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E.Factor Presents: 7-Steps to a Successful Startup

Event Recap

Clear skies and gorgeous weather greeted entrepreneurs attending “7 Steps to a Successful Startup”. They convened in downtown Chicago to hear Naeem Zafar talk about the fundamental components of ensuring that you are taking the necessary steps to ensuring success in your startup.

Distilling 20 years of experience in the Silicon Valley startup environment, Naeem discussed topics focusing on identifying markets with unmet needs. Ensuring that the market that you are going into is ready for your product or service is crucial. He explained that even if you have a great product, you can doom yourself to failure if you do not take the time to know who your customer is.

However, the main point that Naeem broached towards the end of his presentation was that everything comes down to the team that you build. A solid team takes time to build(7 years in Naeem’s case), but it is the most essential component of ensuring that your startup will be a success. Find those that are unlike you and add value to the team rather than those that you are comfortable with and who carry similar traits you might have already.

Coming up in November Naeem will be returning to Chicago to do a more in depth “Startup Bootcamp”. This two day event takes his “7 Steps” further by ensuring your idea will gain traction and attracting the team you need to get that idea off the ground. The first day is for Startups in the initial phases, and the second day is for advanced startups. Agendas, costs, and more information can be found here.

There was a strong turn out of over 40 entrepreneurs at this event, and we want to thank OPEN and TIE for collaborating with us on the event.

Take a look at Naeem’s Keynote to review his 7 Steps.

7 step to a successful startup efactor

Attended Members

Event Details

Details

Date:

Start: Aug 26, 2010 6:00 pm

Venue:

Regus Club
N. Stetson Ave.
Chicago, Illinois
United States

Agenda:

Naeem will take you through a detailed, 7 step approach to starting or expanding your business. These seven key steps will be a great guideline for any business owner or would-be entrepreneur.

6:00 - 6:30 pm - Registration
6:30 - 7:00 - Networking
7:00 - 7:45 - Keynote
7:45 - 8:15 - Q&A
8:15 - 9:00 - Networking
9:15 - Finish

Keynote speaker Naeem Zafar, Haas Business School - University of California Berkeley

Starting your own business is an exhilarating yet overwhelming experience. Entrepreneurs don’t like to write a business plan. But how does one know that there is real potential for their idea. Short and to the point, the workshop offers practical, powerful seven questions that all entrepreneurs must answer. If they can answer these questions it will fundamentally improve their chances to succeed in any startup. Perhaps you still have a day job and are contemplating launching your own company—or perhaps you have lots of ideas and are wondering which one is most likely to succeed. This simple but thorough seven-step method will answer your most essential questions—questions that your investors will soon be asking you! Save yourself thousands of dollars and two years of your life before you plunge into your startup.

Get a full overview from this short clip from Naeem about what this event has to offer.

Naeem Zafar

Naeem Zafar is a member of the faculty of Haas Business School at the University of California Berkeley, where he teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation as part of the MBA program. He founded Concordia Ventures, a company focused on educating and advising entrepreneurs on all aspects of starting and running a business ConcordiaVentures

Naeem did six startups and has extensive experience in mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs. He was the president and CEO at Pyxis Technology, Silicon Design Systems and Veridicom, a Bell Labs spin-off that invented the silicon fingerprint sensors. Naeem has held senior marketing and engineering positions at Quickturn which had an IPO in 1993, XCAT and Honeywell.

Naeem obtained an Sc.B. degree in electrical engineering from Brown University (magna cum laude), and a MSEE from the University of Minnesota. Naeem is a charter member of TiE, world’s largest nonprofit focused on entrepreneurship and the president of OPEN Silicon Valley. He has published five books on entrepreneurship that can be viewed at www.NaeemZafar.com. Naeem has served on 25 advisory boards for startups and have mentored over 700 entrepreneurs.

All participants will receive a free copy (US$19 value) of Naeem's book "7-Steps to a Successful Start-Up" (www.FiveMountainPress.com)

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