Planning Your Business
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Whether you are looking for financing or not, your business must be well thought out and planned. Plans are flexible but the elements of a successful business must be thoroughly understood and evaluated. A great product idea or technology is a great start, but not enough. You also have to plan a great business.
Join Venture Lab speakers including Bill Valenti and Adrian Smith as they share their knowledge, experience and perspective regarding the essential elements of a well-planned business.
This process will drastically improve your chances for success and minimize your pain along the way. It will also provide you with the material for your written business plan and presentation.
Investors quickly recognize a well-planned business.
Speakers
Bill Valenti - Executive Vice President - Melodeo
Bill is a seasoned entrepreneur and global-business executive,
combining more than 20 years of experience in international investment
banking and successful technology start-ups.
Valenti spent 17 years in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /?>
Asia developing commercial and investment banking
business for Chemical Bank/Riggs Bank. Returning to the U.S., he launched
New Pacific Partners, an investment banking partnership focused on
Asian-market strategies.
He later served as CEO of Tegic Communications, a software
development/licensing firm that was later acquired by AOL. Valenti also has
founded and/or headed a number of innovative companies including
World2Market, Hutchison Mediator and HEEDworks, Inc.
Valenti received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Temple University and a Master's in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management. He remains active on the boards of a number of start-up companies and served as a Trustee of the International Snow Leopard Trust.
Adrian Smith - Principal - Ignition.
Adrian is a principal at Ignition. He represents Ignition as director on the board of Wireless Services Corporation. Adrian invests in telecommunications and wireless companies.
Prior to Ignition, Adrian's most recent position was at Nextlink Communications where he was involved in the radio architecture and evolution of the LMDS broadband fixed wireless technology. Prior to Nextlink, Adrian worked at McCaw Cellular Communications (now AT&T Wireless) since 1993 and worked on the development of IS-136 TDMA -- from the initial concept and development, through system readiness for commercial launch. He has been involved in the circuit switched data, packet data, thin client architecture and browser transport mechanisms for integrated voice and data solutions in IS-136. Adrian is the author of a number of patents associated with IS-136 technology as well as co-author of the book "IS-136 TDMA Technology, Economics and Services.
Adrian joined British Telecom Research Laboratories in the UK in 1989 and worked on the ETSI standards for the Digital European Cordless Telecommunication (DECT) technology, building DECT testbeds for voice, data and wireless video applications.
