Notes from a Successful New England Venture Summit – 2009 Edition

I think one would have that yesterday’s New England Venture Summit in Dedham was one of the more successful east coast venture events of 2009. Kudos to Joe Benjamin and his team at YoungStartup Ventures for producing a conference which had great energy. Judging by the estimated attendance at the door, the event also appeared to have had a record turnout, in spite of all the uncertainty currently permeating the venture industry.  The panels were good, the presenters on a whole quite solid. It was really a pleasure serving again as co-chair for the event.

Although I haven’t had a lot of time to process my thoughts coming out of the Summit, here are a few of my first-blush takeaways.

Six Words To Venture Funding (Well, Almost)

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway’s drinking buddies once bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story using just six words. Hemingway won the bet handily, creating what he believed to be one of his best stories: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

In these six words, Hemingway proves that you don’t need to ramble on to tell a great story. The same can be said for entrepreneurs and their pitches to potential investors and prospective customers.

When The Going Gets Tough…Keep Going

I recently attended an interesting talk by Dutch Leonard, a professor at Harvard Business School.  The presentation examined what we can learn about managing through difficult times and crises from explorers who found themselves in grave peril for extended periods and survived.

Specifically, the talk centered on explorer Ernest Shackleton who is widely recognized as having endured one of the greatest survival stories ever told.