Founder Factory 2021

635 South Lafayette Boulevard,South Bend IN 46601

10 November, 2021

Description

A Summit for Startups in South Bend – Elkhart Founder Factory, A Summit for Startups in South Bend – Elkhart, hosted by Startup South Bend – Elkhart, is the place where entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, and investors can come together for one incredible afternoon to learn, connect, and convene about all things entrepreneurship and innovation! At the heart of the event is the location, right in the center of the Renaissance District, Studebaker Buildings 112 and 113! The goal of Founder Factory 2021 is to create a collision of startups, enthusiasts, and investors in one place and space and to foster connections amongst these individuals that lead to more entrepreneurial and innovative activity in the South Bend – Elkhart region. Founder Factory is inclusive to all types of business owners – whether they’re selling lemonade on the side of their neighborhood road or manufacturing luxury boats, or maybe you’re creating the next technology to disrupt the healthcare industry. Or perhaps you’re interested in working for one of these businesses, come and start your next career adventure! SUMMIT DETAILS11:30AM – 12:30PM Food Trucks in the “Bay”: Grab your lunch from local food trucks in the Studebaker’s original loading bay! Fill up on the fly in the Studebaker lobby, in the bay, or bring your lunch into Studebaker 112 for the keynote sessions kicking off at 12:30! 12:30 – 2:15PM Keynote Sessions: Two dynamic keynote sessions will kick off Founder Factory programming, featuring nationally recognized speakers Amanda Brinkman, Emma Willis, and Luke Cooper! Main Stage for Main Street: Amanda Brinkman is the creator, producer and host of the hit Emmy-nominated series “Small Business Revolution,” which streams on Hulu and Prime Video and was named among Inc. Magazine’s top shows for entrepreneurs. Now in production of their 6th season, each year the Small Business Revolution revitalizes a different community’s “Main Street” through small business makeovers. Every episode they help work to help the entrepreneur with marketing, finance, operations and physical transformations of their space. Amanda will share the lessons learned in working with small businesses across the country, offering the audience actionable advice on marketing and communication best practices. Often small businesses feel they can’t afford the time or fiscal investment in marketing, but Amanda is often quoted saying small businesses can’t afford to NOT to invest in marketing. She will share insights of the most important focus areas of your brand and digital footprint, sharing case studies from real businesses featured in the Small Business Revolution series. The Business of Being Venture Backable: Amanda Brinkman returns as the moderator of an incredible duo – Emma Willis and Luke Cooper. Emma and Luke bring years of knowledge and expertise around scaling ideas, businesses, and communities. Emma currently serves as the COO of Venture Noire, a nonprofit serving Black entrepreneurs in Arkansas. Prior to her current role, she oversaw the state of Arkansas 529 plan and increased its assets from $600M to $1B, as well as working with a FinTech startup focused on supporting college students. Luke is the founder of Fixt, one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country. Luke sold his first tech company for $60M to multi-billion-dollar defense contractor CACI. Both Emma and Luke will share their stories of entrepreneurship, adversity, and adventure in this session! 2:30 – 4:30PM Founder Focused Expert Roundtables: Learn on your own time in a small group setting. Subject matter experts will cover topics in brief, informal presentations after which you can ask specific questions and learn from your tablemates. Tables are limited to seven entrepreneurs at a time. Entrepreneurs will receive the opportunity to rank their preferred topics following registration through Eventbrite. Each entrepreneur will have the chance to participate in three roundtable conversations. Topics include: How to get your first customer without a product [Marketing]How to optimize your spend for digital marketing [Marketing]Hiring employee #1 [Operations]How to find and hire a tech co-founder [Operations]Organizing your company from the get-go [Operations]How do I use no-code tech to scale my business? [Operations]How to work with zoning, licensing and actually opening the doors [Operations]How to find and effectively use advisors [Operations] How to scale your service based business [Operations]How to know what money is the right money for your business [Financials]When and how to raise a pre-seed or seed funding round [Financials]2:30 – 4:30 PM Co-Work, Factory Style: It’s not every day you get the opportunity to remote work from one of the oldest yet one of the most modern buildings in the South Bend – Elkhart region. During Founder Factory, you can set up shop in the perfect coworking space between 2:30 – 4:30pm, located on the second floor of Studebaker Building 113. Bring your computer and we’ll provide the wifi, electrical outlets, drinks and snacks to keep you fueled, and the Instagram-worthy backgrounds. 2:30 – 4:30 PM Connection Lounge: Feeling inspired after leaving the keynote sessions and want to share your thoughts and bounce off ideas with others? Or, setup meetings ahead of time to meet at the Connection Lounge between 2:30 – 4:30pm. Located in the lower mezzanine of Building 113, we will have a lounge outfitted with comfy, modern furnishings provided by SIXINCH, who has provided furniture for Machine Gun Kelly’s 27 Club, Adobe’s Corporate Headquarters, and SXSW 2019. 4:30 – 6:30 PM Startup Happy Hour: Wind down the day with a glass of wine, a pint of beer or other beverage of your choice as you network with fellow entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, and investors. Walk through the exhibit booths put together by regional Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs), startups, and small business owners. Tours of Building 84 will be offered to guests following the keynote programming and tenants of Building 113 will have their doors open to show you their Studebaker style! TICKETSOctober 4TH – 18TH: $20 October 19TH – November 9TH: $25 Tickets include all activities 11:30am – 6:30pm, including lunch tickets and Startup Happy Hour drinks and appetizers (two drink tickets included). You may purchase an add-on ticket for Startup Happy Hour if you have a plus one. $15 student pricing is available. Please contact Felix Mayorga Alvarez at [email protected] for details. The South Bend - Elkhart Regional Partnership is a collaboration of the economic development partners from 47 smart connected communities in Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan. The Regional Partnership focuses on a long-term systemic approach to advance the region's economy by aligning the efforts of various stakeholders around five key areas: Educating a world-class WORKFORCE, Recruiting and retaining great TALENT, Attracting and growing new economy companies in complement to our remarkably strong manufacturing INDUSTRIES, Promoting INCLUSION and sparking opportunities for minorities and Helping ENTREPRENEURS thrive. The Regional Partnership seeks to unify and collaborate so that together, the communities across the region to work together to achieve what cannot be done individually. For more information about the Regional Partnership, visit SouthBendElkhart.org.