Location:

USF Alumni Center, Traditions Hall on January 29th, 2010.

The USF College of Business Administration and BNFE’s 2010 Celebration of Entrepreneurship Luncheon was a huge success. Over 100 attendees, such as area business leaders, USF officials, and our graduate students, participated in the inaugural event. The luncheon hailed the Entrepreneurship master’s program along with the introduction of our new scholarship endowment.

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Certainly, one of the event highlights included the surprise announcement of naming the scholarship after Dr. Michael Fountain.

Later in the spring term, Dr. Fountain was also featured in the Gulf Coast Business Review discussing the Entrepreneurship in Applied Technologies program at USF.

Excerpt from the article:

Michael Fountain’s vision for USF’s entrepreneurship program is built on his own experiences.

That vision focuses on the synthesis of business skill, biomedical
research and engineering capability into a successful business
operation.

Fountain’s research experience has taken him from Princeton, N.J. to
Silicon Valley to Philadelphia, and has included the formation of seven
companies, three of which have gone public.

Here in Tampa Bay, Fountain’s work has helped Dermazone Solutions —
a company featured in a December 2009 issue of the Review — bring its
advanced skin care products to market.

Bringing the fruits of researchers’ labor to market drives USF’s
entrepreneurship program. It’s a unique opportunity for biochemists and
pharmaceutical researchers with an entrepreneurial itch.

It’s a focus that has helped individuals like Kevin Sill, chief
scientific officer at Intezyne, make their own waves in the business
world instead of signing on with a pharmaceutical giant.

Take the latest addition to the program’s curriculum, for example, a
class called product development. Inside, students work with existing
companies to design and test innovative concepts that fit real-world
needs.

Other classes take on challenges like patents and federal compliance
— think FDA approval for a drug. They’re concepts that you wouldn’t
learn in either a chemistry lab or an MBA setting.

Put it all together and you get a unique educational opportunity that Fountain calls “a truly green field to plow.”

(To read more, click on link).

Let’s get to it!  There are so many events planned for this 2010 Spring term.  We encourage our students to roll up their sleeves and jump into our next event.  We look to offer three events per month: an learning activity, a guest speaker or conference, and a social event.  Be sure to check out the events page for more details.

One of our Fellow Entrepreneurship Alumni
Jon Solomon is launching his new product for eWinWin, offering discounted gift certificates
and deals for your favorite Tampa area restaurants and activities. Deals include $10
Mr. Dunderbaks gift certificate for $5, $10 Lennys Sub Gift Certificate for $4,
discounted Tampa Bay Rays and Lightning tickets, and many more. Help support a fellow entrepreneur by signing up at eWinWin and pass it on to your friends.  When you sign-up, you’ll get exclusive access to purchase gift cards for less than half of their face value, just in time for the holidays.  It really is a win-win.

Below is the list of upcoming events to wrap up the fall semester.  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

1) LECTURE EVENT:
November 16th: Tech Venture with Guy Kawaski 
(There is currently a early registration special of $195.00 for the first 250 who register. Registration fees then go up to $255.00 until October 31, then $395.00 through November 16.)
We can get some students in for free if they can volunteer for 1-2 hours or less. Some work is needed prior to the conference.
The time commitment depends on how many people actually volunteer.

http://www.techventureconference.org/
http://www.floridaceo.com/guy-kawasaki

2) GROUP ACTIVITY:
November 20th: Tampa Bay Partnership Annual Luncheon 
($25 registration is through our student organization only) Regular cost: $65
http://www.tampabay.org/subpage.asp?navid=7&id=28

November 20th: Innisbrook Golf Outing (following the TBPA luncheon)

This event starts at 2PM until dusk. A typical 9-hole game takes about 2hrs 15mins.
Reduced price!!!!   $60/person includes golf fee & golf cart. 
If we get 20 people tp play, Innisbrook will renegotiate price.

Last time, they dropped it to $45/person.
http://www.innisbrookgolfresort.com/golf/index.cfm

3) SOCIAL EVENT:
November 21st: USF Tailgate Party for Homecoming

In conjunction with College of Business Alumni group.

4) OTHER EVENTS:
December 4th: Graduates’ Dinner
Also, just like we did in the spring term, we will hold a graduates’ dinner that will be open to all of our members sometime near December 10th-11th. (More details to come).

BE SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!

Below is the list of upcoming events to wrap up the fall semester.  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

1) LECTURE EVENT:
November 16th: Tech Venture with Guy Kawaski 
(There is currently a early registration special of $195.00 for the first 250
who register. Registration fees then go up to $255.00 until October 31,
then $395.00 through November 16.)
We can get some students in for free if they can volunteer for 1-2 hours or less. Some work is needed prior to the conference.
The time commitment depends on how many people actually volunteer.
http://www.techventureconference.org/
http://www.floridaceo.com/guy-kawasaki

2) GROUP ACTIVITY:
November 20th: Tampa Bay Partnership Annual Luncheon 
($25 registration is through our student organization only) Regular cost: $65
http://www.tampabay.org/subpage.asp?navid=7&id=28

November 20th: Innisbrook Golf Outing (following the TBPA luncheon)

This event starts at 2PM until dusk. A typical 9-hole game takes about 2hrs 15mins.
Reduced price!!!!   $60/person includes golf fee & golf cart. 
If we get 20 people tp play, Innisbrook will renegotiate price.

Last time, they dropped it to $45/person.
http://www.innisbrookgolfresort.com/golf/index.cfm

3) SOCIAL EVENT:
November 21st: USF Tailgate Party for Homecoming

In conjunction with College of Business Alumni group.

4) OTHER EVENTS:
December 4th: Graduates’ Dinner
Also, just like we did in the spring term, we will hold a graduates’
dinner that will be open to all of our members sometime near December
10th-11th. (More details to come).

For those of you that didn’t get your application for Startec’s Idea Camp in, the deadline has been extended a week.  Get your applications in by October 7th.  See Startec’s website for more information.

Do you have an innovative technology, product or process in the early stages of development? Would you like to work with industry experts and coaches to create a winning product pitch and value proposition for your technology concept? Then register to participate in STAR Technology Enterprise Center�s inaugural IDEA Camp. This collaborative event will help inventors, entrepreneurs and small businesses refine their �60 second elevator pitch� and effectively communicate their product�s competitive attributes. 

 Through Idea Camp, participants will:  Redefine their business model and value proposition, test product message in front of 75 mentors, industry experts, and peers, engage in collaborative workshops, Elevator Pitch, branding.

 Only 20 projects will be selected.  Visit this site to register.

This past week, USF’s entrepreneurship program had a surprise visit from the Bay Area’s own, Kevin Harrington.  Kevin is known for being one of the creators of the ‘Infomercial’ and has helped launch the careers of people such as the late Billy Mays.  He is also most recently known as one of the investors on ABC’s new TV show “Shark Tank.”  Kevin spoke to the New Venture Formation class about how he got started in TV and the struggles he faced along the way.  Read more about him in his new book or on his website.  Watch the show on ABC.com or catch new episodes every Sunday at 9pm EST.  Thanks for sharing your time with the students, Kevin.  

Come join us on Friday September 11, 2009 @ 8pm for the first O.P.E.N. (Organizing to Promote Entrepreneurial Networking) Party of the school year.  What better way to create career spaning bonds with like-minded peers than with good drinks, food, and music in a luxurious and informal setting?  Join the BNFE LinkedIn group or contact us for more information and directions.