Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Club Announces Details of Panel Discussions for 17th Annual Entrepreneurship Conference to be Held This Weekend

Business Wire, Oct 25, 2000

Business/Technology/Education Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2000

The Entrepreneurship Club at Harvard Business School has brought in influential leaders from the high-tech community to be panelists and keynote speakers for this year's Entrepreneurship Conference, "Build to Lead." The Conference will be held this Saturday, October 28, 2000, on the Harvard Business School campus. The panelists will discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from Internet business models to social enterprise. The panels will complement keynote speakers David Perry (MBA '97), founder and CEO of Ventro; Guy Kawasaki, founder and CEO of Garage.com; and Peter Bell (MBA '93), founder and CEO of StorageNetworks. Specific panels are listed below.

Key Success Factors for B2B Business Models will focus on the role each company plays in the competitive B2B landscape and the characteristics of successful B2B business models. Panelists include executives from leading B2B companies and management consultants.

If I Wrote a Business Plan... VCs Tackle Fundraising will invite venture capitalists to "step across the table," putting themselves in the shoes of the entrepreneurs they meet and work with daily. Panelists include leading venture capitalists from the U.S. and Asia.

What's Right for Your Business? : Incubators, Accelerators or VC will explore how the value propositions of incubators and accelerators compare to traditional venture capitalists. Panelists will include incubator executives, venture capitalists and management consultants.

David and Goliath--The Challenges of Entrepreneurship in the Shadows of the Major Hollywood Studios will focus on the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in creating sustainable business models while competing directly against the deep pockets, infrastructure and established relationships of the major Hollywood studios. Panelists include CEOs from emerging media companies and venture capitalists.

Hiring the Dream Team - Winning the War for Talent will cover topics that cover the entire process of assembling a management team, from identifying the right people, to interviewing and evaluation to compensation and management structures. Panelists include leading venture capitalists, executive recruiters and entrepreneurs.

No Strings Attached: The Future of Wireless will explore the future of the wireless industry, following the belief that wireless Internet is the next economy. Panelists include entrepreneurs, CEOs and VPs from Fortune 500 companies and investment bankers.

The Internet Infrastructure Conundrum will cover powerful new technologies such as broadband access, digital media and mission critical applications that are rapidly transforming platforms and enabling growth in network traffic. Panelists include CEOs and founders from four of the leading companies in the infrastructure industry.

Women in Entrepreneurship will focus on the benefits and challenges of being a woman entrepreneur and the role of a woman as CEO, co-founder and officer of start-up companies from recent Harvard Business School graduates.

Finding the Right Partner: The Role of Strategic Alliances for Entrepreneurial Companies discusses how entrepreneurs should approach strategic alliances given that developing the right types of relationships with the right partners can determine the success of a new venture. Panelists include co-founders and CEOs from leading companies across different industries.

Entrepreneurs are from Mars, VCs are from Venus, The Relationship between MBA Entrepreneurs and their VCs will join professionals from venture capital firms and experienced MBA entrepreneurs from diverse businesses as they share "lessons learned" working with the other side. Panelists include venture capitalists and top executives and founders of start-ups.

From One Continent to Another: Developing and International Start-up will focus on the challenges of expanding an existing start-up in Europe or in the U.S. It will give insights to entrepreneurs on how to structure deals when expanding internationally. Panelists include entrepreneurs of leading European start-ups, venture capitalists and management consultants.

Other Panels Include:

Right Out of the Blocks: Making the Most of B-school

Confessions of a VC: How to Find the Hot Marketspace

Corporate Venturing: Entrepreneurship on the Inside

Career Services: Do You Want to Recruit at HBS?

First Impressions: The Importance of Smart Marketing

Social Entrepreneurs: Changing the World Through Innovation

Building the Business: Key Moves and Milestones

Building Momentum FAST: Innovative Businesses that Provide Valuable Resources Fast

This year's Conference has been designed to serve the growing and active participation by HBS graduates in entrepreneurial ventures. Over 800 individuals from the HBS community and beyond are expected to attend. E-conference sponsors are McKinsey & Company, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar LLP, and Battery Ventures. Other sponsors include SiliconSpot, Garage.com, Sevin-Rosen Funds, Microsoft, IBM Extreme Blue, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Wealth Management, eLance and vCapital.