Tech Entrepreneurs Lab
Thursday, October 4th | 11:30 AM – 3:15 PM
Baltimore Convention Center
Twitter: #ghc12 #TEL
| Women entrepreneurs have taken a virtualization company public, invented the ZipCar, built cleantech solutions, and released smartphone apps. What is your big idea? |
What will the Lab deliver?
The Tech Entrepreneurs Lab @ GHC is designed to get you and your big idea to the next level.
- Inspiration and frank advice from successful women entrepreneurs
- Networking and connection with other innovative women
- Practical tips & tricks with relevant mentors
The Lab will also help you develop these key elements of entrepreneurial thinking:
- Recognizing opportunities
- Transforming an idea into an actionable business plan
- Expressing a value proposition via a compelling elevator pitch
- Finding synergies with potential co-founders, partners, and investors
Leave the Tech Entrepreneurs Lab with new skills, new relationships, and a new confidence that you are indeed an entrepreneur!
Tech Entrepreneur Lab Activities:
| 11:30 am – 12:30 pm (BCC:Ballroom I): ”In conversation with …. Robin Chase, Sandy Jen, Asmau Ahmed and Elisa Camahort Page“ Abstract:This session will highlight the different personal journeys that our guests underwent to become technology entrepreneurs. |
| 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM (BCC:Hall D Lunchtime Table Topics Area): “Ask the Experts ..” Abstract:This session will offer the opportunity to talk with mentors over lunch casually and candidly, including Entrepreneur Attorneys, Venture Capitalists, Successful Entrepreneurs |
| 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM (BCC:Ballroom I): Tech Entrepreneurs Lab Abstract: This hands-on workshop will allow you to experience the “Ideation”, “Pitch” or “Networking” phase |
In conversation with …
BCC:Ballroom I
Robin Chase
Founder & CEO, BuzzCar
Biography: Robin Chase is founder and CEO of Buzzcar, a service that brings together car owners and drivers in a carsharing marketplace. Buzzcar.com empowers individuals to take control of their mobility, without looking to governments or big businesses for solutions. Robin is also founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world, and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community.
She is on the Board of the World Resources Institute, the National Advisory Council for Innovation & Entrepreneurship for the US Department of Commerce, and the OECD’s International Transport Forum Advisory Board. She also served on the Intelligent Transportations Systems Program Advisory Committee for the US Department of Transportation, the Massachusetts Governor’s Transportation Transition Working Group, and Boston Mayor’s Wireless Task Force.
Robin lectures widely, has been frequently featured in the major media, and has received many awards in the areas of innovation, design, and environment, including Time 100 Most Influential People, Fast Company Fast 50 Innovators, and BusinessWeek Top 10 Designers. Robin graduated from Wellesley College and MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow
Elisa Camahort Page
Co-Founder and COO, BlogHer Inc.
Biography: Elisa Camahort Page co-founded BlogHer, Inc. in 2005 with Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, and serves as its COO. Elisa leads events, marketing, PR and research, growing the BlogHer conference business from a single conference hosting 300 attendees to multiple events that will host over 5,000 attendees in 2012. Elisa’s other major focus is to bring the story of BlogHer, and the influence of the women in its community, to life via research. Elisa’s work leading BlogHer’s research, marketing and PR, has resulted in coverage in many leading media outlets.
Together, BlogHer’s co-founders were in the Ernst & Young Winning Women Class of 2011, named among the most influential women in Web 2.0 and technology (Fast Company), and among the seven most powerful people in new media (Forbes Magazine). They have been awarded the PepsiCo Women’s Inspiration Award and the Anita Borg Institute Social Impact Award. Elisa has been honored as an NCWIT Hero and as one of AWM’s Sixty@60. Elisa is a founding Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research and serves on the programming advisory committee for SXSW Interactive, Advisory Board for Food on the Table, and Board of Advisors of the Anita Borg Institute.
Asmau Ahmed
Founder and CEO, Plum Perfect
Biography: Founder/CEO Asmau Ahmed, brings over 12 years of experience in chemical engineering, math/statistical data analysis and strategic consulting to Plum Perfect. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. with honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Her story begins with years of unsuccessfully navigating store aisles in search of make-up and clothing colors to make her look her best. As an engineer, beauty & fashion enthusiast, she was compelled to address the problem with technology. And so she built Plum Perfect, a visual search engine that provides instant personalized recommendations to shoppers using their photos.
Sandy Jen
CTO and Co-founder, Meebo
Biography: Sandy Jen was the CTO and Co-founder of Meebo, a consumer Internet company that helped connect people to who and what was important to them. Meebo was founded in 2005 and Sandy led Meebo’s engineering team. In June of 2012, Meebo was acquired by Google and Sandy now works on the Google+ team.
Jen, a rock climber and ultimate frisbee player, mentors young entrepreneurs and students in her spare time. She graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Computer Science, and is a recent recipient of the Founders Fund TechFellows Award in Engineering Leadership.
Ask the experts …
BCC:Hall D Lunchtime Table Topics Area
Abstract: Do you have questions about protecting your intellectual property, how to form business entities, rapid prototyping tools, mentoring resources, bootstrapping a startup and others? These experts will be available to answer questions you may have
Tech Entrepreneurs Lab
BCC:Ballroom I
Abstract: This hands-on workshop is designed to allow you to experience elements of entrepreneurial thinking. Attendees will get to experience the -
“Ideation” phase where you will learn how to transform an idea into an actionable business plan AND
“Pitch” phase where you will get to prepare your “Elevator pitch” and get to practice this via a practice Pitch Session
At the end of the Workshop all the attendees will leave with resources developed for all the phases.
Tech Entrepreneurs Lab Committee:
Elisa Camhort-Page, BlogHer
Angie Chang, Women 2.0
Rupa Dachere, Founder, CodeChix.org
Seema Gururaj, Anita Borg Institute
Sandy Jen, Meebo
Sharon Kan, Babson College
Kathy Kleiman, Esq., Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth
Ivo Lukas, 24Notion & Girls in Tech
Sharon Vosmek, Astia