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Passionate Entrepreneurs Pay Attention: Applications Open for Founders Institute Brussels
One of the Mentors: Aaron Patzer, CEO Mint
Ambitious Founders can now apply for Founder Institute Brussels, a twelve-week training program for both new and seasoned entrepreneurs with -predominantly male- mentors such as Aaron Patzer, CEO of Mint (see photo).
Headquartered in the Silicon Valley, the Founder Institute now operates in 10 cities worldwide and since Spring 2009, it has graduated 112 companies; more than 25% have closed a round of fundraising (as compared to 4% average for start-ups receiving funding).
The Institute is looking for passionate people to apply, whether you are thinking to launch a new technology company or running a startup that’s less than a couple years old in a wide range of industries, including digital media, software, biotech, cleantech, ecommerce, advertising, consumer electronics, and the internet.
In the programme weekly sessions are guided by renowned CEOs from both the US and Europewith the aim to ‘breed’ disciplined, networked founders ready to lead meaningful and enduring technology companies.
US Mentors for the Fall 2010 Brussels semester are recruited from a pool that includes:
Aaron Patzer (Mint.com, money-management software, acquired by Intuit for $170m)
Jason Calacanis (Mahalo, human-powered search engine, funded by Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk, etc.) Read more
Deadline: SmartCamp offering Mentoring to Startups to Build a Smarter Planet
IBM has joined forces with Seedcamp to organize Smartcamp, an exclusive global program bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and experienced mentors who want to build a Smarter Planet. Programs are still to come in London, Paris and Sillicon Valley.
The application deadline for SmartCamp LONDON is fast approaching. All technology startups who want to take part in our private morning event to meet the mentors, including Reshma Sohoni of Seedcamp, Sonali De Rycker of Accel Partners and Deborah Magid of IBM Venture Capital, should apply before 5pm 2nd July 2010. Tomorrow!
Why is IBM doing this?
Because of the need to manage all our resources including energy, financial markets, and education better.
Consider the following facts: Read more
Speed-Mentoring Successfully Matches Experts and Entrepreneurs
Halfway between mentoring and networking, the NextWomen launched its first Speed-Mentoring event last week, when entrepreneurs and professionals got invaluable advice from leading industry experts, acting as speed-mentors, from across various industries.
TheCube
TheCube welcomed an inspiring group of 12 Speed-Mentors and 25 Speed-Mentees, mostly founders and CEOs, for an evening of networking and mentoring in a fun and relaxed environment.
To view the full list of Speed-Mentors and their biographies, please visit the event page.
Divided into four groups: Brains, Money, Passion and People, covering most of the issues a business could face, the Speed-Mentors, of which about half were women, were invited to meet each Speed-Mentee individually for 4 minutes.
To make the most out of those 4 minutes, most Speed-Mentees were obliged to exercise their pitch, making it short and straight to the point. Although most of the issues raised involved funding and scaling one’s business, advice in all sorts of area were given such as people management or sales and marketing.
In between the two Speed-Mentoring rounds was a networking break. Although all Speed-Mentees already get the opportunity to meet the Speed-Mentors individually, the breaks allowed them to further their meeting but also enabled all attendees to network among themselves.
“I loved the fact that the number of people was
limited to a manageable number and we got sufficient time to network with all the other entrepreneurs and mentors. It was also refreshing to meet lots of other single founders and not only polished, VC ready teams as is often the case.“
Stefan Richter, Founder of Scribblar.com
After rotating through all the 12 Speed-Mentors, Speed-Mentees rated the overall group of Speed-Mentors 4.6 out of 5. 39% of the Speed-Mentees found the time spent with Speed-Mentors from the Financial Services sector and Online Marketing/Strategy area (SEO and e-commerce experts) to be the most worthwhile. Read more
Serial Entrepreneurs Confirmed for The NextWomen Speed-Mentoring Evening on June 16th
Serial entrepreneurs with experience building and selling start-ups across Europe, the US and Emerging Markets will be joining Google, Microsoft and other experts at The NextWomen Speed-Mentoring Evening.
The event, scheduled on June 16th from 6pm to 10pm, has three new speed-mentors confirmed; Serial entrepreneurs Andrew Lintell and Iqbal Gandham, known in the IT and web start-up and corporate spaces, and Markting Expert Martin Chan of Knowledge Dock.
Andrew Lintell is a serial entrepreneur in consumer web and enterprise IT, with a wealth of experience in management, operations and sales. Following his corporate career in McAfee, Computer Associates and Microsoft, Andrew was co-founder and CEO of Crisp Thinking, building it into the world’s leading technology for behavioural analysis and online safety. In less than 5 years, Crisp® technology grew to be used by many international games and media organisations worldwide.
He is now involved with launching AchaLa.com.br, the first online marketplace for domestic services in Latin America. Andrew is also Founder of SecureGrade™, an IT boutique offering Data Loss Prevention, information confidentiality and security solutions to companies of all sizes.
Iqbal Gandham is a seasoned entrepreneur with several successful Internet ventures to his credit. Although qualified as a Spacecraft Engineer, he decided a career in the Internet seemed more exciting.
Since 1994 he has conceived, executed and exited several businesses, under various guises, such as co-founder, founder and CxO. The ventures range from jobsites, webhosting, VoIP, domain registration, cloud computing, ISP’s, and location based apps.
Taking the seed idea and creating a multi-million pound entity with several hundred employees is Iqbal’s forte. He achieves this by having a rare combination of business acumen and technical knowledge.
He now splits his time between acting as a Interim CEO adviser and also working on his latest idea based around the semantic web and visual search.
Martin Chan heads up the Marketing Team at Knowledge Dock (KD), the proud sponsor of this event. His role is to devise and implement the marketing strategy for KD; this involves things such as market research, market intelligence, developing partnership marketing opportunities, devising promotional campaigns and developing new service offerings.
Martin has worked in marketing for over 10 years, across a number of sectors ranging from multinational IT companies to professional services, where he has been responsible for developing new sales channels, devising strategic marketing plans and leading on the rebranding of organisations. Prior to joining KD he also ran his own marketing consultancy working mainly for SMEs and public sector organisations, which helped him gain a deep insight into the issues facing SMEs.
He holds a BA Hons in Business studies, MSc in Marketing and a MBA in General Management.
For a full list of Speed-Mentors, and to learn more about the SpeedMentoring evening, visit the event page.
Tickets are £25 until June 06th:
Inspire & Mentor with Marie Claire: Mentoring Competition for Young Women
The NextWomen Mentoring Programme is not the only mentoring programme launched recently.
Trish Halpin, editor MarieClaire UK
We applaud Marie Claire UK, and in particular its editor Trish Halpin, to have launched a mentoring competition for young women recently, together with the Prince’s Trust. The program is called Inspire & Mentor with Marie Claire, and is aiming to help young women achieve new heights in the worlds of business, fashion and beauty, media and science. They will be able to get 4 hours of mentoring over the course of 6 months.
Some of the mentors are:
Marcia Kilgore, 41, founder of Bliss spa, and creator of Soap & Glory and FitFlops
Sarah Walter, 45, director of fashion communication at River Island
Kelly Hoppen, 50, interior designer
Lingerie & Lovestuff Female Entrepreneur on Raising Money, the Party Plan Business Model and Mentors
A group of 13 female investors, who have formed a group through Addidi Business Angels, have just invested in female entrepreneur Emily Bendell of Blue Bella, the upscale lingerie& Lovestuff ‘party plan’ shop. The female investors club launched in September 2008, did its first investment in Marketplace Mesh and is now actively looking to more investors (up to 100!) and investment opportunities.
Time for The NextWomen to talk to Emily Bendell of Blue Bella.
An online lingerie and a lovestuff shop. How did you come up with the idea of this start-up?
The idea for BlueBella hatched after a stint working for Ann Summers one university holiday.
At the time Sex in the City was rife and I thought there was a gap in the market for an upmarket but affordable sensual products brand that targeted the new Sex & the City generation of women.
How did you form your team?
I started very small – with just me! Once I was sufficiently convinced of the concept I began looking around for the best direct sales expertise to help me grow the business.
I found my management team by networking really and enthusiastically presenting my concept to them.
How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model?
Initially the business was funded by myself, and I am eternally grateful to my supportive father who also invested.
The business model is party plan. This is a direct sales method of selling in which a self employed Party Plan Consultant goes to the home of a Hostess to present the products to the Hostess and her friends and create a relaxed and fun atmosphere. Read more
Speed-Mentoring with Google, Microsoft, Legal experts & Entrepreneurs
As The NextWomen move away from regular events to a set of more specialised annual networking encounters, it launches the concept of Speed-Mentoring, in association with The NextWomen Mentoring Programme.
The new concept was created by Jana Hlistova for The NextWomen and focuses on quick hit information, to help address key issues and challenges for mentees in their business, supported by a highly experienced team of mentors.
It is the ideal alternative to entrepreneurs who need help or advice in various areas, or for those who don’t know what Mentor would most suit them. Like all NextWomen events, it is also a great opportunity to network with experts and fellow entrepreneurs in a pleasant atmosphere, over sushi and prosecco.
Entrepreneurs have 4 minutes with each of the 15 Mentors, including Maya Moufarek, regional marketing manager at Google, Bindi Karia of Microsoft, entrepreneurs having fund raised or sold businesses, as well as legal experts.
Mentees will rotate from mentor-to-mentor, split across four entrepreneurship pillars:
- Passion
- New business concepts, product and service idea
- Money
- Funding, angel investors vs private equity, cash-flow, exit strategies
- People
- Making connections, opening doors, hiring people, building partnerships and alliances
- Brains
- Planning, strategy, marketing, operations, infrastructure, outsource vs in-house
Date: June 16th, from 6pm to 10pm.
Venue: The CUBE, Studio 5, 155 Commercial Street, London, E1 6BJ
A Unique Group of Mentors set to Advice the Next Generation of Female Internet Heroes
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Although women count for over 15% of UK entrepreneurs*, they represent less than 4% of start-ups with access to investment funding** in the country. This Gender inequality not only limits the growth of women-led SMEs, but it could also slow women’s enterprise in the post recession years. Following the Women’s Enterprise Task Force Report recommending to enhance the benefit from women networks, particularly in terms of business mentoring and coaching, a group of experienced men and women, all entrepreneurs or involved in SME enterprise, have decided to join forces and take action to trigger change.
Simone Brummelhuis, founder of The NextWomen, has today launched the NextWomen Mentoring Programme, in which over 20 outstanding male and female technology entrepreneurs from across the globe have committed to help the future of online enterprise.
“The Angel and VC investment game is still a very masculine environment. We believe that, with guidance from experienced players, many young female entrepreneurs can help change that, just as the past generations have helped change the corporate environment.” says Joana Picq, COO of The NextWomen.
The programme is unique in the way it manages the commitment to the relationship between the mentor and mentee. NextMentees, as they are called in the programme, commit to one of three different packages ranging in value, while NextMentors choose their NextMentees.
“To be a good mentor you must set your heart to it. I need to know my experience, connections and skills can really help my NextMentee launch or grow their start-up before I accept them.” Added NextMentor Sarah McVittie, co-founder of Texperts which was sold to kgb giant, 118118, at the end of 2008.
Launched to give female entrepreneurs ongoing support and advice, the programme has an impressive line-up of internet heavyweights including Michelle Dewberry, founder of Michelle Dewberry ltd and Chiconomise and winner of the second series of The Apprentice; Andrea Nacmias, former CFO of iBazar which was sold to eBay; Judy Piatkus who has set up and sold two publishing companies over the last thirty years including one of the UK’s top 25 publishing companies, Paitkus Books.
NextMentees will be able to gain insider knowledge and expertise on starting, growing and exiting a business, while they build confidence around the daily decisions they must make as business leaders.
The scheme is primarily aimed at female entrepreneurs, but is also open to men and other professionals seeking entrepreneurial advice and support from its NextMentors.
NextMentees can ask to be matched, or can apply to the NextMentor of their choice:
- Alicia Navarro – Founder and CEO of Skimlinks
- Andrea Nacmias – Director of Sunfive and the Cannonball Group
- Bindi Karia – VC/Emerging Business Lead for Microsoft UK
- Christina Vaughan – Founder and CEO of Image Source
- Emmanuel Noirhomme – Managing Director of Letsbuyit.com
- Jana Eggers – CEO of Spreadshirt
- Joana Picq – COO of The NextWomen
- Judy Piatkus – Founder of Piatkus Books
- Katarina Skoberne – Founder of openAd
- Lesley Eccles – Marketing Director and co-founder of Hubdub ltd
- Michelle Dewberry – Founder of Michelle Dewberry ltd and Chiconomise and winner of the second series of The Apprentice
- Natalie Turner – Founder and CEO of Entheo
- Paul Grant – Founder of The Funding Game workshop initiative
- Polly Gowers – Founder of Everyclick.com
- Sarah McVittie – Founder of Texperts
- Simone Brummelhuis – Founder and CEO of The NextWomen
- Stewart Townsend – Manager Sun Startup Essentials, UK, Ireland and Europe
- Tom Harrow – Co-founder of Findababysitter.com
- Ashley Ward -
- Collette Dunkley – Founder of XandY Communications
- Sophie Neary -
More information about individual NextMentors and the various packages can be found on the site and applications can be done by simply filling in The NextWomen Mentoring Programme survey.
For industry professionals interested in joining the scheme as a NextMentor, contact jo[at]thenextwomen.com
Press contact: Joana Picq – 07530057536 – Jo[at]thenextwomen.com
Launch Interview: Motivating Mums Launches their Mumpreneur Mentor Scheme
Clare Oliver, Laura Tenison and Alli Price
After mumsnet hosted live webchats last month with Gordon Brown and David Cameron, it is believed that the site can greatly improve people’s participation in politics. So it seems the Prime Minister has recognised the rising power of geek mums as they work together in communities for the greater business good, and just looking at the wealth of support coming from, and going to mums on the net, he is spot on.
Today Alli Price, Founder of Motivating Mum, launches the Motivating Mum Mentor Scheme for businessmums. Aimed to prevent the reinvention of the wheel, the scheme is amazingly cost effective and has some high-profile mentors already signed up, including Laura Tenison of JoJo Maman Bebe. Here, Alli Price talks to The NextWomen about the potential isolation when starting a business on your own, the importance of mentoring in the 21st century and how people should learn to ask for what they want.
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Tell us about yourself – your background and education
I have a Bachelor of Business in Hotel Management and Catering and initially worked in the marketing department of a 4* hotel in Melbourne, working my way up to Marketing Manager. After a few years, I returned to school to study Film and TV and then worked as a Production Manager in a Production Office, also in Melbourne, making TV commercials, corporate videos and pilots.
After years of talking about wanting to travel, I finally left in 1998 aged 28 for a trip to Sweden to edit a film for a friend. The film didn’t work out but the backpacking bug had well and truly bitten and five years later I had been to much of Western Europe, America, India, Nepal, Fiji, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Slovenia and Poland. Although I had worked a lot in the corporate sector, I realised that I was only truly fulfilled when helping people so trained to be a life coach. I completed my training at the same time as giving birth to my daughter and launched Motivating Mum.
What is Motivating mum? When did you launch and what are your objectives for the next three years?
Initially, Motivating Mum was a coaching service for mums, whatever stage of pregnancy, launched in 2006. However, running a business from home, coupled with looking after my daughter full-time quickly revealed how lonely and isolating it can be, being a Mumpreneur. In the belief there must be other mums out there like me, I launched the Businessmums’ Networking Lunch, a chance for mums to get out of the house, network and rest assured they weren’t the only crazy ones. The first lunch attracted 45 mums!
Following three years of mixing with Businessmums, I recently relaunched my service as a website offering support and advice to Mumpreneurs. The site consists of mentoring with established businessmums, a forum, articles and features and details of events now being held across London.
My objectives for the next three years are to provide Mumpreneurs with a service tailored uniquely to them. This includes providing mentoring and events for an exceptionally good price (as mums in business traditionally don’t have a lot of disposable income), having events offered across the UK (as although online support is great, it doesn’t combat the isolation), developing the forum to a point where mums can connect, network and help each other succeed and have each and every visitor to the site or an event walk away with whatever it is they need: a connection, information, inspiration. Lastly, it is to always be accessible. My pet hate is trying to contact businesspeople and their websites offer plenty for you to buy, but no details for contact.
What is your business model and how do you differ from your competitors?
My business model is to help Mumpreneurs. Everything I have done to date has been a case of trying to help fill a need or offer a service and I have had success with this approach as a result. I feel I differ from my competitors in that I always try to maintain approachability no matter how busy I get, I don’t charge membership fees for my services and I encourage face-to-face meetings in addition to online connections. I like to feel that my site is set up to offer support and advice, first and foremost, not to simply make as much money from people while I sleep.
What were your start-up costs and how were they funded?
My start-up costs were minimal as I only needed a website and business cards. The re-launch of my site and other investments have all been funded through money raised by the business. I am lucky in that the most expensive thing required of me for the success of my business was my time.
You are about to launch your Motivating Mum mentor scheme for businessmums and already have some great names onboard like Laura Tenison of JoJo Maman Bebe. How important do think mentoring is in the 21st century and how have you secured your mentors? Read more
MOTIVATING Mum to Launch Nationwide Mentoring Initiative for Businessmums
It was only last month that we featured an interview with Iveta Tancheva of Mums Like You – a venture geared towards mothers – highlighting the massive draw the internet has for women. In the same vein, a mentoring scheme to support businessmums across the UK is to be launched on March 15, 2010 by Allison Price, founder of Motivating Mum. This exciting new initiative will enable mums already in business, as well as those wanting to start up, to obtain affordable support and advice to help them achieve their dreams.
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Launched three years ago, Motivating Mum was set up by Allison Price, professional life coach, mumpreneur and mother of one, for mums who needed help with the everyday challenges they faced. It now helps mumpreneurs across the UK succeed in achieving their business dreams through the provision of support and advice.
Increasing Numberss of Mumpreneurs
An increasing number of mothers are setting up their own businesses, however many of them lack knowledge and/or experience and face difficult challenges right from the start. The Motivating Mum mentoring service will connect mums needing professional guidance to mums who are experts in their field. It will cover all areas of business from law and accountancy to marketing and PR, in addition to getting ideas off the ground.
The Who’s Who of Business-mums
High profile business-mums already signed up as mentors for the launch include Laura Tenison, MD at JoJo Maman Bebe, Rachel Jones, inventor of Totseat and Wendy Shand, founder of Tots to Travel.
When talking about the launch, founder Alli Price said: Read more
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