Follow-up from this morning's meeting, assignment

[David Parker]

Good meeting this morning!

 

David shared nothing from his France trip.

Steve and Raj were recognized for their superhuman work on the I-6 application.

We discussed last night’s panel discussion at length.  All agreed – great event.  Survey results (25 so far) confirm this:  8.3 out of 10 average score on event overall.

To work on:  More people of color, more time for Q&A, better moderator.  Maybe rotate 3 moderators who get better over time?

 

Other items:

Mentors:  We need to get this going.  John is excited to work on this, so he and Lianna, with Tom and Raj’s help, are going to get moving on how to manage/train/monitor mentors.

People of color/immigrant involvement:  It’s time we really applied ourselves here.  Agreement to create a Community Outreach team and recruit leaders in the ethnic/immigrant communities, from both cities, to participate.  David will work on this, hopefully with Frank.

Proposal:  Panel discussion on Immigrant Entrepreneurs, addressing their particular needs/challenges.

Real Estate:  Tom is going to ramp up his team’s work on this, as deadlines are approaching.  Need square footage, type of space, neighborhood, for both cities, and then the business rationale behind them so we can show a breakeven scenario in a few years.

Fund raising:  Fred needs help figuring out how to approach people given all the moving parts.

Programming:  Nancy and Lianna need to figure out a game plan on accelerator program, to start after final Pitch Contest.

Pitch Contests:  Need to figure out marketing plans for contests three and four (together).  Emil to lead this.

Pitch Contests:  We also need more judges – Lianna/Nancy.

Next Meeting:  Two weeks, August 9.  Everyone should be ready to report on progress.

 

Assignment:  Name.  IdeaLaunch is out – too  much overlap with an existing company, and they’re threatening legal action.  General agreement to find a new name fast, and to hold on to either Idea or Launch.  Think about it, and email me any brainstorms that hit you!

 

Thanks-

David

 

David Parker

Co-Executive Director
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
MerrimackValleySandbox.org
office: 978-934-6619
cell: 781-325-3085