Join us at AZEC11 on November 16th

AZEC09-attendeesLast week in a board meeting, I listened as the chairman opened his remarks with the opening quote from Dickens’ classic novel A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”

There is no doubt that the last few years have been challenging ones for entrepreneurs at every stage of development. Yet through it all, new companies have been born, new innovations have launched and every November Arizona’s entrepreneurs have gathered to connect, engage and share ideas at AZEC – the Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference.

AZEC11This year on November 16th at Desert Willow Conference Center in Phoenix, the theme is growth through each of the stages of entrepreneurship. This year’s speakers are some of the best yet as we’ll explore funding, support, successful models and successful exits.

Not only will AZEC 11 bring together our entrepreneurial and investor community, it will again fund OTEF programs to educate, mentor and support members of our community who truly need a hand up and assistance in gaining economic self-sufficiency through entrepreneurship.

The links below will take you to all the information you may want to view before deciding to join us.

(If you are already signed up, thanks! Please feel free to share them with a friend.

· AZEC11 Registration

· AZEC11 Home Page

· AZEC11 Agenda

· AZEC11 Speakers

· OTEF – The Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation

I hope you will be able to join us on November 16, 2011. If you choose to register, you can use discount code “jkw25” to save $25.

All the best,

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Joan Koerber-Walker

Chairman, CorePurpose, Inc.

Chairman, OTEF, The Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation

President and CEO, AZBio, The Arizona BioIndustry Association

RoadMap to Launch a Rousing Success

This year, OTEF’s entrepreneurship training program was held in conjunction with the City of Chandler and Gangplank, a not-for-profit community collaboration space in downtown Chandler. Entrepreneurs with an idea gathered first at StartupWeekendChandler to collaborate in 54 hours of non-stop idea pitching, team formation, and preliminary planning.

The teams that emerged from StartupWeekendChandler were invited to participate in a Roadmap to Launch program for eight weeks at Gangplank. OTEF conducted that program, and we’re happy to report that the room was full to overflowing all summer long, and about twenty-five attendees participated.

In this program, disadvantaged entrepreneurs from Chandler and environs received the same Lean Startup training given to Silicon Valley’s best and brightest, thanks to the OTEF facilitation team. Continue reading