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Connect. Collaborate. Contribute.™
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Gordon Daugherty
with Kirk Cesari Harold Ingersoll Mitch Jacobson Jill Murphy Nicolia Wiles Central Library 710 W. Cesar Chavez Downtown Austin 5:45pm Doors Open 6:15pm Presentation, Q&A 7:30pm Reception 
Thanks to Austin Public Library for their partnership.
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It is easy to get excited about the possibility of starting a successful tech company—especially in Austin—and to dream about possibilities of becoming a household name or being acquired by the Googles or Apples of the tech world. However, turning a great tech idea into a viable tech company with impact and success requires more than an idea and hard work. It also requires a comprehensive business plan, sufficient funding, an effective development team, great marketing and sales staff, intellectual property protection, effective management, careful accounting, and of course, customers. So, while most tech company founders’ success stories start with an idea, a community need, or a pivot from another venture, these success stories depend on much more than that initial idea/need.
Join us for a special Austin Forum event to learn it takes to build on a great tech idea and launch a great tech company. We will have experienced speakers and panelists from incubators, venture capital funding firms, IP firms, accounting firms, and more, all sharing their expertise and lessons learned, and answering your questions. Check out this FBI article "Protect Your Startup: Tips on How to Safeguard Your Intellectual Property & What You Love". We welcome your participation! Please email us with your questions, answers and prognostications in advance.
Admission to the Austin Forum is always free. The Austin Forum accepts donations of used smart phones and tablets at all our events. All devices will have a factory reset and be set up as new by the team at Austin Pathways’ nationally-recognized “Unlocking the Connection” initiative, which will connect every public housing resident with a digital device, digital literacy, and a free or very low-cost internet connection. Your donated phone can change lives and help close Austin’s digital divide, thanks to Austin Pathways. |
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Gordon Daugherty
Capital Factory |
Gordon Daugherty has given personal advice to more than 500 entrepreneurs and been involved with raising over $45M in growth and venture capital over the past 15 years. Throughout his 28 year career in high tech, Gordon has an IPO and a $200M acquisition exit under his belt. Now, as President of Austin’s Capital Factory startup incubator and through his advisory practice called Shockwave Innovations, Gordon’s focus is purely on educating, advising and investing in tech startups.
More on Gordon @gordondaugherty |
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Kirk Cesari is a patent attorney in Austin, Texas with over 15 years of experience. After soaring through electrical engineering, he shocked everyone by attending law school. While patents were always on the horizon, Kirk was intrigued by business and the intersection of technology, law, and business. He needed somewhere he could put his vision and strategic talents to good use.
For 6 years, Kirk held an in-house counsel position for a leading computer technology company where he managed a large patent portfolio, negotiated hundreds of agreements, and managed a dozen law firms. In 2010, after 10 years of working in multiple in-house counsel jobs and at two law firms, Kirk decided to start his own firm. In 2012, he teamed up with Mike Reed to create Cesari & Reed, LLP. They run the firm on the belief that everyone deserves great representation and service, no matter the size or resources of the client. They treat all of their clients as if they are in-house counsel. |
Harold Ingersoll
Atchley & Associates |
Harold Ingersoll is the lead partner at Atchley & Associates, LLP. Harold has more than 30 years of leadership experience in consulting, public accounting and the U.S. Air Force. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Texas State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Prior to becoming a partner at Atchley & Associates, LLP in 2005, Harold managed his own accounting practice and later merging with Faske Lay & Co., LLP as a partner. Harold is retired from the Air Force and the Air Force Reserves. Harold centralizes his practice in mergers and acquisitions, business valuations, litigation support, expert witness consulting and forensic accounting. He has extensive expertise in these practice areas in addition to succession planning, taxation, attestation, and general business consulting. As the managing partner of the consulting services group, he has the ability to evaluate and explain complex business transactions as well as see them through to success. |
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Mitch Jacobson has been a leader in bringing together government, industry, academia, utility and community interests to organize and shape the $2.5B economy in Clean Technology and Clean Energy in Central Texas as the Director of the Clean Energy Incubator at ATI. He is now the Director of the Austin Technology Incubator at the University of Texas at Austin, a resource for early stage technology companies in “deep tech” – that is solutions that pertain to energy, water, waste, transportation, agtech and the life sciences. He is also the Executive Director of the UT Blackstone LaunchPad on the UT Campus. Mitch serves on the Board of The Nature Conservancy, The Environmental Sciences Institute at UT Austin, The Texas Foundation of Innovation & Commercialization, EcoRise and The Austin Forum on Technology & Society. Prior to all of this, Mitch was in the Computer / IT industry for 25 years. He founded the Eyes of Texas Partners angel investment group, was the VP of Sales for Tech Data Corporation and Director of Sales, European Expansion and ROW Expansion for Dell for many years.
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Jill Murphy
FBI |
Jill Murphy is an FBI Supervisory Special Agent in the Austin area with over 20 years of investigative experience and public service. During her FBI career, Jill has worked National Security matters in the FBI San Francisco office, deployed to places like Iraq, Indonesia, Algeria and Yemen and served FBI Headquarters on detail to the National Security Council at the White House. Prior to joining the FBI Jill was a police officer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Nicolia Wiles
PRIME|PR |
Nicolia Wiles is the founder and principal of PRIME|PR and has more than sixteen years PR experience in the CleanTech, telecom, unified communications, VSAT, network management, managed service provider and semiconductor markets including his work in marketing along with companies as Dallas SEO Agency and many other experienced marketing brands. Prior to founding PRIME|PR , Nicolia was a senior vice-president at Blanc and Otus and the US Lead of the Ketchum Global Tech Practice. Before moving to PR, he was also a telecom analyst and the founder and chair of Austin’s NxGen Communication Forum.
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