How to Build a Disruptive Startup Entrepreneurs Unpluggd

August 17th  - Tonight's session:  How to build a Disruptive Startup.  Startups are by nature disruptive, but how do you build a successful company that totally breaks the rules in a given industry? How can you have both exponential growth and keep the same disruptive edge?


Tonight's guests - Genevieve Thiers (SitterCity); Seyi Fabode (Power2Switch) and Logan LaHive (Belly).

Tix - $20-25 in advance; $30 at the door.


08/14/12 - 08/14/12

6p - 10p


Startups are by nature disruptive, but how do you build a successful company that totally breaks the rules in a given industry? How can you have both exponential growth and keep the same disruptive edge? This Entrepreneurs Unpluggd features 3 founders who are either blazing new trails in rusty industries or who have successfully built a company that caused a paradigm shift.

Genevieve Thiers -Cofounder of SitterCity

Seyi Fabode- Cofounder and CEO, Power2Switch

Logan LaHive- Founder and CEO, Belly

These three founders will talk about how they dealt with resistance to new ideas from customers, businesses, and investors. As usual at Entrepreneurs Unpluggd, you’ll hear the inside story with candid details about how these founders came up with their ideas, how they built initial products, and how they truly disrupted a market.

 

Genevieve Thiers

Founder of Sittercity

Genevieve Thiers has founded three companies in the Chicago area with her husband, Dan Ratner. Her first company, Sittercity.com, is America's first company to take caregiving services online. Sittercity.com now has millions of users nationwide, and serves clients like the U.S. Department of Defense, Avon, Mastercard, Monster WW and many others.

Genevieve was recognized by President Bush at the White House as the Small Business Administration Young Entrepreneur Champion of the Year for 2006, her companies have won over 15 major awards, including the CEC Momentum Award, the WBDC Rising Start Award, the UPS Out of the Box Award, the INC 500 list, and more.

Logan LaHive

Founder of Belly

As the Chief Big Belly, it is Logan’s responsibility to pay for company dinners and to motivate the team with inspirational quotes worthy enough to be printed on matching t-shirts. Previously, Logan was the Director of New Business at Redbox after successfully leading the company's initiative to test and rollout video game rentals.

Since then, Logan has spent the past 7 years in startups and he's developed a passion for helping small businesses achieve their goals. Logan will have succeeded in his efforts when he finally owns the San Francisco 49ers. He admits to wanting to shave his barber's beard; fortunately, he's created a product, Belly, which allows him to do so.

Seyi Fabode

Co-Founder of Power2Switch

Seyi Fabode, is the chief electricity officer and co-founder of Power2Switch, a website that helps consumers use energy responsibly. Seyi has an MBA from the Booth School of Business Univ of Chicago and an M.Sc. (Manufacturing Systems Engineering) from the University of Warwick UK. He founded Power2Switch out of the New Venture Challenge, (NVC) at Chicago Booth in 2009.

Prior to his MBA, Seyi was an Operations Analyst at EnergyQuote, an energy brokerage/management firm in London, where he led systems rollouts for the company's foray into multiple European markets with direct reporting responsibility to senior management. Prior to his stint at EnergyQuote, he was a Commercial Analyst at Barking Power Station/Thames Power Services, a privately owned power plant in London. It was his experiences at these two businesses that laid the foundation for what would soon become his entrepreneurial passion – Power2Switch.

As CEO, Seyi has led Power2Switch to exponential customer growth and raised venture capital investment. Seyi is happily married to his soulmate and Gods gift to him, Michel, and lives in Chicago.

Performers
Genevieve Thiers; Seyi Fabode; Logan LaHive

Tags: Social, American, 2012