Aspiring entrepreneurs get coaching on taking business ideas from concept to creation

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originally published by the Daily Local News

West Chester >> Call it a boot camp for entrepreneurs.

Techstars Startup Weekend, held at West Chester University June 1 to 3, gave aspiring entrepreneurs 54 hours to take an idea from concept to creation.

The three-day event was the result of a collaborative partnership between the university, the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce and the Chester County Economic Development Council, in an effort to empower entrepreneurs who were interested in learning the basics of launching successful businesses and start-up companies.

During the event, participants had the chance to meet with local business leaders for guidance on the right steps to bring their startup business ideas into fruition.

Led entirely by volunteers, the weekend featured 25 coaches, five judges and three speakers — entrepreneurs or people in the investment community who invest in entrepreneurs.

According to Patricia Diggin of West Chester University — and team leader of the event — entrepreneur-in-residence Chris Heivly introduced the university to the global organization Techstars Startup Weekend. Heivly is a graduate of the school and co-founder of MapQuest.

“It’s a really great way to bring visibility out here to what we do in Chester County. As a university, here at the Dr. Edwin Cottrell Entrepreneurial Leadership Center, we are really passionate about bringing together community members, with students doing something collaboratively,” Diggin said. “That is one of the ways we believe you fuel the spirit of entrepreneurism, which is so important to getting businesses started here in Chester County.”

On the first evening of the three-day event, 25 participants pitched their business concepts to the coaches, who then selected seven ideas for further development. Teams were formed for each concept and the participants spent the next 50 hours meeting with coaches and working on the ideas.

Final presentations were made June 3. A panel of five judges evaluated the final presentations and provided additional feedback to the teams. The teams were evaluated on three main criteria: validation of problem, solution and design and business model.

After the final presentations and review, three concepts were chosen by the judges:

First place: Work Out On Wheels, a mobile gym that comes directly to your home complete with a Red Cross Certified Driver/Personal Trainer.

Second place: InstantFund, a web-based platform that serves as an intermediary to speed up the refund process for online purchases.

Third place: End of Life Wishes, a website that has all the information needed to manage the death of loved ones including counseling services, burial options and estate management.

Techstar facilitator Roger Osorio traveled from New York to help host the three-day event. He said he enjoys helping people learn the process of taking an idea and making it a reality.

“It’s not just about entrepreneurs. It’s really about anyone who wants to learn how to take an idea from concept to creation. We’ve all been in that spot where we’ve talked about an idea but haven’t done anything about it. Part of the reason is we maybe don’t have a process. Through this event, you’re going to learn that process,” Osorio said.

Local entrepreneur Leo Daiuto served as one of the coaches for the event. He is entrepreneur-in-residence at the Rev-Up Center at Penn State Great Valley, and works with local people looking to start companies. He noted that having two full days to come up with a business idea and validate its need in the marketplace was beneficial for attendees.

“I really enjoy working with people who are looking to start businesses. I help give them information and specific pitfalls that I fell in so maybe they won’t. Most of entrepreneurship is execution. Helping people go through the process in incredibly valuable,” Daiuto said.

College student Tyler Kang heard about Techstars through a friend and was among the participants of the event. He recently changed his major to business management and entrepreneurship.

“As soon as I heard ‘startup’ I was interested. I thought this would be a good way to figure out what my next steps should be and how to turn what I’m thinking into something real,” Kang said.

According to Nancy Kunkle of the Chester County Economic Development Council, the inaugural Startup Weekend gave aspiring entrepreneurs a venue to speak with experts who they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to meet.

“It’s a great event because there are so many ideas out there. A lot of people have ideas but aren’t ready to quit their day jobs. They don’t know if their idea can really become a business,” she said. “It’s allowing the community of people who are entrepreneurs in their heart to take their idea into a place where mentors and coaches can help them work on it.”

Kunkle added that the event will raise awareness that Chester County, “is a community that cultivates startups.”

“It’s also a great way to raise up what partners are available in the community to help you. You don’t have to go to New York, or even Philadelphia to have an eco-system of support around you,” she added.

Penn State Great Valley inaugurates REV-UP Center for Entrepreneurship

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originally posted on Penn State News
https://news.psu.edu/story/469531/2017/05/24/penn-state-great-valley-inaugurates-rev-center-entrepreneurship?source=post_page—–32469dbbc2e6———————-

MALVERN, Pa. — The Penn State Great Valley community celebrated its REV-UP Center for Entrepreneurship on Monday, May 22, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Neil Sharkey, vice president for research at Penn State, Marybeth DiVincenzo, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the Chester County Economic Development Council, and local dignitaries.

Standing for Regional Entrepreneurial Ventures through University Programs, REV-UP aims to engage and encourage Penn State students, faculty and community members to generate innovative, commercially-viable solutions to address existing and emerging business and social needs, and to support their entrepreneurial efforts as they serve the Philadelphia region. The program will work closely with the Chester County Economic Development Council, its key corporate affiliate.

The center was created last May thanks to a $50,000 seed grant from Invent Penn State, a Commonwealth-wide initiative that blends entrepreneurship-focused academic programs; business startup training and incubation; funding; and key regional partnerships together for the benefit of Pennsylvania and beyond.

“Invent Penn State is President Barron’s initiative focused on leveraging Penn State’s research, knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit to bring to market needed ideas, products and services,” said James Nemes, chancellor and chief academic officer of Penn State Great Valley. “REV-UP is now one of 12 Innovation Hubs established across the Commonwealth and we’re honored to have been selected as one of them.”

Marybeth DiVincenzo, Neil Sharkey, James Nemes, Nena Ellis Koschny, Doug Schumer, and Leo Daiuto, stand in front of the REV-UP Center for Entrepreneurship.

Left to right: Marybeth DiVincenzo, Neil Sharkey, James Nemes, Nena Ellis Koschny, Doug Schumer and Leo Daiuto stand in front of the REV-UP Center for Entrepreneurship. IMAGE: Melissa Kelly Photography

Since its inception, REV-UP has helped launch a graduate certificate in new ventures and entrepreneurship; award the Warren V. Musser Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Studies to support a full-time graduate student interested in launching a business; hired an entrepreneur-in-residence to provide guidance to emerging entrepreneurs; and hosted an inaugural student-pitch day for scholars to share their ideas with faculty and area professionals.

“The establishment of the REV-UP Center for Entrepreneurship allows us not only to provide a world class graduate education, but also to become a crucial partner to further the economic development of our region in ways we never have been able to do before,” added Nemes.

In addition to a welcome from Nemes, Monday’s event included remarks from Sharkey and DiVencenzo. Dennis Wozniak, engineering lab manager, provided guests with tours of the campus’ innovation center and makerspace, which includes state-of-the-art 3-D printers, machining centers, a laser engraver and other shop tools.

This fall, REV-UP will hold its first-ever Lion Cage where area entrepreneurs will pitch their business ideas for cash prizes.

More information on the REV-UP Center for Entrepreneurship can be found at greatvalley.psu.edu/revup.

Innovation for Smarter Living: At Home and On the Road :

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Written for Wired Magazine Innovation Insights.

Remember that 90s movie, Smart House? It’s no longer fictional (besides the insane nanny that takes over). Audiences laughed at a house taking care of you and ogled at its futuristic features. While I don’t know of a house that cooks breakfast, were getting pretty close. Smart appliances and home automation, along with wearables, were the biggest trends coming out of this year’s CES show. As people become more connected, we’re seeing those same experiences extended into the travel and hospitality space, making our lives “smarter,” both at home and away.

People are connecting to things and each other faster than ever before. We’re approaching Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point and it’s not going to be just about turning your lights on when you come home. Right now the entire IoT/IoE space it’s in its infancy with big companies trying to figure out their spin on a massive space. Some are focusing on control platforms, with Samsung’s purchase of SmartThings. Google appears to be focused on driving a standard (as well as a control platform) with their presence in the Thread community as well as acquisition of Nest and late last year’s purchase of the Revolv team. Microsoft appears to be taking an enterprise approach with their IoT strategy heavily focusing on interconnectivity and extensibility of existing technology provided in the Azure cloud platform.

Yet technology is affecting more than just our home comfort; it’s also having a huge impact on our lives away from home. If you’re anything like me, you travel a lot. Business travel in the U.S. accounts for $246 billion in spending. That means we’re spending a lot of time in hotel rooms and we want the same creature comforts we have at home.

Hoteliers — from the big chains to small indie properties — are realizing that they need to accommodate the connected traveler. More and more hotels are incorporating digital room keys. In-room concierge services are becoming a guest’s direct line to the front desk and the outside world. Touch-screens are popping up in hotel rooms that let the guest control elements in their room, as well as browse all the additional services and order room service. In addition to basic control and information functions, these interfaces are prime real estate for the hotel to engage their guests and provide yet another layer of engagement. Want another towel or pillow? Push a button. Dinner or show reservations? Just a couple taps and it’s done.

The challenge hoteliers face is that they need to focus on providing holistic solutions that can organically grow based on the evolution of a rapidly growing market. Focusing on a systematic approach to adopt technology and embrace their guests in a manner that they expect is more than installing the latest and greatest “gadget”. It’s about a commitment to an underlying eco-system that enables growth as an extension of their technology investment — not something that has a very limited shelf life and has to be replaced in time to allow the adoption of new technologies.

Last year, the industry was abuzz over the Apple Watch and Google Glass. With a simple flick of the wrist, guests can view third-party applications from hotels, confirm their reservations, check the weather and more. Customers will also be able to tweet about their experience at a hotel or write about it on TripAdvisor right from the watch. Now that Apple Pay is becoming more ubiquitous, hoteliers should expect bookings from smartphones and smartwatches to increase as customers can store their payment information right in the app. As the application eco-system for wearable products continues to grow, the interaction with the guest pre, during, and post stay will mature. Guests will be able to not only control and interact with their room but will allow for them to continue to customize their experience.

With all the devices and sensors that are continuously coming to market, we are still approaching the Tipping Point. We’re not there yet. As we look to implement these technologies in innovative and mindful ways, we all know we are just at the beginning of a truly connected world.

Remember the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, the iPad wasn’t the first PDA/Tablet. However, they were the first ones to change the way people lived and worked. Thus, crossing the Tipping Point, from cool technology to an integral part of people’s lives.

As more and more of us live in connected world and technology continues to enhance the way we live, people will expect those experiences to come with them when they’re at work, home or traveling. That will present challenges to companies that try to react to what is directly in front of them and not committed to embracing the journey. By next year, hotels and homes will be smarter than ever. I’m looking forward to being a part of that innovation as it unfolds.

Originally published at insights.wired.com.

I was the  SVP of User Experience, Innovation & Product Strategy of Evolve Controls @ the time of this article.

Cheap Therapy

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This may not be precisely what you expected, but I am talking about the video game Destiny (by Bungie).

I am a techie for sure and I play games, but I would not consider myself a “gamer”. When I play I usually just play to experience the latest and greatest without any true attachment to the results or the game itself. Destiny, on the other hand, has been quite different.

I think a lot of my involvement in the game has been the social aspect of many of the guys at Evolve are playing (that’s how I became introduced to it). The fact that I have friends that are playing it and we are experiencing the game together is a big part of it for me. The fact that Bungie (even with the occasional server issue) created a really good game experience is also a big part. But those two items alone would not have hooked me the way it has. This has been a very unique experience for me.

I’ve joked around with my brother (VP @ Evolve) about how this was therapeutic over the past month or so but the more I think about it the more I think it actually is.

The reality is, there is a lot of very stressful and difficult things happening across the board right now and the game has become a way to focus that energy into something abstract while being connected to friends. After the kids get to bed (and after the jokes about dad going back into Destiny to fight the aliens), I put the big Astro headphones (avoid making direct eye contact with my wife, who must be thinking how lucky she is to married to the 40+ yr old yelling at the Xbox) and head to the Tower. The truth is, she is occasionally sitting next to be on the couch playing a game on her iPad giving me a supportive look when I’m getting my ass kicked by the Cabal and that’s my favorite time to play.

It’s a brief escape from everything that unfairly hijacks my brain and just allows me to not have to worry about all of the uncertainty, all of the problems I need to fix, all of the problems I can’t fix and just have a therapy session while on a quest to save mankind.

PS: If you haven’t played it. Do it !

photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67519485@N05/16346843936
http://photopin.com
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

Philadelphia Tech Executive Advises To Stay Involved Beyond School

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For more news and information about employment and education, visit Let’s Get To Work Philly.

Leo Daiuto is the chief experience officer and senior vice president of User Experience & Innovation of Evolve Controls. Evolve Controls creates customizable enterprise-class solutions for automating, controlling and monitoring connected spaces. Daiuto is responsible for product innovation, design and marketing initiatives. With over 15 years of experience building and leading creative teams, Daiuto was the founder and CEO of software design agency, Slamm Creative and served as director of human factors and design at Unisys Corporation.

What sort of education is needed to successfully do your job?

“There are a few different paths that could lead to what I do (user experience and product strategy), especially when you have a multi-faceted group reporting to you. At Evolve, I am driving how people interact with our platform, products and brand, as well as product innovation, design and marketing initiatives. I work with technical people (computer science), creative (design and development), and marketing (strategy, branding, positioning). Any of that education path could lead someone to a tech company like Evolve.”

“I think that whatever the initial path is, it’s really important to continue to educate yourself, formally or not, on all of the pieces to the puzzle. Different backgrounds bring different perspectives to problems that are extremely valuable when you are looking to expand your focus.”

What is the most relevant aspect of your education that applies to your day-to-day job?

“Education helps for problem-solving and eventually gaining the confidence to understand that you’re not going to get everything right all the time. For me, it was learning how to learn and how to think about the big picture: the strategy.”

What is the most fun aspect of your job?

“I really enjoy solving big, challenging problems and coming up with a way to implement those solutions. The people I work with on a day-to-day basis to solve these problems, make what I do very inspiring.”

What advice would you give someone just starting out in the field of technology?

“There are two things that are invaluable for people just starting out:”

“Get into an internship program or summer program with a company, or companies, as soon as possible. Getting to see how your education will be applied on a day-to-day basis will give you a completely different perspective on learning. Don’t wait — try to get in somewhere as early as you can.”

“Remember that your current education is a basis; it’s the core skill set. Challenge yourself during your education to be involved and aware of what is happening in the field you are studying. There is innovation happening in every field. Getting into a company early will really help fuel that but you have to take the initiative to get involved as well, especially in the creative or technology fields. Coming out of school with real world experience and active participation in what is happening in the industry will make hiring managers separate your resume.”

Christina Thompson is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.

Originally published at philadelphia.cbslocal.com on March 22, 2015.