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03/15/2010

Scoop

[Actually 3/3/2010]: The May Report: 3/3/2010: Drew Clark to lead state's broadband development work; A tiny firm in Vinton, Iowa, AlphaGen Materials, which makes a powder and a spray gun, deep in due diligence with Kleiner Perkins and the undisputed winner of the BNC Capital Group vote

March 3, 2010



The May Report: 3/3/2010: Drew Clark to lead state's broadband development work; A tiny firm in Vinton, Iowa, AlphaGen Materials, which makes a powder and a spray gun, deep in due diligence with Kleiner Perkins and the undisputed winner of the BNC Capital Group vote


Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com, 773-525-3944.

If you missed an article, go here: http://www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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IT Security & Forensics Conference & Expo
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Illinois Institute of Technology in Wheaton, Illinois

Register Now - $100

Join us for NetSecure'10, the 8th Annual IT Security and Forensics Conference and Expo. This multi-track, technical conference is expected to attract 200+ IT professionals and will promote the open exchange of IT security and forensics information.

Conference Topics Include:
Security
Ethical Hacking
Digital Forensics and Steganography
Policy and Compliance
Privacy
Security of Wireless and Cloud Computing
Identity Theft
Much More!

Details:
Date - Thursday, March 4, 2010
Sponsor/Exhibit - $350-$1500 (opportunities available) - email Scott Pfeiffer at pfeiffer@iit.edu
Attend - General - $100 / Society - $75 / Student - $35
Register - www.cpd.iit.edu/netsecure10
Location - Illinois Institute of Technology's Rice Campus in Wheaton, Illinois

History:
Join an elite group of participants that have included: AccessData, Acxiom, Allstate Insurance, Argonne National Lab, Baxter, Bell Laboratories, Cisco, Computer Associates, Check Point Software, Chicago Police Department, CompTIA, Digital Intelligence, FBI, Fermi Lab, IBM, IEEE, KPMG, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, UniForum, X-Ways, several universities, and many more organizations.

Current Sponsors:
IBM, Oracle, The Barrier Group, ecfirst, Fluke Networks, Guidance Software, HIPAA Academy, IEEE, Laurus Technologies, Network Geographics, Shavlik Technologies, Synergy Law Group, TippingPoint, and UniForum

Questions:
For questions, please contact Scott Pfeiffer at 630.682.6001 or pfeiffer@iit.edu.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

-- Friday, May 7: chicago Children's Advocacy Center
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW FOR GUYS NIGHT OUT FOR THE KIDS
-- Tom Johnson: Small Business Expo on Friday, July 16th
-- ExactTarget buys CoTweet
-- BroadbandBreakfast.com: Connect Illinois Announces Drew Clark as Executive Director; Founder of BroadbandCensus.com to Lead State Broadband Data and Deployment Effort
-- Melanie Adcock responds to Ron
-- Jeff Meredith: Seymour Hersh Uncovers New Thing Too Sad To Think About
-- Cygnus Atratus layoffs TMR 3/1/10
-- Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co. awarded "Best Website of the Year"
-- Friday, March 5: MobileX Chicago
-- Monday, March 8: Gee, I can hardly wait since I need some extra sleep: Bob Geras and Jim Charney, two of the most dynamic speakers in Chicago to speak at MEF-Downtown

[Editor's note: Ron May here. No time today. But some good stories. Last night at the BNC Venture Capital Group, they added a new feature and that feature was a vote at the end of the evening on which of the presenters had the best business plan. Not which of the presenters had the best presentation, but from an investor point of view, which was the best? That cuts and clarifies as Gordon Gecko would say. AlphaGen Materials got 39 votes and a dollar for each vote. Who says you can't make money at BNC Capital Group? :-) SampleSaint got 5 votes and BCInet got 4 votes. AlphaGen also had the cleanest presentation. AlphaGen is headquartered in Vinton, Iowa but Kleiner Perkins is deep into due diligence on them and will move the firm, (the first thing the Kleiner clean tech partner said was "We don't do deals in Iowa") along with bringing in its own management team. It is the type of deal that lends itself to that. http://www.alphagenenergy.com/

The partner at Kleiner, whose name the presenter would not disclose, is going crazy and this deal really looks like it may happen since the VCs will have almost complete control.
+++++++++++++++++
http://www.alphagenenergy.com/aboutus.html
About Us
AlphaGen Materials Technology is a corporation that is a pioneer in the use of sprayable ceramic materials. Primarily, AlphaGen has been a research and development company focused on developing practical applications for spray-applied polymer ceramic composite materials using its patented spray machinery and equipment. AMT's materials have significant commercial potential in and of themselves, when they are combined with other materials (fiberglass, carbon fiber, various metals etc.) they can create extremely useful composites that can develop specific solutions for many viable commercial opportunities.

The advantages of CerarMix

AlphaGen materials possess unique qualities and are engineered to have the following characteristics:

* Environmentally friendly material: non-hazardous.

* Simple, fast and easy application process.

* Can be tougher than steel.

* Ease of coating on any surface, or structure to increase performance
characteristics.

* Water Proof (100% moisture proof, non-hydroscopic).

* Chemical, Heat, Abrasion and Sound resistant.

* Ultra-violet ray reflective and stable.

* Reflects 98% of the radiant energy.

* Does not rot or decay, and provide food for mold growth.

* Termite/vermin resistant.

* Thermally stable.

* Elasticity designed to match substrate.

* Pioneer in the use of spray able ceramic materials.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The scientist behind the innovation which is both a product and a process is Matt (I can't find his last name right now) and the product is essentially a 50 lb. bag of flour and a gun to spray it.

One other firm, BNInet, Inc. is also interesting and has a wide range of applications from gaming, unfortunately all on PCs right now to people with disabilities. The product is a headband that can read brain waves. The site, www.bninet.com requires a password and user name to sign in.

The first company presenting, Samplesaint, http://samplesaint.com/ had a lousy presentation but the product may be quite good. This is why Terry Howerton's proposed approach to the MMM is, in my view, off base. You have to level with people and tell them honestly, this presentation stinks, but it can be better. Hard core investor questions give you something concrete to hang your hat on. The touchy feely approach won't work with a firm like this one with the presenters they had.

Next on the hit parade: the ITA board meeting Tuesday morning. But that must wait until tomorrow.]
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The Scoop section:
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Friday, May 7: chicago Children's Advocacy Center
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW FOR GUYS NIGHT OUT FOR THE KIDS

chicago Children's Advocacy Center


GET YOUR TICKETS NOW FOR GUYS NIGHT OUT FOR THE KIDS

Don't miss the chance to hang with "the guys" on Friday, May 7 at Carmichael's Chicago Steak House for the 3rd Annual Guys Night Out for the Kids presented by US Cellular. The event kicks-off with an outdoor Happy Hour in the courtyard followed by an indoor barbeque, games, golf pros, hand-rolled cigars and celebrity athlete appearances. There will be a live auction featuring unique items such as a VIP package to a White Sox game including batting practice on the field or a suite to a 2010 Bears game. The evening is being hosted by Mully and Hanley from 670AM The Score, and all proceeds benefit the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center for abused children.
In addition to US Cellular, other sponsors include CA, Continental Resources, Huen Electric, Labor Management Cooperation Committee of Chicago/IBEW, Northern Trust Corporation, ComEd, Sidley Austin LLP/Partners of Sidley Austin, Johnson & Krol, LLC, Loop Capital, Bombardier
Tickets are $100 (includes 5:00pm-6:00pm Happy Hour) or $75 (6:00pm-9:00pm) in advance and include food and open bar. To purchase tickets or for more info, visit www.guysnightoutforthekids.org or call Melissa at 312.492.3730.
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Tom Johnson: Small Business Expo on Friday, July 16th

From: Johnson, Tom tom.johnson@cityofchicago.org
Subject: RE: The May Report: 3/1/2010: Second report for today: I just love the FIRST of march: Reader mailbag which includes a response from VC Matt McCall, a chemical venus fly trap that eats nuclear waste and many other things...
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 13:47:06 -0600
To: 'The May Report' ron@themayreport.com


Ron -

The launch of the business plan competition - free business plan writing workshops - and the business elevator pitch competition - all leading up to the Small Business Expo on Friday, July 16th are all systems go!

www.chicagocitytreasuer.com



One of the issues with great technology ideas over the years - is people having a tough time explaining them - QUICKLY AND CLEARLY- sharpen your skills now

http://chicagocitytreasurer.com/events/elevatorspeechvideo2.htm
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ExactTarget buys CoTweet

ExactTarget has raised around $155 million in VC funding, from Technology
Crossover Ventures, Battery Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Ontagu
Newhall and Scale Venture Partners. CoTweet has raised a small amount of
funding from First Round Capital, Founders Fund and Maples Investments.

PRESS RELEASE
Global on-demand email marketing and one-to-one marketing provider
ExactTarget announced today it has
acquired San Francisco-based CoTweet, creating the industry's first complete
solution for managing communications across all interactive marketing
channels including social media, email and mobile.

CoTweet will operate in San Francisco as a business unit of ExactTarget and
will lead the company's social media product development. CoTweet co-founder
and chief executive Jesse Engle will lead the San Francisco operation and
spearhead the creation and expansion of the company's social media lab.

"What we're seeing in the market is organizations are moving quickly to try
to capture the potential of social, but are discovering that it's siloed and
not integrated effectively with other forms of digital communications," said
Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget co-founder and chief executive officer. "By
combining the power of ExactTarget and CoTweet, we can provide businesses a
complete solution to tie together
all forms of interactive communications and drive deeper customer engagement
online."

Founded in 2008 and based in San Francisco, CoTweet is a Web-based
collaboration platform that allows companies to manage multiple Twitter
accounts from a single dashboard, support multiple editors, track
conversations, assign roles and create follow-up tasks. The company has a
growing client list, including Whole Foods, McDonald's, Microsoft, Ford,
Dell, Pepsi, Sprint, Intuit, Salesforce.com, USA Today and Coca-Cola.

"We see a huge opportunity to build on ExactTarget's incredible business and
customer relationships to help companies drive more measurable value from
social media," said Engle. "As part of ExactTarget, we'll have the global
resources to cement our early lead, rapidly expand our platform and develop
the next generation of social media communication tools."

Forrester Research predicts social media marketing will grow faster than any
other form of interactive marketing. In its 2009 U.S. Interactive Marketing
Forecast Report, the independent research firm estimated social media
marketing will grow at compound annual rate of 34 percent, reaching $3.1
billion by 2014.

"This acquisition is strong validation that valuable, sustainable businesses
are emerging from the Twitter ecosystem," said Dick Costolo, Twitter's chief
operating officer. "An ExactTarget and CoTweet combination should lead to
even further digital marketing innovation through use of the Twitter
platform."

The acquisition of CoTweet follows ExactTarget's record-breaking 2009 that
welcomed the company's 36th consecutive quarter of growth in the fourth
quarter 2009 and saw annual contracted revenue soar to $114
million and total GAAP revenue exceed $95 million. In 2009, ExactTarget also
secured $145 million in venture capital investment, opened its first
international office in London, earned the title of a "leader" in email
marketing in the "The Forrester Wave: Email Marketing Service Providers Q4
2009" (December 2009) report and added NIKE Inc., Best Buy and Universal
Music Group to its client list.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, ExactTarget now employs more than 600
associates worldwide.

For additional information on the acquisition, visit
www.ExactTarget.com/Connected.

About CoTweet, Inc.
CoTweet is the real-time business collaboration platform for Twitter.
Working with companies such as Whole Foods, Starbucks, JetBlue, Ford, Pepsi,
Sprint, Coca-Cola, the City of San Francisco/311 and Twitter,
CoTweet has established itself as the tool of choice to brands to connect
and engage with customers and stakeholders. Founded in 2008, CoTweet is
based in San Francisco, Calif. For more information, visit
www.CoTweet.com.

About ExactTarget
ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email marketing and
one-to-one marketing solutions. The company's software as a service
technology provides organizations a single platform to connect with
customers via triggered and transactional email, integrated text messaging,
voice messaging, landing pages and social media. Supported by collaborative
global services teams, ExactTarget's technology
integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other
in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture
and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget's software powers
permission-based multi-channel communications for thousands of organizations
around the world including Expedia.com, Aurora Fashions, Papa John's,
CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Inc., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The
Home Depot and Wellpoint, Inc. For more
information, visit www.exacttarget.com or call 1-866-EMAILET.
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BroadbandBreakfast.com: Connect Illinois Announces Drew Clark as Executive Director; Founder of BroadbandCensus.com to Lead State Broadband Data and Deployment Effort


From: Layton E. Olson leo@howehutton.com
Subject: BroadbandBreakfast.com: Connect Illinois Announces Drew Clark as Executive Director; Founder of BroadbandCensus.com to Lead State Broadband Data and Deployment Effort
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 10:00:37 -0600
To: Layton E. Olson leo@howehutton.com

Technology colleagues and press,

If you've not seen the recent appointment of Drew Clark, founder of Broadband Census, as Connect Illinois executive director, see below. He arrived in Springfield last week, with first task to help Illinois parties apply to 2nd round NTIA and RUS broadband infrastructure and service grants and loans, assisted by 20% Illinois match from DCEO capital fund voted last summer.

Plus, use Connect Illinois mapping capacity to achieve Federal theme of "broadband for rural and urban economic development" including working with university community service and other Middle Mile Comprehensive Communities strategies (NTIA focus) and Last Mile providers, public computing centers and broadband adoption outreach programs, as an implementation arm of Gov. Quinn's Digital Age agenda in 8-10 economic development regions.

Expect there will be events soon in Chicago for Drew to meet people.
Welcome to Illinois!

Layton

-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Sherwood [mailto:Chuck.Sherwood@verizon.net]
Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 5:58 PM
To: Jabari Simama; Dave Lamie; Nolan Bowie; Sascha Meinrath; Bruce Lincoln; Jim Baller; Bruce Montgomery; Laura Forlano; Clayton Banks; Bernie Mazyck; Jim Bryant; Casey Lide; Miriam Hair; Dwight Loftis; John Matthews; Camilla Hertwig; Nancy Coombs; Jim Clark; Jill Gemmill; Jim Pepin; Susan Patterson; Rita Stull; Steve Benjamin; Deborah Watts; Bubba Weir; Fred Johnson; Rob Brading; Robin Wu; Christopher Mitchell; Ron Vinson; Laura Efurd; Greg Laudeman; Drew Clark; Geoff Daily; Jeff Bridgland; Layton E. Olson; Ron Thomas; GIO listserv
Subject: BroadbandBreakfast.com: Connect Illinois Announces Drew Clark as Executive Director; Founder of BroadbandCensus.com to Lead State Broadband Data and Deployment Effort


http://tinyurl.com/ybkztmo
__________________________________________
Melanie Adcock responds to Ron

Subject: RE: * From my tape on Social Media Club Chicago last Thursday, the 25th of Fe
Date: 3/3/2010 2:56:52 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Hi Ron,

Thank you for your continued support in both my personal and professional endeavors. Yes, it is true. I have achieved a 60 pound weight loss. My weight went from 195 to 135. Thanks for noticing. I am so grateful to those who have inspired me in recent months in the Chicago tech community.

Everyone from my old team at Savo has either quit or found other positions as of Q1 of this year. I was told by four former co-workers that as of the end of last month Savo did not have a sales development team. I personally reached out to John Aiello with my thoughts on this matter in hopes of lending helpful insight. He is an approachable leader and welcomes feedback. He is still an inspiration to me and I wish him great continued success. Repeatedly, you've asked and asked me about the gossip you printed last year about Savo taken from an online website. I'm not a fan of anonymous writing. It's not in line with my business values. In my opinion a great deal of anonymous writing is intentionally created to deceive an audience and lacks credibility. Hopefully you'll leave me alone now about Savo. I've challenged myself with more interesting goals and moved on to other projects.

These days every time I see you, Ron, you are asking me to go to lunch as well as a few other things that caused great amusement and snickering, hence my comment in your last report. You were most likely heckling me to get information, but there is now a running bet among my friends about this. If you actually show up to go to lunch with me I am going to win $100. What a great problem to have! How do we spend a hundred bucks on lunch, Ron? A giant plate of french fries? A colossal ice cream sundae? Something healthy? Decisions! Decisions!

Cheers,

Melanie

Melanie Adcock
Cell: 312-833-1825
E-Mail: melanie_adcock@msn.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieadcock
Twitter: http://twitter.com/melanie_adcock
Bio: http://bit.ly/MelanieAdcockARC


* From my tape on Social Media Club Chicago last Thursday, the 25th of February.

Melanie Adcock says that if someone, anyone, wants a date with her, they must be on time. Adcock ain't looking bad these days. and I think she's lost some weight. Who wouldn't after the stress of working at SAVO Group?
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Jeff Meredith: Seymour Hersh Uncovers New Thing Too Sad To Think About

Subject: Seymour Hersh Uncovers New Thing Too Sad To Think About
Date: 3/3/2010 2:17:15 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: jeffmere@gmail.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com, ron@themayreport.com

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/seymour_hersh_uncovers_new

NEW YORK-Sources at The New Yorker said a new article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh "blows the lid completely off" a subject matter far too soul-crushing for the human brain to process. Hersh, renowned for breaking stories on events such as the My Lai Massacre and Abu Ghraib, is said to have plumbed every last, depressing detail of the newly uncovered topic, which likely involves an inconceivable combination of violence, drunken abuses of power, wanton disregard for the sanctity of human life, and a chain of deceit and corruption leading all the way to the top. According to a recent poll, none of The New Yorker's nearly 1 million subscribers had summoned the strength to crack the story's first paragraph, instead turning to the new Roz Chast cartoon on the next page.
======================
That's as much as I'll share about Seymour Hersh.

Your readers don't care about Seymour Hersh. He's only one of the most accomplished investigative journalists in the world ... but they don't care about him. Your readers care about MONEY. If you ran a newsletter about human rights, torture, secret prisons and assassination squads, maybe they would care. But your newsletter is more focused on white collar criminals (fortunately, Chicago has a lot of 'em!). Stick to the current theme ...
_________________________________________
Cygnus Atratus layoffs TMR 3/1/10

Subject: Cygnus Atratus layoffs TMR 3/1/10
Date: 3/1/2010 10:22:41 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: longislandsand@comcast.net
To: ronaldmay@aol.com


Hey Ron,
It is a true tragedy when a bunch of people are laid off the way it was done by those in charge at Cygnus Atratus and I really feel for the folks who are now out of work but I did have to laugh about the other names that the company operates under: "Cygnus Atratus, LLC is run by Tina Sheth and Timothy Kirchner along with other partners, but also trades as ROQ Capital (ROQ being Mr. Kirchner's trading floor badge) and Applied Entropy" (TMR 3/1/10).


According to Webster's New World Dictionary the word entropy is defined as: 1) "a measure of the amount of energy unavailable for useful work in a system undergoing change". And 2) "a measure of the degree of disorder in a system". That pretty well seems to describe what Sheth and Kirchner ended up with.


By the way, I'm no attorney, but under the circumstances, I'd like to see them just try to enforce noncompetes against those they laid off.


Long Island Sand
____________________________________________
Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co. awarded "Best Website of the Year"


From: Jenny Topolosky jennyt@carolfoxassociates.com
Subject: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co. awarded "Best Website of the Year"
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:50:21 -0600
To: Jenny Topolosky jennyt@carolfoxassociates.com

Good morning -

Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Company is thrilled to have recently been awarded the 2010 Illinois Excellence in Tourism Award for Best Website of the Year, at the Annual Illinois Governor's Conference on Tourism.

A press release with full details is below, and we encourage you to visit www.chicagotrolley.com

Please feel free to contact me if you would like any additional information. Thank you!

All best,

Jenny

Jenny Topolosky | Senior Account Executive | Carol Fox & Associates |

1412 W Belmont | Chicago, IL | 60657 | p: 773.327.3830 x109 | f: 773.327.3834 |
__________________________________________
Friday, March 5: MobileX Chicago

Subject: MobileX Chicago
Date: 3/2/2010 3:13:35 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: cshick@opportunityanalysts.com
To: Ronaldmay@aol.com

Hi Ronald,



Paul Sand suggested that I reach out to you. I'm trying to do last-minute prep work and promotion for the Mobile X Conference http://www.mobilexconference.com/chicago/?page_ this Friday in Chicago. It's from 9am- 6pm at the Double Tree on Magnificent Mile.



This event looks like something your audience maybe interested. I attached some info below. We have some great speakers including Charles Yim of AdMob and Noah Kagan, the original product manager for Facebook mobile. Do you know of any groups, people, events I should connect with? Would you be willing to send out the announcement to your e-mail list? We would like to recruit about 20 more people before this Friday.



Also, anyone that uses the 'incuba8' code when registering saves 10% off their ticket price. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. We are also trying to cross-promote with the Day of Mobile.

Regards,

Caryn Shick

cshick@opportunityanalysts.com

989-430-3518

----------

MobileX is a one day conference for entrepreneurs, investors, developers, industry professionals, and mobile enthusiasts that identifies opportunities, explores solutions, and provides technical education in the mobile & related industries in 4 tracks.



Speakers include: Charles Yim (AdMob), Noah Kegan (Facebook Mobile, Gambit), Steven Woolley (ooTunes), Justin Raney (Fanstream, Hallway Feeds), Jon Myers (JUFTi Games), Christopher Judd (iPhone State App), Rob Babcock (The Appcast), Adam Winter (JoeMetric), Krista Neher (Boot Camp Digital) and more!


TRACK 1: iPhone Beginner
For eager developers wanting to get their hands dirty with iPhone development. Please bring your macbook with the iPhone SDK already downloaded or show up during breakfast to get the SDK loaded on your machine. We will have several flash drives with the SDK on them and will help you get set up. Topics covered include: Setup Development Environments, Basic Menu Navigation, Introduction to Table Views, Working with Data Sources, Sound, GPS, External Links, etc.

TRACK 2: Entrepreneur/Investor
This track will cover problems that entrepreneurs face specifically in the mobile market as well as what trends are emerging that would make sense for an investor to invest their money in, and a future entrepreneur to invest their time.

TRACK 3: Technical
For attendees with an interest in the technical details of mobile platforms, and their applications. There will be iPhone specific sessions as well as sessions that explore and compare other platforms.

TRACK 4: Mobile Marketing (Chicago)
How does the ubiquity of mobile phones change the way we tell people about products and services? This track will have sessions that explore how to leverage mobile phone technology to market what you are doing - whether it's marketing an iphone app, a restaurant, or a fortune 500 business.

Get involved! The mobileX team reports many entrepreneurs, developers and mobile enthusiast have already signed up for the one-day event. Registration costs $100 (standard), or $120 (at the door) and there are still openings for various sponsorships, judging and pitching opportunities. Also, if you register using the 'incuba8' coupon code, you'll get 10% off your ticket.



MobileX Chicago is from 9am- 6pm at the Double Tree on Magnificent Mile. REGISTER. Use 'incuba8' code for 10% off ticket price.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.mobilexconference.com/chicago/?page_

Mobilex Chicago Home Blog Speakers Sponsorship Schedule FAQ mobileX Pitch Contest Speakers

Charles Yim
AdMob, Business Development
Age: 27
Location: San Francisco, CA
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Working with media companies and mobile application developers of all sizes and stages figure out how to approach advertising as a part of their business model.
Topic: Mobile Advertising
About Me: I manage iPhone and Android publisher outreach for AdMob. I love working with app developers; having a front row seat to the production of the most innovative apps out there is the best part of my job.
Blog: http://blog.admob.com/
Twitter: @ChuckYim


Noah Kagan
President & Founder of kickflip inc. Makers of GetGambit.com
Age: 27
Location: San Francisco, CA
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Creating Facebook Mobile and Gambit Payments for mobile.
Topic: Making Money in Mobile - It's not just the iPhone
About Me: I love building web products, burritos and watching movies. Please check out my latest passion at http://getgambit.com. I also like to rappel off of 300 foot bridges.
Blog: http://getgambit.com
Twitter: @noahkagan


Steven Woolley
ooTunes Founder
Age: 30
Location: St. Louis Missouri
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Over 90,000 sales in about 1 year in the app store.
Topic: Integrating open source libraries into your iphone app
About Me: I'm a father of 4 (as of last week). 30 years old, and I spend more time doing customer service than any other single activity, and that includes sleeping.
Blog: http://ootunes.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @ooTunes


Justin Raney
Apax Software, VP of Development
Age: 25
Location: Lexington, KY
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Fanstream iPhone App, Hallway Feeds iPhone App
Topic:
Setup Development Environments
Basic Menu Navigation
Introduction to Table Views
Working with Data Sources
Sound, GPS, External Links, etc.
About Me: I like working for myself, because it allows me to do things my way. This allows for more creativity and innovation.
Blog: N/A
Twitter: @jarane2


Jon Myers
JUFTi Games, Founder
Age: 37
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment:
1. First iPhone app to be censored by a government.
2. Wall-street journal coverage
Topic: App launch marketing
About Me: Nomadic contrarian with a passion for mobile, design, pattern detection and serendipity.
Blog: http://www.graphicconversation.com
Twitter: @jonmyers


Chris Judd
Judd Solutions, President/Consultant/Author
Age: 37
Location: Columbus, OH
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Built the Remarkable Ohio iPhone Application for the State of Ohio and the Ohio Historical Center but I have also built complex work order applications for standard phones written in J2ME.
Topic:
iPhone Mapkit
Unit testing & performance tuning
About Me: Christopher Judd is the president and primary consultant for Judd Solutions (http://www.juddsolutions.com), an international speaker, an open source evangelist, the Central Ohio Java Users Group (http://www.cojug.org) and Columbus iPhone Developer User Group leader, and the co-author of Beginning Groovy and Grails (Apress, 2008), Enterprise Java Development on a Budget (Apress, 2003) and Pro Eclipse JST (Apress, 2005) as well as the author of the children's book "Bearable Moments". He has spent 13 years architecting and developing software for Fortune 500 companies in various industries, including insurance, retail, government, manufacturing, service, and transportation. His current focus is on consulting, mentoring, and training with Java, Java EE, Groovy, Grails, Cloud Computing and mobile platforms like iPhone, Android and Java ME.
Blog: http://juddsolutions.blogspot.com
Twitter: @javajudd


Rob Babcock
Airframe Structures Lead/Liaison, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
Age: 34
Location: Lexington, KY
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Co-Host of the iPhone Applications Podcast 'The Appcast'
Topic: App Store Trends
About Me: I co-host a podcast that's all about iPhone applications, so I spend far too much time looking over the new ones that have come out and testing and comparing more specific genres for our weekly 'core topics'.
Blog: http://www.the-appcast.com
Twitter: @TheAppcast
@AppcastNow


Adam Winter
JoeMetric, Inc., ChiefJoe
Age: 35
Location: Columbus, OH
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Co-Founder of JoeMetric, a company that is revolutionizing the way in which companies gather consumer opinions.
Topic: The business side of structuring, funding and launching a mobile app company.
* How to run a company efficiently.
* The role of cloud computing infrastructure.
* Critical elements of a business plan.
* How to bootstrap the finances.
* How to seek angel/venture investment.
* Understanding investment term sheets
* Key financial metrics, and how to act upon them
About Me: Adam is a web and mobile entrepreneur as well as an angel investor. He enjoys talking about the future and the role of cutting-edge technologies of all types, but particularly the mobile revolution.
Blog: http://twitter.com/AdamWinter
Twitter: @AdamWinter


Krista Neher
CEO, Boot Camp Digital
Age: 30
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Work with brands like P&G and MobileCoupons.com on their mobile strategies and executions.
Topic: Mobile Marketing 101 - How Marketers can Play in Mobile
About Me: I am originally from Canada (although I no longer say aboot) and have worked in marketing for over 10 years. I spent 5+ years with P&G and then went on to run marketing for Photrade.com, an internet start-up. I now run Boot Camp Digital - we do social media and internet marketing training and consulting.
Blog:
www.themarketess.com
www.bootcampdigital.com
Twitter:
@kristaneher
@bootcampdigital


Vitaliy Levit
Recess Mobile, Cofounder
Age: 23
Location: Columbus, OH
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Dove into mobile and SMS head first with no previous industry experience and quickly establishing the company as a respected startup.
Topic: Solving problems with the ubiquitous mobile technology, SMS
About Me: I learn well by failing quickly. In 2009 alone, I started three LLCs and one S-Corp, each with different partners and industry focus. While others are thinking how to proceed, I get it done and iterate quickly.
Blog: http://www.recessmobile.com/blog
Twitter: @vlbeta


Yury Tsukerman
Recess Mobile, Cofounder
Age: 24
Location: Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Lead the development of a mobile messaging platform from scratch, which let me touch on every kind of SMS application possible and more important, defined my approach to building a product.
Topic: Solving problems with the ubiquitous mobile technology, SMS
About Me: I consider myself a skeptic of the quotidian - as Steve Jobs says, "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." I love a clever solution and have validated many of them: the Uberman Sleep Cycle for four months, daily cold showers inspired by a NYT obit, a gluten-free diet, jettisoning "stuff," the Lean Startup methodology, deliberate practice, and of course, the panacea of mobile.
Blog: http://www.recessmobile.com/blog
Twitter: N/A http://ytspar.tumblr.com/


Mark Gilicinski
Founder at MobileXpeditions, LLC
Age: 40-something
Location: Dublin, Ohio
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Launching MobileXpeditions
Topic:
14ninetytwo program at TechColumbus
Building hammers instead of nails
About Me: Passionate about developing technology that solves problems and brings new solutions to the world. My career includes experience at the Department of Defense, AOL, and over ten years with Disney.
Blog: N/A
Twitter: @mwgilicinski


Henry Balanon
Founder/Lead-Dev at Bickbot.com
Age: 28
Location: Detroit, MI
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Bickbot's designed apps that were Apple Featured in the iTunes App Store. We've also created a top 10 app in the sports category of the App Store.
Topic: The top 5 problems you have with getting press for your iPhone App and how to solve them
About Me: I am a mobile writer and speaker. I am also the Bickbot.com iPhone app founder and developer. I am also a food photographer for TwoHungryDudes.com.
Blog: http://balanon.com
Twitter: @balanon


Marco Nielsen
Enterprise Mobile, Director
Age: 40
Location: Chicago, IL
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Helping Fortune 100 companies successfully deploy mobile devices and appliances within their enterprise environments.
Topic: Opportunities for Mobile Solutions in Large Companies - Best Practices for Successful Mobile Application Implementations
About Me: These days I tend to carry more than one mobile device. Still waiting for the perfect device.
Blog: http://marco.blogsite.org
Twitter: N/A


James F Ruffer III
RESOLUTE, CTO
Age: 32
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: RESOLUTE's biggest mobile accomplishment so far has been the development of Appanda, an online tool that allows anyone to create their own iPhone and Android app in less than an hour and for less than $500 a year. The goal was to build an intuitive interface design that allows flexibility and control for the user. We created this technology from scratch with no guidelines, and we now have a solid software platform that we will grow in a number of cool directions. Our next steps include making Appanda capabale of supporing all mobile platforms, as well as to deepen the tool set, allowing users even further freedom to create their apps. This is a new world and mobile devices are changing everything. Just ten years ago, businesses that had their own website were considered edgy. Now, every business is almost required to host its own website. Mobile apps are going to be the same sort of tool that businesses can use to reach their customers. Appanda helps them create that tool.
Topic: Spectacular Failures
About Me: James F. Ruffer, III, is a co-founder and CTO of RESOLUTE, a company that creates software platforms for mobile devices. James comes from a diverse entrepreneurial background, with deep experience in IT security, server-based technologies, and SaaS solutions. When he is not geeking out, he is playing/coaching/reffing volleyball and eating really fine cuisine.
Blog: http://Resolutegames.com
Twitter: @appandaapps


Ryan Bauer
Partner, Vivian's Voice
Age: 32
Location: Columbus, OH
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Helping over twenty businesses develop, implement and benefit from successful mobile marketing campaigns.
Topic: Creating Powerful Mobile Marketing Campaigns
with strategies for harnessing social networks
About Me: In my MobileX presentation, I'll give real world examples from other businesses that have completed successful mobile marketing campaigns. Aside from getting people to separate themselves from their money and buy things from my clients, I'm interested in cutting edge technologies. My current project revolves around using smart phones to scan QR codes and how that can be used to market products.
Blog: http://ryanomics.wordpress.com
Twitter: @ryanomics


Ed Keenan
Former Executive Technology Director at Midway Games
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Coming Soon!.
Topic: Coming Soon!.
About Me: Coming Soon!.
Blog: Coming Soon!.
Twitter: @Coming Soon!


Luke Murray
Awesome Inc Experience
Age: 27
Location: Lexington, KY
Biggest Mobile Accomplishment: Hosted a mobile conference in Lexington and launched five conferences nation wide.
Topic: Funding a startup: What are your options
About Me: I like to skateboard and play keyboard when I am not talking about mobile apps.
Blog: http://lukemurray.com
Twitter: @lukemd


And more to come!
_______________________________________________
Monday, March 8: Gee, I can hardly wait since I need some extra sleep: Bob Geras and Jim Charney, two of the most dynamic speakers in Chicago to speak at MEF-Downtown

From: MEF@mail-list.com
Sender: mef@mail-list.com
Subject: The Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 11:04:41 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com


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Our meeting will be held at:

Chicago-Kent College of Law (IIT)
565 W. Adams, Chicago
Date: Monday March 8,2010
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Cost: Free to members, $20.00 for non-members (reservations are not
required) IIT Students with valid student ID Free. Students from other
Universities with a valid student ID $5.00. Register on line
www.MidwestEntrepreneursForum.Org/CalendarEvents.aspx you will need to
select either Chicago or Wheaton

You can pay by credit card on line or you can pay at the door with cash,
check, or credit card.

In an ongoing effort to provide our members with the tools they need to
successfully develop their businesses, we are presenting another educational
presentation, entitled: Financing options for entrepreneurs today.

First read the bios of the panel. If you are an entrepreneur seeking
the truth about available financing you must attend.

Wouldn't you love to have a few million dollars to start your business? Me
too! With a great idea and a great business plan, you probably feel almost
entitled to get the funding you're seeking.

Reality, though, is that for most entrepreneurs, you must prove your concept
first before anyone will put up that kind of money. But most businesses
require some sort of initial capital for things like inventory, marketing,
physical facilities, incorporation expenses, etc. According to the U.S.
Small Business Administration (SBA), "While poor management is cited most
frequently as the reason businesses fail, inadequate or ill-timed financing
is a close second." Sometimes it comes down to simple cash flow--many
companies have closed their doors because they just couldn't make it another
few months until the money came in.

When exploring your funding options, there are several factors to consider:
. Are your needs short-term or long-term? How quickly will you be able
to pay back the loan or provide return on their investment?
. Is the money for operating expenses or for capital expenditures that
will become assets, such as equipment or real estate?
. Do you need all the money now or in smaller pieces over several
months?
. Are you willing to assume all the risk if your company doesn't
succeed, or do you want someone to share the risk?


Accounts Receivable Financing (Factoring). Non-bank organizations will
purchase your accounts receivables for cash. Usually 80% of the invoice
amount at funding and the remaining 20% when your customer pays the invoice,
less the financing company's fee. Why wait 90 days for a customer to pay you
- you are not earning interest on that money and besides you have your bills
to pay.

Trevor M. Morgan Prairie Business Credit, Inc. http://www.prairiebiz.com
Will address out sourcing your receivables.


ABOUT SBIR AND STTR PROGRAMS

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Technology
administers the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the
Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. Through these two
competitive programs, SBA ensures that the nation's small, high-tech,
innovative businesses are a significant part of the federal government's
research and development efforts. Eleven federal departments participate in
the SBIR program; five departments participate in the STTR program awarding
$2billion to small high-tech businesses. The U.S National Science Foundation
administers the SBIR.GOV site on behalf of the federal government.

GRANTS.gov

GRANTS.gov is your source to FIND and APPLY for federal government grants.
Before completing an application, please contact the Agency you are applying
to to make sure they use GRANTS.gov
http://www.sbir.gov/


Jim Charney, Partner, Pan Pacific Partners will educate you on the
government grant programs especially SBIR

Jim Charney has over thirty years experience assisting individuals, and
start-ups and small businesses. Jim worked more than twenty years in
commercial lending and business development. He has over thirty years
experience working with Federal and state governments which gives him an
intimate insight into how to successfully get government grants and
contracts. For the past fifteen years, he's focused on helping high-tech
start-ups and new high tech ventures find alliances and funding. Jim has
relied heavily on Federal and state grants and contracts to establish the
viability of a technical idea and develop it's market potential. Jim helped
businesses develop their technical innovations, create viable products and
access the marketplace. Jim is a partner in Pan Pacific Partners (3p) a
well-mixed group of seasoned professionals with years of experience and
contacts in international marketing, technology transfer/licensing, OEM
sourcing, project financing, alliance partners and import/export services.
Jim's present activity is an extension of his past using his long time
connections to provide small firms with access to Asian markets

An angel investor or angel (also known as a business angel or informal
investor) is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business
start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.

Bob Geras will discuss angel financing

Bob Geras
President of LaSalle Investments, Incorporated
Bob is currently President of LaSalle Investments, Incorporated. Termed "a
virtual Renaissance Man of Entrepreneurship" in a David Lundy Chicago
Sun-Times interview, "one of the Big Three 'old-timer' angels in Chicago" in
Crain's Chicago Business, and featured in a July 2005 cover story in INC.
magazine on "Angels in America." Bob was given the "Angel of the Year-2002"
award by the Chicago Software Association at their Annual CityLIGHTS
ceremony in recognition of "Many years of exceptional service in fostering
and encouraging Entrepreneurship in Chicago's Technology Community." In
December 2004 at the Illinois Venture Capital Association's Annual Awards
Night, Bob was presented the Fellows Award for "Extraordinary leadership in
early stage venture funding in Illinois." In addition, on March 1, 2006 Bob
was also inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. In
addition to having been an active investor and mentor in many other deals,
Bob was co-founder of budget motel chain Sixpence Inns in 1970 which was
acquired by Motel 6 for over $200 million in 1989. In 1986 he bought MEDX,
Inc., a troubled Rolling Meadows medical equipment company, and in 5 years
turned it around and sold the company for 26 times his cost. Since 1990,
he's been a co-founder Chairman and the largest shareholder of publicly
traded Merge Healthcare (MRGE), the industry leader in eHealth connectivity
products for medical imaging. Merge now has sales of around $100 million and
a market worth of $450 million. Formerly he was a shareholder and director
of the Pullman Bank in Chicago, IsoData, a radioimmunoassay blood analyzing
equipment manufacturer, and Alexon, maker of ELISA diagnostic kits for
detecting intestinal parasites. Bob is currently a director and/or investor
in VideoHomeTours, ShowingTime.com, Exadigm, NexVu, 20/20 Technologies,
Advanced Diamond Technologies, Intellext, Bias Power, and OrthoScan. In
April 2005, Bob became Interim President and CEO of Arryx, Inc., a Chicago
technology company that employs holographic laser steering at microscopic
and nanoscopic levels. In the January 2006 issue of INC. Magazine, Arryx was
selected as one of "three early stage technology companies Most Likely to
Succeed." A graduate of Northwestern University, Bob has been a member of
the Union League Club since 1965.


About The Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum

The Midwest Entrepreneurs' Forum (MEF) promotes and strengthens the process
of starting and growing companies by providing services, which educate and
inform entrepreneurs. MEF meets the second Monday of March, April,October
and November at the Downtown Campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology,
565 W. Adams Street, Chicago, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. A suburban meeting is
held the last Tuesday of each month (except July and August) from 7 p.m. to
9 p.m. at the Daniel L. and Ada F. Rice Campus of the Illinois Institute
of Technology, 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL (directions listed). Each MEF
meeting normally features a case presentation/panel discussion that
spotlights a single company in a critical stage of development. We also
feature speakers that bring timely knowledge of current solutions that may
make a difference in how you run your business.

MEF membership is $60 per year or $20.00 to attend a single meeting to see
if membership is something you think would benefit you. If you decide you
want to become a member bring your receipt for $20.00 within 30 days to the
next meeting and you will only be required to pay an additional $40.00 to
become a member for the year. Year is from your payment to the next year.
Students with a valid ID pay $5.00. IIT students with a valid id get in
free.
__________________________________________
END OF REPORT