Venture voice workshop brought entrepreneurship to New York
A nine hour intensive workshop focused on entrepreneurs was scheduled to happen Monday in Manhattan. If you went, drop us a line here.
Greg Galant, host of Venture Voice, a business pod cast on entrepreneurship that sponsored the event, dedicated one recent show to promote attendance.
No word yet on whether excerpts of the workshop may be part of a future show, but with an early bird cover charge of $595 per person including breakfast, lunch and a cocktail hour in addition to speakers, I would say the possibility of large segments being distributed for free over the Net is unlikely.
Dick Costello, president and CEO of Feedburner, the world's largest feed management provider, told Galant on an earlier show:
I would absolutely say that a blog is better than a business plan.
While Scott Heiferman, founder and CEO of Meetup.com, an Internet service helping people of similar interests set up real world meetings on just about any subject, said:
Engage people to care, 'cause it's one thing to make a great product and it's another thing to make something that will get momentum.
He also called Oprah the "Holy Grail" for introducing new products and services to middle America.
Tom Szaky, co-founder and CEO ofTerraCycle, Inc., a company selling "worm poop" as an organic alternative to Miracle Grow at Home Depot and other similar retailers, told Galant.:
I think we're a pretty damned sexy manufacturing company. For any entrepreneur, that's what you really need is a simple clear idea. That's bankable.
Szaky claims his company secured $1.2 million from private and institutional incestors in the first four months.
Other speakers scheduled to appear at the workshop on entrepreneurial start-up included venture capitalists David Hornik and Jeanne M. Sullivan and angel investor firm executive David S. Rose.
Galant had also promised to focus some attention on bootstrapping, e-mailing earlier this month that:
We're going to have a big focus on bootstrapping, especially because most of the speakers are entrepreneurs
(and bootstrappers) themselves. Attendees will get to ask questions like
when's the best time to self-finance vs. take venture money, and how to save
money while in a startup.
A story on Galant and his podcast appears in the Long Island Business News (see above).