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SAN JOSE, Calif., June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- EntrepreneurFest '98 is the culmination of the Venture Incubator, a novel two stage program designed to encourage the formation of new technology companies by MIT alumni/ae. During its first year of existence, the Venture Incubator drew over 1200 attendees, and has materially contributed to the start-up of at least two companies.
``The bottle-neck in new venture formation has shifted from a funding constraint to an offering constraint. The amount of money chasing deals has never been higher. The number of unfunded quality deals is at an all-time low,'' states Tom Darbonne, Executive Director of the Venture Incubator. ``This is the first structured program to address this bottle-neck.'' The talent pool attending the series has been outstanding. The series is open to the general public, but draws mostly from the local MIT alumni/ae community. In the words of President Vest, ``MIT serves the nation and world through education and research, which is most dramatically demonstrated by the talented and thoughtful efforts of community of alumni/ae entrepreneurs in Northern California.''
The Venture Incubator is a product of the Entrepreneurship Program of the MIT Club of Northern California (MITCNC) whose mission is to promote Entrepreneurship within the Bay Area and to help foster the success of MIT entrepreneurs through encouragement, education, and community building. As Fred Lam VP-Entrepreneurship notes, ``We are building an organization targeted at helping meet the needs of technology entrepreneurs, as well as people who want to become entrepreneurs. We believe it is unique for a volunteer alumni/ae group to adopt this role, but then again, Silicon Valley is a unique place.''
``The ultimate goal of the MITCNC is to bring MIT alumni/ae closer together with each other, MIT, and the local community. The Venture Incubator and EntrepreneurFest are shining examples of how I believe we are doing just that,'' say David Weitz, MITCNC President.
EntrepreneurFest will showcase MIT's entrepreneurial spirit at many levels. MIT President Charles M. Vest, the event's keynote speaker, will address the university's role in developing future entrepreneurs. In addition, 20 start-up companies founded by MIT graduates will be demonstrating their new technology while 8 prominent local MIT alumni/ae entrepreneurs circulate through the crowd to meet and greet these future MIT entrepreneurs.
EntrepreneurFest will be attended by eight MIT graduates who have been successful in their own entrepreneurial ventures and have made a significant impact. They are: Efraim Arazi, Imedia Corporation; Jerry Burnett, Visionary Corporate Technology; Paul Cook, Raychem & SRI International; Brian Hinman, Polycom; Steven T. Kirsch, Infoseek; Suhas Patil, Cirrus Logic; Vivek Ranadive, TIBCO; and Howard Shao, Documentum.
At least twenty MIT founded local companies will also be there providing technology and product demos including the following: Anubis Solutions, Berkeley MicroInstruments, Brigade Solutions, CityAuction.com, Frequency Technology, Inteletech, ITLinks Media, Latitude Communications, MicroDisplay, Netmosphere, PocketScience, Post Communications, Proxinet, SNAP Technologies, StockMaster.com, Symphony Systems, Virage, Virtual Ink, Waiter.com, and Zanza.
About the MITCNC Venture Incubator Series
The goal of the program is to create teams that crystallize around a business concept and develop a sound business plan. The program is divided into two stages. The first stage of the program focuses on team creation and idea generation. Similarly minded individuals with complimentary skill sets can mingle and develop a business concept that can be refined into a single page abstract. This abstract can be reviewed by members of the venture capital community.
The second stage consists of educational events directed at producing a quality business plan. In this stage, a series of distinguished speakers offered their insights on marketing, finance, strategic partnerships, legal issues, operational issues, and funding issues.
About the MIT Club of Northern California (MITCNC).
The MITCNC is the official local Alumni/ae Association chapter for MIT and serves the close to 7000 MIT alumni/ae in Northern California. The club's goal is to create a tangible community for local MIT alumni/ae through its various events, and its newsletter, email and website publications. Last year, the club ran over 100 events covering a diverse range of topics and had over 3000 attendees at its events.
Information about future MITCNC events can be found at the club's website: www.mitcnc.org.
SOURCE: Waiter.Com
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