event description

How do you turn something you’re passionate about into the Next Big Thing? This Entrepreneurs Unpluggd features three entrepreneurs who did just that. Instead of going for “traditional” careers or business models, these entrepreneurs took a hobby or passion and turned it into a wildly successful company. They’ll share how they came up with their ideas, how they made them into real businesses, and how you can too.

Our first speaker, Jake Nickell, loved awesome t-shirts and hated that customers had no voice in the design process. He founded a tshirt company with the premise that people should decide what t-shirts should be made. Threadless started in the year 2000 with $1000 in startup capital, and is now a globally recognized leader in crowdsourcing design with millions in annual revenue.

Next Desiree Vargas Wrigley shares the story of GiveForward, the number one fundraising site for out of pocket medical expenses. She founded the company to help families raise money using growing social media platforms.  To date, GiveForward has raised over $14 million to help families battle the cost of expenses like chemotherapy. Their mission to inspire people to help each other through generosity and compassion.

Finally, Josh Hernandez will share how he turned his passion for gaming into a multi million dollar in-game advertising company. Tap.me connects games to brands and brands to gamers with the next generation of in-game advertising that is easy, scaleable and effective. The company recently raised $3.2 million in venture funding with big plans ahead.

Schedule:
6:00 – 6:30
Networking

6:30 – 8:00
Speaker presentations

8:00 – 9:00
Networking