Innovation Series Event: New Year’s Resolutions for Startup Founders: What Not To Do in 2013 with Katie Rae and Jean Hammond

Cost: 
$20 Forum members; $45 Non-members, Free for students
Location: 
MIT Stata Center, Room 32-123 32 Vassar Street Cambridge, MA 02139 Map
Register Here: 
MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge
Description: 

5:30-6:00pm  Registration and Snacks
6:10-8:00pm    Event
8:00-9:00pm   Networking Upstairs in the R&D Pub, 4th Floor of the MIT Stata Center
 

Failure.  Such a word.  But every entrepreneur or entrepreneurial venture is going to fail or experience a crisis – at something and sometime.  Recovering from mistakes, surviving crises, and learning from failure are requisite skills for successful entrepreneurs.  And although each entrepreneur’s experience is unique, many common mistakes, crises, and failure patterns are also totally avoidable if you know what you’re looking for.

Two of the top angels in the area, Jean Hammond and Katie Rae, have seen and weathered many mistakes throughout their years in the entrepreneurial community, and have spent several of the last years mentoring and guiding founders through the minefields of building a viable company.  Join us for a candid conversation about what they have seen and learned, and the insights that are applicable to anyone involved in a startup.

 

Katie Rae is the Managing Director of TechStars in Boston, and is also a founder of Project 11, a firm that invests in and assists early-stage startups.   Katie specializes in rapid product development and customer growth strategies for Internet businesses that scale.

She has spent her career building significant Internet businesses in the community, self-publishing and search spaces.  Most recently she was the Head of Product for Microsoft Startup Labs, an early stage product development lab focused on collaboration, location-based services and social applications, where concepts were tested for consumer enthusiasm.   Before that she was SVP of Product at Eons, a business focused on new products for 50+ community.  Katie pioneered early freemium business models at Lycos for the Tripod and Angelfire communities. She learned the ropes of product and business development at AltaVista, RagingBull, Zip2 and Mirror Worlds.

She holds an MBA from Yale University and a BA in Biology from Oberlin College.

Jean Hammond, Entrepreneur and Investor
Jean is a successful serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years experience in the high-tech industry. She is an investor and member of Hub Angels and Launchpad Venture Group. She is also the co-coordinator of the Boston chapter of Golden Seeds. She was recently the interim CEO for JAM Technologies and relinquished that role when they closed on their latest round of financing. She founded Quarry Technologies with a team from the GTE Internetworking / BBN Technologies SuperRouter project and served as startup CEO and on the Board of Directors. Jean also co-founded AXON Networks, a developer of network management applications and following 3Com,s acquisition of AXON, Jean was responsible for 3Com’s WAN strategy. She earned an M.S. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.