TiE Young Entrepreneurs

TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Video

2009-06-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

TYE Teams... and winners announced... drum roll....

2009-06-04T11:09:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to all who competed in the TYE Business Plan competition. As everyone learned at TiECON, we have announced the 2008-09 winners of the program.

First Place: Cloudsoft (Naman Bharadwaj; Vishrut Gupta)
Second Place: Mellodi (Rahul Shah; Neil Cholli)
Third Place: Bodian (Seshu Kankuri; Birin Padam)

Well done to all teams, the TYE co-chairs and the judges were truly "blown away" by the level of analysis and the complex analytical thinking that was demonstrated during the competition.

TYE TiECon Banquet Presentation May 2009

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Congratulations to All Competing Teams!

2009-06-04T11:02:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to all graduates of the TYE-Boston class of 2008-2009!

Kudos to all, your presentations were extraordinary with superior ideas and stunning analyses. Every one of you demonstrated professionalism, maturity, and confidence, all of which will stay with you as you grow into adults. You are winners for successfully completing the program. You make us proud!

It is our fervent wish that our speakers expanded your imagination, that our teachers inspired you, that our mentors challenged and guided you, and that our organizing team members supported you and met your needs.

On behalf of the Organizing Team, we wish to share with you that you energized, inspired, and challenged us. Also, working with you and observing your transformation from a high schooler to an entrepreneur was both a joy and a rewarding experience for all of us.

We request that you stay in touch with your friends and the organizing team, and in TiE’s spirit of ‘Giving Back,’ we ask that you please remain engaged in the program by offering your advice and guidance to future TYE students.

We wish you the very best in your future endeavors. Now, go forth and conquer!

2009-06-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

TyE-Boston 2009 $10K Business Plan Competition Successfully Completed

TyE-Boston $10K Business Plan Competition was held at 930 Winter Street in Waltham, MA, at 8:00AM on May 16, 2009.

We wish to recognize the following people, who have made this program a success:

- Students for their hard work, dedication, and passion

- Speakers, teachers, and mentors for their inspiration and knowledge

- Judges for their insights and advice

- Parents for their support and encouragement

- TYE team for their coordination and leadership

- TiE office staff for their unstinting logistics support

A special thanks to our sponsors, grantors, and donors for funding the program!

$10k prize sponsors:

Baskin Robbins

Microsoft

Starent Networks

Grantors:

Cambridge Trust

Donors:

Prashant Fadia Foundation
Mukesh Chatter
Santana Krishnan & Yash Shah

Partners:

One Laptop Per Child

TYE Business Plan Competition Judges

2009-05-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

The TYE Business Plan Competition is just around the corner and the TYE Team is proud to announce this year's impressive list of judges. As we have discussed before, if you are presenting, it would be a good idea to "understand your audience" by doing a little bit of reading (we've provided some biographies below). Students, best of luck on your finishing touches and let us know if you have any last minute questions. We are here to help!

• Anand Daniel, Senior Associate, Flybridge Capital Partners

Anand is a senior associate at Flybridge Capital Partners whose investment interests and expertise include semiconductor, telecommunication, wireless and energy-related technologies. He currently represents Flybidge Capital Partners as an observer on the boards of CHiL Semiconducter and Sciformix.

Anand joined the firm after completing his MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management. While at Sloan, Anand was the managing director of the 9th Annual MIT VC Conference, co founder of the MIT VC Competition and an organizer of the first ever MIT Energy Conference. He led the team that won the prestigious International Venture Capital Investment Competition (1st out of 50+ teams). In addition, while at Sloan, Anand led a project with IDG Ventures India to analyze the Indian wireless value added services market.

Prior to Sloan, Anand spent several years in key engineering and project management positions at Intel Corporation. While at Intel he focused on semiconductor design and design automation for Intel's cutting-edge microprocessor products. He also worked for Intel Capital, where he helped formulate the strategy for investments in next generation high performance computing ecosystem.

• Oscar Jazdowski, Senior Vice President, Silicon Valley Bank

Oscar Jazdowski has spent over 25 years financing technology companies at all stages of development, from young venture-backed startups to large multinational companies. Jazdowski joined Silicon Valley Bank in 2002 as a senior relationship manager focused on the Boston software industry. Silicon Valley Bank is the pre-eminent bank providing innovative banking and financial products and services to emerging growth and middle-market technology companies, focusing primarily on venture-backed technology and life science companies and the venture capital community. Having started his career with Bank of Boston in the U.K., Jazdowski was transferred to Head Office in 1983 to join the High Technology Lending Group. Over the next 13 years he held various positions and was involved in financing young emerging, middle market and large corporate, public-traded technology companies.

Between 1989 and 1993, Jazdowski ran Bank of Boston’s Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto, Calif., where he oversaw the development of numerous relationships with prominent Silicon Valley technology companies. In 1996, Jazdowski started the East Coast Technology Group of Imperial Bank (now Comerica) in providing debt financing and other financial services to young, emerging, venturebacked companies. In 2000, Jazdowski opened and spent two years running the East Coast office for Sand Hill Capital in Boston, focused on providing short term bridge financing to venturebacked technology companies.

• Ajit Kambil, Global Research Director: CFO Program, Deloitte

Ajit Kambil is the Global Director of Deloitte Research where he leads global research initiatives enabling the creation and delivery of new management ideas, insights, and innovations to clients. In this role, he creates and nurtures new ways of looking at and solving problems. Ajit is also a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Babson College. Prior to joining Deloitte, Ajit was a senior research fellow at Accenture's Institute for Strategic Change where he led diverse research initiatives in electronic commerce, innovation, supply chains and marketing. As faculty at New York University's Stern School of Business, he introduced electronic commerce into the MBA and executive programs, and led the National Science Foundation sponsored project that pioneered the dissemination of US corporate disclosures on the Internet in 1993. He has also served as an adviser to startups and venture capital.

Ajit is a public speaker on his varied research topics such as: globalization of R&D; venture investing in China; the opportunities and challenges created by aging populations; customer centric innovation; dynamic pricing, etc. He is widely published in leading business journals and magazines such as the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Across the Board, Journal of Business Strategy and Management Science. As a leading expert on the design of electronic markets and auctions, Harvard Business School Press published his book (co-authored with Dr. Eric van Heck) - Making Markets: How to Profit from Online Auctions and Exchanges, in June 2002. He is also published in technology journals such as Communications of the ACM, IEEE Computer and the Journal of the American Society for Information Sciences. His technical research focused on combining human and machine intelligence to improve information retrieval and knowledge management in organizations.

Ajit earned a PhD in Management Information Technologies, Master of Science degrees in Technology and Policy, and Management Science and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

• Matthew Kleiman, Associate, Wilmer Hale

Matthew Kleiman is an associate in the WilmerHale Venture Group, and a member of the Technology Transactions and Licensing Practice Group. He joined the firm in 2006
Mr. Kleiman's practice focuses on general corporate law, with an emphasis on legal issues facing early stage life science and technology companies, and representing emerging and established clients in intellectual property licensing and other technology-related transactions.
While in law school, Mr. Kleiman worked for Duke University's Office of Licensing and Ventures and helped launch a biotechnology start-up company in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He also participated in the Duke Community Enterprise Clinic, where he provided corporate legal services to local non-profit organizations and low income entrepreneurs.

• Matt Lauzon, Founder & CEO, Paragon Lake

Matt Lauzon founded Paragon Lake in 2006 as a student at Babson College. Lauzon enrolled at Babson because of its reputation as the number one school in the world for entrepreneurship education and leveraged all the college had to offer while exploring various business opportunities. Paragon Lake was born when Lauzon and a fellow student uncovered a niche in the jewelry industry at the intersection of e-commerce and mass customization. Serving as co-founder and CEO, Lauzon took Paragon Lake from an idea incubating in a Babson dormitory to become an institutionally funded company in just two years.

Lauzon created a leadership team that includes industry veterans from both the software and jewelry spaces and built a national network of independent jewelers that use Paragon Lake’s proprietary platform to drive made-to-order sales in their stores. In addition to building the team and driving growth, Lauzon led the company through two rounds of institutional funding totaling over $6M in financing from Highland Capital Partners and Canaan Partners.

Lauzon earned a B.S. in Business Management from Babson College where he was an Arthur M. Blank Scholar. At Babson, he was named one of “America’s Top Entrepreneurs Under the Age of 25” by BusinessWeek, was the winner of the John H. Muller Jr. Business Plan Competition, and was awarded the Shelby Cullom Davis prize for social entrepreneurship.

Let us know if you need help with presentation / pitch

2009-05-01T10:00:00.001-07:00

Dear Students,

I am sure you all are working hard toward your final presentations.

If you feel that you need further help with your presentations or pitch, feel free to contact anyone of TYE team members. Our contact information is listed at the bottom of the page: http://tieyoungentrepreneurs.org/progoverview.php.

We are also planning to scheduling a get-together/workshop on Saturday, May 9th with students and mentors. I will post the event detail here as well as on the social website, http://bostontye.ning.com/, in next couple of days.

Good Luck.

Rajeev K Arora
TYE Team

"Mock Pitch" Judges Announced

2009-04-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

Students, we have posted below our final list of the Mock Pitch judges. If you are so inclined, do some research so you "Know Your Audience." You may remember this happened to be one of the key lessons we learned about giving our elevator pitches!!! We recognize that you may be busy putting some final touches on your presentaions, so prioritize your time wisely... and see you tomorrow.

• Anil Ranganath, Brown Rudnick
• Ankit Mahadevia, Atlas Venture
• Christopher O. Dunham, Brown Rudnick
• Gaugarin Oliver, RedEgg Solutions
• Gautam Gupta, General Catalyst
• Geoff Mamlet, New Atlantic Ventures
• Gopi Bala, Consultant
• Mark Haddard, Foley Hoag
• Sai Nagarajan, Entrepreneur

TYE Global Award Follow Up

2009-04-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we blogged about TYE's success at the TiE Global Awards. We have just now received some pictures from the ceremony, and you'll be pleased to see Geetha Ramamurthy accepting the "Most Innovative Program" honor from TiE Charter Members including TiE-Boston President Al Kapoor, TiE Global Trustee and former TiE-Atlanta President Chand Akkinenni, and TiE Global Trustee and former Microsoft executive Vijay Vashee. Congratulations to TYE again on its hard and dedicated work... and thank you to all of the students who have put in the blood, sweat, and tears into their innovative business plans. Keep up the good work TYE!!!

And here are some pictures of Vik Mehrota receiving the same award on behalf of Geetha back in 2007. He is seen with CK Prahalad, a management consultant, author, and the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Working Session 4: Your Ten Minute Presentations

2009-03-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

We are into the thick of business plan writing... congratulations to all teams on their progress thus far! Today, all of you will present your businesses to the TYE Executive Team. We will focus on your progress against our four major milestones. We may ask you some tough questions, but don't worry, we are here to help. This is NOT American Idol... we've saved that opportunity for the mock presentation and the final pitch... more details to come soon. As always, any questions, just ask!

Welcoming the Newest Additions to the TYE Team

2009-03-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

It is with great pleasure that we welcome the newest addition to the TYE Executive Committee, Roma Mayur and Shantanu Dhaka. They will be focused on the area of student recruitment, community outreach, and sponsorship. If you have any ideas, feel free to reach out.

• Roma Mayur, Vice President, Cambridge Trust Company

Roma is Vice President at Cambridge Trust Company, a Community Bank that provides retail, commercial and wealth management services. She has been with Cambridge Trust Company for over 20 years. Roma works as a commercial lender and relationship manager at the Bank. She works with a multitude of clients ranging from small businesses , corporations to not for profits in assisting them to meet their financial needs. For the past several years Roma has been actively involved in community service in Cambridge and Sommerville. She currently serves on the Board of Sommerville Cambridge Elder Services Inc. which has over 30 programs to meet all types of needs of the elderly. She is also active on the Board of Collaborative for Development Action Inc. (CDA) which is committed to improving and providing humanitarian assistance and engaging in peace initiatives internationally. Roma is a member of the Women In Business Committee of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce and an active supporter of Project Bread / walk for hunger which is dedicated to preventing and ending hunger in Massachusetts.

MSW , Tata Institute of Social Sciences India
BA , Psychology, University of Bombay, India

• Shantanu Dhaka, Associate, Staley Capital

Shantanu Dhaka is an Associate at Staley Capital, where he evaluates investments in technology-enables business services companies focusing on digital media and advertising, clean technology, and education. Prior to joining Staley Capital, he worked as an Analyst on the investment banking team at Jefferies Broadview, where he focused on mergers and acquisition of small to mid-sized companies in the technology industry. While at Jefferies Broadview, Shantanu advised companies and private equity firms on strategic acquisitions, sales, recapitalizations and buyouts in the digital media and application software industries.

Shantanu received an A.B. in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard University. He is also a former professionally world-ranked tennis player and a member of the Harvard Varsity tennis team.

Working Session 4 is Almost Here...

2009-03-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

Students, Working Session 4 is just around the corner... please be prepared to update us with your latest status this Saturday!

For some inspiration, we've posted a story on the famous "flying car" called the Terrafugia... "... the company is spinning the vehicle as a convenient option for pilots who want to be able to fly to any airport—say, Martha’s Vineyard—and then be able to drive to their final destination without having to rent a car separately." What do you think?

And here are some lessons from the "king of customer development," courtesy of VentureHacks.

Customer Development 1: Introduction

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Introducing the 2009 TYE Mentors... Welcome!

2009-03-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Students, please join the TYE co-chairs in welcoming the 2009 TYE Mentors. We have been overwhelmed by the amount of support in the local community, and we would like to thank everyone who has been involved. Of course, every team is allowed to seek advice and mentorship from any and all sources; however, we would like to remind you that your mentor should be able to help with any burning questions you may have. Please be respectful of their time and their advice. We have hyperlinked each name to a professional summary.

Take note of the mentors' use of LinkedIn, the online professional social network. During Marketing I, Brad Coffey helped all of us to understand the importance of "managing your brand." Each and every one of you should be signed up on LinkedIn (and other social networking and microblogging sites such as Facebook and Twitter) so that you can promote your products and services through word of mouth for free! If you need any help or advice, don't hesitate to ask.

• Rajesh Nair, Degree Control Inc.
• Raj Melville, Ambient Engines
• Shobhit Chugh, Manhattan Associates
• Ken Baughman, RBM Technologies
• Angela Chen, Harvard Medical School / Dana Farber
• Balakrishna Venkatrao, CA
• Vivek Sharma, Thomas Lee Partners
• Praveen Sahay, Wave Capital Partners
• Stanley Curtis, Kronos
• Ajay Bam, Nokia
• Ravi Sharma, Ember
• Shantanu Dhaka, Staley Capital
• Devesh Senapati, Bain Capital

Please note that we may experience some changes on this list as teams and ideas are being finalized. If you have a mentor you would like to suggest, please let Hooman know ASAP.

Live from TYE Working Session 2

2009-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

Students, by now you are well underway to developing your companies... congratulations on your progress thus far. We will post some information about all of your mentors and about your soon-to-be competition judges... Stay tuned!

Start Your Engines! TYE Dates Going Forward

2009-02-12T06:32:00.000-08:00

The TYE Leadership Team has confirmed the following milestones for the remainder of the 2008-09 TYE Program. Please mark your calendars accordingly.

Important Dates

$10,000 Business Plan Competition Winners Announcement @ TiECON East – May 21, 2009
Final Presentation Date: May 16, 2009
Mock Presentation Date: April 17, 2009 (10 Weeks Away)

Complete Team Selection – February 14, 2009

E-mail your Team Information to Hooman Hodjat (hhodjat@gmail.com)
Share your Top 3 Ideas (1 Paragraph Description of Product or Service)
If not in a team, e-mail your areas of interest

Milestone 1 – Define your product/service – February 28, 2009

Complete Opportunity Assessment / SWOT
Complete Market Research (Identify Target Market, Define Market Size, Competition)
There will be a work session at 930 Winter Street on February 28, 2009 9-12 pm

Milestone 2 – Develop Marketing Strategy – March 7, 2009

Define Value Propositions – Cost Benefit Analysis
Develop Marketing Plan to Reach target customers
Develop Revenue (Business) Model
There will be a work session at 930 Winter Street on March 7, 2009 9-12 pm

Milestone 3 – Develop Financial Plan – March 21, 2009

Build Income Statement
Define Cash Requirements – How much and for what? (Simple Cash Flow Model)
There will be a work session at 930 Winter Street on March 21, 2009 9-12 pm

Milestone 4 – 1st Draft of Business Plan Presentation – March 28, 2009

Executive Summary
Opportunity Definition
Market Size
Team (Background, Experience, Interest, Responsibility)
Revenue Model
Financial Statement (Income Statement)
Competition
There will be a work session at 930 Winter Street on March 28, 2009 9-12 pm

Milestone 5 – 1st Draft of Business Plan – April 17, 2009

Milestone 6 – Final Business Plan and Presentation – May 16, 2009

Live from Business Models & Law

2009-02-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Gautam Gupta and Bill Loginov for coming to class to teach on the subjects of business models and law. We've embedded their bios and presentations below, and as always, have posted the class agenda and teaching materials on the social network.

• Gautam Gupta, Associate, General Catalyst Partners

Gautam joined General Catalyst from Procter and Gamble, where he analyzed brand strategy and consumer preferences in the Consumer Market Knowledge group of Procter and Gamble's North American Fabric Care business unit. Prior to that, he worked closely with the sales and marketing groups at Wireless Services Corporation and CTV Live on Campus, during his studies at Babson College. At General Catalyst, Gautam focuses on investments in new and existing technology businesses. Gautam received a B.S. in Business Administration from Babson College, with a concentration in
Entrepreneurial Studies.

Business Models: Gautam Gupta

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• William A. Loginov, Principal Attorney, Loginov & Associates, PLLC

With over 20 years of experience in field of intellectual property law, Bill Loginov is a registered patent attorney who specializes in the laws and processes for securing world-wide patent protection. Before establishing his own firm, he was Managing Partner of the Boston intellectual property firm, Cesari and McKenna, LLP, and subsequently head of the Patent Group at the New England firm Hinckley, Allen and Snyder, LLP. ted to the bars of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), his practice focuses on representation of clients before the USPTO in preparation and prosecution of patents and trademarks, as well as the preparation of due diligence studies, performing patent infringement analysis, and rendering patentability opinions for clients in a number of technical fields including the mechanical arts, medical devices, materials, electro-mechanical systems, electronics and computer software and methods. He has substantial experience in securing and the enforcement of patent rights world-wide, and works closely with a number of US-based and international patent litigation attorneys. He also advises and represents clients in the areas of trade secrets, licensing of intellectual property, artists representation and related matters. His clients represent a wide range of public and private corporations, leading research universities and hospitals, start-up enterprises and entrepreneurial individuals. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Dartmouth College in 1985 and his Juris Doctor from the Cornell Law School in 1988. Bill is a frequent guest lecturer on intellectual property matters at the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business and Thayer School of Engineering as well as the Rhode Island School of Design. He has authored numerous articles on intellectual property, and coauthored two recent books on intellectual property issues available through the Aspertore label of West Publishing and is conversant in the Russian language.

Law: Bill Loginov

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Here are some links to the documents Bill went over:
Invention Report
Provisional Application
Patent FAQ

Live from Marketing II

2009-01-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

We are live from Marketing II, where we had just heard from our speaker and teacher... and they were excellent. We have also just selected out teams and team names. Of course, teams and names and can be modified and we still need to figure out which teams Akash, Divya, and Abhinay will join (if not create their own). Presentations from the session are posted below.

INFIS: Rahul Shah, Neil Cholli, Rohit Malrani
UNCLE SAM: Harika, Aishwarya, Saniya
PRESTIGE WORLDWIDE: Seshu Kandukuri, Nikhil Srinivasan, Birin Padam
TYEGERS: Muneeba Syed, Swati Sharma
MAAS EFFECT: Mayank Dubey, Malhar Teli, Anirudh Mahajan, Avvinash Radakrishnan, Sanip Desai
SHRULEERA: Lekha Puri, Shruti Nayar, Meera Nair
SMARTSCRAPE: Naman Bharadwaj, Vishrut Gupta, Rajat Goel, Goutam Sudhir
UCORP: Prateek Sahay, Vibhor Sharma, Akhil Tandon
MIDNIGHT REQUISITION: Kanav, Maritha, Iha
KNOWLEDGE GENERATION BUSINESS (KGB): Micaela Garrison-Desany, Christina Teodorescu, Christopher Earls, Hailey Pirovich

Marketing II: Indu Isaacs

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Marketing II: Zuby Singh on Break Even Analysis

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We also covered a fascinating Harvard Business School case study called "Creative Selection at Mountain Dew." We evaluated five different "spots" and chose which advertisment fit best with the PepsiCo strategy. In case you are interested, these are the actual commercials that aired during the 2000 Super Bowl.

Marketing II: Speaker Biographies

2009-01-29T07:34:00.000-08:00

We have an exciting session planned for this Saturday, with Indu Isaacs and Zuby Singh coming in to help us learn a little bit more about marketing. We have also planned to review a very interesting marketing case study. Make sure to read more about it below.

• Speaker: Indu Isaacs, CEO, Formatech

Indu J. Isaacs, Ph.D., CEO and Co-founder of Formatech, has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Oklahoma. Prior to Formatech, Dr. Isaacs, has held both scientific and management positions at Genetics Institute in Andover, Abbott Biotech in Needham, and Cambridge Neurosciences in Cambridge. Formatech, Inc., a 11 year old Massachusetts Corp, is focused on providing quality contract services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Through innovative product development and quality CGMP aseptic manufacturing capabilities, Formatech strives to assist in bringing new and novel therapies to the market. Formatech commits itself to the highest standards of integrity, service and customer commitment to its clients and its employees. Formatech, Inc. began its operations originally in Lowell in the Wannalancit Building, a renovated old mill. Company grew steadily from its initial 1,500 sqft of lab space to 8,500 in 1999. In 2000, the company relocated to Andover Business Park in Andover where it currently occupies 35,000 sqft and employs a staff of 55. Since its inception, the Company has maintained an aggressive marketing and business development program and serves clients in the United States, Japan, Israel, Australia, Europe and Canada.

• Teacher: Zuby Singh, L-1 Identity Solutions

Zuby is a seasoned professional with more than 15 years of experience across industry sectors including: Technology, Insurance, Retail, and Consulting for various sized businesses. Zuby’s profile consists of special competencies with regards to industry-specific strategies, vendor/program management, web/client-server applications, and governance/process improvements. In her current role, Zuby is responsible for establishing organizational standards/processes and 6 sigma initiatives encouraging savings and efficiencies while utilizing best practices and innovative methodologies. Prior to joining L-1, Zuby worked for several well-known companies including Electric Insurance (consolidated affiliate of GE), marchFIRST (formerly Whittman Hart), Arthur Anderson, The May Company (Filene’s and Hecht’s), Bradlees, etc.

Outside of work Zuby is involved with the Boston Chapter of APICS [Advancing Productivity, Innovation, and Competitive Success], a globally recognized non-profit organization and association for operations management serving the manufacturing and service industries with over 43,000 individuals from 15,000 companies worldwide-across nearly all industries. Zuby serves as a board member and has held several VP and Director Positions in Marketing and Publicity since 2000.

• Harvard Business School Mountain Dew Case Study

With the Super Bowl just around the corner, we thought it might be nice to have a special case study devoted to Super Bowl advertisements. The Super Bowl is not just about football, with the TV commericals to be shown during the game as much the subject of anticipation and speculation. No wonder, then, that in the past 20 years Super Bowl ads has translated into $1.84 billion of network sales, from over 200 different advertisers, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Check out the link here to learn more about Super Bowl advertising spend in 2008 -- we can expect that it will likely be very different in 2009.

For our class, we will review a Harvard Business School case study based on a real-life example with the executives at Mountain Dew. You, the students, wil choose which of the following five advertisements is the best for Mountain Dew's marketing strategy.

TYE Alumni Profile: Mark Bao

2009-01-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

We are thrilled to have a great group of TYE Alumni and from time to time, we'll profile a select few to let you know what kind of progress they are making. Today's entrepreneur in the spotlight is Mark (aka Steven) Bao. Mark is 16-year-old web, software and advertising entrepreneur, and is the President & CEO of Avecora.

He also works at DebateWare.com, a software consultancy firm, that offers its main product DebateNet, a debate organization and event management system. It has provided consulting for customers including the Junior State of America.

Mark is also the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at TickrTalk, a stealth consumer web startup founded in 2008. Mark has also developed several Facebook apps, one of which was sold to Lee Lorenzen at Altura Ventures. Afterwards, with two marketing partners, he developed the application Facebook Idol, which was sold to a private investor in October 2007.

He also is the owner of AdSocial (formerly Cadmium), the targeted social application advertising network available for developers of social applications and advertisers, that extends the social advertising graph to the web, by aggregating social network profile information and targeting advertisements around the web.

Live from Finance II (& Social Entrepreneurship)

2009-01-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

We're live from Finance II and we've just heard presentations from Raj Melville, Lotika Shaunik Paintal, and now we're learning from Vivek Sharma... we'll post the presentations as soon as we get them... also, look out for the flying toilet video! The updated class documents will be posted to the social network very soon.

Finance II: Lotika Shaunik Paintal

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Finance II: Raj Melville

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Finance II: Speaker Biographies

2009-01-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome back TYE Students! We hope you all had relaxing breaks and a chance to catch up on some sleep... you are going to need energy for the Business Plan Competition that is roughly 5 months away. We would like to introduce you to this week's highly inspirational speakers and teachers for our Finance II class. The latest agenda has been posted to our social network.

• Speaker: Raj Melville, Principal, Ambient Engines

Raj Melville has over 25 years of product management, marketing and consulting experience at four start-ups, and several larger organizations. He currently provides marketing and strategy consulting services to emerging social entrepreneurs focused on building bottom of pyramid solutions. Some of his previous responsibilities included managing the overall product strategy and features for nTAG Interactive, a spin off from the MIT Media Lab; marketing and product management direction at mobile software vendor Vaultus; directing product management at Be Free Inc. (now Valueclick), a market leading affiliate marketing e-commerce solution; and managing the launch of two highend Internet server products at Electronic Book Technologies (later acquired by Inso). His early career included stints at Microsoft Corp., Digital Equipment Corporation, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Raj has an undergraduate engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, a M.S. and D.Sc. in Engineering from MIT, and a M.S. in Management from the Sloan School at MIT.

• Speaker: Lotika Shaunik Paintal, Founder & Executive Director, Water Centric

Lotika Shaunik Paintal is the founder and executive Director of Water Centric (WC), a social entrepreneurial nonprofit, based in Lexington, MA. WC was recently launched, in February 2008, with the aim of bringing water, sanitation and hygiene education to needy schools in the developing world. Water Centric has started work in 10 urbanslum schools in Delhi, India, which serve about 10,000 children. It has an ambitious vision to reach over 15,000 needy schools and 3 million children in the next ten years. Lotika’s interest in the near crisis situation of clean water and sanitation heightened while part of an exploratory 5–person team at the William J. Clinton Foundation that researched these issues in detail, visited eight countries, and was charged with proposing how the foundation could make a strategic contribution in the field. Lotika has worked in international development for over 12 years. She served as Deputy Director of the Regional Program Department for Oxfam America and as a senior program officer for World Education’s Asia Division. She has also worked for Education Development Center and Conflict Management Group in the Boston area. Lotika has an M Ed. with a focus on International Development from Harvard University, a MA in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University, and a graduate degree in Molecular Biology from the Sorbonne-France. Lotika lives in Lexington, MA with her husband and two teenage children Outside of work, she loves sailing and scuba diving (in warm waters), exploring new places and ideas, reading and long bicycle rides.
Link to latest "Water Centric" update: http://www.watercentric.org/mailer/index.html
Link to a description with photos of a typical water centric school: http://www.watercentric.org/delhistatus.html

• Teacher: Vivek Sharma, Director, THL Partners

Vivek Sharma is a Director with THL Partners a Boston based private equity firm. In his current role Vivek is responsible for working with THL’s Portfolio companies to identify value creation opportunities and assist the leadership of these companies in executing these opportunities. Vivek’s focus has been to identify large restructuring and /or cost optimization opportunities and ensuring successful execution of these opportunities by working closely with the Board and management of these companies. Prior to THL Vivek was Vice President Finance and Business Processes for Alstom Power in Baden, Switzerland. At Alstom, Vivek was responsible for Global Standardization and Integration of Business Processes and Systems. Prior to Alstom, Vivek worked with Advanced Micro Devices as Group Controller, Finance and Global Internal Controls. At AMD, he was responsible for Global Internal Controls including Sarbanes Oxley, Financial Services, Operations Finance and Process improvements. Vivek also worked for Motorola Semiconductors and held various positions in Finance Systems, Global Treasury and Financial Services organizations. Vivek has over 15 years of Global Management experience and is a Chartered Accountant from India, Certified Public Accountant and also has a Masters Degree in International Business from Thunderbird. Vivek has been featured in several finance magazines and has been listed as ‘100 Most Influential People in Finance’ by Treasury and Risk Management Magazine.

Snow Day: 12/20 Class Cancelled, To Be Rescheduled

2008-12-19T11:38:00.001-08:00

Well, the snow has got the best of everyone. Tomorrow's class, as you have heard already, is canceled. This doesn't mean you should stop thinking about your business idea! Take some time over the break to think about areas of opportunity... the simplest ideas are sometimes the best ones. Check out Gary the Snoman's story below. Happy Holidays. We hope everyone has a great break... be safe and have fun!

Live from Finance I

2008-11-21T14:38:00.001-08:00

Ok, ok, the class hasn't started yet, but we have the presentation and wanted to share it with you...

Thanks again to Pam for her incredible talk... we really appreciated it! We'll follow up some more this week.

Finance I: Pam Randhawa

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

TYE 2007-08 Scores

2008-11-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

We've posted the TYE 2007-08 scores from last year's competition. While the figures might not mean anything to the general viewer, you students certainly know what these scores mean! Feel free to ask Ron at the next meeting to explain everything.

Team	Oscar	Anton	John	Gaugarin	Total
RVRTech
Concept	9	10	10	9	38
Presentation	8	9	9	9	35
Viability	8	10	8	8	34
					107

Team	Oscar	Anton	John	Gaugarin	Total
uBook
Concept	9	8	9	8	34
Presentation	6	8	8	8	30
Viability	7	8	7	7	29
					93

Team	Oscar	Anton	John	Gaugarin	Total
Meals from Home
Concept	7	8	7	8	30
Presentation	5	7	6	8	26
Viability	6	7	7	7	27
					83

Team	Oscar	Anton	John	Gaugarin	Total
Chakra
Concept	8	9	8	9	34
Presentation	9	10	9	10	38
Viability	6	8	7	8	29
					101

Team	Oscar	Anton	John	Gaugarin	Total
Papyrless
Concept	8	8	8	10	34
Presentation	8	7	8	10	33
Viability	7	7	7	9	30
					97

Team	Oscar	Anton	John	Gaugarin	Total
iCook
Concept	8	9	8	7	32
Presentation	8	9	9	9	35
Viability	8	8	7	8	31
					98

Team	Oscar	Anton	John	Gaugarin	Total
Greentheworld
Concept	7	8	8	8	31
Presentation	6	7	8	9	30
Viability	6	6	6	8	26
					87

Finance I: Speaker Biographies

2008-11-19T15:51:00.000-08:00

Students, we have posted the speaker biographies for this week's class. Once again, we are ecstatic to let you know that this week's speakers are world-class executives who you should certainly listen to.

• Pam Randhawa, VP Strategic Development, Sermo

Pam Randhawa draws from over 14 years of experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries. Having worked in product management, consulting, business development, and marketing, her specialized knowledge of market analysis, strategic planning, business development and product management enables her to successfully guide new product evolution and strategic development at Sermo. In her current role as Vice President of Strategic Development, Ms. Randhawa is responsible for identifying and developing new markets for Sermo solutions. In addition, Ms. Randhawa will be focusing on the expansion of Sermo solutions to international markets. Prior to joining Sermo, Ms. Randhawa served as Vice President of Marketing at Phase Forward, where she was responsible for the planning and execution of the company's global marketing strategy. During her tenure, Ms. Randhawa contributed to the company's market cap growth from just over $225 million in 2005 to over $900 million in 2007, with sales growth over 50 percent, year over year. Ms. Randhawa currently serves on the Advisory Boards of several startups, including: e-Tractions, a provider of web- based marketing solutions; Cognika, a provider of machine learning and advanced analytical software solutions; and GlobalCures, a nonprofit pharmaceutical organization focusing on cancer therapies. Ms. Randhawa holds a Bachelors Degree in economics from the University of Rajasthan, India, and a Masters Degree in public management from Carnegie Mellon University.

• Anurag Pandit, Founder and Managing Partner, Lexicon Management

Anurag is the Founder and Managing Partner of Lexicon Management, a hedge fund manager. Prior to Lexicon, he was a Senior Vice-President and Portfolio Manager of five John Hancock Funds, managing approximately $1.5 Billion. Anurag frequently appeared in the financial press including TV shows such as CNBC, CNN fn, Bloomberg News, and the New England Cable News Network. He is also quoted in national financial journals such as the Wall Street Journal and Businessweek as well regional publications such as the Arizona Republic. Prior to joining John Hancock in 1996, Anurag was a Vice President at Loomis Sayles & Company since 1992. As an Equity Analyst, he analyzed the Electric Utilities, Transportation, Media and Entertainment and Pharmaceutical industries. Anurag also worked as a corporate finance professional at the Bank of Boston structuring loan syndications, private debt placements and cross currency interest rate swaps to hedge international investments. Anurag earned a Master of Science in Management from M.I.T’s Sloan School of Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce (Honours) from the University of Delhi in India. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (C.F.A). An avid sportsman, he enjoys tennis, squash, golf and swimming.

2008-09 TYE Class is Closed

2008-11-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

I regret to inform any interested people that the TYE class for 2008-09 has been filled to maximum capacity at 40 students. We originally capped the maximum headcount at 35 students, but due to overwhelming demand, we found a way to cleverly fit more tables into our classroom. At this point, however, we unfortunately cannot accept any new students.

While we cannot accommodate new additions this academic year, we will do everything in our power to enable all interested parties to participate in next year's program. Please make sure that you contact the TiE Office at 781 272-3875 to confirm your interest.

Live from Marketing I

2008-11-15T06:20:00.001-08:00

We've just kicked off the sessions at Marketing Part I today... the presenters were, for lack of a better word, excellent! Some highlights: Dr. Jalan's amazing story about her journey as an entrepreneur and Brad Coffey's interactive video presentation that featured "the moonwalking gorilla" and "iPhone, will it blend?"

Congratulations to Team 2 for winning the team exercise in the afternoon session.

We've posted Brad Coffey's presentation below:

Marketing Part I, Brad Coffey 11-15-08

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Marketing I: Speaker Biographies

2008-11-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

It gives the TYE leaders great pleasure to announce this week's speaker and teacher. Both are highly recommended individuals because they have incredible stories to tell and are dedicated to paving the path in their respective industries. Furthermore, we would like to make the brief disclaimer that they are close friends of ours and have given us inspiration as well.

• Dr. Radha Jalan, CEO, ElectroChem

ElectroChem is a pioneering company; bringing predictable high quality fuel cell research to the marketplace as a comprehensive product line. FuelCell.com is ElectroChem's flagship subsidiary, allowing ElectroChem to create a convenient platform for developers to acquire products they need. With 40 years of experience invested in fuel cell technology and 20 years in product manufacturing and sales, Electrochem is also an owner of many patents, which serve as a testament to ElectroChem's innovative capabilities. It has been Dr. Jalan's strategic planning which has made ElectroChem a leading company not only in the fuel cell market, but also in fuel cell technology development. Along with her work at ElectroChem, she serves and is the chairperson of a number of non-profit community and educational organizations. Dr. Jalan has been featured in and interviewed by many international and regional papers regarding fuel cells, small businesses, and women in business. Dr. Jalan received her MA from the University of Calcutta, India and her doctorate from the University of Florida, Gainesville. A winner of such awards as the MA High Tech Energy Star and Asian Business Woman of the Year, she is proud of the interest shown in the company's technology as shown through the sale to the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, one of the world's leading research institutions. Click here to learn more about Dr. Jalan.

• Brad Coffey, HubSpot, Business Operations

Brad Coffey is currently a student at MIT Sloan's Graduate School of Business. He also works for one of this year's hottest venture-backed startups, HubSpot. HubSpot is an inbound marketing system that helps small and medium sized businesses get found by more prospects online using search engines, the blogosphere, and social media. The companies software helps its customers gain more traffic and convert more prospects into leads using clever intelligence and marketing analytics. If you have a website, be sure to check out HubSpot's popular website grader tool. Because Brad is well versed in social media and its importance in today's new world of marketing, he is going to teach us how to market our companies using Internet tools that we are all very familiar with (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.). Brad is a graduate of Amherst College, where he studied computer science and played on the soccer team. In addition, he serves as a member of the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee(SAAC). Note: It is critical that all students attend and understand this session. If there are any questions, such as "what is SEO and why is it important?", don't be afraid to ask!

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bradfordcoffey
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bradfordcoffey
HubSpot: http://blog.hubspot.com/

Google Analytics is Your Friend

2008-11-08T17:29:00.000-08:00

Well, we mentioned that we want you guys to come to the blog and check out our posts... it looks like everyone has been slowly but surely accessing the content. We'll try to upload an RSS feed to the social network so that you will be able to see all of our posts there too. Check out how cool the Google Analytics report is here though... if you are going to set up a website for your future companies, all you have to do is upload a tiny bit of code to each page and voila, you have amazing, actionable analytics. We'll talk more about this when we get into Marketing I and II, but data is ALWAYS a good thing. Let Pat know if you have any questions about getting Analytics set up on your website or blog. It is quick and easy.

TYE October 2008 Google Analytics Report

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: tye

Live from Opportunity Recognition

2008-11-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

Class has just started... and Prateek gave us an overview of the new TYE Social Network. Again, it is mandatory that everyone sign up because we are posting all of our videos and presentations there. Join here or else! So far 30 members have joined, including John McCain... er, what? You'll have to sign up to see...

10:00 AM: We've just seen some awesome demos from Malay Kundu from StopLift. Check out the demo of his product here. In case you have forgotten already... StopLift has created the industry’s first-ever checkout vision system able to successfully detect “sweethearting”, which occurs when cashiers pretend to scan merchandise but bypass the scanner, cover up bar codes, etc., thus not charging the customer for the merchandise. The customer is often a family member, friend or fellow employee working in collusion with the cashier.StopLift’s patent-pending software-based computer vision technology visually determines what occurs during each and every transaction to immediately identify loss at the checkout. Cashiers are identified on the basis of video evidence the very first time they produce a loss, rather than months or even years down the road, significantly reducing inventory shrinkage, deterring future theft, and boosting profitability.

11:00 AM: We have also just heard from Ron Beraha on the 6W's and SWOT. His presentation is embedded below if you want to review it.

Opportunity Recognition 2008

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: tye)

Opportunity Recognition: Speaker Biographies

2008-11-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

We are excited to start our second class of the 2008-09 TYE program, entitled "Opportunity Recognition." By the end of the class, you will know how to identify a good business opportunity and will be able to use tools such as "SWOT" and the "6 W's." Prateek will also give us a little information on the TYE social network he built. Below are the speaker biographies for the session.

• Malay Kundu, CEO StopLift

Malay Kundu is Founder and CEO of StopLift, Inc., developing bleeding-edge computer vision technology to automatically monitor CCTV security video to detect theft for retail chains. In business for over two years, StopLift has systems in place successfully detecting theft and has received outside capital investment. Prior to StopLift, Malay was co-founder and CEO of the instant messaging company Invino until its successful sale to a public company. Prior to that, Malay led the development and marketing of a real time facial recognition system for Facia Reco Associates. Malay holds an SM and SB in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

• Ron Beraha, Business Development Guru

Ron has over 25 years of national and international management, process, optimization, education and integration experience with Sun Microsystems, Pioneer Investments Group, Liberty Mutual group, Fidelity Investments and Digital Equipment Corporation as well as a variety of start-up companies. Ron earned his Masters Certificate in Industrial Sciences and Economics from the Weitzman Institute at the Jazrael Valley, Israel and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. Ron is a member of the MVVF Board at Umass Lowell and is also on the Board of NECC School of Entrepreneurship and the Chairman of the TYE Mentorship SIG and the Merrimack Valley High Tech Council. He is a member of TIE-Boston and NECINA. Ron has co-founded and sold MMM, a media company in the 80s. He helped raise funds for JGR Engineering in the mid 90s and founded, raised capital and sold Horizon Translations in the late 90s and Moon's Tail Enterprises in 2001. Recently Ron has been a co-founder of BridgeGao Strategic Services.

TYE Google Calendar Now Available

2008-10-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

TYE Students, we have embedded our class schedule in Google Calendar. You can find it under the public calendar listings. If you are a Gmail user, you should consider using Google Calendar in order to keep track of your TYE meetings and events. We'll show you a quick demo on November 8th in case you are curious. Also, be on the lookout for Prateek, he is going to show us the TYE Social Network he built.

Join the TYE Social Network!

2008-10-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

TYE Students and Staff, Prateek Sahay has set up a great social networking site for all TYE students. Please click here to join. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Pat, Hooman, or Rajeev.

We will use the site as a means to learn names, faces, and basic information about each other. As we break into groups, we will try to set up additional infrastructure to support your activities.

Just so we're all on the same page, we would like to establish some ground rules.

This social network is for professional use only. Please refrain from making any comments that could be inappropriate.
Make sure you post a) your full name b) a face picture and c) profile information so that we can all learn about each other. This requirement will be helpful once we start breaking up into groups.
Please encourage your TYE friends to join. We would like to make sure that everyone is included.
Please provide feedback whenever you want about the use of the social network. We want to make sure that it is being used effectively.

TYE Students

2008-10-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

The TYE managers can't be happier with this year's class. We've posted a collage of all of the students who participated in the "What is Entrepreneurship" session. Can anyone list all of the students? Pat has a $20 bill waiting for the person to do it perfectly (Note: proper spelling only!) If you are missing from the picture, then we did not snap a picture of you. Please send us one ASAP to be included.

Congratulations TYE on the 2nd Annual TiE Global Award!

2008-10-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

We are very pleased and excited to share with you that TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs) Program, a TiE-Boston initiative was recognized as “Most Successful Involvement of Young Entrepreneurs” and received the TiE Global award for the second consecutive year.

Four factors play a significant role in the program success and they are:

Passion and hard work of students, who make us proud
Inspiration, knowledge and mentoring support provided by TiE Charter Members, General Members and Sponsors
Dedication of the TYE team, and support from the TiE-Boston staff
Involvement of parents

Our humble thanks to all and special thanks to the donors.

Live from "What is Entrepreneurship?"

2008-10-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome TYE students! Today we're going to cover a lot of material... if you didn't receive everything via email, let us know so we can get you up to speed. We started the morning with a couple easy ice breakers ("the IX" and the "think outside the box" exercises) and then we learned a little bit about each individual with the "two truths and one lie" game. Interestingly, we learned that one of you crashed into a horse while skiing, a few of you love your Nintendo DS, and some of you actually don't like the subject of biology. What will we learn next time?

The morning started with a presentation from serial entrepreneur and VC Ash Ashutosh from Greylock Partners. As you might remember, Ash talked about "What is Entrepreneurship?" We'll post the video here once we transcode it.

After Ash, we heard from entrepreneur Rajesh Nair from DegreeC Controls on entrepreneurial skills and values. We've posted his presentation below and will also post the video once we figure out how to upload it.

Rajesh Nair's Presentation on Entrepreneurial Skills and Values

Rajesh Nair Presentation -- Entrepreneurial Values

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We didn't cover this material in class, but startups are beginning to hear from their investors that they need to be conservative in their spending. Remember how we said that business plans help companies to define their strategic direction? This is an important lesson in good times, and in bad. Check out what top tier VCs are telling their companies in the presentation below. Note the slide cover: RIP Good Times.

Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: depression recession)

Sample Business Ideas from TYE 2008

2008-10-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

A few of you have asked if we could provide you with some sample business plan executive summaries from TYE 2008. We've pasted a few below. Let us know what you think... there are some great ideas in here! Our challenge for you is to come up with bigger and better ideas.

•AIM: AIM provides a low cost, high quality, online 24/7 SAT preparation

service that caters to the needs of the student while satisfying the need of the parents. The students will be native English and Spanish speakers. A quality education is essential for success – our company will help students get the best SAT scores possible, without having their score dependent on financial status.

•EVOLINK: By focusing on an unattended niche in the current networking industry, we at EvoLink are able to create a product that meets the needs of a very large consumer market. Currently, a large majority of the consumer population demands a trend toward wireless mobility, but at the same time they suffer from a lack of experience with new technology. For this reason, we have approached this situation by creating the EvoHub, a product that will tackle the two main issues we have identified before us. The EvoHub is a revolutionary wireless router that will allow for all peripherals to be wirelessly connected to any computer on the network via wireless USB. On top of this, EvoLink will stress “easy-to-setup, convenient” features. In turn, the EvoHub may likely become the next zenith in wireless connectivity technology.

•iCOOK: It is iCook’s goal to enhance the cooking experience for the common man by addressing key issues that both hassle everyday cooks and keep others from cooking. To do this we plan on: (1) Assisting cooks and aspiring cooks fill the intellectual void that they encounter in the kitchen (2) Revolutionizing the approach to cooking by automating previously limiting factors; e.g. digitized voice directions, direct grocery delivery, and meticulous organization of all your favorite recipes (3) Supplement the definition, acquisition, and transportation phases of pre-kitchen meal preparation (4) Allowing people to access any recipe whenever and wherever they want, at the touch of a button

•LIVELEG: LiveLeg Inc. is being formed as a private company offering a unique approach to the private jet industry. LiveLeg Inc. is a travel agency that works as a convenient interface between customers and private, and corporate, jets. The company also provides a distinctive way through which the “dead legs”, or empty seats on private jets, can be put to use, hence the name LiveLeg Inc.

•MySHOP: Shopping has become a gamble. It is a hit or miss where there is no guarantee that I will find something I love that fits me well. But, MyShop has made it a guaranteed jackpot. Almost every person in the US has stepped into a retail store, and most encounter the same problems, so I thought “why not make a solution where everyone can reap the benefits of the integration of the three most popular industries: retail, shoppers, and advanced technology.” From any computer across the globe, someone can shop, try clothes on their own body, and buy apparel from their favorite stores. Every partner benefits. Retailers have access to a wider market, thus greater potential revenue, they increase their online sales, and reduce costly in-store operating costs. Shoppers receive a complimentary service where they can see exactly how clothes look on their body and try on any item from all of their favorite stores. We tap into these markets by exposing them to the “next big thing,” the developing virtual technology market.

•RVRtech: RVRtech is a fresh, new company aimed at changing the way we look at radio. Our plan is to release a radio unit, called an RVR, that has all the capabilities of a modern DVR found in any new cable box. This means that our unit will give listeners the chance to interact with their radio in a way never before experienced. Just like the DVR changed the course of cable, so too do we hope that the RVR will forever change the course of radio.

•U-CALL: U-Call provides a combined package of services directed to eliminate the drudgery and distractions of college in the life of the student of today; this allows them to focus first and foremost on their primary objective: an excellent education. U-call will be providing our customers with a number of services such as: Moving, laundry, school supplies, hotel accommodation, transportation tickets, on-campus tickets, end-of-semester parties, restaurant reservations, groceries, student card that doubles up as a debit card outside campus. The demands for each service by each student can be placed through either talking to us at our main office on campus or through the website using their U-Call ID.

TYE Ground Rules and Expectations

2008-10-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

All, please find below our TYE Ground Rules and Expectations for the 2009 Calendar Year. The following list is derived from common sense, respect for people’s time, and our experience from past years. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us.

The Program is only available to high school students
Pre-high school students are allowed to monitor two classes
Class sessions meet every other Saturday until the competition phase
Classes run from 9 am to 1:30 pm
Students are expected to be present on time (we recommend that students arrive 15 minutes early to every class)
Students are not allowed to miss more than 2 classes
Parents are not allowed in class room sessions
The facility we are using is generously provided to us at no cost, therefore it is mandatory that everyone cleans their space before leaving. We must respect the facility (no chewing gum or sticking gum on furniture, no littering, students are allowed to use the classroom and general cafeteria area, students are not allowed in other floors)
Every student needs to have a notebook and writing instruments for class
The winners of the $10K Competition in 2009 are not allowed to compete in future years. They are allowed to mentor and learn, however.

What is Entrepreneurship: Speaker Biographies

2008-10-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

We are excited to start our first class: "What is Entrepreneurship?" As promised, we've posted the biographies of our speakers. We'll post more information as it becomes available.

• Ash Ashutosh: Partner, Greylock Partners

Ash is a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners. While being a recognized leader in the storage industry, Ash’s areas of interests include semiconductors, systems, storage, software and utility and cloud computing. As a serial entrepreneur, Ash has over two decades of operational and strategy experience in founding, building and advising companies. Ash was the founder of three companies in technologies ranging from semiconductors, systems and enterprise software, each of which led their respective markets and had successful exits. He also worked for and has been a member of the board or the advisory board of several large and small technology companies. Prior to joining Greylock, Ash was Vice President and the Chief Technologist at the storage business unit at HP, responsible for strategy and development of next-generation data center technologies. He joined HP as a result of the acquisition of AppIQ, a company he founded in 2001 that became a leader in standards-built Storage Resource Management (SRM) software. Ash currently serves on the board of Delphix, a company developing radically innovative database management solutions. He is also a charter member of TiE Boston. Ash holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters degree in Computer Science from Penn State University.

• Rajesh Nair: Founder and Chairman, Degree C Controls

Rajesh Nair is the President, CEO and co-founder of Degree Controls, Inc. He bootstrapped DegreeC with $60,000 in 1997. Under his leadership DegreeC grew to a $13.5 million company in five years without any external funding. He has been involved with thermal management designs, products and services for the past 12 years. Rajesh has several patents in thermal sensing and control design. He was recognized as the Entrepreneur of the Year, 2001 by the New Hampshire High Tech Council. Ernst and Young selected Rajesh as one of the Finalists for the Entrepreneur of the Year, New England in 2002. Rajesh has a BS in Physics from Kerela University; BS in EE, and MS in Electronic Design from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India; and an MS in Manufacturing Engineering, U Mass, Amherst

Meet the TYE Leaders: Co-Chair Backgrounds

2008-10-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

A few of the students and parents have asked us about our backgrounds, so we thought we would post some information here. Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts.

• Curriculum: Hooman Hodjat

A proven leader in execution of strategic initiatives, Hooman’s goal is to build his own enterprise, creating value by leveraging technology to address a market opportunity. He is currently doing so at his startup iRelai, a startup focused on the last mile of e-commerce. After completing his MBA at Babson, he combined knowledge and experience in business and technology as the director of IT for an international sporting goods retailer and manufacturer. There, he successfully implemented strategic and operational initiatives to support the profitability and expansion of the business. Hooman’s career background includes Senior Technology Management, Project Leadership, Management Consulting, Technical and Product Marketing, and Software Engineering. In addition to spending time with his wife and baby girl, Hooman enjoys playing soccer, golf and has passion for martial arts and skiing.

• Curriculum: Pat Noonan

Pat Noonan is an Associate at Commonwealth Capital Ventures, a leading early stage venture capital firm based out of Boston. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Pat worked for the strategy arm of Capgemini, a global management consultancy. Based first in the firm’s Cambridge, MA offices and later in its London, UK offices, he advised start-ups and Fortune 500 companies in the telecom, media, and entertainment industries. Pat graduated from Harvard University, where he serves as Second Class Marshal (Vice President) of the Class of 2003. He is a graduate of the TiE Young Leaders Program and is an active member of TiE, where he manages the Entrepreneur Forum at TiECON East.

• Finance: Geetha Ramamurthy

Geetha Ramamurthy is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development of Venus Capital. Ms. Ramamurthy is a seasoned management executive, innovative leader and motivator. She has built a global network comprised of successful entrepreneurs, leaders and corporate executives. Prior to joining Venus Capital Management, Ms. Ramamurthy was the Executive Director of the Boston chapter of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs). As key member of the leadership team, Ms. Ramamurthy has developed TiE-Boston into the second largest chapter globally and the leading entrepreneurship organization in the Northeast. She was responsible for developing and managing sponsorship, membership, events and education programs, and provide oversight and supervise staff and volunteers. In 10 years the membership grew to 800 members and events to over 60 annually, including the flagship annual TiECON and thematic workshops relevant to current sectors like Cleantech and Lifesciences. Ms Ramamurthy was instrumental in establishing several best practices and new initiatives like TiE Women’s Initiative, Alliance Partner program and the TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE). TYE has received the Global award as the unique education program and has received national media recognition. In addition, she plays a pivotal role in the TiE India Connect program, which promotes the direct partnership with participating chapters and entrepreneurs in India. Ms. Ramamurthy founded Legends n Leaders, a platform for global leaders to network, empower, inspire and share ideas. Also, she founded G. Ram, Inc. an accounting and tax services and business advisory firm and co-founded Palsan Business Solutions a business support services company. She is the Managing Director of Carmine Leo Associates, a leadership development firm and director of the board of Trax, a banking services company. She serves as chairman of the board of MITHAS (MIT Heritage of Arts of South Asia) and as the advisor to several startup companies. She began her career as Medical Technologist at Children’s Hospital, Boston, where she played numerous leadership roles.

• Finance: Praveen Sahay

Praveen joined VIMAC in 2003 through the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program—a program designed to select, educate and train future leaders in the venture capital industry. Praveen brings 13 years of eclectic experience to the firm, including 3 years of venture experience. Prior to the fellowship, he was an Associate at Updata Venture Partners, an early-stage investor in IT and communications startups in Northern Virginia. He has also served as a Strategy Consultant to technology corporations and private equity investors during his tenure at Dean & Company. Prior to his venture career, Praveen managed retail operations for a mutual fund company, explored for oil and gas deposits in the Arabian Sea, and helped build quantitative tools to optimize equity portfolios. While serving as a Deputy Commandant, he led armed troops in situations involving threat to national security in India. He was also the National Elections Coordinator (CIVPOL) at the United Nations Operation in Mozambique where he played a key role in the country’s transition to democracy. More recently, he served in the management team of iCode, an early stage enterprise software company in Virginia still operating and growing successfully. Praveen has an MBA from the University of Chicago and an MS in Nuclear Physics and BS in Physics from St. Stephen's College in New Delhi.

• Operations: Mona Chopra

Mona Chopra is Vice President at Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management group. She is an entrepreneurial executive and has worked with technology firms such as Keane, Sapient and Segway in various management roles. In each of her roles she had opportunities to manage, lead and/or support innovative product launches. Among all, the launch of Segway HT remains her personal favorite where she worked with the inventor Dean Kamen in marketing the product to college campuses and universities and international markets. Mona also co-founded Ferns N’ Petals, a retail floral boutique in India which she sold to her client prior to coming to the U.S. Mona is actively involved with the Bank’s Diversity Network and Asian Leadership Group. She co-chair’s the TYE (The Young Entrepreneur’s) program that prepares high school kids to create a winning business plan and compete in the Business Plan competition. Mona holds an M.B.A. from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College in Wellesley, and a MS in Economics from India. She currently lives in Wellesley and enjoys visiting museums, collecting art and promoting the indigenous arts and crafts from India.

• Operations: Ron Beraha

Ron has over 25 years of national and international management, process, optimization, education and integration experience with Sun Microsystems, Pioneer Investments Group, Liberty Mutual group, Fidelity Investments and Digital Equipment Corporation as well as a variety of start-up companies. Ron earned his Masters Certificate in Industrial Sciences and Economics from the Weitzman Institute at the Jazrael Valley, Israel and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. Ron is a member of the MVVF Board at Umass Lowell and is also on the Board of NECC School of Entrepreneurship and the Chairman of the TYE Mentorship SIG and the Merrimack Valley High Tech Council. He is a member of TIE-Boston and NECINA. Ron has co-founded and sold MMM, a media company in the 80s. He helped raise funds for JGR Engineering in the mid 90s and founded, raised capital and sold Horizon Translations in the late 90s and Moon's Tail Enterprises in 2001. Recently Ron has been a co-founder of BridgeGao Strategic Services.

• Technology: Rajeev Arora

Rajeev is a technically accomplished and entrepreneurial-spirited management professional from CCR Pyramid. He has eight+ yearsof hands-on IS and IT expertise including three years of IT management and offshore management experience. He has a track record of success in deploying solutions that increase operational efficiency and ensure optimal interface/experience. He is a graduate of the Wentworth Institute of Technology.

TYE Launch Event Recap... What a Night!

2008-10-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the 75+ attendees who showed up last night: it was a fantastic showing from a phenomenal crowd. Throughout the day, we'll post a full recap of the event. We promised you that we would post materials and pictures on the blog, so let us know if you have any trouble accessing the content once it is posted.

Below is the introductory presentation. As you may remember, Rajeev gave us a great overview and background into the program. Feel free to email any one of the co-chairs to get more information.

TYE Launch Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: leaders young)

In case you didn't receive a handout, we have provided a digital copy of the brochure below. Most of this information can be found throughout the blog, but please let us know if you have any questions.

TYE Brochure - Upload a Document to Scribd

As you know, we also heard from the founder of Paragon Lake, a Massachusetts-based startup focusing on the custom jewelry market. Imagine if you could design your own ring and view a 3D model before buying it. Now you can! Check out the 3D model YouTube video below for a sample demonstration of what Paragon Lake wants to bring to customers.

Matt also offered us an interesting story about entrepreneurship. Three men are sitting on a bench and a fly lands on each of their shoulders. They all react differently. The first waves it away, the second brushes it off, and the third eats it...! Another fly comes along, but this time the entrepreneur of the group snags the fly and offers to sell it to the one who previously ate the other one. The point of the story: an entrepreneurs finds opportunity in every situation.

Here is another video of the Paragon Lake virtual showcase:

TiE-Boston presents...TYE Launch Event Dinner October 1

2008-09-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

It's time again for Young Entrepreneurs to show the stuff they're made of! $10K Business Plan Competition for TiE Young Entrepreneurs.

Join us on October 1st to get a taste of what our young entrepreneurs will experience over the duration of the program. The launch event is open to everyone, including parents, friends and family. Our speakers for the evening include Matt Lauzon, Founder, Paragon Lake. A young entrepreneur himself, he started this business while still in college. Paragon Lake is a trusted source for the custom jewelry design of unique engagement rings, unique wedding rings, and more. Our 2nd speaker is Tara Mitchell, Partner, WAVE Capital Partners . Tara will talk about the importance of venture capital in entrepreneurship.

Come and experience what a TYE class looks like before you sign up. So far, 3 teams have won the 10k Prize Money. This year, it could be you! The team with the best idea and presentation wins. The prize will be awarded at the 2009 annual conference called TiECON East. To attend the session on October 1 OR To enroll in the TYE session 2008-09 and participate in the 10K Business Plan Competition just RSVP to suneha@tie-boston.org.

TYE Launch is Almost Here...

2008-09-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

We are set to launch this year's new TYE class tomorrow, October 1st. Are YOU ready? The event will take place from 6:30 to 9:30 PM at Reservoir Woods, 930 Winter Street, Waltham, MA.

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We have some excellent speakers who will help us kick off this year's events. We have included their bios below. Think about some questions that you might want to ask them!

Matt Lauzon, Co-Founder and CEO:

Matt Lauzon founded Paragon Lake in 2006 as a student at Babson College. Lauzon enrolled at Babson because of its reputation as the number one school in the world for entrepreneurship education and leveraged all the college had to offer while exploring various business opportunities. Paragon Lake was born when Lauzon and a fellow student uncovered a niche in the jewelry industry at the intersection of e-commerce and mass customization. Serving as co-founder and CEO, Lauzon took Paragon Lake from an idea incubating in a Babson dormitory to become an institutionally funded company in just two years.

Lauzon created a leadership team that includes industry veterans from both the software and jewelry spaces and built a national network of independent jewelers that use Paragon Lake’s proprietary platform to drive made-to-order sales in their stores. In addition to building the team and driving growth, Lauzon led the company through two rounds of institutional funding totaling over $6M in financing from Highland Capital Partners and Canaan Partners.

Lauzon earned a B.S. in Business Management from Babson College where he was an Arthur M. Blank Scholar. At Babson, he was named one of “America’s Top Entrepreneurs Under the Age of 25” by BusinessWeek, was the winner of the John H. Muller Jr. Business Plan Competition, and was awarded the Shelby Cullom Davis prize for social entrepreneurship.

Tarra Mitchell, Founder & Managing Director, WAVE Capital Partners

Ms. Mitchell directs WAVE’s strategic planning and management of the Partnership. She is responsible for building and managing the firm’s execution strategy & platform; securing equity, debt & project financing for portfolio companies; and negotiating terms of sale including public offerings. An important component of her value will involve looking across the portfolio and understanding what is happening, maximizing efficiency, with a view towards getting to a liquidity event quickly.

Ms. Mitchell’s accomplishments include creating scaleable business platforms, which maximize efficiency and improve returns. She’s done this repeatedly in prior work environments including marketing & sales, relationship management, and eBusiness. Prior to founding WAVE she created a professional platform for Landmark Partners (www.landmarkpartners.com), a private equity firm founded in 1999, which expanded assets under management from $3.5 to $7.5bn during her 6.5 year tenure. For Landmark, Ms. Mitchell directed fundraisings of over $2 billion and sourced several hundred million in transactions. She also spearheaded Landmark’s entry into Asia forging a joint venture in Korea and developed new business relationships in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

Prior to her career in private equity, she was a management consultant to large financial services clients including J.P. Morgan and The Hartford through her employment with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wheelhouse. Ms. Mitchell created international market entry strategies for small businesses for the Export Consortium during business school, was an equity analyst for Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. Prior to business school, Ms. Mitchell served as account manager to global consumer products goods manufacturers for an organization called MMI that provided analytical tools, services, and data.

Ms. Mitchell has an MBA in International Business from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and a BS concentrating in International Business from The Pennsylvania State University where she graduated cuma sum laude. She also serves on the board of directors of the Women’s Association of Venture and Equity (www.women-wave.org), the only national organization dedicated to the development of women in the field of private equity and venture capital and an advisory board member of NetageSolutions (www.netagesolutions.com).

How to Write a Business Plan: In Case You Want a Head Start!

2008-09-30T06:44:00.001-07:00

Over the course of the semester, your co-chairs will provide you with lots of resources. You don't have to read ALL of them, but we promise that everything we post will be useful. Any questions, feel free to ask.

How to write a business plan

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A Blast From the Past

2008-08-06T14:51:00.001-07:00

TYE Awards - An Inspiration To Many Young Budding Entrepreneurs
Nirmala Garimella from 07/11/2006

Ziggy Tek: It seems definitely like a sound that would appeal to any baby but when the winning team of Shane Lampert, Jay Mayur, Neil Mayur and Aashish Sharma, appeared on stage to receive their check of $10,000 donated by Microsoft from Ramadorai, CEO, TCS and Chairman of Nasscom, there was tremendous applause from the large audience. The event was held at the TiECON East Banquet dinner at the Copley Marriot Hotel on June 16^th 2006. Ziggy Tek, a baby monitoring device that helps alert parents to monitor their child’s fever, was the winning business idea for this year TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs), initiative launched in late 2005 from TiE Boston.

It was a night of celebration and entertainment mixed with accomplishments as participants waited with bated breath while Oscar Jazdowski, TiE charter member introduced the program and the participants to the audience saying “what we learnt here was how impressive these students are in their written and oral presentation.” Geeta Ramamurthy, quoting Abdul Kalam’s vision for youth said she was inspired by his words on her visit to India and that vision was translated into action with this initiative.

The Program geared for young students between the ages of 14 to 18 years is designed for aspiring youngsters who from an early age want to become entrepreneurs. Initially called “How to do a business plan “it soon became TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs), a forum of about 30 students trying to understand the nuances of how to formulate a business plan, research industry segments and use methods to approach and analyze business. Spread over a period of 16 weeks, the students were split into 6 teams of 2 to 5 students who met with a mentor and learned skills that would probably be best learnt at a business school. The final result was presented to a panel of 5 judges consisting of two lawyers, two venture capitalists and a charter member who listened and zeroed in on the winner: in this case the Ziggy Tek team who were mentored by Moshe Shavit.

Overall the business ideas of the participants were varied and interesting ranging from maximizing airline trips for travelers, to online tutoring and safer windshields. To all those who were watching especially the younger students it was an inspiring and motivational event to witness and hopefully participate in the future.

TYE 2009 Kicks Off!

2008-07-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to TYE, or TiE Young Entrepreneurs, the place for all-things-entrepreneurial. We had a tremendous turnout at our kick-off event a couple weeks ago. To start the new season, we've decided to blog about our journey. It has already started with questions like "What is an entrepreneur" and "Who needs revenue anyways?" but pretty soon we'll start to hear questions such as "Why does Apple (or insert company name here) have a good business model?" and "Is it really that good?" Who knows, you may even end up asking us "When can I pick up my check for $10,000 since I won the TYE business plan contest!?"

At our first event, we played a game called "Be a VC" (note: in case you already forgot, VC stands for v enture capital). We asked all of the program participants to choose to fund, or finacially back, one of two hot new products. Our entire class was split into two camps. Each camp was asked to answer the question "If you had $5 million dollars, which product would you invest in and why?"

The first team selected the MyVu iPod video-projecting accessory glasses and the second team chose the Digit Wireless "Fasttap finger pad." The final showdown occurred when each team, in front of the entire audience of fifty+ parents, was asked to offer compelling reasons to invest in their chosen product. Both teams were able to provide comprehensive information on subjects such as market size, product innovation, competition, and pricing. The audience, our resident venture capitalists if you will, were shrewd and wanted to know everything we could tell them. The MyVu team won the vote by a narrow margin, but it was close. Next time we'll cover the analysis in a little more depth. Stay tuned...

TiE Young Entrepreneurs

TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Video

TYE Teams... and winners announced... drum roll....

Congratulations to All Competing Teams!

TYE Business Plan Competition Judges

Let us know if you need help with presentation / pitch

"Mock Pitch" Judges Announced

TYE Global Award Follow Up

Working Session 4: Your Ten Minute Presentations

Welcoming the Newest Additions to the TYE Team

Working Session 4 is Almost Here...

Introducing the 2009 TYE Mentors... Welcome!

Live from TYE Working Session 2

Start Your Engines! TYE Dates Going Forward

Live from Business Models & Law

Live from Marketing II

Marketing II: Speaker Biographies

TYE Alumni Profile: Mark Bao

Live from Finance II (& Social Entrepreneurship)

Finance II: Speaker Biographies

Snow Day: 12/20 Class Cancelled, To Be Rescheduled

Live from Finance I

TYE 2007-08 Scores

Finance I: Speaker Biographies

2008-09 TYE Class is Closed

Live from Marketing I

Marketing I: Speaker Biographies

Google Analytics is Your Friend

Live from Opportunity Recognition

Opportunity Recognition: Speaker Biographies

TYE Google Calendar Now Available

Recommended Reading: The Go-Getter by Peter Kyne

Join the TYE Social Network!

Recommended Reading: The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar

TYE Students

Congratulations TYE on the 2nd Annual TiE Global Award!

Live from "What is Entrepreneurship?"

Sample Business Ideas from TYE 2008

TYE Ground Rules and Expectations

What is Entrepreneurship: Speaker Biographies

Meet the TYE Leaders: Co-Chair Backgrounds

TYE Launch Event Recap... What a Night!

TiE-Boston presents...TYE Launch Event Dinner October 1

TYE Launch is Almost Here...

How to Write a Business Plan: In Case You Want a Head Start!

A Blast From the Past

TYE 2009 Kicks Off!