Great Upcoming Events for Boston Entrepreneurs

Between October 4th to October 21st, Boston will enjoy an even higher concentration of Entrepreneurial focused events. Thanks to two Weeklong Event Experiences being put together by local organizations.

Future M is the first ever multi location experience dedicated to what is new in marketing.  October 4-8, 2010, dozens of events and activities will showcase the leading ideas, thinkers and companies on the future of Marketing. Panels, summits, roundtables, user groups, virtual events, demos, parties organized throughout greater Boston - all focused on what’s new and what’s next in Marketing.

http://futurem.org/Calendar.aspx

Boston Region Entrepreneurship Week  or Brew Boston, is shining a spotlight on the entrepreneurial spirit in and around Boston.  Brew is happening October 13th - 21st.

http://www.brewboston.org/

Although all events look to be valuable, three in particular stand out as must attend. One is already sold out so if you are interested, don't hesitate to register.

Customer Development: The Second Decade -- with Steve Blank's co-author Bob Dorf

Tuesday, October 05, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET)

Speakers: Bob Dorf, Author, "Customer Development: The Second Decade;" Simeon Simeonov, CEO, FastIgnite

This event is for:
* Entrepreneurs and CEOs who want to build capital-efficient businesses
* Geeks who want to be founders
* Marketers who want to find the right customers cheaply
* Angel investors and VCs who want to generate great returns

"Scalable Intimacy: The Next Step in Social Marketing", coming up on October 7th at FutureM! (SOLD OUT)

Speaker: Mike Troiano - founding CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Interactive and current President, Holland-Mark Digital.

If you've gotten your brand up on Facebook and Twitter, and are starting to wonder why you bothered, this session is for you.

Startup Marketing Bootcamp: Workshop + Lessons Learned Friday, October 08, 2010 from 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM (ET)

Flybridge Capital Partners and Highland Capital Partners have teamed to help consumer facing and online B2B start-up companies navigate the new world of marketing. This intense start-up marketing boot camp will bring together leaders from across the marketing world to provide attendees with insights, roadmaps and real-world case studies for incorporating new marketing technologies and approaches into their business

It's shaping up to be a great October, so see you out there.

Boston Angel Series: Lead Dog Ventures

Yes, we have  already heard about the dearth of Consumer Web Angel Investors here in Boston. So you might be interested to find out about a local Angel that has a pretty impressive track record in both quantity and quality of deals.

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The fund, Lead Dog Ventures is  run by John Landry and has been active locally since 1994. He has been a fixture around Boston since the inception of the enterprise software industry as CTO of companies like Cullinet , McCormack and Dodge and Lotus.

Here is a photo I pinched from his blog (hope he doesn't mind) to show you that the guy has gravitas.



As you can see the portfolio is not completely Consumer Web, but the recent fundings of oneforty, Daily Grommet, Ayeah Games and Blueleaf demonstrate the trend towards web oriented businesses.

Take a look at John's talk at the Angel Boot Camp to get a good feel for how he invests.

So it is not all gloom for Web companies seeking angel funding here in Boston. Some of the traditional enterprise oriented angels will be able to make the transition as John did, and we need more coming from operational experience in web companies to make up the slack for those that don't, but there are good  angels out there when you're looking.

CardStar

talentGraphz Record: CardStar

Funding Status: Series A

Founders Backgrounds: Lumifi, Trust Digital

Investors: Verizon, Launch Capital

Industry: Mobile Application

Offering Description: Developing mobile applications that perpetuate the use of loyalty cards and mobile coupons. The CardStar application consolidates membership and rewards cards on smartphones — letting consumers access scannable cards from within a single app and enabling merchants to tailor mobile deals and information to their customers.