Hardware Startups 101: Entrepreneurship for Engineers
Considering striking out on your own to commercialize a product that has optical, electronic, or otherwise tangible elements? Curious or worried about: fundraising, early product development, term sheets, or sales? Gregg Favalora, entrepreneur in optical systems since 1997, will layer the case study of (3-D display pioneer) Actuality Systems and its eventual exit with lessons and context in key topics that may be new for career engineers. Topics in this high-density talk will be addressed from the standpoint of electro-optical entrepreneurship, and will be a rapid introduction to key topics for further inquiry: what startups are *really* like, frugal prototyping, product definition, getting to First Customer Ship, financing and the basics of Term Sheets, publicity, equity budgets, the Whole Product, accelerators, and Characters to Be Wary Of. You will also be provided with resource lists for useful meetings, books, and key people to “follow.”
MEETING SPONSORED BY
Gregg Favalora, VisionScope Technologies
Gregg Favalora, former NES-OSA Council Member, is responsible for engineering, production, and IP as CTO of VisionScope Technologies, a maker of medical endoscopes specialized for in-office use. Prior, Gregg was a Principal of OFH, an optical and opto-mechanical engineering consultancy. Gregg founded Actuality Systems, which developed numerous autostereoscopic 3-D display technologies, which after a 12-year startup rollercoaster, provided a very belated exit to its investors by selling its patent portfolio… twice. He is a frequent speaker on startups, most recently at the Yale CEID, Harvard Innovation Lab, and the MIT Media Lab. He’s at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and hopes you say “hello.”
Reservations:
Please make reservations online. Reservations may also be left on the answering machine at 617.584.0266. We no longer have an email address for reservations due to SPAM. When making reservation requests, please provide the following information:
- DINNER AND MEETING or meeting only
- Name(s) and membership status
- Daytime phone number where you can be reached (in case of change or cancellation)
Location:
Rebeccas Cafe (Located in back of the office complex)
275 Grove Street
Auburndale, MA 02466
(617) 969-3282
Networking—5:45 PM, Dinner—6:45, Meeting—7:30 PM.
Menu:
Vegetarian option available on request
Dinner Prices:
| Register on/before DINNER Reservation Date |
Late Reservations | |
| NES/OSA Members and their guests | $25.00 each | $30.00 |
| Non-members | $30.00 (See NOTE Below) | $35.00 |
| Students | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Post-Docs | $15.00 | $15.00 |
NOTE: The NES/OSA has not changed dinner prices in several years but has been facing higher costs. We will maintain the current dinner prices for those reserving dinner on the requested date but still try to accommodate late reservations.
General Information on NES/OSA Meetings
Cancellations and No-shows:
If the meeting must be canceled for any reason, we will try to call you at the phone number you leave with your reservation. Official notice of cancellation will be on our answering machine.
We have to pay for the dinners reserved as of the Tuesday before the meeting, so no-shows eat into our cash reserve. If you will not be able to attend, please let us know as early as possible. Otherwise, no-shows will be billed.
Membership Rates:
| Regular members | $15.00 |
| Student members | free |
NOTE: The extra $5.00 of the non-member dinner fee can be used toward membership dues if the nonmember joins and pays dues for the current year at the meeting.
