Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Week 5: Summer Venture Program 2017

Dr. Jill Becker at SVP

Time flies when you are crazy busy. We are already halfway through the Summer Venture Program!

Our ventures are constantly making connections. On Monday, June 19, we had Jill Becker, a scientist and tech entrepreneur specializing in product commercialization and new market initiatives, hold office hours for our entrepreneurs. Dr. Becker thinks that for any entrepreneur who wants to succeed, a mission is required. It’s not just about the future of the product, but also what the entrepreneur personally want to achieve. When asked what advice she would give early stage start-ups, Dr. Becker shared that because the market is constantly changing and that IP follows the market’s path, many ventures should plan ahead and think about how they might pivot in the future and where they will be able to get future customers. Dr. Becker is now a VIP mentor at the Harvard Innovation Lab. She enjoys being a mentor in the way that she can share networks and resources, take ventures’ major problems, break them down into small pieces, and prevent entrepreneurs from making some mistakes she and her peers had made in the past. Dr. Becker shared that mentoring and giving back to the community makes her feel valuable.

Vidvision Hot Seat

We also had two ventures participate in Hot Seat. First up was Magnomer LLC, a product design venture enabling closed-loop recycling of plastic packaging. The second start-up, Vidvision, offers a suite of lead generation tools which can help companies drive ROI on their video content. Both Ravish Majithia (Magnomer) and Derek Tu (Vidvision) presented their business pitches and got genuine feedback from their peers.

Pierce Atwood

Pierce Atwood

On Thursday, June 22, we were excited to have three partners from Pierce Atwood LLP, our Blank Center sponsor, come talk to our entrepreneurs about IP. Our panelists included Jack Steele, Bob Abrahamsen, and Matt Stein. A brief overview on IP was provided, as well as some tips on how to protect a venture’s IP at the early stages. Pierce Atwood discussed the importance of patent litigation and shared some tasks that should to be addressed in order to avoid unnecessary patent disputes in the future.

Come back for next week’s recap and more exciting happenings about SVP 2017! Want to know more about SVP? Visit Summer Venture Program website and follow us on Twitter and Instagram with #babsonsvp!

Save the date for Venture Showcase on Thursday July 27, register now! >>

About Pierce Atwood

At Pierce Atwood LLP, we help entrepreneurs and start-ups as they grow into profitable businesses. Our Catalyst Program is designed to get an idea off the ground, protect intellectual property, access funding, and address basic legal requirements. We welcome clients with creative ideas and disruptive new technologies, and tailor our legal services to their specific needs, and offer flexible fee arrangements. Our Catalyst team members are experienced business advisers who know the challenges and triumphs that lie ahead and help clients prepare for them. You have a passion for what you do. So do we.​​