Bootstrapping a Lean Startup

Bootstrapping a Lean Startup

PRE-MEETING DINNER at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham.

Starting a business? How will you fund it? It would appear at first glance from the press that most successful startups get funding from VC and Angel investments, when in reality most businesses are self-funded. Bootstrapping is the process whereby a business is started without any external help or capital. These businesses typically use personal savings, lines of credit, or internal cash flow to fund the business. Most operate in a lean model being very cautious with expenses while reinvesting any profits back in to the business to support development and growth.

Our speakers include successful entrepreneurs who have utilized Bootstrapping to fund and grow their businesses. We will discuss various techniques for funding, Bootstrapping pluses and minuses, resources for marketing, Accelerator options, and when and why a Bootstrapping business may consider external funding.

Speaker: Andy Miller Chief Innovation Architect, Constant Contact, www.constantcontact.com

Andy Miller is Chief Innovation Architect at Constant Contact, where he manages the Small Business Innovation Program, an accelerator program designed to support entrepreneurs developing solutions for small businesses. Prior to joining the company, he was CEO of CardStar where he was responsible for overall business development and strategic direction for the company. Prior to CardStar, Andy founded Lumifi LLC, Quece LLC, RetirementSuite.com, and StockCar Stocks Mutual Fund where he served on the Board of Directors. In addition, Andy has held various positions at PFPC, T. Rowe Price, Putnam Investments and Bank of America. Andy holds a BA in Economics from SUNY Oswego, a MS in Entrepreneurial Studies from Suffolk University and serves as a member of the Entrepreneur Leadership Council at Suffolk University.

Speaker: Nick Dougherty is the CEO and co-founder of Verbal Applications Inc., http://verbalapplications.com/.

Nick has a B.S. in computer engineering from Boston University, where he and his team won the Entrepreneurial Award and a Societal Engineering Award for their work on what would eventually become the Verbal Care patient-caregiver communication platform. He is Massachusetts born and raised. When he is not working at Verbal he volunteers his time at the charity he co-founded, Project Mailbox, plays hockey, and plays guitar.

Speaker: Bobbie Carlton, founder of Carlton PR & Marketing and Innovation Nights, http://mass.innovationnights.com

Bobbie is an award-winning marketing, PR and social media professional. She speaks regularly on social media, innovation communities and product launches, and consults with small businesses and individuals on social networking and social media marketing.  She also works with companies who are looking to access the Boston region entrepreneurial and innovation community.

Previously, in addition to working with a number of Boston-area PR and marketing firms, she headed global public relations at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) and Cognos (now IBM).  In 2006 she switched gears, joining the Beacon Street Girls, a social network and book series for preteen girls where she headed up the marketing and got a taste of the startup life.

In 2010 she was named one of the “Ten Bostonians who have done the most for the startup community”, and in 2011 she was a recipient of a Mass High Tech All-star award.  She has mentored a number of MassChallenge finalists, and was chosen to be an advisory board member of Startup MA, then part of Startup America.

Find out more information about Innovation Nights at http://mass.innovationnights.com or contact Bobbie for marketing and PR support at http://www.carltonprmarketing.com Follow Bobbie on Twitter as @BobbieC or @MassInno

Moderator: Steve Albanese- Moderator – Founder & CEO of LearnBolt, http://www.learnbolt.com

Steve is a tech savvy entrepreneur with twenty years experience in identifying market needs and opportunities, and building technology products and service based businesses in the EdTech space. Steve has set up successful business strategies, and sold products through large retail chains and direct to consumer sales in over 60 countries worldwide. Steve sold his first business Cool Breeze Systems to Thompson Learning (Cengage Learning) in 2003 and has since started two additional successful sustaining businesses. Currently Steve is knee-deep in his latest Startup LearnBolt – a mobile learning solution designed to help small businesses and educators create just-in-time learning from anywhere at anytime.

Meeting Location: Constant Contact, Inc., 1601 Trapelo Rd., 3^RD Floor, The Great Room, Waltham, MA (Exit 28B, I-95/Route 128)

Pre-meeting Dinner at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham.

Check for Updates at: Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network Website at ( http://www.boston-enet.org )

Directions: http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/office-location-waltham.jsp

Reservations: ENET Constant Contact meetings are free to ENET members and $20 for non-members. No reservations are needed for the dinner. To expedite sign-in for the meeting, we ask that everyone — members as well as non-members — pre-register for the meeting online. Pre-registration is available until midnight the day before the meeting. If you cannot pre-register, you are welcome to register at the door.