Orlando Entrepreneurs

1 Million Cups - Orlando Weekly Meetup
2019-02-27 08:00 - 10:00, 2019-02-20 08:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York) | Rollins College, Bush Auditorium, E Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park,, FL, us
If you love & support entrepreneurship and small business, there’s no better place to be on Wednesday mornings! Participate in our “Guppy Tank”, with the best coffee and breakfast pastries in the world served! Everything is FREE (including the parking)!
Created by the Kaufmann Foundation (one of the largest philanthropic, entrepreneurial & venture capital organizations in the world), we host a weekly educational meetup, where entrepreneurs educate us about their business ideas for 6 minutes, and we educate them with our wisdom for 20. It is the most valuable use of your time, if you’re interested in learning about how to be successful with your business, available in Central Florida. Why?
1) Network weekly with our audience of seasoned entrepreneurs, investors & service providers;
2) Learn from their questions & comments;
3) Listen to the latest business (& tech!) ideas to come out of Central Florida; and,
4) You never know who you’ll meet at our events – potential partners, vendors, advisors, employees, suppliers and/or investors.
Keep up-to-date with our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/1millioncupsOrlando/) & our YouTube account ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBrciZBkRTGz-Hy41n1HCDQ ). If you love entrepreneurship, this is one Orlando event you cannot miss!
Networking starts at 8:00a, presentations start at 9:00a. See you this Wednesday!

Pitch Night @ StarterStudio Downtown
2019-02-26 18:00 - 20:00, 2019-01-22 18:00 - 20:00 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 S Garland Ave, Suite 108, Orlando, FL, us
Hello Orlando entrepreneurs!
Join us for a fun night of pitches from some of Orlando’s most exciting startups! There will be light food and refreshments and time for networking before the event.
Here’s the rundown:6:00pm: Doors open for networking, light food and drinks6:45pm: Pitching kickoff8:00pm: Event wrap up
Interested in pitching your awesome startup to the local community? Email casey@starterstudio.org for more details!

Orlando Open Coffee Club
2019-02-26 09:00 - 10:00, 2019-02-12 09:00 - 10:00, 2019-01-29 09:00 - 10:00, 2019-01-15 09:00 - 10:00, 2019-01-01 09:00 - 10:00, 2018-12-18 09:00 - 10:00 | Catalyst Spaces, 1 South Orange Avenue Suite 502, Orlando, FL, us
Orlando Open Coffee Club is about good coffee, entrepreneurs, ideas, and conversation. We believe that when entrepreneurs, startups, creatives, freelancers, and those associated with them meet, collisions of ideas lead to great things happening. Every two weeks join us and enjoy complimentary coffee and bagels while we discuss the latest community news and upcoming events and network in Orlando’s newest coworking space, Catalyst.

Cybersecurity Roundtable with Diriga and Infima @Downtown
2019-02-21 12:00 - 13:30 | StarterStudio, 101 S Garland Ave #108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Cybersecurity is one of the hottest topics in tech right now. Bring your questions, interests and challenges to this insightful lunch talk and roundtable on cybersecurity. The teams of Diriga and Infima are joining together to educate our community.
Diriga Technologies Team:
Ray Bazzi, CEO and shareholder comes with over 25 years experience in the IT field. He is involved in building customer relationships, account management, problem solving and ultimately making sure clients goals are met and satisfied. Ray’s focus on customer relationships and problem solving plays a vital role in enhancing the customer experience. Ray takes pride in taking the time to truly understand the customer business and all the business processes in place.
Ed Cochran Senior IT engineer, has solid experience in supporting and installing clients’ hardware, connectivity, and application problems, as well as Cyber Security. He is a dedicated hard worker, professional, patient, flexible, and upbeat in supporting end users. He is also knowledgeable with installation, set-up, and maintenance.
Jake Miller Help Desk Manager and IT Support Engineer, Jake is very responsive, friendly and professional. He takes every customer’s issue seriously and is very good with understanding various IT environments. He has strong knowledge supporting many different IT Environments. He also has a strong understanding of Apple products as well as Android/iOS mobile devices.
Bill Rodriguez is one of Diriga’s System Administrators who makes use of his, server environment skills to provide onsite, remote, and back end service and support for various customers. Bill is familiar with many diverse environments and is capable of supporting both server and workstation level issues. Bill is also Diriga’s resident Apple expert.
Ryan Colbert comes with over 20 years experience in the legal IT field. He is involved in building complex networks and looking at every business process to determine if there is a better cheaper safer way to do it involving technology making sure clients goals are met and satisfied. Ryan focus on overall network architecture and problem solving plays provides customers with the highest level of technical expertise. Ryan’s experience in the legal field makes him an invaluable member of the Diriga team.
Alex (Alejandro) Cuellar Growing up and living in Central Florida, Alex calls Orlando home. His career has been building relationships and creating solutions for his clients. Alex uses a consultative non-salesy approach to truly understand the clients business needs. His goal is to provide the most cost effective, efficient solution for his clients. His strengths include communication, listening and high level of integrity. Alex’s core values align with those of Diriga’s and its founder Ray Bazzi. The top 4 being integrity, transparency, exceptional performance and personability.

Building A Cannabis Eco-System Through Technology
2019-02-20 18:00 - 20:00 | CREDO Conduit, 1001 N Orange Ave, Orlando, FL, 32801, United States
We’re extremely excited to bring to you, Erik Range, CEO of Art420 speaking on the topic of “Building A Cannabis Eco-System Through Technology” on Wednesday, February 20, 2019 beginning at 6pm.
Eriks Bio:
Erik Range is the CEO of ART420 LLC. an ancillary cannabis businesswhich provides custom fine art created specifically for the industry. Healso serves as the Board Chair for the non profit organizationMinorities For Medical Marijuana which is a leading voice on publicpolicy, patient advocacy, business development and social justice issuesin the cannabis industry. In his role as Board Chair, Mr. Range’sefforts and assistance led to the successful inclusion of “diversitylanguage” in the bill to implement Florida’s Medical MarijuanaProgram. Through his boutique consulting firm, RGW Enterprises LLC.,Range provides a variety of advisory services to individuals, businessesand government entities entering/ expanding in the cannabis/ medicalmarijuana/ hemp industry.
Food is Sponsored By Kirkwood & Ashley Gardiner of Gardin Variety:
Gardin Variety Catering , LLC is a catering company that specialises in what is known as “Bahamian Fusion” – marrying traditional Bahamian cuisine, made from natural and organic ingredients, with other cultures. Our motto is: we won’t feed you and your family anything that we wouldn’t serve our own. We welcome any feedback and appreciate you allowing our family to dine with yours. Enjoy.
Facebook: Gardin Variety CateringInstagram: @gardinvarietyllc

FREE COWORKING DAY @Downtown
2019-02-20 09:00 - 17:00, 2019-01-16 09:00 - 17:00 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Join us every 3rd Wednesday of the month for FREE Coworking Day! Whether you are an aspiring business owner, entrepreneur, remote worker, or just want to leave the office for a day, we want to invite you into our space and community.

OTAB | Orlando Tech Community Monthly Networking Event
2019-01-31 17:30 - 20:30, 2018-12-27 17:30 - 20:30

Building Our Future Together
2019-01-23 18:00 - 20:00 | Cypress Room Event Center, 12789 E Plaza Dr, Orlando, FL, 32816, us
“Building Our Future Together”
Has a double meaning to kick the new year off.
First off, for those of you who are a regular part of our community, we invite you to come out and help us, help you.We want you to share your topic ideas, thoughts, and how we can serve you better during our town hall.
The second piece to building our future together is to connect with the students attending UCF to help guide them into their future. Provide insights as a working professional or entrepreneur in tech, be open to mentoring, and/or connecting for future opportunities.
So, come out and be involved by providing your insight in how to help our community grow, as well as actually helping the future of minorities in tech. We can’t wait to see you!
We’d like to say a special thank you to our sponsors:University of Central FloridaTek Systems
Location:
UCF – Cypress Room Event Center12789 E. Plaza Dr. Orlando, FL 32816
Parking Lot F is the parking lot you will use, and it is FREE.

Founders Talk: Bob Carilli - A Builder of Humans + Things
2019-01-14 18:00 - 20:00 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Bob Carilli is an entrepreneur and digital transformation strategist who has been at the forefront of industry firsts. Bob is a pioneer in developing processes using technology to do things more efficiently.
He began his career in 1996 working as a producer on AT&T’s Summer Olympic Games Website. The initiative was the recipient of numerous awards, including two 1996 CASIE awards, a 1996 Mar.com award, and a 1997 ADDY Award.
Bob and his team built John Hancock’s first website, which included sophisticated financial planning tools that were among the first available. He helped launch shopIBM in 1998, worked on EarthCam’s New Years Eve 2000 Live from Times Square, and produced a number of World Wrestling Federation Streaming Media Productions, which were among the first live pay per view video events online.
Throughout his career, Bob has helped companies revolutionize themselves and increase revenue through digital transformation. In 1997, he worked on Travelocity and SABRE initiatives that were the beginning of the end for travel agents. He launched Alamo Car Rental’s first location kiosks in 1999. He conceptualized and produced new Safety and Alternative Fuel Website Sections for Kelley Blue Book.
When the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Bob made the move to full time entrepreneurship. He spent a couple of years living in Ecuador building the GoEcuador.com team and business. Over the years Bob has fine tuned his ability to formulate and execute winning digital strategies and development plans.
Bob has been producing results for his family and others from the first chance he got when he was nine, working as a paperboy in the Orchard Hill Neighborhood in the Town of Greenburgh, New York. He is not the customer you are looking for so move along and do not try to sell him something.

Entrepreneurial Project Management with Rupert Meghnot @ Downtown- ONLY $25
2019-01-10 17:30 - 19:30 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Chances are, you’re experiencing one (if not more) of these issues. However, focusing on solving a particular issue will not solve it; it is just a band-aid. The root cause of ALL these issues is bad management. Specifically, bad project management. Knowing and practicing good project management results in a holistic solution, that allows you to properly manage:
➡ The work and how it’s done (scope)➡ Achieving milestones (schedule)➡ Having enough money (cost)➡ Satisfying your customers (quality)➡ Acquiring & developing a great team (HR)➡ Communicating with & managing everyone (stakeholders)➡ Handling opportunities & threats (risk)➡ Getting what you need (procurement)➡ Handling change, and how it everything fits together (integration)
If you’re experiencing any of these issues, and are serious about your business and how to make it successful, you really need to attend this seminar! No how-to book or article will help you if you lack the processes to sufficiently integrate & implement them.
Based upon the speaker’s decades of entrepreneurial experience, and consulting with hundreds of startups, good project management is – by far – the #1 way to generate success (and do it consistently)! Being successful isn’t about hits, it’s about doing it right the first time… This seminar is for entrepreneurs, business owners and/or managers who are tired of the “same ol’, same ol’”. Learn the basics of how you can stop working for your business, and have it working for you!
Your SpeakerRupert Meghnot, MBA, has been at the center of Central Florida’s tech and entrepreneurial ecosystems since 1992. He’s helped 500+ startups, and taught project management both at UCF and Full Sail (bachelors & masters). His former students have managed $billions in businesses & projects. As CXO for Burnout Game Ventures, he manages multiple startups and projects, a 550+ person Talent Pool, and 30 top industry Advisors.
His popular “Meal with a MentorTM” program is nearing 200 satisfied customers.
If you’re thinking about starting a business, and“I wanted it to go on and on. Took tons of notes!”– Susan, Experienced Project Manager want do it right the first time, this is the person you need to know.

Types of IP and When to Protect Them @Downtown
2019-01-10 12:00 - 13:30 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
What will this talk cover?
This talk will be a discussion of the various, overlapping intellectual property rights companies commonly develop (e.g., trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents), what must be done to protect each type of right, and when companies should to take action for each.
Who is Joshua Brown?Board Certified in Intellectual Property Law by the Florida Bar, Joshua R. Brown focuses his practice on Intellectual Property litigation. He has handled patent infringement cases in the Middle District of Florida, the Eastern District of Texas and other districts. He has acted as counsel on trademark Infringement cases before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the Middle District of Florida, the Southern District of Florida, the Central District of California and other districts. He has defended copyright cases in the Southern District of Florida, the Central District of California, and other districts. He has also handled cases related to trade secrets, non-compete agreements, defamation, publicity rights, software development, and other intellectual property and technology. Josh also drafts and prosecutes trademark and patent applications in the fields of networking and mobile technologies and counsels clients and other attorneys on issues related to the preservation and discovery of electronically stored information. He has a particular interest in Blockchain technology, having given multiple presentations on ethical issues posed by the use of Blockchain technology in the legal industry.
Before attending law school, Josh was a software developer with BBN Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a technology consultant to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Incorporation Topics with Anessa Santos @ Downtown
2019-01-08 12:00 - 13:30 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Join us to learn about incorporating your startup!
Attorney Santos has 15+ years’ experience as an attorney representing emerging technology companies in corporate structuring, governance and compliance; contracts; blockchain, smart contracts and cryptocurrencies; immigration; intellectual property and securities. Often serving as general counsel and corporate secretary for her clients, Anessa has extensive experience working with entrepreneurs, engineers and investors, papering their every step with native drafting from idea to exit while ensuring compliance with complex regulatory frameworks.
Voted Orlando’s Top 20 Lawyers in 2018, Anessa presently serves on the Florida Digital Currency Task Force Committee and the Technology Law Committee of the Florida Bar Ass’n. She has developed and taught courses in contract drafting as an adjunct professor at Florida A&M College of Law, and serves on the Board of Mentors of technology startup incubators Starter Studio and GVS-TA.
Fluent in Spanish, Anessa has been a frequent guest on Spanish television programs including D’Latinos and En Casa Con Martin Ycaza televised on Univision and Telemundo, and was a regularly published author in corresponding publications on a range of topics pertinent to the immigrant community. She has been featured on various radio shows throughout Florida, as well as made public appearances in the D.R. and Brazil to speak on cross-border business development. A former OxFam ambassador, she has lobbied Congress on behalf of the rights of women and children. She now provides pro bono services as general counsel to the 20,000+ member organization of the British-American Chamber of Commerce headquartered in Orlando.
Admitted to the Florida Bar in 2003, Anessa achieved a Certificate in Blockchain Strategies from the University of Oxford in 2018, a a J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law in 2002, and aB.A. in International Diplomacy from Wright State University in 1997.

Don't Let Your Mask Define You - How Authenticity Creates Abundance
2019-01-03 12:00 - 13:30 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Sam Tarell is a 25-year-old CEO of several purpose driven businesses. He oversees over 100 staff members across the nation, and thousands of clients every year. Sam will personally share his story of overcoming homelessness as a child, and how he built a national brand without any funding. Sam’s story is one of fear, failure, self-rejection and through that eventually love and success.

3RD Thursday Art Hop: Kyle Heinly
2018-12-20 18:00 - 20:00 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Join us for food, drinks, live music and the incredible work of Kyle Heinly.
Kyle Heinly is an outsider abstract artist who was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Starting at the age of 14 by writing/performing poetry, he was on a path that would lead him to striking up a friendship with his mentor, Jeff Filipski.
Heinly’s art is infused with his interest in world culture, urban/street culture, and philosophy and spirituality. With each piece, he tries to sacrifice his entire being to the piece to be the matyr to the artwork.
Join us at StarterStudio to view his work.

TAB | Ugly Sweater Bar Crawl
2018-12-20 17:30 - 20:30 | Frosty’s Christmastime Lounge, 50 East Central Blvd, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Orlando,
What a year 2018 has been in the Orlando tech community. We’ve had the pleasure of connecting with so many amazing people and watch so many businesses grow. Before we all break for the holidays we want to invite you out to connect for one last time in 2018.
Join the TAB team as we get together for a holiday bar crawl and reflect back on an amazing 2018 and look forward to an even better year in 2019.We would also love to hear about what you want to see at our upcoming events and how we can use TAB to continue to serve the tech community.
We invite everybody out as we make our way through Downtown Orlando wearing our festive holiday sweaters (outlandish suit jackets, hats, and holiday tees are welcomed as well.) Festive gear is encouraged but of course not required to attend.
Bar crawl destinations and starting point:Start – 5:30pm Frosty’s Christmas LoungeStop #2 – 6:30pm Waitiki at Wall StreetStop #3 – 7:30pm Ember Downtown OrlandoEnd: Your guess is as good as ours.
The first 20 people that show up at Frosty’s will receive a TAB T-Shirt so get there early. We look forward to seeing everybody that can make it and if we do not see you then we wish you a very happy holiday and we look forward to seeing you next year!
Cheers,TAB Team

Finding that “Sweet Spot” when Customer Goals and Your Goals Align
2018-12-19 12:00 - 13:30 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Finding that “Sweet Spot” when Customer Goals and Your Goals AlignThis 40-minute interactive educational presentation is designed to teach entrepreneurs how to align their goals to the customer…not the other way around. Too often entrepreneurs lose sight of their customer goals placing too much emphasis on their product/service. This program will introduce a process to entrepreneurs using the S.M.A.R.T. system, on how to interact with the customer to identify their expectations or goals upfront, ultimately leading to an undeniable and results-oriented experience.
Specific – What is the specific expectation of the customer?Measurable – Can it be measured? How clear is the expected result?Achievable – Are the goals overarching…are they stretching the boundaries enough?Results-Focused – Are the action steps actually leading to the result?Time-Bound – What is the end game? Is it achievable?
Danna is a Business Growth Sequencing Strategist and CEO of MarketAtomy, LLC. Her passion is working with small first stage entrepreneurs to ensure that they start out on the right foot and stay on the path to financial freedom. Known as the Business Birthing Specialist, Danna understands the intricacies involved in starting and running a successful business. Her efforts extend beyond the initial strategic planning process on into the implementation and monitoring phase. As an intricate component ingrained into her client’s business structure, she works diligently to keep her client’s accountable and on track to fulfilling their success goals.A graduate of the University of Central Florida’s College of Business, Danna holds degrees in both Marketing and Management Information Systems (MIS). She brings more than 35 years of strategic planning experience in business, marketing and business development both nationally and internationally.Danna is not only a professional business growth strategist but has worked as an International Strategist within the country of Brazil, is a public speaker and #1 Best Selling Author on Amazon with “Success From The Heart” and “Journey To The Stage.” Her newest book “MarketAtomy: What To Expect When Expecting A Business” is now available through Amazon on Kindle.

UGLY HOLIDAY SWEATER PARTY !! @ Downtown
2018-12-18 17:00 - 20:00 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 S Garland Ave, Suite 108, Orlando, FL, us
Join us for our annual Holiday Party! We will have snacks, drinks, hot cocoa, the ELF movie, and an UGLY Christmas Sweater competition.
Come celebrate 2018 with us!

FOUNDER'S TALK: Kristen Wiley of Statusphere @Downtown
2018-12-17 18:00 - 20:00 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 South Garland Avenue Suite 108, Orlando, FL, 32801, us
Kristen Wiley is the founder of Statusphere: Where brands and influencers meet.
Kristen Wiley is the founder of Statusphere, Starter Studio and Firespring Fund graduate. She is the 2018 Rollins Venture Pitch competition winner and a member of Jason Calicanis’ Launch Incubator in San Francisco.
Statusphere is an influencer marketing platform that fundamentally transforms the way that brands connect with influencers. Our influencer-first business model solves the major pain points of outreach, price negotiation, scalability and distribution for brands. After your product is approved by our team, all you have to do send us your product and we’ll take care of the rest.

WHAT'S MY WHY?: A Conversation on Purpose @Downtown
2018-12-14 12:00 - 14:00 | StarterStudio Downtown, 101 S Garland Ave, Suite 108, Orlando, FL, us
After a successful 21 year career in the retail automotive industry in the UK Chris came to the US and enjoyed 7 years as a leader with the Walt Disney Company in Orlando. In 2017 Chris became a certified member of the John Maxwell Team as a coach, speaker, teacher, and trainer. He is also certified as a DISC Human Behavior Consultant and now works with companies to help them define their purpose, create a vision for their future, then create and implement a strategy for success.
Find Your Purpose Lunch and Learn: Most businesses know what they do but very few focus on why they do what they do. Understanding the why is an essential component in laying the foundation for sustained success and in this session Chris will provide an overview of how understanding this principal will increase profit, decrease employee attrition and improve customer retention
