Agenda:

LaunchUp Mentoring: 5:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.

LaunchUp #24: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session:10 minutes Rob Wuebker Rob is post-doctoral fellow teaching strategy and entrepreneurship at the David Eccles School of Business. His area of research is, broadly speaking, how the capital markets finance innovation by supporting entrepreneurs. At the School of Business, he is paid to teach entrepreneurs. So that is what he does. He has an odd arrangement with the Business School – students take his classes for credit if they want, but they are also free and open to the public. Anyone can attend. Rob has deep roots in Utah – three of the venture-backed companies he worked for before moving to full time research and community service were founded here. His focus now is on regional development – making Utah a better place. For him, this starts with you – entrepreneurs – the present and future of the Utah economy. His approach to teaching entrepreneurship is to do no harm to students – the working assumption is that people, left alone, are creative and smart enough to launch businesses, because launching a business is not that hard and the intellectual bar is low Most people who try to help entrepreneurs hurt them, or try to sell them something. Rob tries to avoid hurting entrepreneurs, and definitely isn’t interested in selling them anything. While you might find Rob’s approach to entrepreneurship instruction curious, there is evidence that it works. The David Eccles School of Business has gone from an unranked entrepreneurship program to 16th in the nation in two years. The Foundry – the student-run business incubator hosted by the School of Business – quietly has out-produced (in terms of number of companies formed, amount of revenue generated by company, and number of jobs created) every other university program in the country…on a budget that is, in accounting terms, a rounding error.

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes Paid Search Chad Cannon For nearly a decade Chad has worked in online marketing, specializing in direct response advertising & lead generation. During the last 6 years Chad has managed many Paid Search accounts ranging in size from multi-million dollar enterprise accounts to fledgling entrepreneurs on shoestring budgets. Working on both the client and vendor side of the equation has given Chad unique perspective and experience. Regardless of the size of your Paid Search campaigns Chad has learned there are universal strategies you must employ in order to succeed.

Agenda:

LaunchUp Mentoring: 5:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.

LaunchUp #23: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session:10 minutes Quint Randle, Professor-Entreprenuer Quint Randle is an associate professor of communications at Brigham Young University where he teaches new media, feature writing, design and research. Prior to completing his doctorate at Michigan State (with an emphasis in Media Marketing), he was a publisher and writer, founding two national magazines years: Gig Magazine (for musicians) and Hockey Player®. He was also the online manager at The Lansing State Journal, a Gannett newspaper. Along with his Ph.D. from MSU, he holds a B.A. in journalism from BYU and a M.A. in communications from Pepperdine University. He is a patent-holder and remains active in media marketing and other creative activities, including co-founding the software company Drums On Demand (drumsondemand.com) and the Pearl-Award winning musical group Joshua Creek (joshuacreekmusic.com).

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes Sales Brian Ford, Founder/President 8 Pillars. Brian Nelson Ford is the founder and president of 8 Pillars Financial Education Company. His goal is to rejuvenate the country’s financial health one person at a time. Brian is an accomplished and well-respected author. In addition to, The 8 Pillars of Financial Greatness, he has authored an award-winning children’s book titled Marshmallows and Bikes – Teaching Children (and Adults) Personal Finance

Specifics:

Agenda:

LaunchUp Mentoring: 5:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.

• Legal: Attorneys will be on hand to talk on issues relating to formation, angel and venture financings, employment, options, intellectual property, strategic partner relationships, customer contracts, exits and other issues that startups regularly face.
• Tech: With the Tech Mentors, you discuss your questions and ideas with experienced software startup architects and engineers.

LaunchUp #22: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session: 10 minutes Daniel Blake, CEO and Founder of EcoScraps. EcoScraps was started March 2010 by Daniel Blake, Brandon Sargent and Craig Martineau. Daniel is a BYU undergrad studying English and Business. He is a SoCap Scholar and a Sparkseed Fellow. Daniel and EcoScraps were featured on the cover of the May edition of Inc. Magazine.

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes. So, you want to build an Internet application? Scott Lemon, Founder/President, Human Xtensions. Scott Lemon is Futurist, technologist, aggregationist, entrepreneur, technology & software consultant. He has extensive computer and technology experience, from hardware up through software, local area networking and Internet experience. He has been involved in the computer industry since it’s infancy. Using this broad base of technology knowledge he applies these patterns to almost any industry. He has a long history of working in support and sales, and so his customer interaction has lead to a unique expertise in applied technology and a deep understanding of business. He follows a broad set of disciplines from biotech to nanotech.

Specifics:

Agenda:

LaunchUp #1 – Las Vegas: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session: 10 minutes Yiying Lu (designer of our favorite pop culture icon the Twitter ‘Fail Whale’). Yiying is also a co-founder of walls360 which will be relocating operations to Vegas.

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes Building A Community The local husband and wife entrepreneur team of David and Jennifer Gosse have founded vortaloptics.com, namechk.com, and are working on another startup trac.ky. David Gosse is the founder of Namechk, a username search tool, and CEO and founder of Vortaloptics, a software company headquartered in Las Vegas that develops custom search engines and social media apps. Jennifer Grosse is the CMO of Trac.ky and Vortaloptics. Ten years of startup, product development and digital marketing experience. Passionate about innovation, the digital landscape and products that improve and simplify our increasingly busy lives.

Specifics:

Agenda:

LaunchUp Clinics: No clinics this month, Clinics will return in September

LaunchUp #21: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session:10 minutes Investing in Emotional Capital Anna Stehrenberger, Founder MarriedToAnEntrepreneur.com. Anna Stehrenberger married an entrepreneur 7 years ago, not knowing what that lifestyle would entail. Just as her Entrepreneur seeks advice from business mentors and associates about the road of Entrepreneurship, Anna desired the same type of guidance as the Spouse of an Entrepreneur and couldn’t seem to find it. So she created MarriedToAnEntrepreneur.com, a company that offers support and insight to the spouses of entrepreneurs. She writes about the amazing adventures, difficult challenges, and the fun roller coaster ride that her life has been as the wife of an Entrepreneur. As part of her company she interviews other spouses of entrepreneurs (from successful to aspiring successful) to get their insight, stories, and advice. Married to an Entrepreneur is also gathering research data via her blog survey as support data for her upcoming book. She hopes to not only to help prepare those who are looking to marry or recently married an entrepreneur, but to also improve the marriages of veteran entrepreneurs as well. She has helped her Entrepreneur in many of his startups from screen print t-shirts in a college apartment to driving Ferraris in a luxury car leasing company and with 8 years of an Entrepreneurial Marriage under her belt she is excited to share her experiences and learn from other spouses as well. She hasn’t always been convinced she loves this life, but she does love the man who loves this life and that makes all the difference.

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes Mobile Mud Pie Dave Stevenson, Founder, Stevenson Software. Dave is founder of Stevenson Software, publisher of over 40 mobile applications. An accomplished entrepreneur with 13 years in technology, Dave has started and sold three successful internet based businesses. Prior to Stevenson Software, Dave has held leadership positions in various real estate and banking software companies. Most recently, Dave was the Director of Integration and Support Services for Simplifile, LC. While at Simplifile, he served as a co-chair on the technical committee for the national Property Records Industry Association (PRIA), helping design and promote a nationwide standard for property records information transfers. Dave is also active in social media, having been named one of the “50 Tweeters Every Utahn Should Follow” on Twitter. Between tweets, he can be reached at dave @ stevensonsoftware . com or on Twitter @dnstevenson

Agenda:

LaunchUp Clinics: No clinics this month, Clinics will return in September

LaunchUp #20: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session:10 minutes Phil Windley, Founder & CTO, Kynetx. Phil Windley is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Kynetx, an early stage company providing a platform for building browser apps. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Brigham Young University where he teaches courses on reputation, digital identity, large-scale system design, and programming languages. Phil writes the popular Technometria blog and is a frequent contributor to various technical publications. He is also the author of the book Digital Identity from O’Reilly Media. Prior to joining BYU, Phil spent two years as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the State of Utah, serving on Governor Mike Leavitt’s Cabinet and as a member of his Senior Staff. Before entering public service, Phil was Vice President for Product Development and Operations at Excite@Home and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of iMALL, Inc. an early creator of electronic commerce tools. Phil serves on the Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards for several high-tech companies. Phil received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Univ. of California, Davis in 1990.

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes A Masochist’s Guide to Managing Scope Tyler Bye, Managing Partner, Protoven. Self-described as a “Startup Catalyst”, Tyler has served amongst the senior engineering staff of several startups. As Managing Partner of Protoven, Tyler transitions to the executive level where he, “…Suffers at the hands of his own decisions.” With a customer list that includes ABC / Disney, and a Protoven founded startup named upLynk taking off, those decisions are starting to reap benefits.

Agenda:

LaunchUp Clinics: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

• Legal: Attorneys will be on hand to talk on issues relating to formation, angel and venture financings, employment, options, intellectual property, strategic partner relationships, customer contracts, exits and other issues that startups regularly face.
• Tech: At the Tech Clinic, you discuss your questions and ideas with experienced software startup architects and engineers.

LaunchUp #19: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session:10 minutes Alex Lawrence, Vice Provost of Innovation & Economic Development, John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics at Weber State University; Director of USTAR Technology Outreach for Northern Utah. Alex has been launching and growing successful companies for more than 15 years. Along the way there have been plenty of struggles as well – learning equally from both the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Learning by doing has made Alex well-versed in business strategy and development, sales, internet marketing, social media, venture & debt capital, mobile and web application development, franchising, mergers and acquisitions, exits, and day-to-day business operations. He is always reading and trying to pay attention to those around him; books and others are some of the best resources for learning. Alex’s current partnership, Lendio, ranks #34 on the Inc. 500 list. You can read about the exciting things going on with Lendio in a recent article on TechCrunch. Alex is Vice Provost of Innovation and Economic Development as well as a Professor of Internet Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics at Weber State University, where he earned his MBA. If you are at or near WSU, consider taking his class. It will be one of the more unique courses of your college experience. As Vice Provost, Alex works with faculty, staff, students and business members in the community to help start and grow businesses. Alex is also the Director of USTAR (Utah Science Technology And Research) Technology Outreach for Northern Utah. USTAR is a long-term, state-funded investment to strengthen Utah’s “knowledge economy.” This revolutionary initiative invests in world-class innovation teams and research facilities to create novel technologies that are subsequently commercialized through new business ventures.

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes Offshore Outsourcing for Startups Brigham Tomco, CEO, Zylun. Brigham is the Owner and CEO of Zylun, an offshore staffing and outsourcing firm with over 500 employees. Zylun helps businesses build offshore teams of call center, live chat, programming, design, internet marketing, and data entry agents. Brigham is also an owner and Director of Oxzen Media, an internet marketing firm. Prior to co-founding Zylun, Brigham worked in New York City for Ocean Road Advisors and Meyer Ventures where he was a member of the investment committee and managed an $800 million portfolio invested in public and private equities, hedge funds, real estate, venture capital, high-yield debt, and fixed income. He has played a founding role in six start-up companies. After graduating from Ricks College where he was a captain of the football team, Brigham earned a degree in Accounting and a JD/MBA from Brigham Young University. Brigham enjoys spending time playing sports and being in the outdoors with his wife four children.

Specifics:

Agenda:

LaunchUp Clinics: 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

• Legal: Attorneys will be on hand to talk on issues relating to formation, angel and venture financings, employment, options, intellectual property, strategic partner relationships, customer contracts, exits and other issues that startups regularly face.
• Tech: At the Tech Clinic, you discuss your questions and ideas with experienced software startup architects and engineers.
• Design/Front End: Get past any design/front-end hurdles that they might have with your startup by talking to designers/front-end gurus.

LaunchUp #18: 6:30 p.m.

Amp Session:10 minutes Jay Bean, Founder and CEO, Orange Soda. Jay Bean is the co- founder and CEO of OrangeSoda, Inc., a marketing-driven technology company that empowers merchants with smaller advertising budgets to maximize their online presence through its search marketing and optimization platform. He is responsible for guiding the company’s strategy and growth. OrangeSoda has helped thousands of merchants implement successful online advertising since bringing its core technology to market in early 2007. Through the company’s proprietary, analytics-driven campaign management center, local merchants are now realizing the effectiveness of localized search engine marketing and optimization. In 1999, Bean founded ah-ha.com, a leading pay-for-performance search engine marketing company. Ah-ha.com connected thousands of merchants with millions of consumers via highly targeted pay-per-click advertising programs, including paid search listings, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion. In February 2003, ah-ha.com was acquired by Marchex Inc. (MCHX).

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes Startup’s Guide for Selling John Boyd, President, J Curve Sales. John is the President of J-Curve Sales, a B2B sales outsourcing, sales training, and sales consulting company. Over the past 5 years, J-Curve has helped dozens of local and national companies move the sales needle forward. Before John started his company, he was an early sales contributor with several venture-backed technology startups, the most recent of which was Omniture/Adobe. Endorsed by Steven R Covey, Brian Tracy, and Daniel Pink, John recently published the book The Illustrated Guide to Selling You – Custom Design Your Work Life.