Managing Startup Programmers
Class
Wednesday, March 15, 8:30am - 10:00am
Speaker: Joe Marasco
Once you get beyond the founding team of programmers, putting together
a high-trust environment is crucial to any startup. We discuss several aspects
of this dynamic: the role of politics in technical organizations, the proven
ways to successfully communicate with programmers, getting sign-up, and
creating a success-oriented culture. Although there is no one recipe for
managing the different kinds of teams that inhabit startups, it is a fallacy
to believe that there are no rules at all. We provide guidelines to help talented
software developers manage their teams of startup programmers in getting
their products out the door.
Capturing the Vision & Developing the Plan
Class
Wednesday, March 15, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Moderator: Rosemary Remacle
Panelists: Mark Jensen, J. Peter Herz, Jackie Kimsey
The purpose of this session is to help engineers who are
thinking of launching a startup get a handle on really what
they've got - an idea, a feature, a product, or a business?
This session will feature a panel of serial entrepreneurs
and VCs with software experience who will lead the audience
through a series of evaluations critical to success,
including "Does your idea pass the "So What?" test?",
"Is it a critical need of a nice to have?", and what do you
do if you've uncovered a whole new industry but no-one believes you? (think Yahoo)
Have I Got What it Takes to be a Successful Entrepreneur
Class
Wednesday, March 15, 1:45pm - 3:15pm
Moderator: Chris Gill
Panelists: Bill Reichert, Peter Yared, John Occhipinti
Once you get beyond the founding team of programmers, putting together
a high-trust environment is crucial to any startup. We discuss several aspects
of this dynamic: the role of politics in technical organizations, the proven
ways to successfully communicate with programmers, getting sign-up, and
creating a success-oriented culture. Although there is no one recipe for
managing the different kinds of teams that inhabit startups, it is a fallacy
to believe that there are no rules at all. We provide guidelines to help talented
software developers manage their teams of startup programmers in getting
their products out the door.
Startups - Risks versus Consequences
Class
Wednesday, March 15, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Moderator: Jim Chapman
Panelists: Konstantin Othmer, Robert Rositano
The purpose of this session is to help engineers who are thinking
of launching a startup get a handle on the risks, and consequences,
of launching a startup company. This session will feature a panel of
serial entrepreneurs and VCs with software experience who will lead
the audience through a series of evaluations of risks versus consequences
including "Just how risky is launching a startup company?" , "Are you
fishing in a big enough pond?" , "What sort of business entity should
I choose?", and "Should I leave my day job?"
Creating a Winning Founding Team
Class
Thursday, March 16, 8:30am - 10:00am
Moderator: Laura Roden
Panelists: Dee DiPietro, Jef Graham, Fred Greguras, Max Shapiro
The purpose of this session is to help engineers who are thinking
of launching a startup get a handle on the importance of the
founding team, and how to put one together. This session will feature
a panel of serial entrepreneurs and VCs with software experience who
will lead the audience through a series of evaluations of evaluations
critical for building a successful founding team, including "Just how
important is the founding team?", "What sort of people should I look for?",
"Where do I find these people?" and "How do I pay them?"
Funding your Startup - Bootstrap versus Venture Capital
Class
Thursday, March 16, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Moderator: Joe Becker
Panelists: Ken Brenner, Peter Dumanian, Ken Toren
The purpose of this session is to help engineers who are
thinking of launching a startup get a handle on the pros and cons
of Bootstrapping a startup by generating early sales versus
raising Venture Capital. This session will feature a panel of serial
entrepreneurs and VCs with software experience who will lead the
audience through a series of evaluations critical for understanding
Bootstrapping versus raising Venture Capital, including "How can I
tell if my idea is fundable?" , "How and when can I expect to raise
venture capital from Angels or VCs?" , "What are the advantages and
downsides of bootstrapping instead?" , "Are there alternative
sources of funding I can leverage?"
Open Source and the Entrepreneur
Class
Thursday, March 16, 1:45pm - 3:15pm
Speaker: William Weinberg
Open Source and the Entrepreneur Open Source is increasingly playing
a key role in the business and technology mix available to both start-ups
and to mature companies. To realize maximum benefit from this worldwide
movement, it is imperative that entrepreneurs comprehend the Open Source
development model, licenses used to distribute Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS) and the rights and obligations that accompany those licenses, and
modes of doing business with and around Open Source, This presentation will
offer attendees an essential understanding of FOSS development and community
practices, describe prevailing Open Source software licenses and best practices
for working with them, and provide entrepreneurs with recipes for adding
Open Source to their business strategies.
Startups, Lessons from the Field
Class
Thursday, March 16, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Speakers: Dejan Nenov & Ross Wheeler
Launching a software startup is the ultimate balancing act. The entrepreneur
must carefully time the shift of focus on funding, product building, recruiting,
marketing and selling. Defining "startup success" unambiguously is critical and
often means stating an exit criteria in other word are you going to build your
company as an acquisition target or do you crave the IPO limelight? Or maybe you
are doing this for the sake of being your own boss, or even as a social engagement
for your peers? This presentation will discuss the pros and cons of these software
entrepreneurial archetypes and attempts to share front-line experience, success,
failures, dos and don ts in their context. Intended to be interactive, this
session will ask the questions: Who are the first and last people you should
be hiring? Does "stealth mode" make sense? What is the role of product management
and program management in a software startup? When do you need a separate CTO and
VP Engineering? When do you need a "development process"?
Presenting to a Venture Capitalist: A Guideline
Class
Friday, March 17, 8:30am - 10:00am
Speaker: Tim Connors
This session covers the presentation guidelines to follow when you need to
present your company to a venture capitalist. What are the important topics
for the presentation? What should the flow look like? How many slides should
you use and how long should the presentation be? Do you need a business plan?
While the focus will be on a venture capitalist presentation, you should be
able to use the lessons taught in the class for any investor presentation.
Software Patents
Class
Friday, March 17, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Speakers: Dennis S. Fernandez & Heather Meeker
In this panel discussion, legal representatives from several leading software
companies and the open source community discuss the merits of software patents.
We'll briefly cover the GPL and its effect. Learn what's involved in filing a
software patent. Also discussed are current topics in software law including
patents covering open source software.
Private Company Exit Strategies
Class
Friday, March 17, 1:45pm - 3:15pm
Speaker: Brian Flynn
At some point in a successful private company's lifetime, you will have the
opportunity to "exit" or sell your company. In this talk, we cover the myriad
of options available to the entrepreneur. We'll go over the current technology
M&A environment and trends. We'll discuss what the buyers are looking for.
When an offer occurs, how can you prepare for it? If you're ready to sell,
what options do you have?
Offshoring: Pro's and Con's
Class
Friday, March 17, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Speaker: Jeff Goodwin
This session discusses the benefits and the issues involved with off-shoring.
Where should you offshore? Popular countries are compared including India and China.
What are the real cost benefits? Entrepreneurs will discuss when it does and does not
make sense to move development or testing off-shore with real world examples.