EWING, NJ, April 20, 2008 – The College of New Jersey’s School of Business, Small Business and Development Center, and the Entrepreneur Club will host a panel of Young Entrepreneur Success Stories (YESS) on April 22 from 6-9 PM in the Business Building Lounge.
Two feature speakers will be sharing their experience. Michael Michalowicz, CEO of Obsidian Launch, has built his career partnering with young entrepreneurs. Catherine Cook will also be presenting. She is currently attending Georgetown University and is the CEO of myyearbook.com. The site has achieved $1 million in annual revenue and a partnership with Proctor & Gamble has helped raised $4.1 million in venture capital. Myyearbook.com has five million unique visitors and 1 billion hits per month.
Three other panelists will join Michalowicz and Cook to share their stories and participate in the Q&A session. Sunny Karchela, the CEO of gardenstateapartments.com, Erica McGeach Crenshaw, the CEO of Execute Now!, and Mike Periu, director and founder of the New Business Institute .
Lorraine Allen, director of the Small Business and Development Center commented, “In today’s marketplace, entrepreneurship is the trend. Businesses are being born by the minute thanks to the advances in technology and the use of the Internet. The students are constantly exposed to this. Increasingly, entrepreneurs are starting younger and younger – simply because they can.
“By having this program, we are bringing life to the young entrepreneurs behind the scenes of these companies and giving them and the students an opportunity to dialogue about challenges and opportunities facing the younger entrepreneur as well as the benefit of hearing lessons learned.”
This event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Please call 609-771-2947.
Featured speakers included:
Mike Michalowicz, CEO of Obsidian Launch, has recently appeared on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. He was recognized as Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999 by the MCCC, New Jersey's Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the SBA in 2000, and is a 2004 graduate of MIT's “Birthing of Giants” Entrepreneurial Program. Obsidian Launch is a business growth accelerator that partners with young first time entrepreneurs, deploying a differentiating strategy, implementing systemization tools and by providing hands-on experts to launch a rapidly growing and healthy business.
http://www.obsidianlaunch.com/
Catherine Cook is a college freshman and co-founder of the fastest-growing social networking site on the Internet, myYearbook.com. She and her brother, Dave, brainstormed the idea—a digital yearbook for the modern age—then persuaded their older brother, Geoff, to jump on board as their first investor. In just over a year, Catherine helped grow the site to 1.7M US unique visitors and achieved low 7-figure annual revenue through partnerships with companies like P&G. She also helped raise $4.1 Million in venture capital and is currently an International Business and Marketing major at Georgetown University. myYearbook currently gets 5M unique visitors per month and over a billion pageviews per month.
http://www.myyearbook.com/
Erica McGeachy Crenshaw, a former Wall Street equity research analyst at Goldman Sachs, purchased the New York City rights to AmeriSpec Home Inspection Service, the leading home inspection company in North America, in 2002. She has since acquired 4 additional territories and is ranked 20th among 400 AmeriSpec owners. Ms. Crenshaw has been featured in newspapers, magazines, and radio programs in the New York City area. In addition, she has been recognized by the NYC Commission on Women’s Issues as an exceptional role model for would-be entrepreneurs. She sits on the board of Workshop in Business Opportunities (WIBO), a non-profit organization, which focuses on enabling small business owners and budding entrepreneurs from under-served communities to obtain financial success.
http://www.executenow.com/
Brad Downs, a four year varsity athlete with the nationally ranked Lions Baseball Program, graduated from TCNJ in 2005 with a B.A. in Communications. Following his successful athletic career, Brad worked as a real estate associate and with his partner Sean Devlin, developed Front Rush, a web-based application that enables athletic recruiters to manage recruits, roster, alumni, and contacts. As Co-founder, and Sales and Marketing rep, Brad brings to Front Rush an unrivaled ability to work directly with clients to help them exceed their goals and needs.
http://www.frontrush.com/web/
GardenStateApartments.com was founded in 2005 by Sunny Kancherla (MBA), a real estate professional and licensed NJ broker with nearly 10 years of experience in the industry. Formerly a Credit Manager for Wachovia Bank, Mr. Kancherla underwrote, closed, and managed transactions from $5 million to $250+ million in commercial real estate assets before leaving to found the NJ Apartment MLS. Mr. Kancherla's experience as tenant, landlord, rental agent, property manager, and commercial real estate lender, allows him to see the apartment renting process from many different perspectives.
http://www.gardenstateapartments.com/
Michael Periu is the director and founder of the New Business Institute which provides training, information and insight to aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners. NBI offers programs in English and Spanish to ensure that everyone has access to sound advice before launching a business. Mr. Periu reaches millions of people across the country through his syndicated newspaper column and weekly national television and radio appearances. He has degrees in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University and is a distinguished recipient of several awards including the Phillips Award for Entrepreneurship.
http://www.newbusinessinstitute.org/ |
