Doom and gloom. The phrase or mood of the day … that is, any day you turn on cable news, read the paper, open up to a Yahoo default screen. Wall Street, in all its aggressive financial gaming, is tryingto siphon away the spirit, the promise and the pursuit of even a modest form of happiness. That’s all most of us seek … a modest form of happiness. One that pays the bills, clothes us, keeps a roof overour heads, enables us to fuel our workday, sends our kids to college, extends an occasional leisure reprieve and provides a retirement without chaining us to a job behind the counter of a fast food joint into our 70s.
While all that doom and gloom surrounds us, this past September 16, we had the opportunity to start our day on a different note, a note of ingenuity and inspiration. We hosted five companies as part of our quarterly Start-Up Council, a group Trevelino/Keller started two years ago to give start-up companies a simple, free forum to present ideas and receive instant input, contacts and confidence to continue to pursue their happiness. So for six or so hours, we met five entrepreneurs who are risking much to create companies that will one day employ people, generate taxes for the local economy and deliver products and services that will benefit businesses and consumers.
From Purna Bhat and his aspirations to create a premier network security company, to James Augustus and his ambitious plans to digitize the labor market through a human capital driven exchange he’s calling GREX, to Christopher Cammack’s vision to enable authentication of identity, personality and lifestyle on the Internet, to Stephen Jesdas with MiddleM Technology Labs who plans to offer on-demand customization and on-demand integration for SaaS vendors and smaller business users, to Lisa Jones, a dynamic personality professing the next generation of email communications, she calls Eyemail, bursting with instant-play audio and video. You won’t find your father’s invention here. This is sophisticated stuff from a promising group off entrepreneurs. Interested in learning more about them, post right here.
Special thanks to our Council members, long-standing and new, for allocating time in their busy day to join Trevelino/Keller: Carter Allen, CGA Tech Counsel; Sandra Moreland, Moreland Group; Gene Caudle,Flex HR; Ann McDonald, Morris, Manning and Martin; Kenji Kuramoto, AcuityCFO; Jon Katinsky, Hothouse; Gina Frazier, Slingshot Products and Karen Rands, Launchfn.
Look for our next Start-Up Council forum in December or January depending on applications. And don’t let the doom and gloom mar your day. The sun is out so armageddon will have to wait.
