i2 Recap

Scorching…an adjective describing both the outside temperature and the discussion among local technologist, entrepreneurs, researchers, and service providers at the second installment of Innovate Indiana. Nine Irish Brothers hosted another energetic crowd with Irish Pizza, beer, and an innovation conducive ambiance.
If you missed i2 last night or were unable to engage with each of the attendees, here is an event synopsis from the anonymous Innovate Indiana “Fly on the Wall” (Andy and TJ). The fly overheard some interesting conversations and professional expertise concerning shared ideas, innovation and entrepreneurial passion:

$Money$ people – an associate with a $40 million Indianapolis based venture fund, a finance manager part of a critical team that manages the $1.6 billion Purdue endowment, a newly launched closely held venture fund with offices in West Lafayette and a highly regarded Purdue department head that is seeking investment to launch an emerging wireless internet application.

Advice & Ideas – a former Navy Commander turned entrepreneur with more knowledge about Web 2.0 and emerging online video technology than most Silicon Valley web junkies, two rather talented and youthful business lawyers highly capable of business formation, structure, and long term representation, a mechanical engineer specializing in product design currently finishing his doctorates in ME, a Purdue English professor turning the entrepreneurial page and has a publishing business in Lafayette

Branching Out – chatter between two high speed wireless internet founders with operations in the Lafayette area serving over 1,800 combined customers, two members from the original Orr Fellowship foundation – a program designed to retain Indiana’s top talent graduating from our universities, a digital videographer and web application developer, a very nice girl obtaining a post graduate degree in physics and an uncertainty of why she was there – we were happy to have her.

Last but not least - a sales and marketing executive from a Discovery Park research firm expanding into commercialisation, a University of Illinois doctoral student in EE who sells college text books at IUPUI, a computer scientist turned calzone stuffer – with sales in excess of $1 million, four Purdue students currently enrolled in entrepreneurship courses, and a number of other highly skilled individuals.

29 May 2007 | Uncategorized | Comments