Building Informal Entrepreneurial Networks

Kirk R. HillFounder of the Maine Entrepreneurs Network

Watcha talking about Willis?

• Who Am I?– Background– Experience

• What defines an Entrepreneur?– Personality traits– Challenges

• How to foster collaboration amongst Entrepreneurs?

• Questions and Answers

Who Am I?

• Maine native – grew up in L/A• Attended MIT from 1990 – 1994• Started first company within a year• Started several other companies

– Real estate investment– Self defense training and seminar– Auto repair shop– Boston based startup– Business incubation company

What is an Entrepreneur?

• Adventures of an Incurable Optimist

• My Way or the Highway

• Let’s Head to the Races

• Never give up. Never surrender.

• Try, Try Again

• Acts like just drank 10 cups of coffee

Challenges for Entrepreneurs

• Find resources: time, people, money• Making critical business decisions

– Products and/or services– Revenue model– Compensation models– Company structure– Financing strategy

• Angel/VC funding• Bootstrap

– Marketing strategy

What’s In Common Here?

• Finding a needle in a haystack• Putting toothpaste back into the tube• Herding cats• Licking your elbow• Cutting down the mightiest tree …with a herring• These are all easier than

Getting a group of entrepreneurs to participate in a formal forum

Entrepreneurs Collaborating

• The Solution …

• Provide an informal forum in which entrepreneurs can discuss common issues, share ideas, and brainstorm solutions

• Maine Entrepreneurs LinkedIn Group

Why?

• Wanted to collaborate with like-minded entrepreneurs

• Needed to find entrepreneurial expertise in Maine

• Looking for business partners

• No similar group existed

• Because I could

How the Group Started

• Created the LinkedIn group in July 2008 which grew to over 50 members in the first month

• First face-to-face in August 2008, 12 people came to the first meeting

• Monthly meetings ever since with attendance increasing to 40 – 60 people

• LinkedIn Group has over 650 people

Format of the Monthly Meetings

• Starts with ½ hour (or so) of networking

• Quick introduction of group

• 15 – 30 second elevator pitches

• Few words about the discussion topic

• Moderated group discussion– Keep alpha type personalities in check– Make sure everyone gets heard

Previous Topics of Discussion

• Differences between sales, marketing, and branding

• Revenue models – used mCaddie

• Pitching potential investors

• Marketing a product – used a specific product for the discussion

• Identifying and mitigating risk

• Creating a Board of Advisors

Between the Meetings

• Lively discussion boards at LinkedIn

• Promotion of additional events of interest to the group

• Meet with other entrepreneurs

• Promote the group at every chance– Twitter– Networking events– Business contacts

Summary

• Entrepreneurs are a rare breed

• Face many challenges

• Informal forums tend to work better than formal forums

• Strong moderation to keep alpha personalities in check

• Existing social media tools play important role