Date/Time:Tuesday, December 1, 6 – 9 pm
Location: HBS Hawes 101

Is now the right time to start a business?  What does it take?  How do you meet a team?  Where do you begin?  Do you have an idea and want to make a pitch?

If you are looking for answers to any of the questions above, join us for the kick-off of the first ever $25K HBS Alumni Business Plan Competition and a series of events we have planned around this fantastic opportunity.

General Public Encouraged to Register. Click Below.

Our evening will open with a panel discussion with successful entrepreneurs including:

Keith Cooper, President & COO of Carbonite, is an experienced internet telecommunications entrepreneur. Prior to joining Carbonite, Keith was a Venture Partner at VIMAC Ventures in Boston focusing on investments in early stage high tech companies.  While at VIMAC, Keith became Chairman and CEO of webHancer, a company focused on web analytics.  Keith and his team reorganized and repositioned the company over an 18 month period and successfully sold it to Microsoft.  Prior to that, Keith was President and CEO of FaxNet Corporation, which was named the #1 private telecom company in Upside Magazine's rankings of the "100 Hottest Companies".  FaxNet was successfully sold to Critical Path.  Before FaxNet, Keith was General Manager of Trans National Communications, a telecommunications firm which grew to rank #12 on the Inc 500 list, and spent 4 years as a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group.

Graham Lubie, is a serial tech innovator with extensive strategy, marketing and business development experience.  Graham was a co-founder of Celarix, an early leader in the logistics SaaS space. Celarix was acquired by GXS and is currently offered as their highly successful "Visibility" product line. Most recently Graham led the Marketing and Professional Services organizations for InQuest Technologies, a business process management provider that has experience significant, organic growth since he joined them.  Graham currently advises a variety of B2B and B2C companies on their Marketing and Social Media strategies.

Furqan Nazeeri, is an entrepreneur with a background in the financial services software industry, alternative energy and new media. Furqan has founded many companies, most recently Virid.us, a place where business professionals share expertise, challenges and knowledge on environmental responsibility and sustainability.  Before this, Furqan worked with the Softbank investment team evaluating new market opportunities, performing due diligence, assisting portfolio companies and developing new business ideas.  Among Furqan's numerous successful technology businesses that he has founded includes Pivot, Inc. a revolutionary instant messaging collaboration platform for Wall Street traders.

After the panel, our team will introduce the contest rules and timing and then give interested audience members a chance to give a 1 minute pitch to the audience to find interested teammates.  Come ready to learn, meet other interested parties, and possibly pitch! 

Note: one HBS alum is needed for each team to participate in the contest.

About the new HBS Alumni Business plan contest:
With over half of HBS alumni classifying themselves as entrepreneurs at some point in their lives, this Contest is designed to shine a spotlight on alumni ventures, support promising new ventures and award a $25,000 cash prize to the winning team.

Click Here for more information. Also, follow us on Twitter.

Schedule:

• 6:00 – 9:00:

• Member price : $35
• Non-Member price : $55