Making the Leap to Start a Company
18 February 2021 12:00 - 13:00
How do you make the leap to start a company? For today's innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs there is no set timeline or path to know when to "push your chips in" towards starting a new venture. However, if you study the pathway that serial founders and investors utilize to understand when to be patient and when to leap, you'll recognize there's a set of key triggers and milestones that can guide any aspiring founder to be disciplined and patient versus to pin their ears back and run like crazy after a new idea. This session is design for any aspiring entrepreneur who is considering making the leap to learn how to prepare for the leap, how to create a pathway to leap, how to attract investors and when to hold off on making a full time switch. You'll learn: -- The stages and steps from an idea to a project to a full-time startup leap -- How to cultivate investor and partner relationships before you make the leap -- Key validation steps needed to convince others (and yourself) you've got a viable startup concept
Eric Koester has spent much of his career building companies, working with entrepreneurs and writing and teaching around topics of customer discovery, lean, entrepreneurship and innovation. Eric is currently the founder of Main Street Genome, a new technology startup developing tools for the small business economy. Previously, Eric was a co-founder of Zaarly, a marketplace to locate local small businesses and service providers, named by Fast Company as one of the Fifty Most Innovative Companies in the World. He was also an executive at Appature Inc., a cloud-based relationship marketing software company acquired by IMS in 2013; a founder of Learn that Name, acquired by Blackberry in 2010; and a founder/manager of other companies in the environmental consultancy and web development sectors. Eric was recently named one of Washington DC’s “40 under 40” and has written several books on startups and technology, including The Green Entrepreneur Handbook (CRC Press 2011) and Starting a High Tech Business Venture (Taylor & Francis 2010). Eric also devotes considerable time to building the startup community, including as a board member of UP Global and Startup Weekend and the DC co-chair of Enstitute. Eric began his entrepreneurial career as a corporate securities attorney at Cooley LLP, focusing on high-growth startups, venture funds, private equity and technology companies.
