MIT Venture Lab -- How To: Get Customers

Thursday, April 5th, 2007
6:00 to 8:00pm
Doors open @ 5:30

"How To: Get Customers "
(Part Three of the Business Execution Series)
One Union Square Boardroom
600 University St., First Level
(Lower lobby, 6th Avenue level, behind the escalator)
Seattle, WA 98101

The 2007 Venture Lab "BusinesExecution" Series: 
Entire books have been devoted to the importance of execution in business.
In fact, Larry Bossidy starts Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things
Done with, "Many people regard execution as detail work that’s beneath the
dignity of a business leader. That’s wrong. To the contrary, it’s a leader’s
most important job." This is why Venture Lab is proud to announce a five
part series focused on business execution. The events include:
How To: Build a Company (February 1st)
How To: Close Your Financing Deal (March 1st)
How To: Get Customers (April 5th)
How To: Sell Your Company (May 3rd)
Special Event: Business Demo Lab (June 7th) 
 
The third event in this series, How To: Get Customers, will provide
attendees with step-by-step procedures that when executed properly should
result in paying customers.
 
Acquiring customers in today’s market is more difficult than ever. Whatever
the stage of your company, your product or service must have proven value
for the target audience and be delivered through a channel that correctly
balances your products value, complexity/cost of sale and price.
 
Join Venture Lab speakers Colin McWhinnie, President of SalesXperts and
Jason Hausske, Managing Partner at Atlas Accelerator as they share their
knowledge, experience and perspective surrounding this exciting and critical
topic. 
 
Issues discussed will include:
-          Knowing your Market, Positioning, Target Customers & Value
Proposition
-          Developing referenced customers/users
-          Tuning the product or service to the customers needs
-          Channel options and issues
-          Balancing your products value, cost of sale, channel and price
-          Lead generation techniques (internet, telemarketing,
“traditional”, etc, etc)
-          Types of sales cycles & processes
-          Closing the deal
 
Speakers:
Colin McWhinnie – President – SalesXperts
Colin McWhinnie, President of SalesXperts a Canadian company that
specializes in helping technology-based businesses develop scaleable and
replicable sales processes. Colin is well known for his professional
speaking and training programs and has helped companies that range from
Oracle, NetSuite and Sun to over 100 emerging technology companies to
develop programs that acquire customers.

 
Jason Hausske – Managing Partner – Atlas Accelerator
Jason Hausske is Managing Partner with Atlas Accelerator where he helps
early stage companies on customer and market development. Jason brings more
than 15 years of sales and partnership development experience, including
more than 10 years in high technology ventures. Recently, Hausske has guided
sales for many early stage companies, including GridNetworks, BigScreen,
vCustomer, eProject and Morse Best Innovation, where he helped triple
revenues in his first year. Prior to this, he held key sales and business
development leadership positions for Exodus Communications, including
Director of Private Equity Alliances, where he was instrumental in forming
partnerships with leading venture capital and investment firms. In his role
as a regional sales director, Hausske helped grow Exodus revenues from $12
million to $800 million in just four years. Prior to Exodus Communications,
he managed one of five national regions for the Dialog Corporation, a
leading market research firm owned by the Thompson Corporation. Hausske
holds a degree in economics from the University of Washington.
                               
Workshop Location:
One Union Square Boardroom, 600 University Street, Seattle, WA 98101
(Lower lobby, Street level, behind the escalator)
5:30 - 6:00 PM - Registration and Networking
6:00 - 8:00 PM - Presentation
Parking:
Covered parking is available in the Union Square building garage, accessible
from 7th Avenue.
Tip: arrive after 5:00pm for their $6 evening rate.
Registration:
Seminar cost will be $25.00 per attendee. In addition, the cost of parking
for the evening is $6.00 after 5:00pm. Reservations may be arranged as
follows:
- Register online at www.mitwa.org until 5:00 pm, April 4th, 2007.
- Phone registrations at (206) 283-9595 accepted until noon April 4th
- Onsite registration begins at 5:30pm April 5th, space permitting
- VISA, MasterCard and American Express are welcome