Ignite Quad Cities Entrepreneurs Meetup-Turning Ideas into Opportunities: The Cutting-Edge Process of Innovation and Customer Discovery for Start Ups

Description

Join us as we demystify the processes, challenges, and Business Model Canvas being utilized by early stage companies to help entrepreneurs create commercial value from nascent ideas.  The national I-Corps program has certified the University of Iowa to lead these programs across Iowa, and the Iowa/Illinois Quad Cities as we help startups realize their goals for scalability, sustainability, and monetization.
 
Also featured will be a panel of Quad Cities regional startups that have used this technique to start, build and bring new products to market through the University of Iowa’s Venture School program:
 
Conor & Pat Flaherty of Germbot – http://www.thegermbot.com/; consumer product
Kevin Toft of ALM Positioners – http://www.almmh.com/; industrial product
Rhonda Halterman of LivWell Seniors - http://www.livwellseniors.com/; professional services business
Ryan Windmiller of SimpleBuild - http://thesimplebuild.com/; web-based business
 
About our Speaker:
Kurt Heiar is a serial entrepreneur, having been the President & CEO of 4 early stage companies focused in pharmaceutical drug discovery, healthcare services, and personalized medicine, where he has raised multiple millions in capital, forged global strategic partnerships, and led the successful acquisition of one of his companies by a publicly traded firm.  In addition, Kurt has spent the last 4 summers in Greece, and will return again in 2018, where he leads entrepreneurial training, and continues co-development of Greece’s Venture Capital Fair, now in its third year.  Last year, Kurt also gave a live 90 minute motivational talk for 23,600 participants in Greece.
 
Kurt’s corporate experience included serving as Vice President, Marketing & Strategic Planning and Director, Global Business Development, Immunotherapies, for Baxter Healthcare’s Bioscience Divisions.  Kurt was also the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Iowa State’s Research Foundation, and a former Chair of the Iowa Business Council’s Entrepreneurial Formation Committee.  Kurt is a licensed nautical Captain with a Master’s certification, and is working on his first book.
 
About Venture School:
https://www.iowajpec.org/community/venture-school
 
Quad Cities Cohort dates:
Application deadline:  February 6
Week 1: February 26th
Week 2: March 5
(Spring Break)
Week 3: March 19
Week 4: March 26
Week 5: April 2
Week 6: April 9
Week 7: April 16
Week 8: April 27th Surge Summit at Hawkeye Innovation Expo