Leadership group - summary of yesterday's meeting, no meeting next week
David Parker
We had a good meeting last Thursday, and covered a lot of material.
First off: No meeting on Thursday the 5th of July, due to the holidays.
First of all, welcome to Steve Tello, who has joined us. UML is such an important part of the ecosystem, and Steve is playing a critical role at UML regarding entrepreneurship, so Steve joining us makes sense on a lot of levels.
We discussed the second pitch contest. Congratulations to all who played such important roles in making it such a success, particularly Nancy, Lianna, Emil, Theresa, and Max. We made a bunch of small adjustments from the first to the second, and they seemed to improve things. Notable successes: the Wild card, the tables for idea people, the idea buttons, and the fan voting/prize.
We discussed at length the desirability of more questions of the presenters from judges and the audience. Many people want this, but we have to balance the time constraints of the evening as well as the “fairness thing” among the contestants. We might make some small changes for the next contest – one thought was to spend 10 minutes after all the presenters are done – they all line up on the stage – and allow questions from the audience. Definitely needs more thought!
We’re also thinking of having two moderators – one from the Sandbox, one an MC/story teller type. This way the Sandbox stuff that needs to be shared – upcoming events, why we’re here, who was involved/needs to be thanked, etc – can be covered by the Sandbox person, and all the fun stuff can be handled by the MC.
We agreed that a “I’m willing to help” button would be great to match up the “I have an idea!” people with. This would make it easier for idea people/helpers to find one another.
One idea we discussed was an “open mike” event, where people could simply pitch ideas, with no research/team building/etc. allowed. Sort of a poetry slam for aspiring entrepreneurs? Maybe people in the room could riff with the idea person and help them take their idea to a new level? Needs more discussion.
David discussed the MV Small Business Center’s program the night before, Finance 101. 80% was on bank financing for entrepreneurs – which few if any of the participants would consider, and which happens only rarely in real life – and only then with SBA backing, which is really difficult to attain. [FYI: Kristin from the Small Business Center reached out to me for feedback, and is game to change her program to better address the more popular ways to attain funding.] I think we’re in agreement that having entrepreneurs themselves talk about the pros and cons is much more powerful than having a non-entrepreneur do it- like we’re doing with the panel discussion on the 25th.
We covered the Federal I-6 grant program, and the application that we’re putting together for this $1 million program. Steve Tello, Tom O’Donnell, Raj, and I are concentrating on this. We have spoken to all the higher ed partners, and they’re on board and putting together their materials. I have asked all the Sandbox IdeaLaunch partners to contribute support letters – they’re starting to trickle in.
Many of the Leadership group are members of the partner organizations – can you make sure these letters are under way?
We discussed the format and timing of the accelerator program. Everyone agreed that we want to hold on to the energy and enthusiasm of the pitch contests, particularly after the final “showdown of champions” one – but at the same time, it’ll be tough to schedule given Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the January Hubli trip. Raj suggested a 1-2 week Bootcamp after the pitch contests, perhaps just before Thanksgiving, or the first two weeks of December, for a select number of applicants. We would follow this with an accelerator program in February after we return from Hubli. We need to grab details on Mass Challenge’s boot camp to get an idea of how their’s works and how we should set up our own. This isn’t a done deal, but there was general agreement that the concept and timing sounded workable.
We agreed that we should ask for feedback from the 70 or so aspiring entrepreneurs that have reached us through the pitch contests regarding space (as we get closer to nailing down what we’re looking for) and what other help they need.
That’s it – good meeting!
David
David Parker
Director of Entrepreneur Development
Merrimack Valley Sandbox
Merrimack Valley Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UMass Lowell
Wannalancit Mills, First Floor
600 Suffolk Street, Lowell, MA 01854
Da...@MerrimackValleySandbox.org
www.uml.edu/mvsandbox/
office: 978-934-6619
cell: 781-325-3085
Todd Fry
Seems like a great meeting. Sorry I missed this one. Big salute to everyone for the incredible work!
- Todd
Todd Fry
Executive Director, Merrimack Valley Sandbox Initiative
Merrimack Valley Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UMass Lowell
Wannalancit Mills, First Floor
600 Suffolk Street, Lowell, MA 01854