themselves to you, try out their elevator pitch on you, and hear about your entrepreneurial story. You will have a chance to vote for your most memorable student encounter. By mingling with these youth, you will be providing valuable real-world experience, and extra practice for their upcoming pitch (competing for a $1500 grant to launch their venture). An info table will also be set up for additional information about the program.

Finalist Pitches and Awards Luncheon is May 19th (10am-1pm) at Microsoft NERD
register here (for the final event).

4:00- 7:00 PM Networking with Russian and Portuguese Entrepreneurs 

Global Innovation Labs brings you an opportunity to meet promising startup companies and entrepreneurs from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (PhysTech), the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the ISCTE-IUL/MIT Portugal innovation and entrepreneurship initiative. Please introduce yourself and welcome our international guests.

We hope you stop by, grab a drink and connect!

See you in the Café,

Pardis

This week’s series of events features:

• HackKendall: Rethink the Future of Kendall Square
• U.S. Small Business Administration Info Table
• Golden Seeds Info Table
• Boston Innovation Challenge Info Table
• Exploring the Business Impact of Mobile Advertising: GIT/WIW

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 3:00 – 8:00 PM Venture Cafe in Session

4:00 – 7:00 PM HackKendall: Rethink the Future of Kendall Square

Kendall Square has been called “the most innovative square mile on the planet”. How must it change to justify such a lofty moniker? What makes an innovation cluster work? Come to HackKendall,  there will be many visuals but no long presentations – just open dialogue throughout the afternoon, and occasionally a scheduled, 10 minute overview from each expert. As you circulate around, you will get a sense of the full range of great ideas that are out there. Every one of these visions is a work in progress, and your input will be crucial to making Kendall Square great.

A partial list of participants:

- MIT, sharing their proposed redesign of heart of Kendall: a new front door to MIT
- The City of Cambridge/Goody Clancy, presenting the City’s master plan concept for Kendall
- CBT Architects, hired by the East Cambridge neighborhood residents, with their alternate vision for Kendall
- MIT Media Lab – Changing Places Group – sharing their vision for future transportation and living paradigms
- Boston Society of Architects, sharing interviews with leading thinkers on what it means to be an “innovation city”
- Hubways sharing its plans to expand its next-gen mass-transit to Cambridge and beyond
- Pascal Marmier (Swissnex) and Tim Rowe (CIC) – Sharing ideas about the needs of healthy innovation clusters

Kendall Square is changing daily. Buildings are being taken down and others will go up. We’ve invited architects with contrasting visions as well as the City’s planners, developers, and users to dwell with us together on the future of Kendall Square.

Please register for this event here.

4:00-6:30 PM U.S. Small Business Administration info table

The U.S. Small Business Administration (@sbagov) is a federal government agency that helps American entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses. They have programs for access to capital, training, government contracting, and advocacy. As a partner in the White House “Start Up America” initiative, the SBA launched two $1 billion initiatives for impact investing and early-stage seed financing.  With its Small Business Investment Company program, the SBA has helped successful companies such as Intel, AOL, Staples and others.  Visit www.sba.gov/startupamerica or stop by the info table to learn more.

4:00-6:00 PM Golden Seeds info table

Golden Seeds is an investment firm dedicated to delivering above market returns through the empowerment of women entrepreneurs and the people who invest in them. Golden Seeds has many constituents, including members of its angel investor network, limited and general partners of its funds, entrepreneurs, and staff. All share the goal of obtaining high investment returns. Golden Seeds does this through empowering women entrepreneurs, emphasizing diversity, and creating a positive investment environment for all participants.  Learn more and discuss your needs and interests at their open info table.

4:00-6:00 PM Boston Innovation Challenge Info Table

Calling all mobile developers, hackers, and business builders … The “Boston Innovation Challenge” is an advanced hack that gives multidisciplinary Teams (not just techs) a full 2 weeks to tackle designated topics that need our attention and your participation as a team member, advisor, volunteer, etc. We are looking for citizen entrepreneurs and company intrapreneurs… so come alone or get your team together!

This first Challenge, at Harvard I-Lab May 5-20, is about making Boston Better with Mobile solutions in 4 categories – Causes, Jobs, Startups, and Arts. Sign up to win stuff and help solve real problems together with The Boston Globe, Harvard I-Lab, Nieman Foundation, Berkman Center, the City of Boston, and more partners every day.

6:15-7:30 PM Exploring the Business Impact of Mobile Advertising

Join us this Thursday for the discussion “Mobile Advertising Today and a Vision for the Future: Lessons Learned in Attribution, Measurement, and Privacy.”

Smartphone users are sharing more and more information with applications; whether it be music preferences, goelocation, or photos, the question of privacy and what is being done with that information is a pressing topic today.

Speakers:

• Ash Nadkarni, Co-Founder of App Guppy
• Adam Towvim, Vice President, Business Development, Jumptap
• Jo Wightman, Director of Client Services, Fiksu
• Johnny Won, Mobile & Gaming Platforms Manager, Hill Holliday
• Vicky Wu Davis, CEO & Founder, FrogHop Inc. (Moderator)

More details/registration here.  Pre-networking in the Café from 5:30-6:15.

We hope you stop by, grab a drink and connect!

See you in the Café,

Pardis

This week’s series of events features:

• Cambridge Science Festival Tour Stop
• Office Hours with Jerry Bird, MTDC
• Boston Innovation Challenge Info Table
• Tie Challenge Info Table
• “Young Entrepreneurs Initiative” (YEi) Info Table
• GingerIO Startup Wellness Info Table
• British Telecom and NTT Startup Scouting Night
• Skillshare Class: Web Development Core Concepts

This Thursday we have wide variety of events to get you connecting and learning:

• Killing it on Kickstarter: a Panel
• Clean Tech, Energy and Environmental Night 
• Roundtable Discussion on Cleanweb
• Cleanweb Hackathon/Greentown Labs Info Table
• Office Hours with MITEF’s Energy SIG
• Cleantech Open Accelerator Info Table
• Networking with MIT’s Clean Energy Finalists
• Patent Attorney Open Q & A Session
• Pechakucha Boston Office Hours
• GingerIO Startup Wellness Info Table
• The Possible Project Info Table
• City of Cambridge’s Info table & Presentation on Kendall Square
• Meet the Artist – Rudi Seitz

Thursday, April 19, 2012 Venture Café in Session

4:00 – 5:00 PM Patent Attorney Open Q & A Session

You have that great idea, now what? … is it protected? … should it be? … how do I protect it? A panel of resident CIC patent attorneys, Robert ‘Bob’ Sayre from Modern Times Legal and Travis Johnson from Ascentage Law, will be on hand for an open Q&A session.

4:00 – 6:00 PM Pechakucha Boston Office Hours

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in  cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”, it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images in 20 seconds. Stop by to learn more about PechaKucha‘s upcoming Boston event.

4:00-7:00 PM GINGER.io Startup Wellness Info Table

Ginger.io provides researchers with an integrated platform to more efficiently and effectively conduct patient research. The platform passively, objectively, and continuously collects mobile phone data to model user behavior and make inferences about health status.

They are conducting a CIC-wide wellness study on how your behavior impacts your social and mental health. Learn more by stopping by their table in the cafe or visiting ginger.io/research/.

5:00 – 7:00 PM Cleanweb Hackathon/Greentown Labs Info Table

The Cleanweb Hackathon is an upcoming gathering to demonstrate the impact of applying information technology to resource constraints. On May 4th through the 6th in Boston as the team will bring together developers, designers and business professionals dedicated to optimizing resource use and accelerating cleantech development. Participants are tasked with building applications that tackle energy, waste, water, and other sustainability issues by leveraging web and mobile technologies. The Hackathon challenges attendees on what they can do over the course of the weekend that might just change the world for the better.

About Greentown Labs: Greentown Labs provides budding clean technology entrepreneurs access to the facility, services, and research & development resources needed to take their clean technology ventures to the next level. In addition to low‐cost office space, member companies gain access to a machine shop, shared tools, and common electronics lab to get dirty, bend metal, and make noise.

5:00 – 7:00 PM Office Hours with MIT Enterprise Forum’s Energy SIG

The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Energy Special Interest Group provides an environment for education, networking and collaboration for the clean tech and energy community of the MIT Enterprise Forum.  Recent events of the MITEF’s Energy SIG have focused on driving green growth through strategic partnerships, intelligent green buildings, and sustainable transportation. Stop by the table to learn more about the Energy SIG, MITEF, and upcoming events!

5:00 – 7:00 PM Cleantech Open Accelerator Info Table 

Learn about Cleantech Open Northeast’s 2012 Business Accelerator! The Cleantech Open runs the world’s largest cleantech accelerator with the mission is to find, fund, and foster entrepreneurs addressing our most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges. The Cleantech Open’s Accelerator and Business Competition provides a number of key resources to entrepreneurs: extensive mentoring, training, business clinics, access to investors and capital, numerous opportunities to showcase to the media and the public, and prizes from an annual business competition. Since 2006 the 581 participating companies of Cleantech Open’s accelerator programs have raised more than $660 million in external capital.

Applications are being accepted until May 8th for Cleantech Open’s 2012 Accelerator Apply today.

5:00 – 7:00 PM Possible Project Info Table

The Possible Project (TPP) is a youth entrepreneurship center that teaches Cambridge high school students how to start and run their own businesses. It uses entrepreneurship education and practice to empower students with the skills necessary for them to achieve personal and professional success beyond high school. Over three years, TPP students all conceive, design, and launch their own ventures, participate in one of TPP’s two in-house businesses, have the opportunity to participate in externships, gain exposure to local entrepreneurs and business owners, and work with a Pathways Advisor on their higher education and career goals. TPP’s partnership with the Cambridge Innovation Center has proved integral to their mission by working with TPP to place their students in summer jobs and connect teens with entrepreneurs and businesses that align with their interests. CIC also hosts events for the students, including the fun and successful E-Shuffle. For more information, please visit their website here.

5:30 – 6:30 PM Networking with MIT’s Clean Energy Finalists

MIT Clean Energy Prize is the world’s premier student competition for early-stage energy ventures with the potential to catalyze a new generation of clean energy solutions. The 2012 competition comprises three categories (Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Deployment & Infrastructure) and culminates with a Grand Prize award of $200,000, in addition to three Category Winner awards of $20,000. The MIT CEP endeavors to inspire and train entrepreneurs to build companies that will significantly accelerate the pace of energy innovation. The competition offers a low-risk, high-reward environment for student entrepreneurs to develop business ideas with the aid of mentorship and rigorous judging feedback, while gaining exposure to some of the biggest thinkers in the clean energy space. Learn more about this year’s finalists during this week’s networking event.

5:30 – 6:30 PM Roundtable Discussion on Cleanweb

Learn how CleanWeb entrepreneurs are using the capability of the internet, social media, and mobile technologies to address energy, water and environmental resource constraints ahead of Boston’s first ever CleanWeb Hackathon and the application deadline for Cleantech Open (due May 8th). The Roundtable will feature three entrepreneurs who are attacking cleantech problems using high tech solutions, and will focus on how new and existing business models can be applied to issues surrounding energy, water, and the environment to create sustainable and viable companies. 30 participants max for this event, so sign up here.

6:00 – 7:00 PM City of Cambridge’s Info table & Presentation on Reinventing Kendall Square for the 21st Century

As part of a comprehensive planning study to develop a vision for Central Square, Kendall Square, and the Transition Area connecting the two squares, the City, working with a consultant team led by a Goody Clancy, and a diverse committee of stakeholders, is focusing on enhancing Kendall Square’s capacity to create a dynamic public realm connecting diverse choices for living, working, and playing inspiring continued success of Cambridge’s globally-significant innovation community.

The year-long process has formulated recommendations including specific actionable steps to achieve the vision.  This is an opportunity for the broader Kendall Square community to hear about these draft recommendations and provide input to help refine the vision and strategies. Iram Farooq, Sr. Project Manager – Land Use, Urban Design, Sustainability, City of Cambridge Community Development Department will be the speaker.

6:00 – 7:00 PM Killing it on Kickstarter: running successful campaigns for new products and creative projects

Featuring:

American Revolution
Gotham Defense
Quinn Popcorn
Ariel Rubin
moderated by Scott Kirsner!

Join us in the Havana Room for a panel that discusses the ins & outs of executive a successful Kickstarter campaign by four teams that have done it! Click here for more information & to register. 

6:00 – 8:00 PM Meet the Artist: Rudi Seitz’s Imago

Photographer Rudi Seitz’s collection Imago, 45 images on the theme of “everyday wonder,” is moving on from its current home on the fourth floor of CIC. There will be a closing reception at this week’s Venture Cafe. Rudi will be available to answer questions about the work and there will be a meet-the-artist session at 6pm. The show has been on display since last summer and the opening reception was held at Venture Cafe on June 23, 2011. As part of the show closing, Rudi will be offering the works to the CIC and Venture Cafe communities at a special price, and all inquiries can be addressed to him at rudi@rudiseitz.com.

Coming up: British Telecom and NTT Scouting Night in the Cafe April 26th

British Telecom and NTT will be in Venture Cafe on April 26th from 5:00-8:00pm and are looking to meet with Boston’s top early stage companies with whom there might be strategic business opportunities. Each company will be presenting at a roundtable session (details to follow) and will be available for networking/discussion before and after.

They have wide range of global scouting opportunities they are investigating including enterprise big data, broadband value add services, mobile computing, enterprise cloud and platform technologies for social computing. Please register your interest here, leveraging the comments/notes/goals section as you see fit.

We hope you stop by, grab a drink and connect!

See you in the Café,

Pardis

This Thursday we have variety of great events to get you connecting and learning:

• CommonAngels Office Hours
• Office Hours with Abby Fichtner
• ENET Resource Table
• GingerIO Startup Wellness Info Table
• Office Hours with Nick Pappas, MTDC
• Boston Innovation Challenge Info Table

Thursday, April 12, 2012 Venture Café in Session

3:00-5:00 PM CommonAngels Office Hours

Have questions for angel investors? Looking for advice for you startup? Meet with CommonAngels (@commonangels) team members Mike Dornbrook, Ralph Sheridan and Kija Kim to get the answers. CommonAngels members are current and former entrepreneurs and senior executives of technology companies who have a passion for working with great entrepreneurs and building new companies.

4:00-6:00 PM Office Hours with Abby Fichtner

Abby Fichtner (@hackerchick) runs The Hacker Chick Blog, co-organizes Boston’s Lean Startup Circle, and is Microsoft’s Evangelist for Startups, where she helps startups as they build out the next generation of software.

Abby’s own background is split between developing bleeding edge software for startups and coaching teams to improve how they develop software. She’s been a regular presenter at Agile Development conferences, but these days spends most of her time mentoring startups in Lean Startup and agile for startups (e.g., Kanban, validated learning, etc.).

Abby is extremely passionate about building communities where innovation thrives and in helping others to push the edge on what’s possible because she believes that each and every one of us is capable of changing the world. Sign up for 20 minute slots at her table (details in the cafe).

4:00-6:00 PM ENET Resource Table

The IEEE Entrepreneurs’ Network (@BostonEnet) is a special interest group of the Boston Section of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), the world’s largest professional organization with 400,000 members worldwide. The Entrepreneurs’ Network holds monthly meetings, in Cambridge and Waltham, bringing together over hundreds of founders, CEOs, investors, service providers, and management team candidates and providing the resources necessary to start and build companies. At each meeting experts speak in depth on subjects of interest to entrepreneurs, including: Business Plans; Raising Money; Legal Aspects of Business; Finances; and Strategic Alliances. Learn more and join the organization here.

4:00-5:30 PM Office Hours with MTDC

This week we welcome back one of our partners to the Café the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation – for a series of office hours. This week stop by and chat with Nick Pappas, Vice President of MTDC. He will be at a table in the Café taking meetings on a first-come, first-serve basis.

4:00-6:00 PM Boston Innovation Challenge Info Table

Calling all mobile developers, hackers, and business builders … The “Boston Innovation Challenge” is an advanced hack that gives multidisciplinary Teams (not just techs) a full 2 weeks to tackle designated topics that need our attention and your participation as a team member, advisor, volunteer, etc. We are looking for citizen entrepreneurs and company intrapreneurs… so come alone or get your team together!

This first Challenge, at Harvard I-Lab May 5-20, is about making Boston Better with Mobile solutions in 4 categories – Causes, Jobs, Startups, and Arts. Sign up to win stuff and help solve real problems together with The Boston Globe, Harvard I-Lab, Nieman Foundation, Berkman Center, the City of Boston, and more partners every day.

4:00-7:00 PM GINGER.io Startup Wellness Info Table

Ginger.io provides researchers with an integrated platform to more efficiently and effectively conduct patient research. The platform passively, objectively, and continuously collects mobile phone data to model user behavior and make inferences about health status.

They are conducting a CIC-wide wellness study on how your behavior impacts your social and mental health. Learn more by stopping by their table in the cafe or visiting ginger.io/research/.

Coming Up: Killing it on Kickstarter: running successful campaigns for new products and creative projects

Join us next week, April 19th, 6-7pm in the Havana Room for a panel that discusses the ins & outs of executive a successful Kickstarter campaign by four teams that have done it, moderated by Scott Kirsner! Click here for more information & to register. 

We hope you stop by, grab a drink and connect!

See you in the Café,

Pardis

Join us for a panel that discusses the ins & outs of executing a successful Kickstarter campaign by four teams that have done it!

Moderator: Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe

Please register here

Teams on the Panel:

The American Revolution Bill Lichtenstein, a journalist working at CIC, decided to fund his film project on the early history of WBCN on Kickstarter. He raised $114K, versus his $104K goal, in a month-long campaign.

Gotham Defense met their goal of raising $18,000 within 25 hours of launching their campaign on Kickstarter. They’re selling a theft-resistant bike light that they design and manufacture, and they’re using Kickstarter to take initial orders.  As of this post, they’re up to $67k (with 10 days left).

Quinn Popcorn wanted to release their first production run of all natural popcorn with  ALL the chemicals taken out and replaced with natural ingredients and fun & unique flavors. They raised $27,880 against a $10,000 goal.

Ariel Rubin started her campaign to raise money to promote and release her EP -Big Spoon. She raised over $15,000 as was able to officially release her EP, on iTunes and various other websites.

Please register here

This Thursday we have the Women Entrepreneurs Panel and a variety of office hours and info tables including MassChallenge, Advanced Technology Ventures,  StreamCal and Boston Innovation Challenge. So stop by and check out this week’s great events!

Thursday, April 5, 2012 3:00-8:00 PM: Venture Café in Session

3:30-5:30 PM MassChallenge Info Table

MassChallenge is the largest-ever startup accelerator and competition, and the first to support high-impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strings attached. Details of the program include:

• 3 month accelerator program. World-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, media and more.
• $1M in Cash Awards. $4M+ in-kind support.
• Open to all. Any startup can enter, from anywhere, in any industry.
• No equity taken. No restrictions applied.

The MassChallenge team look forward to meeting and answering your questions. They have some great things in store for 2012 and can’t wait to share them! Please come with comments, questions, suggestions, and more. Welcome to anyone interested in being a participant, sponsor, mentor, or judge.

4:00-5:30 PM Office Hours with Advanced Technology Ventures

ATV (@atvcapital) focuses on three core technology markets – IT, Healthcare and Cleantech and they’ve established a legacy of partnering with entrepreneurial teams at the forefront of technology innovation. Meet with Bob Hower, ATV’s East Coast lead partner for investments in information technology and Bill Wiberg, ATV’s lead partner for investments in the cleantech sector.  Bob was named to Forbes’ Midas list for two consecutive years, and was instrumental in Acme Packet’s public offering, one of the most successful IPOs in the communications sector of the decade. Bill joined ATV in 2003, bringing with him extensive operational and venture capital experience, including 19 years with Lucent Technologies.  He was President of Lucent’s Cellular and PCS Wireless Networks division from 1997 to 2000, a $5 billion business in 2000.

Sign up to meet with Bob or Bill for 15 minute sessions by adding your name to the list located near their tables.

4:00-6:00 PM StreamCal Info Table

Streamcal is the twitter for online calendars and upcoming events. Swing by the Streamcal table to see the system, sign up for the upcoming alpha release, and chat with the founders. We’d love share our vision, get your calendar requests and simply get to know you. Get ready for the future of calendars and online scheduling!

4:00-6:00 PM Boston Innovation Challenge Info Table

Calling all mobile developers, hackers, and business builders … The “Boston Innovation Challenge” is an advanced hack that gives multidisciplinary Teams (not just techs) a full 2 weeks to tackle designated topics that need our attention and your participation as a team member, advisor, volunteer, etc. We are looking for citizen entrepreneurs and company intrapreneurs… so come alone or get your team together!

This first Challenge, at Harvard I-Lab May 5-20, is about making Boston Better with Mobile solutions in 4 categories – Causes, Jobs, Startups, and Arts. Sign up to win stuff and help solve real problems together with The Boston Globe, Harvard I-Lab, Nieman Foundation, Berkman Center, the City of Boston, and more partners every day.

6:00 – 7:00 PM Women Entrepreneurs Panel - Raising a Business and a Family

This is an intimate discussion around the realities of being women entrepreneurs and raising a family at the same time. This panel discussion is aimed to raise issues around the difficulties one has faced by expressing personal stories, while offering creative solutions on how to manage these struggles. The panel will touch subjects relating to maintaining an intimate relationship with your partner, when to have a child, how this is regarded in discussions with investors, and how to answer these difficult questions.

Panelists include:

Sarah Reed – General Council of Charles River Ventures
Bettina Hein – Founder of Pixibility (Sloan Fellow 2007)
Katherine Hays – CEO GenArts
Yvette Yelardy – Foudner of MYoilcloth
Joanne Kamens – Executive Director at AddGenes

Please register here. Reception in the café after the event.

We hope you stop by, grab a drink and connect!

See you in the Café,

Pardis

This week we bring you bring you a series of great office hours and info tables from:

• Boston Globe How to Pitch & Write an Op-Ed
• MassChallenge Info Table
• Office hours with Advanced Technology Venture’s Bob Hower and Bill Wiberg
• Office hours with MTDC’s Nick Pappas
• mosaicHUB Info Table
• TiECON East Info Table

Thursday, March 29, 2012 3:00-8:00 PM: Venture Café in Session

3:00-3:30 PM How to Pitch & Write an Op-Ed

Want to see your ideas in the opinions section of the Boston Globe? Come learn how to pitch and craft op-ed pieces from Peter Canellos, editor of the Globe’s Opinion page. Other members of the editorial board will be on hand as well, including Deputy Editor Dante Ramos, columnist Lawrence Harmon and editorial writer Rob Anderson.

3:30-5:30 PM MassChallenge Info Table

MassChallenge is the largest-ever startup accelerator and competition, and the first to support high-impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strings attached. Details of the program include:

• 3 month accelerator program. World-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, media and more.
• $1M in Cash Awards. $4M+ in-kind support.
• Open to all. Any startup can enter, from anywhere, in any industry.
• No equity taken. No restrictions applied.

The MassChallenge team look forward to meeting and answering your questions. They have some great things in store for 2012 and can’t wait to share them! Please come with comments, questions, suggestions, and more. Welcome to anyone interested in being a participant, sponsor, mentor, or judge.

4:00-5:30 PM Office Hours with Advanced Technology Ventures

ATV (@atvcapital) focuses on three core technology markets – IT, Healthcare and Cleantech and they’ve established a legacy of partnering with entrepreneurial teams at the forefront of technology innovation. Meet with Bob Hower, ATV’s East Coast lead partner for investments in information technology and Bill Wiberg, ATV’s lead partner for investments in the cleantech sector.  Bob was named to Forbes’ Midas list for two consecutive years, and was instrumental in Acme Packet’s public offering, one of the most successful IPOs in the communications sector of the decade. Bill joined ATV in 2003, bringing with him extensive operational and venture capital experience, including 19 years with Lucent Technologies.  He was President of Lucent’s Cellular and PCS Wireless Networks division from 1997 to 2000, a $5 billion business in 2000.

Sign up to meet with Bob or Bill for 15 minute sessions by adding your name to the list located near their tables.

4:00-5:30 PM Office Hours with MTDC

This week we welcome back one of our partners to the Café the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation – for a series of office hours. This week stop by and chat with Nick Pappas, Vice President of MTDC. He will be at a table in the Café taking meetings on a first-come, first-serve basis.

4:00-6:00 PM mosaicHUB Info Table

mosaicHUB (@mosaicHUB) is an online community for entrepreneurs.  Get advice and recommendations and share experiences with other entrepreneurs, service providers, mentors and investors.  mosaicHUB is powered by a community-driven ranking system where members cast their HubVote for quality service providers, resources and answers so you know you’re getting reliable information.  Swing by the mosaicHUB table to sign up for free, to meet the team or to just chat about what you are working on.

4:00-6:00 PM TiECON East Info Table

TiECON East is the largest annual startup conference on the east coast and will be held May 31-June 1, in Waltham, MA. The conference includes:

• Speakers like Diane Green (Founder, VMWare), Rich Miner (Google Android Co-founder), Brian Halligan (CEO, Hubspot), and many others.
• Panels on raising money, selling to enterprises & consumers, and exits. ·
• New trends in social media, mobile, Big Data, robotics, life sciences and clean tech
• Mentoring sessions and boot camp for raw entrepreneurs
• Leading venture capitalists and angel investors

Attend TIECON East for free by applying to TiE Challenge, a new startup accelerator program that launches March 29th. To learn more visit, www.boston.tie.org.

The Startup Life Challenge

Take a quick two minute survey about startup life and be entered to win an XBOX Kinect package or a Best Buy Gift Card. You do not need to be in college to join, sign up with your alma mater to enter (limited to first 500 people). We are working with Bing and CampusLive to build a cool infographic about Startup Life in Boston.

We hope you stop by, grab a drink and connect!

See you in the Café,

Pardis