SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT WEEK

November 9 - 13, 2009

Is your business meeting its potential? How will you participate?

During Business Development Week at Outside the Cube, talk one-on-one with small business experts about areas where your business can grow.

A few short meetings with expert coaches during Outside the Cube SV Business Development Week can help turn your business weaknesses into strengths.  

Half hour and one hour individual and small group sessions are available, with even better deals for packages of three sessions. Create your own schedule of sessions with the experts in social media, personal and corporate image, brand development, marketing for small business, business finance, and business law.   

Even the most seasoned entrepreneurs can benefit from some one-on-one time with a small business expert to evaluate their business strengths and shore up their weaknesses. REGISTER

• Want to leverage Twitter, Facebook and Social Media as a marketing vehicle?
• Is your personal or corporate image ready for a makeover?
• Want legal advice on structuring your business?
• Need to get your financial books better organized?

Get the information you need and skip the stuff you don’t. REGISTER

Talk to our Experts about issues such as:

Business Finance - REGISTER
    * Tips and tools to manage finances
    * Pricing advice
    * Accounting
    * Projecting for growth

Social Media - REGISTER
    * Creating a Facebook fan page for business, and effectively using it to market
    * How to build traffic to your blog or website (SEO)
    * Building Google relevance for your blog or website
    * How to use other online tools (tumblr, digg, socializr, etc.) for maximum visibility

Brand Development - REGISTER
    * Building brand allegiance
    * Rising above the marketplace noise
    * Creating "thought leadership" for your brand
    * Honing your elevator pitch

Marketing - REGISTER
    * Defining your value proposition
    * Tools for marketing outreach
    * Newsletters, direct mail, email campaigns
    * Underwriting events
    * Advertising
    * Marketing plan development
    * Sales cycle analysis (close business faster)

Business Legal Issues - REGISTER
    * Benefits of different types of incorporation (LLC vs. S corp vs. C corp, etc.)
    * How to get a business license
    * How to incorporate
    * Liability assessment

   
Raising Capital - REGISTER
    * Writing a business plan
    * Choosing funding sources (VC vs. Angel vs. personal sources)
    * How to look for funding sources
    * Developing your pitch for funding

Image Development - REGISTER
    * Presenting yourself to clients for success the moment you enter a room
    * Developing a look that reflects your business image
    * Creating a style that sets you uniquely apart from others
    * Working with what you have and updating your image to put your best foot forward

Our Experts:

Social Media - Stedania Pomponi Butler, Clever Girls Collective

Stefania Pomponi Butler is Founder/Owner of Clever Girls Collective LLC and a long-time Blog Editor/Producer & Online Media Consultant.  Her past and present clients include Disney, Wondertime (a Disney property), ParentsConnect, Babble.com, The Savvy Source, Edelman PR, Tonic.com, Dex Products, Yummie Tummie, Little Passports, and Uptake.com where she serves on their marketing advisory board. She is often invited to speak on blog-related topics. Recently named one of Forbes' Ten Mommy 'hood Gurus, Stefania has an extensive background in partner marketing/co-branding and social media consulting. She spent almost a decade working in the audio industry creating marketing opportunities between companies, developers, and audio professionals.

Brand Development - Caryn Javin

Caryn Javin has years of experience in brand marketing at Colgate-Palmolive where she managed multi-million dollar campaigns.  She holds an MBA in Marketing and Finance from NYU Stern School of Business.  She has taught as a consultant at Accenture and as a teaching fellow at NYU.  She is now an entrepreneur herself and can address the fundamentals of brand building, targeting, and messaging for small business. Caryn can also evaluate and identify the marketing elements that will do the most for you and your brand.

Marketing - Sherry Prescott-Willis, Market This!

Sherry is passionate about helping people become better marketers. She is especially interested in helping business owners and entrepreneurs develop effective marketing strategies and tactics that drive revenues. Sherry has over 18 years of strategic, product and channel marketing experience working with world renowned technology and consumer companies such as L'Oreal, Pfizer, Computer Associates, Brocade Communications, and Hitachi. She has also worked with numerous early and mid-stage startups in Silicon Valley in hardware, wireless, content management and software. Sherry’s new book, Market This!: An Effective 90-Day Marketing Tool was released in March and is now available on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com.For more information, go to http://marketthisbook.com/index.html

Raising Capital- MF Chapman, Cubes&Crayons

MF Chapman is a serial entrepreneur and business developer.  She has examined and implemented funding from multiple sources including self-financing, loans, and outside investment.  She advises on pros and cons of different funding sources and alternative ways to fund your entrepreneurial aspirations and goals.

Legal consultation - Linesy Krolik, Krolik Law
 

Linsey Krolik is a technology, media, and business lawyer in Silicon Valley, California. Linsey has operated her part-time solo law practice since 2004, providing services to a range of clients, from small businesses and start-up companies to established, large corporations, and covering a variety of businesses, including microprocessors, computer hardware, software, Internet, wireless, blog, and medical device companies. Before starting her practice, Linsey was Corporate Counsel for ARM, Inc., a United Kingdom-based intellectual property company and worked for a variety of tech companies in the Silicon Valley, including Palm, Inc, OmniSky Corporation, and 3Com Corporation. Linsey holds a combination JD/MBA degree from Santa Clara University School of Law with a concentration in High Technology Law and has been a member of the California State Bar Association since 2002. Linsey spoke at BlogHer'08 on the topic of legal issues with blogging in the "Taking Care of Business" session. She is the co-author of the book "Virtual Incorporation: A Lawyer's Guide to the Formation of Virtual Corporations" an upcoming release published by the American Bar Association. Outside of her life in the law...Linsey is also a twin mom (plus one more makes three kids aged 5 and under), a twin herself, cancer survivor, and president of the board of her kids' preschool.