It’s June in Maine and apart from our usual lobster-eating, hiking, boating and beach adventures, we are preparing to spend another week celebrating Maine’s amazing entrepreneurs, inventors and companies during the immensely successful and eagerly anticipated Maine Startup & Create Week.
This year’s Maine Startup & Create Week (MSCW) runs from June 19 – 23 in Portland and like the triumphant events in 2014, 2015 and 2016, MSCW will attract thousands of entrepreneurial-minded individuals and will feature an impressive lineup of speakers and anticipated networking opportunities. Visit www.mainestartupandcreateweek.com for additional information and to register.
While in town for MSCW, please be sure to attend TechWalk 2017. TechWalk is MTI’s annual opportunity to celebrate the success of its programs and showcase its impressive portfolio companies. TechWalk will occur on Wednesday, June 21 from 4:30P – 7:00P at the Westin Portland Harborview Hotel in Portland. Admission is free for this energizing networking opportunity and registration is not required. Come out and participate in this stimulating event and witness the remarkable innovations conceived by extraordinary Maine entrepreneurs and companies.
MTI, as a presenting sponsor of Maine Startup & Create Week, will have a staff presence at most events during the week. Below, you will find more information about some of the events staff looks most forward to attending.
Lou Simms, Investment Officer: I’m looking forward to the MixPos on Monday & Tuesday afternoons. These events (part mixer & part expo), will showcase Maine’s Research and Development Community (Monday), as well as Maine’s Capital & Resource providers (Tuesday). I look forward to connecting with Maine’s aspiring entrepreneurs at these events, and helping them utilize MTI as a springboard to success as they grow their businesses.
Martha Bentley, Director of Innovation Infrastructure: I find all the keynotes to be inspiring and love the “firesite chat” format. I am particularly excited to hear Felecia Hatcher on Tuesday – who wouldn’t want to learn about gourmet ice pop success! I also can’t wait for Monday’s Lightning Workshop, “Concrete Steps to Build a Diverse Team.” We all want more diverse teams, but don’t always know how to go about building them. And finally, I hope many folks will go to the Affiliate event on Friday morning, “Gender Equity in Entrepreneurship” – a chance to see the issue from the perspective of entrepreneurs and of investors. The week is always energizing and inspiring.
April Finkenhoefer, Lending & Grant Associate:I am looking forward to attending the customer discovery session at MSCW this year. We always comment at our Tech Board meetings that there is a struggle with the customer discovery piece and then articulating that in proposals – I hope to gain some insight into the process, and pick up some tricks and tips that we can share with our portfolio companies and new applicants.
Best,
Brian Whitney
President