Jeff Bennett's Blog

I joined a 100+ entrepreneurs last night for a forum that was managed by The Funded, the online community of technology executives that track the venture capital industry.  The forum was hosted at the MIT Media Lab.

Adeo Ressi, the founder of the The Funded, was the master of ceremonies for the evening and spoke on the topic of “state of the world.”  Adeo had a soft and whimsical approach to delivering some pretty sobering content regarding the massive “reset” he feels the world is going through right now.  The fact is that alot of industries/businesses with shaky business models will be shuttered according to Adeo.  On the positive this creates massive opporutnities for entrepreneurs.  The big question is how to fund these ventures.  Again Adeo deadpanned this wont be business usual either, a more creative and cunning approach to financing will be required.  In his opinion private equity and venture capital will be radically different after this reset.

Steve Murray, General Partner @ Softbank Capital, also addressed the gathering.  The Funded does not have a pro-VC reputation so Steve had his hands full coming on the agenda behind Adeo.  Steve did a good job indicating the necessary tools all entrepreneurs need today to navigate through this economic downturn.  Again some of the information was sobering, but there were surely bright spots to highlight.  From my perspective I believe all in attendance were pleased by Steve’s candor.

Dr. Erika Wagner, of MIT and the MIT XPRIZE Lab, played host to the event.

The event concluded with tours of the MIT Media Lab and some very interesting activities that are going on there ranging from Smart Cities (sustainable urban mobility including CityCar, RoboScooter, GreenWheelBicycle), Huggable (robotic companion), MoCa (open source clinical info system).  All very cool developments and prototypes.

Take away is that this downturn is a reset.  There are massive shifts occurring with respect to traditional indutries/businesses, capital sources and the markets.  As Adeo said, “Out with the old..in with the new.”  One thing that does not change here is the need for innovation and swash buckling entrepreneurs to bring these ideas to life.  A key is that the runways wont be as long to develop these innovations…idea, product, launch, distribution, revenue and profit…the cycle has to be faster and more efficient!

One of the sponsors for the evening was Verizon.  The Verizon business development team talked about being open to alliances where they bring their massive distribution network…in exchange for new business ideas.  That sounded like a new Verizon to me.

Onward..back to business..we have work to do!