Tie Boston organized the TiE StartupCon on Friday April16, 2016 at the Copley Marriott Hotel in Boston. Leading lights in the world of entrepreneurship including Bob Langer, renowned biotechnologist and inventor, Clayton Christensen, author of the Innovator’s Dilemma and Co-Founder of Innosight and Desh Deshpande, serial entrepreneur, author and philanthropist inspired budding entrepreneurs. 

Over 1000 entrepreneurs and business executives attended the event. Pallavi Singh and Shaloo Savla served as Co-Chairs of TIE StartupCon 2016. TiE has expanded its reach beyond the non-Indian diaspora.   

The conference had three tracks, “Ideate & Innovate, “Scale”, and “What’s Trending in Tech, Med Tech and Social Entrepreneurship. Panelists outlined the current trends in various industries and encouraged entrepreneurs to be creative and innovative. 

“I am really excited about the strong presence of female entrepreneur speakers  including Liz Powers from ArtLifting, Jana Eggers from NaraLogic, Diane Hessan from StartupInstitute, Rupal Patel from VocalId, and Bettina Hein from Pixability”, said Anu Yadav, executive director, TiE Boston. 

“We are excited to showcase more than 50 hot startups in New England as part of the Startup Expo, including Cazena, Fasten, VentureApp, Buttery, EverVest, Insurify and ArtLifting.  This is a new program that we are launching this year and we have had so much interest from companies wanting to participate.  We want to celebrate the New England entrepreneurial ecosystem” Anu Yadav.  

Innovation was shared not just from startups but also from companies like Harvard Pilgrim that are constantly seeking new ways to improve their business. Vijay Bhatt, the CTO of Harvard Pilgrim shared the opportunities for innovation in MedTech at Harvard Pilgrim. Anupendra Sharma, the producer of the panel and an investor in health encouraged entrepreneurs in the space stating clearly that while it may appear that investment in tight, if one looked there was much opportunity to be had. 

This year's TiECon also featured a social enterprise panel  

The keynote speakers Bob Langer and Desh Deshpande shared insights from their own journey. Desh Deshpande book was made available for sale.  

It was the last TiECon that ran under the Presidency of Gaugarin Oliver. Praveen Tailam has now taken over as the President of TIE-Boston. 

It was a high energy event and kudos to Anuradha Yadav, the executive director and the TiE Boston team for putting together a fabulous event.