Tie-Boston's annual business summit, "Beat the Odds: How to survive and Thrive in this Economy' held on 4th and 5th October at Westin Hotel, Waltham created a lot of excitement amongst the participants. It provided many useful tips to entrepreneurs on conducting business in the current environment. It also provided an atmosphere that enabled productive networking.

"Our theme is of particular relevance as entrepreneurs, capital providers, and professional services firms deal with the challenges of today's business. The Business Summit's program has been developed to provide insights on the functional foundations of a business, such as sales, marketing and finance, from noted industry experts", says Suresh Shanmugham, Chairman of the organizing committee.

The Lokvani team was greeted by a very professional team at the reception desk and briefed on upcoming events through the summit. On Friday evening, a networking event was organized with the sole intention of providing an opportunity for participants to explore opportunities to work together.

Dr. Rajendra Singh, Chairman and CEO of Telcom Ventures, L.L.C gave the keynote address on Saturday. He provided insights into entrepreneurship drawn from his own experiences. "Entrepreneurs should first work in the industry, learn the business and build the basic fundamentals. This experience will create an instinct for the field, which will help develop a successful product. Hone skills, be prepared and wait for the time to come" said Dr. Singh.

Panel discussions followed the keynote address. The areas of discussions included: signed purchase order, raising money, marketing and building partnerships. The panels presented multiple views by experienced entrepreneurs in respective arenas and provided ample time for audience to ask questions. Unlike the previous years when TiE -Conference panels colored the minds of the of audience with stories of dot com success, these panels provided a very realistic views of the entrepreneurial struggle. The panelists were motivating and were successful in presenting the brighter side event during this gloomy economy.

The panel discussion titled, "It's all about Cash" was targeted towards entrepreneurs struggling to raise money in this economy. Address the issue of raising cash in the changed economy James Nahirny, Managing Director of the Bain Capital Ventures Consulting Group said, "More realism is required, more reasonable market evaluation, that didn't happen before". The panel emphasized that those that were trying out entrepreneurship in a "tourist mode" were "all going home" and the time is now right to build "real companies".

A panel dedicated to partnerships, presented a realistic view of the partnership landscape. "You have to be very smart and play well with other partner. 75% of the partnerships don't work", said the moderator Walter Wright, Managing Director of Richmay Law. Deepak Verma, President and CEO of eCredit expressed his skepticism on partnerships from the software industry perspective.

The Marketing panel discussed how marketing budgets and expectations had returned to pre-bubble days. The panel also talked about the growing role of Internet marketing techniques in the overall marketing mix. "Management in all companies are now seeking a real return on their marketing dollar, with a greater emphasis on measurement and tracking of all their programs" said moderator Kim Shah, co-founder and VP Marketing of e-tractions Inc.

The later half of Saturday was dedicated to "Hands-On " skill building workshops on "Negotiations", "Strategic Planning" and "Interviewing and Hiring". Workshops lead by experts provided the attendees an opportunity for professional development in the different areas.

The organization has grown rapidly since its inception in 1996. It has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the leading organizations fostering and supporting entrepreneurship in the Northeast reaching nearly 3000 entrepreneurs, professionals and service providers. On an average they conduct an event every two weeks in its mission to develop entrepreneurial activity. Tie-Boston continues to reinvent itself to suit the needs of its members in the changing economy. Tie-Boston will not have their regular annual conference this year. Instead they have another interesting event planned in May 2003.

For information on Tie-Events visit http://www.tie-boston.org

|