The Art and Science of Startup Marketing
April 19, 2022 | 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm ET | Online WebinarNext two ENET events will explore two areas that are critical to the viability, investability, and sustainability of a startup – Marketing and Sales. For this event, we will learn about the Art and Science of Startup Marketing from an expert panel consisting of expert panelists (each happens to be founders of their own businesses) who will discuss different aspects of marketing for startups that require both artistic skills and scientific skills.
This panel will kick off with a serial entrepreneur who went from projects to profits, both literally and figuratively, by inventing and scaling a product with the Made in the USA mark, building a manufacturing site in Massachusetts that employs local residents, and who was slated to pitch on the television show, “Shark Tank”, while employing many artistic skills throughout his life as an entrepreneur and as a business owner. Next, an award-winning business owner will share how to weave your startup story into branding that is compelling to help founders raise capital, close investment deals, and win over investors to fund their startups. For the science of marketing, our next expert panelist will share how he founded and is scaling his own business by using one of the latest technologies, Twitter, for both small and large companies on a global scale. And finally, for those bean counters, the last panelist will share how using Google Analytics brings the science of data into how to assess the allocation of resources and budget for current and future operations in order to scale your startup.
Please join ENET for this expert panel on marketing as these founders and entrepreneurs share their knowledge about traditional marketing and cutting-edge technologies that will help you bring art and science into your startup marketing!
Event Schedule
April 19, 2022Speakers
Evan Kirstel
$B2B Tech InfluencerFor over a decade, Evan Kirstel has been a noteworthy leader in the B2B tech space. He has been named as the top 20 most mentioned and REtweeted by Both CIOs and CMOs and am the #1 influencer in the telecom, Cloud, Unified Communications and IoT arena. Evan has helped dozens of B2B tech clients including 3M, ATT Business, Intel, QUALCOMM and others extend their reach and thought leadership.
George Peters
Co-founder and Principal of Open Innovation Group (OIG).George has been an inventor and entrepreneur his entire career. His most successful venture to date has been helping to create KettlePizza with co-founder, Al Contarino in 2010. KettlePizza turns charcoal and gas grills into pizza ovens. KettlePizza products have been sold to people in more than 70 countries. KettlePizza has been a prize on The Price Is Right, showcased on the Today show, Boston’s Channel 5 segment Made in Massachusetts, National Hardware Show Best New Product. In 2019, George and Al were invited to the White House to represent Massachusetts and showcase KettlePizza as one of the country’s best ‘Made in America’ products.
Some of George’s other notable inventions include the What Now??? Evacuation Training Aid and the Mosquito Mitt. WHAT NOW??? is used to block doorways, stairwells, and hallways during evacuation drills. The product was a must have educational training aid, and is used by GE, Raytheon, Fidelity Investment, schools, hospitals, and hundreds of other businesses around the world. The reusable MITT allows for the user to spray repellant on the MITT, not directly onto yourself or someone else, therefore controlling where and how much repellant is applied. George secured multiple licensing agreements for the Mitt.
George is the President of Invent New England, one of the oldest inventor organizations in the country devoted to education and resources for independent inventors.
Laura Sawyer Messing
Owner/Creative Director, Design InvasionAn award-winning brand development expert, graphic designer and marketer, Laura Sawyer Messing is a driving force behind global brands across several industries. Her unique skills enable her to translate a company’s messaging into strong visual elements for a variety of media and create solid brands through written and visual storytelling.
As creative director of her company Design Invasion, one of the most exciting challenges she enjoys is taking a new business or startup from zero to being fully branded. Her recent branding and website development of video game startup Deviation Games was instrumental in a groundbreaking publishing deal with Sony Interactive, announced at last year’s Summer Games Fest to fans around the world. She achieved similar results with restaurant franchise Crushed Red, landing them a deal with investors to expand franchise operations nationwide.
Laura is a passionate entrepreneur, educator and collector, sharing her branding expertise with individuals and small businesses. In 2021 she was awarded both an American Web Design Award and a W3 Award, for creative direction on the Deviation Games website.
Randi Lucius
Digital Marketing Director, TribalVisionRandi began her digital marketing career in-house at a software company. Since then, Randi has worked at agencies helping to manage a number of different clients with varied budgets in a wide array of industries, from baby clothes and dog gear, to cybersecurity solutions and product management tools. She has helped build strategies and implement various digital marketing disciplines, including email, paid search, paid social, ABM, and analytics. As Digital Marketing Director, Randi works with her team of specialists to deliver comprehensive strategies and timely results to our clients. Her goals are not only to help grow TribalVision’s array of clients, but to also foster a collaborative and passionate environment for her team.
Moderator & Organizers
Howard Sholkin
Sholkin ConsultingHoward Sholkin has several decades of marketing communication experience across industry sectors. Since 2018, he has served as President of Newton Community Pride, a non-profit supporting a few dozen events in the city where he is a lifelong resident. In 2014, he formed Sholkin Consulting to deliver digital marketing services to technology and financial services companies. He also served on the adjunct faculty of Boston University and Lasell College for five years.
In 2003, he was hired as director of corporate communications at International Data Group (IDG) where he served Founder Pat McGovern. Sholkin later became director of communication and marketing programs for the CEO of IDG Communications, a global technology media and events subsidiary. IDG brands include Computerworld, PCWorld, Macworld, and CIO. Sholkin has held senior marketing and communication positions at technology product and services companies such as Computervision; Technology Concepts, a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic; Corporate Software; and, Digital Equipment Corp./Compaq. He was a columnist for PR News and for Personal Branding magazine, one of the first publications on social media.
Since 1990, Sholkin has been active in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) where he once served as president of the Boston chapter. Currently, he is co-chair of the national PRSA Investment Committee. He serves on the boards of three non-profits: Newton Community Pride, Boston Entrepreneurs Network (ENET) and Temple Shalom of Newton.
Maureen Mansfield
Founder, ~ Protect Your Passion ~, Vice-Chair, Alliance Partners, Boston ENETMaureen Mansfield is an entrepreneur and a business developer with a deep passion for all things innovative. She is the Founder of ~ Protect Your Passion ~ that is on a mission to educate entrepreneurs about protecting their passion when founding a company, scaling a startup, or licensing intellectual property, including patent protection. After sharing her story at ENET about cofounding a startup and raising a round, Maureen was asked to volunteer and currently serves as Vice-Chair, Alliance Partners with the IEEE Boston ENET.
With over 20 years of working with founders and business owners from small businesses to the c-suite of a F50s, Maureen brings sage wisdom from business development (marketing and sales), contracts, and building proprietary systems to automate data, which has helped many companies to enjoy their most profitable year to date, including a coveted award by a F50 that created a new profitable cost center nationwide saving over $1 million to its bottom line annually.
Maureen holds several degrees from the University of Iowa and Harvard University, with selective admission into each program. Never forgetting her roots and those who have helped along the way, Maureen knows the value of giving back and has volunteered through her colleges, communities, and church, and founded of two charities that continue today. After being offered a full-scholarship for music, Maureen continues to play the alto saxophone, thanks to her mother who bought the saxophones.
The Art and Science of Startup Marketing
April 19, 7 – 8:30pm ET
This event is FREE, however, registration is required.
Webinar recording will be available for ENET members only. Learn how to become a member >
