Monday, July 8, 2013

Grace Lanni Talks about Avinde

Grace Lanni Talks about Avinde

Where are you from originally?

Syracuse, NY


What university did you go to?

Syracuse University (biomedical/electrical engineering)


What brought you to Austin?

1999 - First S/W StartUp - VP Professional Services & Sales.


What is your group’s mission?

AVINDĒ’s Mission: Educate diverse women who have skills to launch and lead scalable businesses in multiple markets from idea to validation to funding readiness locally, nationally, and internationally; be the go-to voice for scalable women’s businesses.


What need does it fulfill?

AVINDĒ empowers women who know they want to launch their first startup, and aren’t plugged into the Austin entrepreneurial scene. These women are subject matter experts, and are often looking to exit corporate and want to design a $MM business. AVINDĒ is a place where they can learn from multiple seasoned entrepreneurs, share the ride with 25 other new entrepreneurs, and get answers on everything involved operationally to launch their first startup. We also provide relevant women’s considerations regarding self-promotion, IP-protection, fundraising, negotiation, etc.


What exactly does it bring to startups?

In one word, empowerment. Our women founders are supported, challenged, and guided. Many women go from idea to validation to business model design to pitching investors throughout the 15 week program. Others have launched and have revenue, but can’t get their business to the $1M/yr mark. It is wonderful to watch these women entrepreneurs achieve their goals.


What type of startup would benefit from your group?

It’s really for women who want to design, validate, and launch a scalable business. The diversity in product/market and in experience allows us to focus on specific issues in the 1-1 mentoring sessions.


What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the initiative?

This is the first non-profit I’ve launched. There is a lot to learn about the mechanics of the business.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Be part of a diverse, supportive mentor community.


What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

Capital Factory & TechRanch Events as partner communities: AVINDE works with entrepreneurs from the time they decide - I want to be a CEO of a $MM company. Our ideation and tech transfer support allows those entrepreneurs who don’t yet have their idea to flourish. Once the idea is validated, Capital Factory & TechRanch might be a great next step for our entrepreneurs. Online local Resource - Bijoy Goswami’s - stay connected to other startup communities.
http://www.mindmeister.com/24358308/austin-entrepreneurship-scene


Jan Triplett talks about the First Look Forums and the Business Success Center

Where are you from originally?
Corpus Christi, Texas

What university did you go to?
DU (Masters) UT (Ph.D.)

What brought you to Austin?
Get my doctorate at UT

What is the idea behind your startup?
To make it possible for businesses of any kind to find a mentor to help them ramp up through the First Looks Forum mentoring program.

What need does it fulfill?
It gets and keeps business owners on course.
What exactly does your product do?
Business Success Center ramps up new businesses and scales up existing businesses. Our focus is on sales, marketing, and financial management vision, strategy, and implementation of structure.

Who is it for?
Business owners of independently owned and operated businesses.

What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
There are a lot of details in managing the First Looks Forum program. It brings in new mentees from new industries each month with new problems. They need to be prepared for meetings with potential mentors and followup sessions with us on what else they should consider. It also requires a lot of coordination with existing mentors plus adding and preparing new mentors to constantly improve the program.

What is the next step for you and your startup?
Find additional ways to strengthen the program and the working arrangement with Texas Entrepreneur Networks, our strategic ally for First Looks.

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
To bring in experts to help before you need them. The other advice is to make sure that there is one person examining that advice. That expert guide needs to make sure the ideas work together and not just create more work. The danger is wasting time sorting through all the ideas for ramping and scaling a business that don’t work together holistically.

What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
I have found the Austin Business Journal and its Ask the Experts section extremely useful. I am one of the ABJ experts but I learn a lot reading what the others say on a variety of business questions.  They are always short and to the point.