Over 500 entrepreneurs and investors attended TiE-Boston’s 14^th Annual TiECON East conference held over two days (May 31 & June 1) at the Westin Waltham. The conference theme was “Invent your Future” and showcased leading entrepreneurs who have disrupted industries with their inventions. The hotel was abuzz throughout the two days with high-quality speakers and enthusiastic entrepreneurs networking, exchanging ideas, and inspiring each other to invent their future.

The conference also launched the first TiE Challenge – a program intended to accelerate new startups leveraging TiE’s base of successful entrepreneurs.  On the opening day, 24 selected companies pitched to a panel of judges in hopes of becoming one of five TiE Challenge winners to enroll in the new accelerator program.  The winners, Biena Foods, Cellanyx Diagnostics, Delightfully, Likelii  and Ministry of Supply  were announced during the banquet celebrations on June 1^st.

Thursday Night Youth Panel featured the “The New Breed of Entrepreneurs” wherein a lively discussion on age, experience, west coast versus east coast, Boston VC’s and dorm room start-ups had the audience fully engaged. For this group of panelists it was clear that their successes were a result of passion and conviction not just the expectation to make money.

The powerhouse of keynote speakers offered inspiration to invent and grow. Carl Dietrich, CEO of Terrafugia, a company that is pioneering transitional surface transport spoke about how his company is inventing the “transportation of the future, today.”

Diane Greene, founder of VMware, discussed her entrepreneurial journey, and what it was like to build a company with disruptive technology. Transferring lessons from sailing and surfing to entrepreneurship she pointed that knowing the technology deeply was her great asset in developing the new field of virtualization and cloud computing.

Governor Deval Patrick reminded conference attendees that, "Our strategy is to invent our own future here in Massachusetts." He added that the focus of his administration was on, "Education, innovation and infrastructure," and that investments in these three areas makes the Commonwealth start-up and business friendly.  His presence was a boost to conference organizers as they take comfort from the support of the state government and look to further interactions with the Governor’s office.

Dr. Ron Breaker spoke about his research efforts in a new field of research in biology and how it culminated in the founding of two biotech companies. "What really excites me about basic science is when we decide our discovery can go commercial," said Breaker, a professor at Yale University, who is onto his third start-up. 

Dr. George Arnold covered the energy sector and stressed the similarity of opportunities in energy to the telecom boom of 1980’s. “This is just a huge opportunity that is up for grabs. We are in the early stages ….There will be a lot of ideas out there that won't work but if you can find the right one, there is a lot of value," he said. "You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince."

Banquet keynote, Sanjay Mehrotra, founder and CEO of SanDisk spoke of the company’s growth and success. Looking back at the 24 years building SanDisk, Sanjay said, he knew from the very beginning that he had a great idea but did not realize the company would grow to be so big when they started. In this time the size of the average storage device SanDisk makes has increased by 30,000 times while the cost has decreased 50,000 times. That is an amazing feat in itself!  

The conference explored the areas for inventing across three tracks: Startup Track, which covered hurdles a startup faces from Raising Capital to Selling and Exits; the Technology Track discussed the latest trends caused by the growth in Big Data, Crowdsourcing, and Mobile; while the Future Track provided insights into where the next disruption might occur in Life Sciences, Clean Tech, and Education.

Doug Atkins of Mobile Consultants Boston, said, “I have never been to such a great conference, and I have attended lots.” The consensus was that the caliber of speakers and attendees created a first-rate event that provided valuable networking and connections. Murali Iyer from Toronto said that he “had the time of [his] life” at the conference connecting and conversing with keynote speakers, VCs, Angels and mentors.

PowerLunch was a huge success for the second year. Attendees engaged in lively, intimate discussions with experienced entrepreneurs and business leaders like Asheesh Advani, Gail Goodman, Eric Paley, Stan Reiss, and Jit Saxena, leaving no seat empty. Participants liked this forum which gave “a great opportunity to discuss in much smaller groups.” “It was a great way to get face time with someone one has wanted to meet and talk with,” reported one attendee. 

TiE Stars awarded to five extraordinary charter members in celebration of the TiE spirit was held as the grand finale on June 1^st. This year’s inspiring TiE Stars came from several TiE chapters on the East Coast: Dr. Kalai Kalaichelvan (TiE Ottawa), Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai (TiE Boston), Chet Kanojia (TiE Boston), Dolly Oberoi (TiE DC), and Swapnil Shah (TiE Boston). Ian Lamont, a TiE Challenge applicant, said that listening to their entrepreneurial stories was “very moving, and gave (him) a lot of food for thought.

"TiE Boston programs are gaining a lot of interest from the entrepreneurial eco-system and TiECON East is a focal point to bring everything together. It was an incredible experience to bring together amazing speakers like Gov. Deval Patrick, Ms. Diane Greene, Rich Miner, Bill Warner and many other thought leaders, amazing entrepreneurs, investors" said Ramesh Kumar, TiECON East Co-Chair.

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