February Experts Corner

Our Experts Corner is a great resource for start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators who work with more established companies.  Sign-up for time (Wednesday, February 17  10, #MIN11) with one or more of our experts on-site. (Note: Due to the schedule change, we’ve changed the line-up a bit.)

• Larry Begley, 406 Ventures — Co-Founder and Managing Director.  Larry brings 30 years of senior executive management, finance, and operational experience in technology and services industries. Prior to founding .406, Larry served on the board of 14 companies, including 5 public and 9 venture-backed companies. Larry is on the board of portfolio companies Ambient Devices, ChosenSecurity, Optaros, RatePoint, Mashery, and ThingMagic. Prior to founding .406, Larry served initially as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and then as a Director of CCBN.com, which facilitated online communication between public companies and the investment community, where he played a major role in the company’s sale to Thomson Financial for $150 million. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of i-Cube and Razorfish, where he oversaw revenue growth from $9 million to $41 million in three years, awarding the i-Cube IPO “Massachusetts IPO of 1998” and the company’s ultimate sale to Razorfish for $1.8 billion in 1999 . From 1988 to 1996 Larry served as Partner, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of The Boston Consulting Group. He holds an MBA-Finance from Babson College and a BSBA-Accounting from Boston College.

• Andy Zimmerman, Brainshark,  VP of Business Development, is responsible for developing and managing strategic partnerships and programs at Brainshark, the leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution provider for on-demand presentations.  Most recently, Andy played a leadership role in the launch of myBrainshark.com, a free version of Brainshark’s software that allows users to create, share and track on-demand, multimedia presentations. While myBrainshark was being developed, Andy became acutely aware of the need for businesses and individuals to deliver impactful, far-reaching messages at zero cost. At a time when it takes an average of 100 phone calls to book one sales appointment and when two-thirds of registrants fail to attend live webinars-effective communication tools are critical. Andy can talk to Mass Innovation Night attendees about how to leverage multi-media tools to increase the effectiveness of outreach and prospecting activities, whether it’s to promote your business, your products and services, or your expertise. Prior to Brainshark, Andy launched SaaS offerings for other leading software providers including Theikos (now part of Astadia) and Edocs (now part of Oracle). Andy earned his BA from Brown University and MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

• Coleby Mantz, Jetty Marketing,  Marketing Strategies for Start-ups:  A long-time marketing professional, Coleby has extensive experience in both corporate and agency marketing environments and has held leadership roles at Parametric Technology (PTC), Tech Pak, and Aviva Labs. She has also worked as an outsourced marketing professional for companies such as Applix (now IBM), Crossbeam Systems, and Progress Software. As the Founder of Jetty Marketing, she has worked with various tech start-ups including matchmine, mobile.messaging.solutions (formerly part of VeriSign), and PODi, in addition to working with more established technology companies. Her company has also helped start-ups outside the technology arena with everything from marketing strategy, planning and budgeting, to campaign development and execution. From start-ups to large, global companies, Coleby has helped businesses achieve their marketing objectives. Coleby holds a BA in sociology from the University of Vermont and graduated cum laude from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College where she received her MBA.

• Steve Garfield is author of the book Get Seen: Online Video Secrets for Building Your Business and is founder of Boston Media Makers. Garfield works with and advises Fortune 500 brands such as AT&T, Kodak, Nokia, and Panasonic, and media outlets including CBS, NBC and PBS. Nationally featured on CNN, Garfield is the Boston correspondent for the pioneering video podcast “Rocketboom” and a longtime video blogging expert. He lectures on new media at Boston University, Northeastern and Emerson College.  Garfield  also serves as an advisor to many of the Web’s early video startups.