Get on board with startup series ‘Entrepreneurons’

Entrepreneurons is a new WARF series focused on bringing the fundamentals of getting a new venture started to the UW–Madison Community. Entrepreneurons brings together thoughtful leaders from across the country and our own backyard to exchange perspectives on core topics ranging from identifying an opportunity to building a startup team to financing and beyond.

The upcoming Entrepreneurons focuses on structure and governance and how to work with governing boards as a company moves from an idea to reality. The keynote speaker is Kevin Conroy, president and chief executive officer of Exact Sciences. His presentation is scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, in the H. F. DeLuca Forum in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building. Registration is requested.

Following Conroy’s keynote will be a panel discussion featuring leaders in the field of structure and governance. The discussion from panelists Lorrie Keating Heinemann, vice president and manager at the Brightstar Wisconsin Foundation, Scott Resnick, chief operations officer at Hardin Design & Development, and Paul Wrycha, partner in the Private Equity & Venture Capital and Transactional & Securities Practices at Foley & Lardner. The session will be moderated by Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Business.

The series continues on Thursday, Dec. 5. The topic is early stage financing and the event will feature a keynote by Mark Reinstra, partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Panelists will be Dan Blake, director, Wisconsin Angel Network; Scott Button, partner, Venture Investors; Toni Sikes, general partner, Calumet Venture Fund, and Patricia Struck, administrator, Division of Securities, Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. The moderator will be Joe Kremer, chief executive officer, Isomark.

Topics for the spring 2014 Enterpreneurons series will include customer acquisition and development; startup accounting and taxes; business plan, valuation and financial analysis; human resources essentials; unique resources for minority- and women-owned businesses (eWITS) and marketing/PR/communications. Entrepreneurons was created in partnership with the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the Wisconsin School of Business, the Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic, the Office of Corporate Relations and others on campus.

—Laura Heisler