FD VI: Niraj Shah & Steven Conine of Wayfair November 8, 2011

Niraj Shah & Steven Conine, co-founders of  Wayfair (FKA CSN Stores) gave the Boston startup community an inside look into how a $500+ million home goods online retailer was born.  Niraj hit the nail on the head when he said that “Boston has a lot more going on than you would think, there are not enough self-promoters.”  FD VI told the story of these modest founders by showcasing Wayfair, whose success is anything but modest. 

Below you can learn about Niraj and Steve’s college-old friendship, their thought process while looking for a start-up opportunity (they even considered acquiring an ecommerce site for birdhouses), as well as their current successes. These guys are far from done with innovating, as Steve candidly shared, “we treat our business like a marathon, not a sprint.”  

We feel incredibly fortunate to have all these incredible founders join us for the Founder Dialogues event series.  We extend our gratitude to Niraj and Steve for sharing their story with us.  As always, thanks to returning and new participants.  We will be announcing the next speaker for the new year soon so stay tuned. 

Please enjoy a video and photographs capturing the event.

A special thanks to Tyler Magnin, VisibleGains and VentureFizz for producing the video of this event.  Dale Davidson kindly volunteered his time to capture the moments and photograph.  Also, a big thank you to Microsoft for providing the space for Founder Dialogues.

Save the Date: Founder Dialogues VI – Niraj Shah & Steven Conine of Wayfair (fka CSN Stores), on November 8, 2011

Founder Collective is thrilled to announce Founder Dialogues VI on November 8, 2011 at the Microsoft New England R&D Center from 6pm – 8pm.

We’ll be kicking off Fall with both Wayfair (FKA CSN Stores) co-founders, Niraj Shah & Steven Conine, of the $500+ million home goods online retailer.  Come join us to learn about how Niraj & Steve bootstrapped the second largest online housewares and home furnishings retailer in the US today with over 3 million items from 5,000 brands and until this year had no venture capital investors.

Wayfair employs over 800 people in the US, Canada, Germany, UK, Ireland, and Australia, and goes to market using a number of brands including Wayfair.com, All Modern, Joss & Main.

This will mark the first time that Founder Dialogues invites two founders to speak candidly of their path to success.  Moderator Eric Paley sees this as a unique opportunity to dive into the important co-founder relationship that is crucial to building a company.

Prior to Wayfair, Niraj and Steve co-founded Simplify Mobile, an enterprise software company focused on mobile device management, which was sold to Tangoe, and Spinners, an Internet consultancy, which was sold to iXL. At iXL, Niraj was the COO and a board member, and Steve ran the operations in the United Kingdom.

We look forward to hearing Niraj and Steve’s story and believe it will continue our series of inspiring Boston entrepreneurial success stories from home.

Help us spread the word: tweet/ blog #fdialogues

FD V: Andy Ory, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Acme Packet June 29th, 2011

Andy Ory, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Acme Packet, shared with us his incredible journey which ultimately lead to his building a $5 Billion market cap public company right here in the greater Boston tech community. Andy offered incredibly valuable insight on how to build an extraordinary business from the ground up.  His story provided both a realistic picture of the many ups and downs of a founder, but also great inspiration.

Founder Collective wishes to extend our thanks to returning and new participants of the Founder Dialogues event series.  We will be announcing our next speaker in the weeks to come but hope that you will enjoy reliving Andy Ory’s incredible story.

Here you will find a video and photographs capturing the event.  

A special thanks to Skip Bensley, VisibleGains and VentureFizz for producing the video of this event.  Of course, a big thank you to Andy for inspiring all of us.

Save the Date: Founder Dialogues V June 29th 2011, featuring Andy Ory of Acme Packet

Founder Collective is very excited to announce Founder Dialogues V on June 29th, 2010 at the Microsoft New England R&D Center from 6pm – 8pm.

We’ve heard complaints that the tech community in Boston doesn’t build big companies; that we sell too early and don’t swing for the fences.  Founder Dialogues was created on the premise that these complaints are questionable and the problem is that we don’t do enough to tell our success stories.  Andy Ory is a shining example of this.  In the past 10 years, he’s created a $5 Billion market cap public company right here in the greater Boston tech community. Let’s pause for a moment and digest that – $5 Billion. Wow that’s a big company!  

Yet so few people know Andy’s story or know much about Acme Packet.  June 29th we’ll explore how Andy built such an extraordinary success.

Andy Ory, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Acme Packet, has graciously accept our invitation to be our next showcased founder.  Under Andy’s leadership, Acme Packet pursues its mission to enable service providers and enterprises worldwide to unleash the power of interactive voice, voice, and unified communications over IP networks.

 

During Andy’s decade-long tenure, he has spearheaded Acme Packet’s growth from a young startup pioneering a new product category and technology called session border control to today dominating that category and delivering an expanding product portfolio that is fueling a new paradigm in communications – session delivery networks.

 

With more than 20 years of telecommunications and computer industry experience, Andy’s ability to guide Acme Packet successfully as it implements its innovation is borne out in numbers.  The company was ranked NASDAQ’s 2010 #1 performing stock for companies with a valuation of $1 billion or greater.  More than 1,300 customers in 105 countries have developed over 12,000 Acme Packet systems, including 90 of the top 100 service providers and 30 of the Fortune 100.

 

Prior to co-founding Acme Packet, Andy was the founder, CEO and chairman of Priority Call Management, which produced network-based solutions that allowed service providers to offer prepaid calling, enhanced messaging and one-number services.

 

We look forward to hearing Andy’s firsthand accounts of yet another Boston success story!

Andy Palmer, Parallel Founder March 21, 2011 at the Microsoft NERD Center

 A special thanks to returning participants of the Founder Dialogues event series and a warm welcome to new participants.  In true New England fashion, we did not let the snow affect attendance.  Founder Collective hopes to continue the growth of this important series showcasing local founders. 

Andy Palmer, Parallel Founder, spoke of his unconventional start into the start-up world and brought thought-provoking insight to Founder Dialogues IV at the Microsoft NERD Center.  Valuable take aways from FD IV : Andy’s push for more of a founder culture in Boston; Defining Andy’s role and value as a parallel entrepreneur involved in several projects; And Andy’s own personal attachment and pride to each company he is/ was involved in.  

Here you will find a video and photographs capturing the event.  As you will see, “Boston needs 1st time CEO’s and for them to be as successful as possible, as fast as possible… The rules have changed but the passion is still there”.    

A special thanks to Tyler Magnin, VisibleGains and VentureFizz for producing the video of this event.  Of course, a big thank you to Andy for motivating all of us.

As always, please feel free to post any comments.  We continually try to improve your experience at these events so any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Founder Dialogues IV: Featuring Andy Palmer: Rescheduled to March 21, 2011

Founder Dialogues is happy to announce that we have successfully rescheduled Founder Dialogues IV, featuring Andy Palmer, Parallel Founder, to March 21st, 2011 at the Microsoft New England R&D Center from 6pm – 8pm. 

We could not allow for the New England winter weather to prevent anyone from missing this exciting event and hope that you can join us!

Andy Palmer specializes in founding and accelerating the growth of world class technology organizations.  A unique blend of strategic perspective, disciplined execution and world-class network make Andy particularly suited to drive successful outcomes in situations where expectations are high and uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception.  With a track record of more than six successful startups including two IPOs in the past 15 years, Andy has a particular interest in projects at the intersection of computer science and the life sciences and a specific passion for Cancer drug discovery and development. 

Currently Andy exercises his entrepreneurial instincts by serving as a Founding Board Member of the following innovative startups: Recorded Future, Goby, and CloudSwitch.

In 2005, Andy and Michael Stonebraker. PhD co-founded Vertica Systems, a company that has developed an innovative database engine specifically designed for “peta-scale” data warehousing and cloud computing.  

Previously, Andy served as a key member of the startup team and the Senior Vice President of Operations and CIO at Infinity Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INFI) as the company raised over $130M, treated its’ first cancer patients and filed Infinity’s first IND –  which was the first IND application submitted to the Oncology Division of the FDA in 100% digital eCTD format. In 2004 Andy was recognized by CIO Magazine as a “Top 100 CIO”.

Additionally, Andy has held executive positions and served as a member of the core startup teams at Bowstreet (acquired by IBM) as well as pcOrder.com (NASDAQ: PCOR) and Trilogy.

Andy earned his MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1994 and his undergraduate degrees in English, History and Computer Science fromBowdoin College in 1988.

For more information and to register for the event please go to eventbrite.  Please make sure to re-register, even if you did so for the previous date.

 

 

 

 

Founder Dialogues IV: Featuring Andy Palmer has been POSTPONED!

* FOUNDER DIALOGUES IV HAS BEEN POSTPONED *

 

GIVEN THE MASSACHUSETTS WEATHER ADVISORY, PREDICTING 12 INCHES OF SNOW, WE UNDERSTAND THAT MANY PEOPLE WILL HAVE DIFFICULTY GETTING TO THE MICROSOFT NEW ENGLAND R&D CENTER AND WE DO NOT WANT ANYONE TO MISS HEARING ANDY PALMER’S PHENOMINAL STORY.

 

WE HAVE DECIDED TO POSTPONE THE EVENT AND WILL ANNOUNCE THE NEW DATE SHORTLY.

 

Stay warm and safe! 

Save the Date: Founder Dialogues IV, featuring Andy Palmer: Parallel Founder, on January 26th, 2011

 

Founder Dialogues is kicking off the New Year with a very exciting guest, Andy Palmer, Parallel Founder with an impressive background and track record.  Come join us at the next Founder Dialogues IV and experience Andy’s story on January 26th, 2011 at the Microsoft New England R&D Center from 6pm – 8pm. 

Andy Palmer specializes in founding and accelerating the growth of world class technology organizations.  A unique blend of strategic perspective, disciplined execution and world-class network make Andy particularly suited to drive successful outcomes in situations where expectations are high and uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception.  With a track record of more than six successful startups including two IPOs in the past 15 years, Andy has a particular interest in projects at the intersection of computer science and the life sciences and a specific passion for Cancer drug discovery and development. 

Currently Andy exercises his entrepreneurial instincts by serving as a Founding Board Member of the following innovative startups: Recorded Future, Goby, and CloudSwitch.

In 2005, Andy and Michael Stonebraker. PhD co-founded Vertica Systems, a company that has developed an innovative database engine specifically designed for “peta-scale” data warehousing and cloud computing.  

Previously, Andy served as a key member of the startup team and the Senior Vice President of Operations and CIO at Infinity Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INFI) as the company raised over $130M, treated its’ first cancer patients and filed Infinity’s first IND –  which was the first IND application submitted to the Oncology Division of the FDA in 100% digital eCTD format. In 2004 Andy was recognized by CIO Magazine as a “Top 100 CIO”.

Additionally, Andy has held executive positions and served as a member of the core startup teams at Bowstreet (acquired by IBM) as well as pcOrder.com (NASDAQ: PCOR) and Trilogy.

Andy earned his MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1994 and his undergraduate degrees in English, History and Computer Science from Bowdoin College in 1988.

For more information and to register for the event please go to eventbrite.

Diane Hessan, President and CEO of Communispace October 27th, 2010 at the Microsoft NERD Center!

A special thanks to returning participants of the Founder Dialogues event series and a warm welcome to new participants. Founder Collective hopes to continue the growth of this important series showcasing local founders.

Diane Hessan, President and CEO of Communispace brought a fresh perspective and very entertaining insight to Founder Dialogues III at the Microsoft NERD Center.

Here you will find a video and photographs capturing the event.  As always, please feel free to post any comments.  We continually try to improve your experience at these events so any feedback is greatly appreciated.

A special thanks to Tyler Magnin, VisibleGains and VentureFizz for producing the video of this event.  Of course, a big thank you for Diane for inspiring all of us.

A Special thanks to those who spread the word after the event!

BostInnovation: “Communispace CEO Dianne Hessan on Building a Company with People You Love” -Cheryl Morris

JoeVC Blog: “Thoughts From a Networking Junkie” -Joe Medved 

Save the Date: Founder Dialogues III, featuring Diane Hessan of Communispace, on October 27th, 2010

Founder Collective is very excited to announce Founder Dialogues III on October 27th, 2010 at the Microsoft New England R&D Center from 6pm – 8pm. 

 

Diane Hessan, President and CEO of Communispace, has accepted our invitation to be the next showcased founder.  Diane has an extraordinary entrepreneurial journey to share.  Communispace is one of the fastest growing social networking companies in the country, “with a Blue Chip client list that would make a Madison Avenue giant jealous,” according to Advertising Age. Diane has been a pioneer in creating online communities to help marketers generate consumer insights, she helped found Communispace in 1999 and hasn’t looked back.  We look forward to this opportunity of sharing her story with you in October!

For more information and to register for the event please go to Eventbrite.

In the meantime, please feel free to brush up on Communispace’s excellent recognition and background:

“Our clients’ success. That’s recognition enough.“

Backgrounder:

Communispace_Backgrounder.pdf
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