IIT Entrepreneurship Conclave, Boston 2014 was organized by the IIT Bombay Heritage Foundation on 27th September, 2014 at Boston Marriott Cambridge from 10:30 am to 3 pm. The event saw participation from over 75 attendees both from within and outside the IIT community. The event was geared to bring the current and aspiring entrepreneurs in the New England area under one roof to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship. The event was open to all. The attendees included IIT alumni, folks from incubators in Boston, and students from MIT and Harvard. 

The event had two keynote speakers and one panel discussion (5 speakers). The keynote speakers were: Jit Saxena, an IIT Bombay alum, who is a legendary serial entrepreneur in the Boston area - he founded Applix (that was sold to IBM) and Netezza (sold for $1.7Billion to IBM in 2009). He shared his entire entrepreneurial journey with the audience starting from his high school graduation until today. He encouraged the aspiring entrepreneurs to believe in the power of belief and conviction. He highlighted how entrepreneurial journeys are often not as rosy as they are usually painted out to be. They have full of ups and downs, lots of challenges - and that it’s a bumpy ride which one has to be prepared for. The other keynote speaker, Sarvajna Dwivedi, who led over a billion-dollar value creation from scratch to sale - all in less than 6 years, founded Pearl Therapeutics - which was sold to AstraZeneca for ~$1.2Billion. He shared his story from “Varanasi to Valley” and how he led creation of a truly world-class pharma enterprise with several offices in different parts of the world. He also shared how, in his early days, he resisted the temptation of going, working with big corporations and instead focused on his idea that emerged out of his deep research work. He also mentioned, “minds matter, location doesn’t”. 

The panel discussed the theme, “Entrepreneurship - avoiding common pitfalls and addressing growth challenges”. Jim Sharpe, Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard Business School, moderated the discussion. The speakers on the panel included, Salil Donde (Serial turnaround specialists and CEO of Lewtan), Zenobia Moochhala (Co-founder of Care.com that IPO’ed in 2014), Tom Beecher (CEO of Cartera Commerce), and Stan Reiss (Well-known VC and General Partner at Matrix Partners). The panel discussed a range of topics such as, how to do smart venture fundraising, what is the role of mentors and advisors, how to find the right co-founders, and how smart outsourcing could benefit startups.

The event concluded with a high-profile networking lunch.