Networking Event at Highland Capital Partners

I spent three hours today dicussing and explaining our startup, sharing and brainstorming new ideas, along with networking with entrepreneurs from across the country at Highland Capital. The majority of the people who attended already own a business, or are in the process of starting/launching a new one. The atmosphere was pretty laid back for a gathering of MBAs and venture capitalist from elite schools like Wharton and Harvard. I only really felt like I belonged because of a shared interest and passion for entrepreneurship. But don't get me wrong, it was fairly intimidating just being in a room with so many motivated and accomplished people. But it is an atmosphere like this that is not only inspiring and motivating, but also educational. It is also comforting to experience so many people that are willing to take similar risks and who not only understand the type of person you are, but also embrace and promote entrepreneurs. In a way, it makes it seem like entrepreneuship is not so risky if you approach it in the right way. I tried to set up a lunch meeting with a venture capitalist that we have spoken to on a few occasions, but he simply wasn't having it. (I could tell by the 15 seconds of silence and the sudden continuation of the conversation without any related response to the question.) I don't think it was the way I approached the situation, we had been talking for about 15 minutes already discussing our business, but the fact that this is a very busy guy that hears tons of great ideas and meets tons of great people as his job. He still seemed interested in our business as he continued to ask questions and talk about our plans. I am assuming that he would like to see some sort of prototype and user traffic success before he will even considers investing any money.After talking with him and another one of his colleagues, I really came to realize that two of the most important things in this industry are to be able to convey an idea and put together a stellar team. One guy that I spoke with heavily emphasized that they primarily look for businesses that have the best possible team running them. I have read about this before, but now I am completely convinced that a team is if not the most important, then deffinitely the second most determinant for a business to succeed and to raise funding from venture capitalists.I feel very fortunate to be able to have spoken with so many talented entrepreneurs. A lot of these guys had great ideas that solved a particular problem or added value to an existing product or service. Some of these businesses revolved around breast milk, bees, and internet platforms. Who would have thought there would be potential to make money by helping bees survive so that farmers can use them more efficiently to pollinate their agriculture. I was blown away by some of these ideas, it just goes to show that there are opportunities all over the place. A couple beneficial things came from networking with these people. 1. I found another business founder that is interesting in integrating our application into his. He said it would work perfect for the online platform he is building, which also shares the same target market as ours. If everything works out, I hope to turn him into an affiliate or work together in some sort of partnership. (I feel you can never have enough of these.) 2. I found other people who are in need of web development. I am particularly excited about this because I can help our web developers gain more business. I have always been a huge believer that if you help other entrepreneurs attain their goals, then they will be more likely to help and cater more towards your needs. 3. I continued to build the relationship with Peter Bell whom I was talking about early. (He was one of the judges at the BCVC competition.) I am glad that I got a chance to spend more time to talk with him and to discuss our ideas. 4. I learned a great deal about how others approach starting their businesses and the necessary steps that they took in doing so. 5. AND I got to eat some great pulled pork sandwiches!On another note, I need to make a correction that Ryan Tremblay is the owner of RT Design Group and Rohit is his partner, who is based out of India. I believe I made a mistake in an earlier post.