Start-up Funding: Bootstrap to Venture
The Northeast Ohio small business community can get back into the swing of things on Thursday, September 15th at 7 p.m. with the return of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship Research at the Hudson Library & Historical Society’s popular Entrepreneurship Series of events. The series kicks off on with John Dearborn who will tackle the timely topic, “Start-up Financing: Bootstrap to Venture.”
It’s no secret that raising money is difficult, especially in today’s climate. You’ve tapped out your friends and family, but you’re not quite ready for angel of venture investments, so what do you do? Entrepreneurs contemplating starting a company should consider financing these ventures on their own . . . at least for a couple of years. John Dearborn, President of JumpStart and serial entrepreneur who’s bootstrapped his own high tech startups, shares his experience and talks about how and why entrepreneurs should bootstrap new businesses as long as possible.
Dearborn brought 25 years of experience in software, Internet and mobile technologies, along with senior management experience leading entrepreneurial companies to JumpStart. Most recently, he was the CEO and a board member of 3Guppies, Inc., a mobile social networking company in Seattle. Since returning to Cleveland, he has been acting as board adviser to several startups in the areas of strategy development, fundraising and product development. Prior to 3Guppies, Dearborn was the Senior Vice President and General Manager for New Ventures in the Interactive Division for American Greetings, where he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. In that role, he led new product and business development activities, partnering with leading companies, including MSN, to develop content offerings aimed specifically at the mobile and instant messaging audiences.
Dearborn also started a self-funded company that developed the first image editor for the PC, which was later sold to a NASDAQ-traded company, Micrografx. In addition, he has held senior management positions for a variety of venture-backed, public and privately-held companies, leading marketing, operations, business development, and sales organizations. He holds a BA in Administration from the University of New Hampshire.
JumpStart is a nonprofit transforming Greater Cleveland’s economy by assisting high growth, diverse entrepreneurs and, in some cases, investing directly in companies. JumpStart also grows and connects local entrepreneurial support resources, shares best practices with other regions of the country, and builds partnerships to accelerate regionally-based innovation and entrepreneurship programs across the nation.
To register for this free event please contact the Reference department by calling 330-653-6658, ext. 1010, e-mailing askus@hudson.lib.oh.us or
click here to Register for Program
