Posts filed under 'Events'
August 24th, 2010
Sarah Allen will talk about bootstrapping a mobile startup at the Bootstrapper’s Breakfast Wednesday September 1 at 9am at Boudin Bakery, Embarcadero 4 in San Francisco.
Sarah is a serial entrepreneur who is leveraging her software development consulting business, Blazing Cloud, to bootstrap her mobile-focused startup, Mightyverse. Early in her career, Sarah founded a company, CoSA (The Company of Science & Art), which did part-time consulting using their own software libraries to bootstrap a product business, which led to the creation of After Effects (acquired by Aldus, and subsequently Adobe). She finds her current bootstrap effort easier since the consulting is unrelated to the startup, keeping product development decisions separate from short-term revenue drivers.
In both technical and leadership roles, Sarah has been developing commercial software since 1990. She began focusing on Internet software as an engineer on Macromedia’s Shockwave team in 1995. She led the development of the Shockwave Multiuser Server, and later the Flash Media Server and Flash video. Sarah believes that open source software provides solid technical foundations and compelling business models. She is an expert with Ruby and Rails and is on the OpenLaszlo core team. An industry veteran who has also worked at Adobe, Aldus, Apple, and Laszlo Systems, Sarah was named one of the top 25 women of the web by SF WoW (San Francisco Women of the Web) in 1998.
August 19th, 2010
A good brand is one of the strongest competitive advantages a company can have. While most bootstrappers won’t develop the cache of Nike’s swoosh logo, the ability to convey your product or service at an instance to potential customers is invaluable. Trademarks are one of the legal ways to protect your brand and build that competitive advantage.
For bootstrappers, knowing when to trademark and how to do it affordably is a common question. Thursday August 26th at 7:30 AM, Mr. Pete Tormey will present a short introduction about trademarks and provide a framework for working them into a startup business plan. Mr. Tormey is a former bootstrapper and is now a patent attorney practicing in the San Francisco Bay area.
Thursday August 26th at 7:30 AM
Athens Burger Restaurant
6999 Dublin Boulevard
Dublin, CA
July 27th, 2010
I recently went to a great workshop by a fellow bootstrapper member Massimo Paolini. He has a special offer to other members. It is worth checking out.
Wordpress – From Start to Finish
Thursday, August 19, 2010
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (PT)
Mountain View, CA
More Info
Contact us for a discount code.
July 14th, 2010
You’ve started your business, now what?
– How well do you understand the market you are in?
Mark Florant, will discuss a number of key issues you should be thinking about:
- Understanding the size of your market: current key players/competitors, and customers.
- Selling into your market: decision makers—who are they, targeting different exec. levels/areas within a company and why.
- Factoring in changes in the marketplace
Mark Florant currently is working with three early stage start-ups; Aquabella Organics, Wspider and 360iCoach helping them with sales, market development, marketing strategies.
Mark’s passion and expertise is taking a product with no revenue and establishing a market, along with building strong relationships that enhance the process. His has experience working with large organizations, IBM, Cisco, Hitachi and Intel (having held positions as Sr. Account manager at Cisco as well as US Sales Dev Mgr for the Optical Platform Division of Intel. He has also been at successful start-up organizations such as LightLogic, where he was VP of Worldwide Sales. Mark earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in Psychology.
June 13th, 2010
The Silicon Valley economy continues to test bootstrapping entrepreneurs cash management skills. Rick Kadet of The Brenner Group, Inc will be our guest at the Bootstrapppers Breakfast meeting, Tuesday, June 15 in Sunnvale to discuss Effective Cash Flow Financial Strategies for early stage entrepreneurs. Rick will provide a five minute overview of key principles that will be followed by our regular round the table discussion.
Rick is Vice President and Senior CFO Management Consultant with The Brenner Group, Inc., where, since 1998, he has engaged with over 60 valley firms as part-time CFO or financial advisor. Rick works with client firms on executive staff level financial management, financial reporting to boards of directors, financial and business planning, raising venture and debt capital, facilities, business infrastructure, business systems and risk management.
Whether you are actively bootstrapping a startup, considering entrepreneurship, or keeping a weather eye on the possibility of involuntary entrepreneurship as your next career stage, you are welcome to join us. Please bring your questions and lessons learned.
Bootstrappers Breakfast meetings bring together entrepreneurs who are serious about growing their business and gives them a chance to compare notes on operational, development, and business issues with peers.
June 11th, 2010
Take caltrain to Mountain View Station. 201 Castro Street is a 4 minutes walk from the caltrain station.
June 11th, 2010
Take the BART to the Dublin/Pleasanton station. The location is a 20 minute walk from the station.
The Pleasanton/Dublin transit (“Wheels” its called) line #10 runs from the
Dublin/Pleasanton BART station right past the restaurant.
If you call 510 441-2278 (BART), the public transit folks will make a
personalized transit plan to the restaurant.
June 11th, 2010
Boudin Bakery — Embarcadero Center
4 Embarcadero Center
San Francisco, CA
(a) Take the BART to Embarcadero station.
(b) From the Caltrain Station: Take Muni lightrail K from 4th and king and exit Embarcadero
Boudin Bakery faces Justin Herman Plaza (also the Ferry Building)
May 26th, 2010
We are expecting a full-house tomorrow at Dublin’s first Bootstrapper’s Breakfast meeting tomorrow. Sign up now if you can join us.
Hope to see you tomorrow, 7:30-9am at Athens Burger Restaurant.
6999 Dublin Boulevard Dublin CA 94568
(925) 803-8135
May 24th, 2010
Cash flow management and taking into account assets and resources is a challenge for all businesses. Rick Kadet of The Brenner Group, Inc will be our guest at the Bootstrapppers Breakfast meeting, Tuesday, June 15 to discuss Effective Cash Flow Financial Strategies for early stage entrepreneurs. Rick will provide a short 3-5 minute introduction to set the stage for our round the table discussion.
Rick is Vice President and Senior CFO Management Consultant with The Brenner Group, Inc., where, since 1998, he has engaged with over 60 valley firms as part-time CFO or financial advisor. Rick works with client firms on executive staff level financial management, financial reporting to boards of directors, financial and business planning, raising venture and debt capital, facilities, business infrastructure, business systems and risk management.
Prior experience to The Brenner Group includes CFO and operational positions at Versant Corporation, a data base software firm for whom Rick managed its 1996 IPO; InfoSpan Corporation, an information management software firm where he was acting CEO for one year, Cadre Technologies, Inc. a software tools company and Sarama Industries, an electrical products manufacturer. Rick began his career with General Electric Company, and graduated from GE’s three-year Financial Management Training Program. Rick is a graduate of Arizona State University.
Bootstrappers Breakfast meetings bring together leading edge entrepreneurs are serious about growing their business. Compare notes on operational, development, and business issues with peers. Have some questions ready and join us for the lively discussion. Share your ideas and leverage thoughts with other professionals.
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