I have over forty years of experience developing embedded systems in many industries with the bulk of my contributions being in the coin-operated amusement world (arcade video games, pinball, and redemption games). I've run my own company for over 25 years, mostly focused on hardware and software engineering. I've brought several products to market via my own company and have contributed to the development of successful products for many others. I'm at a point where I'd like to pass some of this knowledge along and help others succeed.

1. How can I determine, as early as possible, if a product is worth pursuing?
2. How can I quickly prove out and refine ideas via prototyping?
3. How do I optimally and efficiently transition designs for manufacturing?

• What materials and story do I need to fundraise?
• How do I craft a compelling value proposition for my product?
• How do I get my first 100 customers? How do I get my next 1000 Customers?

I am a corporate attorney and member of Cooley's Emerging Company practice group. My practice focuses on early-stage, high growth companies in matters related to business structuring, corporate formation, venture capital financing, and intellectual property protection. I’ve worked with entrepreneurs throughout my career and I am constantly intrigued by the excitement and energy of new founders building companies. I love being a part of that process and helping to grow and shape big ideas into viable businesses.

Briana's focus areas are:

Legal:  business structuring, corporate formation, incentive equity, intellectual property protection

Fundraising: Venture capital financing (series seed and beyond), convertible debt financing

What are the legal diligence items that I need to make sure are in order before raising a round of financing from venture capital investors?

What are the legal steps involved in raising a venture capital round of financing, and what happens to my equity?

What is the difference between a SAFE note, convertible note, warrants, and a priced equity round?

• What legal considerations should I keep in mind when starting a small business?
• How can I protect my business from potential legal disputes?
• What do I need to know about HR practices and compliance as a small business owner?

A successful set of professional board and executive experiences delivers a valuable perspective to mentoring. Skilled in thriving during challenging market and financial situations. A passion for leadership development and gender inclusion are an extra dimension. Important to give back to the community knowing it provides me with benefits as well.

What are the financial metrics to keep me on track?

What sales channels are best for my products and how do I best utilize them?

How best to market and manage my product information, including e-commerce?

Henry Alder is an experienced medical technology professional working primarily with start-up and established medical device, diagnostic and therapeutic companies. His background includes more than 20 years' experience solving medical technology company issues related to US and OUS health economics, market access, pricing, and reimbursement. His experience includes developing & executing market access strategies, as well as identifying the clinical and economic evidence medical technology companies need to bring to health insurance payers to obtain coverage, reimbursement and appropriate payment for their new products.

The medical technology space is fraught with challenges as well as opportunities for start-ups. Given my experience in this space I can help navigate some of the not-to-obvious pitfalls related to market access.

1. Who is going to pay for your product?
2. Is there established reimbursement from payers for your product? Will it be enough for your customers to buy and use your product?
3. How much should I charge for my product?

Julia has 15 years of global expertise in the fields of customer research, design, branding, and product management. Throughout her career Julia has mentored over 10 startups in various industries including farming, education, consumer products, media, and financial services. She is now a Product Lead at Deloitte, where she oversees a range of Renewable Energy solutions for an F500 company. Julia was also a co-founder of Springpoint, a center for innovation in Brazil that worked with clients like Santander, Visa, and Unilever. She holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and a MS in Design Innovation from McCormick School of Engineering.

How can I ensure my product is meeting my customers’ true needs?

How should I position my brand and what should be my go-to-market strategy?

How can I plan a business that will stay competitive in the long run?

• Can I make this out of metal?
• What is the best process to use to make this out of metal?
• How can I design for manufacture in metal?

I'm a Product Management professional with a proven track record of translating corporate strategy to drive product portfolio management and innovation for businesses. I conduct and utilize market research to influence business and commercialization strategy development for Supply Chain management platforms, ensuring market success and adoption, as well as promoting UL Solutions’ mission for building a safer, healthier, and more sustainable global consumer marketplace. I help to provide clear and concise success criteria and mentorship to promote internal team growth and retention.

I have experience in all phases of the product lifecycle from concept development to post-market surveillance and learning. I've managed product development teams for multiple verticals including brick-and-mortar retail, e-commerce, education, professional services, media, as well as products that utilizes emerging technologies such as AI and mixed reality. I'm a passionate learner and maker and I'm interested in solving complex business problems for the benefit of customers and the greater good.

• How do I know if my service or product fits my customer's market needs and brings value to market more broadly?
• How can I ensure my product will delight my customers?
• How do I commercialize my business and develop my go to market strategy?

SaaS technology/product veteran with a passion for creating innovative and visionary products and companies. A relentless innovator who leads with design-first principles and is dedicated to improving the relationship between humans and the technology they rely on.

Among other pursuits, founded Shotfarm (now Syndigo) in 2010 and co-founded The Chicago Catalog Group (now Epsilon) in 1996.

Shotfarm launched in 2010 as a networked SaaS platform that transformed product content management and syndication across thousands of retailers and brands and became the foundation for an $8B industry.
Before being acquired in 2019, Shotfarm served more than 15,000 of the world’s largest brands and retailers across every category within ecommerce.

The Chicago Catalog Group was Chicago’s largest direct-mail creative and production agency before moving to ecommerce services in the early 2000s which yielded 35% YOY growth prior to being acquired by Epsilon in 2008.

• How do I start and maintain a design-led organization?
• How do I raise capital and manage investors?
• How do I manage different aspects of my startup (sales, marketing, operations, culture, etc)?

How do you deal with founder issues? family relationships? investor relations? board development and management?

What questions should I be asking that I haven't asked yet?

How do I access university resources?

Rachel Brings a broad and deep knowledge of data driven decision-making and leveraging emergent technology working for Fortune 50 Consumer Finance, Media and leading/advising start-ups in EdTech, healthcare, and sustainable energy. She applies her own business and product development experience using behavioral science founding a Fintech to recognize, develop strategic acumen and deliver growth effectively and efficiently. Rachel focuses on business impact aligning core principles to help grow new teams and businesses meaningfully and sustainably.

1. Who is your target market?
2. What are your strategic strengths and capabilities how do they drive value in your business?
3. How aware are you leveraging the unexpected to your competitive advantage?

Senior technology executive known as a systems expert focused on product definition, technology roadmaps, intellectual property and product delivery. Passionate in defining and driving well balanced engineering methodologies which ensure on time product delivery, while safeguarding the long term product vision and business objectives.

Since 2019 Rich has applied his background and industry connections assisting early stage technology companies with fundraising strategies, go to market strategies, establishing clear value propositions, execution plans, and well articulated investor communications.

Expertise in multiple areas bridging hardware, software, product management, business development and program management disciplines. Adept at functioning seamlessly in a virtual, global team. Technical expertise focused on SoC (System on a Chip) full lifecycle development from inception through test and delivery of both hardware and software, systems and system elements. Recognized for delivering scalable methodologies, scalable technologies, and driving IP portfolios with over 20 granted and pending US patents.

• How do I write an effective pitch deck to raise early stage capital?
• How do I execute on my product vision?
• How do I define a successful go to market strategy?

As an experienced leader in driving high-visibility global programs, I specialize in solving complex enterprise business challenges with technology and delivering transformative solutions. My expertise lies in directing strategic vision, building roadmaps, and providing data-driven thought leadership to create innovative products. I excel at fostering collaborative, trusted partnerships with stakeholders across diverse cultures and priorities, and I am passionate about developing cohesive, productive teams. With a strong background in both B2B and B2C environments, I am particularly motivated by embracing emerging technologies and fostering a value-based culture that respects all ideas.

1. How can founders develop an adaptive technology roadmap that aligns your product innovation with business objectives while responding to the rapidly changing landscape?
   
2. How can startup leaders effectively prioritize and allocate limited resources while delivering results?
   
3. As a startup grows, how can founders hire and retain team members that are aligned with company vision, culture and goals?

A seasoned business builder with over 20 years of global experience driving commercialization, growth, and transformation in manufacturing. Currently serving as Acting Chief Commercial Officer at CorePower Magnetics, where I am spearheading the company's scaling initiatives.

Most recently led Caterpillar's corporate strategy function for energy and sustainability, as well as the Enterprise Risk Management function, following Jim Umpleby's appointment as CEO.

My track record includes creating $1+ billion in revenue, cutting approximately $150 million in costs, innovating (with six U.S. patents to my name), and establishing new businesses, including co-founding a digital IoT company.

I hold an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

• How do you think strategically around innovation in the hardtech space, in the backdrop of innovation?
• How do you execute your commercial work in a way that is centered on the customer?
• What are the executive leadership skills to do the above two - and well?

Shilpi Kumar has over 15 years of professional experience as a Design Strategist, User Experience Researcher, Industrial Designer, and Design Educator. Before founding her consulting firm, Shilpi worked with GE Transportation Digital and Herman Miller. She worked closely with the operations and strategy teams to define an integrated business process for new product development and align innovation ideas to company strategy.

Shilpi teaches graduate students at the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech Chicago called ‘Corporate Innovation Effectiveness’. She specializes in taking an inclusive approach with an eye on bringing diverse perspectives from people across the organization. This approach helps innovation and strategy teams understand the whole view of innovation, draw on existing organizational strengths, and enable quick adoption of innovations. By framing the right questions to users, customers, and internal stakeholders, she can get to the root of the problem, figure out what to make next, or how to re-imagine a brand. Most importantly, her expertise is prioritizing organizational initiatives to align with where the market is heading and what customers need.

Shilpi has a Masters of Design Methods from the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech Chicago with a focus on Innovation/Design Research/Strategy, a Masters of Design from the Industrial Design Center at IIT Bombay, India, and a professional BArch from BIT Mesra, Ranchi, India.

Who is the customer?
What is the problem your offering is solving? What value does your offering bring to society and your business?
What's your strategic roadmap for how you position your offering?

1. What are the white spaces in my field?
2. What are my advantages?
3. Where should the company build its R&D capabilities to stay competitive?

I have 25 years of sales and marketing, finance, and operations experience and I have successfully scaled two different companies.

My experience helps me challenge and vet business ideas and my financial acumen helps me build and challenge models. I'm not only capable of presenting compellingly, but also in preempting the types of questions audiences may ask.

And, I'm fun at cocktail parties.

I moved to Chicago in 2007 and when my wife and I had children here and decided we weren't leaving, we started to examine how we were contributing to the community. I know and I'm passionate about business, so I mentor founders to contribute to Chicago's economic development. And I work in the startup ecosystem so it keeps my skills sharp!

What is a financial Model?

How can sales and marketing support businesses and help scale successfully?

How can your financial acumen and ability to challenge and build models help businesses make more informed decisions?

Susan provides legal counsel to the closely held business owner, family run companies, entrepreneurs, and “Version 2.0”* companies regarding all aspects of their business in the aras of business law, employment law, commercial real estate, employment law, intellectual property and business immigration. With over 20-years of legal and entrepreneurial experience of her own, her clients vary from emerging entities just getting established to large organizations with complex needs. 

Susan is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®, considered the Gold Standard of Attorney ratings, this distinction is based on actual peer reviews and is held by only approximately 10 percent of attorneys nationwide, she also serves on the National Board for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). Susan is the recipient of numerous awards, including Chicago’s Notable Women Lawyers 2018 by Crain’s Custom Media. She has also been voted as one of the 10 Best Attorneys for Exceptional and Outstanding Client Service by American Institute of Legal Counsel since 2016 and awarded 2018 Top 10 Employment & Labor Law Attorneys for Client Satisfaction by the American Jurist Institute.

Susan's main areas of expertise are:

• Contracts (supply chain, vendors, manufacturers)
• Business expansion and IP
• Employment Law

Legal considerations related to entity formation and asset protection strategies for growing companies.
Legal considerations when negotiating supply chain contracts.
Establishing policies and procedures for employees.

Expertise in medical device development, manufacturing, and post-market compliance. Particular experience in product realization, design controls, human factors, and regulatory and compliance.
My interest in mentoring stems from having worked with and for startups throughout my career and particularly an interest in helping bridge the gap from prototype/proof of concept medical devices to successful regulatory clearance.

1. How do I move from a prototype device to manufacturing and commercial ready?
2. What elements do I need to prepare for a successful regulatory submission?
3. What systems and procedures do I need to have in place for compliance purposes?

How do I think about building a financial model that will help me run the business better?

What are ways to get an unfair advantage in customer acquisition?

What are some of the most critical things to be thnink about when starting to raise outside capital?