Launching New Ventures Hangout: Do’s & Don’t’s of Crowdfunding
Event details
| Date | 10.06.2015 |
| Hour | 16:30 › 17:30 |
| Speaker | Johannes Gees (WeMakeIt), James McBennett (Timbertail), Eric Migicovsky (Pebble), Prof. Chris Tucci (EPFL) and Nettra Pan (EPFL) |
| Category | Internal trainings |
Join us on the 10th of June, 2015 at 4:30pm CET for an exciting panel on how to make the most of your crowdfunding campaign with Chris Tucci (EPFL), Eric Migicovsky (Pebble), and James McBennett (Timbertail).
The panel will be streamed live on Youtube. It can be viewed below or at go.epfl.ch/panel3LNV15 between 4:30pm and 5:30pm CET/CAT. Send us your questions in real time via twitter using the hashtag #LNV15, or send them to us in advance through Coursera (you must be registered for the course).
At some point in the entrepreneur's journey you will have to convince investors about the potential of your venture. Today, many entrepreneurs can use crowdfunding platforms for more visibility (especially among early adopters!). Crowdfunding can also increase sales, and cash flow... essential for production or further tests and survival... Some entrepreneurs see crowdfunding as a risk-free way to test initial reception of their idea! But is crowdfunding really risk-free? Even after you raise money, how do you keep the crowd from turning into an angry mob?
As part of the EPFL College of Management of Technology's new MOOC, Launching New Ventures, we will host a free, online discussion with three experts and our CDM Professor Chris Tucci to talk about the Do's and Don't's of Crowdfunding.
Our speakers:
Chris Tucci (@CLTucci)
Chris is currently Dean of the College of Management of Technology at EPFL, where he holds the Chair in Corporate Strategy & Innovation. In addition to publishing in many of the highest ranked journals in the field of management, he won Best Paper of 2012 for his article “Crowdsourcing as a solution to distant search” in the Academy of Management Review, which is ranked the #1 scholarly journal in the categories of Management and Business. In 2013, he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Management, the largest professional society devoted to management research and teaching. Chris is among the most highly-cited professors in the field of innovation management and brings more than 30 years of experience working on cutting edge technologies and innovation. Before earning his PhD, he was an industrial computer scientist involved in developing Internet protocols.
Johannes Gees (@JohannesGees)
Johannes Gees is an artist and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of wemakeit.com, Switzerland’s leading crowdfunding platform.
After studying social anthroplogy and history at the University of Zurich, Johannes Gees started working as a picture editor for news agencies. He then became a self-taught graphic designer and art director, opening his own studio and working for large advertisting networks. In 1997 he joined Swiss publishing house Tamedia as an internet developer. In 2000 he founded johannesgees.com, a production company both for his own art projects and clients such as Expo.01/02., the Swiss government, Credit Suisse, BMW etc. In 2004 he cofounded the short-film platform www.agent-provocateur.ch.
Johannes Gees, who had been working off and on as a painter, photographer and musician since his youth, became a full-time artist in 2001, when his collaborative media art installation "hellomrpresident" hit the WEF in Davos (www.johannesgees.com). hellomrpresident was followed by "the hello world project" (2003, Geneva/New York/ Rio de Janeiro/Bombay) and a series of public art installations, both in Europe an overseas.
Eric Migicovsky (@ericmigi)
Eric Migicovsky is the founder and CEO of Pebble Technology, the company behind the Pebble, Pebble Steel, Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel smartwatches for iPhone and Android. While studying engineering at the University of Waterloo, Eric began building smartwatches alongside a group of friends and created the first model, InPulse. In April 2012, Eric and his team launched the second generation, Pebble, on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, where it became the most successful crowdfunded project in Kickstarter’s history. And in February 2015, Eric and his team launched two more watches, Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel, on Kickstarter, which became the fastest funded project in Kickstarter history.
James McBennett (@mcbennett)
James is guided by a generalist curiosity and great enthusiasm for doing interesting projects. He is a designer who works primarily in wood selling his products at www.timbertail.com. Passionate about the intersection of entrepreneurship and design, he studied architecture at University College Dublin and the Architectural Association in London while taking additional courses in entrepreneurship at the London School of Economics and University of Cambridge. He successfully launched a product on Kickstarter called This Stool Rocks that recieved coverage in Wired, Forbes and Fast Company. After partipating in Startup Chile where he was nominated for their Highway Programme, he accepted an invitation to judge future applicants. Follow him on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.
Useful resources for joining the discussion
The panel will be streamed live on Youtube. It can be viewed below or at go.epfl.ch/panel3LNV15 between 4:30pm and 5:30pm CET/CAT. Send us your questions in real time via twitter using the hashtag #LNV15, or send them to us in advance through Coursera (you must be registered for the course).
At some point in the entrepreneur's journey you will have to convince investors about the potential of your venture. Today, many entrepreneurs can use crowdfunding platforms for more visibility (especially among early adopters!). Crowdfunding can also increase sales, and cash flow... essential for production or further tests and survival... Some entrepreneurs see crowdfunding as a risk-free way to test initial reception of their idea! But is crowdfunding really risk-free? Even after you raise money, how do you keep the crowd from turning into an angry mob?
As part of the EPFL College of Management of Technology's new MOOC, Launching New Ventures, we will host a free, online discussion with three experts and our CDM Professor Chris Tucci to talk about the Do's and Don't's of Crowdfunding.
Our speakers:
Chris Tucci (@CLTucci)
Chris is currently Dean of the College of Management of Technology at EPFL, where he holds the Chair in Corporate Strategy & Innovation. In addition to publishing in many of the highest ranked journals in the field of management, he won Best Paper of 2012 for his article “Crowdsourcing as a solution to distant search” in the Academy of Management Review, which is ranked the #1 scholarly journal in the categories of Management and Business. In 2013, he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Management, the largest professional society devoted to management research and teaching. Chris is among the most highly-cited professors in the field of innovation management and brings more than 30 years of experience working on cutting edge technologies and innovation. Before earning his PhD, he was an industrial computer scientist involved in developing Internet protocols.
Johannes Gees (@JohannesGees)
Johannes Gees is an artist and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of wemakeit.com, Switzerland’s leading crowdfunding platform.
After studying social anthroplogy and history at the University of Zurich, Johannes Gees started working as a picture editor for news agencies. He then became a self-taught graphic designer and art director, opening his own studio and working for large advertisting networks. In 1997 he joined Swiss publishing house Tamedia as an internet developer. In 2000 he founded johannesgees.com, a production company both for his own art projects and clients such as Expo.01/02., the Swiss government, Credit Suisse, BMW etc. In 2004 he cofounded the short-film platform www.agent-provocateur.ch.
Johannes Gees, who had been working off and on as a painter, photographer and musician since his youth, became a full-time artist in 2001, when his collaborative media art installation "hellomrpresident" hit the WEF in Davos (www.johannesgees.com). hellomrpresident was followed by "the hello world project" (2003, Geneva/New York/ Rio de Janeiro/Bombay) and a series of public art installations, both in Europe an overseas.
Eric Migicovsky (@ericmigi)
Eric Migicovsky is the founder and CEO of Pebble Technology, the company behind the Pebble, Pebble Steel, Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel smartwatches for iPhone and Android. While studying engineering at the University of Waterloo, Eric began building smartwatches alongside a group of friends and created the first model, InPulse. In April 2012, Eric and his team launched the second generation, Pebble, on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, where it became the most successful crowdfunded project in Kickstarter’s history. And in February 2015, Eric and his team launched two more watches, Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel, on Kickstarter, which became the fastest funded project in Kickstarter history.
James McBennett (@mcbennett)
James is guided by a generalist curiosity and great enthusiasm for doing interesting projects. He is a designer who works primarily in wood selling his products at www.timbertail.com. Passionate about the intersection of entrepreneurship and design, he studied architecture at University College Dublin and the Architectural Association in London while taking additional courses in entrepreneurship at the London School of Economics and University of Cambridge. He successfully launched a product on Kickstarter called This Stool Rocks that recieved coverage in Wired, Forbes and Fast Company. After partipating in Startup Chile where he was nominated for their Highway Programme, he accepted an invitation to judge future applicants. Follow him on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.
Useful resources for joining the discussion
- Start tweeting with the hashtag #LNV15. When you use the phrase "#LNV15" in your Twitter message, it will be publshed on this page. Doing so allows you to view all messages related to "LNV15" (our course's name is "Launching New Venture 2015"). This transforms Twitter into a virtual conference room for this event. You can also follow discussions linked to a paticular subject, e.g. #growthhacking. More on how to use a hashtag here and here.
- The more people tuning in, the more interesting the discussion. Share this page with your network! And register here: http://go.epfl.ch/panel3LNV15
- Facebook event: here
- Find our other videos on Youtube here and here.
- Like us on Facebook at EPFL Entrepreneurship and follow us on Twitter @ventureMOOC
Practical information
- General public
- Free