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Success Stories |
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SAAFWATER |
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UNITE FOR HEALTH |
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FITNESS FORWARD |
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CHITIKA |
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MOBILELIME |
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PROXIMARE Inc. |
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In 2007 alone 4 TiE-Boston Charter Member promoted companies went public. |
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TiE-Boston Charter Member Sanjeev Verma promoted Airvana Networks, makers of hardware and software used by wireless companies, raised $66.5 million in an IPO in April 2007.Yet another CM-promoted company, Sycamore Networks, founded by Desh Deshpande, invested in Airvana. Visit www.airvana.com
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Netezza, the data warehouse [DW] appliance supplier, filed its IPO on March 22, 2007. It raised $109 million. Netezza was founded by Jit Saxena, Serial Entrepreneur and TiE-Boston CM. Visit www.netezza.com
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In October 2007, Starent Networks underwritten public offering raised $126.4 million. Starent Networks is a leading provider of infrastructure solutions that enable mobile operators to deliver multimedia services to their subscribers. Starent was promoted by TiE-Boston CM Ashraf 'Ash' Dahod. Visit www.starentnetworks.com
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CM Kris Canekeratne started Virtusa, a provider of IT consulting, technology implementation and application outsourcing services. The company went public in August 2007 and through their IPO they raised $61.6 million. Visit www.virtusa.com
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| Entrepreneur:
Sarah Bird, Founder and CEO, SaafWater
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The Business: SaafWater is a for-profit social enterprise whose mission is to provide affordable clean water to the urban poor in developing countries. Across the developing world, unsafe water and poor sanitation cause 4 billion episodes of diarrhea each year - over 2 million of these are fatal. But low-cost, effective solutions already exist. For example, the U.S. Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Safe Water System has already been proven to reduce diarrhea by up to 84%. A simple solution consisting of a plastic container designed to prevent re-contamination, and a monthly bottle of chlorine which people use to treat their water. SaafWater's innovation is not in technology, but in developing a distribution model and selling format that takes this life-saving technology and makes it profitable and rapidly scalable.
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| Definition of Success: Sarah Bird, Founder and CEO, defines success as "having a visible social impact and developing a profitable, sustainable enterprise." TiE Boston played a part very early on leading up to where SaafWater is today.
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| Role of TiE Boston : Sarah leveraged TiE resources in multiple ways in the initial phase of starting her social enterprise. She worked with Raj Melville, TiE Boston Charter Member, who assisted Sarah on the initial business plan concept including developing the name SaafWater ("Saaf" is the Urdu-Hindi word for "clean.") With Raj and others' help, SaafWater was a finalist in the MIT 100K Entrepreneurship Competition which provided the seed capital to get her idea moving. This initial association with TiE led Sarah to further TiE events & opportunities. For example, last spring she attended a TiE Social Enterprise SIG Event on Microfinance at Tufts University that enabled her to connect with the Kashf Foundation, a large microfinance organization in Pakistan. It was also "an inspirational opportunity to listen to experts share their experiences of getting to scale." Sarah is also now reaching out to TiE Pakistan. Most recently at the TiE ForSE 2007, the Forum for Social Entrepreneurs, Sarah connected with others in the social enterprise community to share experiences and learn valuable insights that are helping SaafWater get started. |
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| Contact Information: Interested in getting involved with SaafWater, you can contact Sarah on sarah@saafwater.com |
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Entrepreneurs: Anna Chodos, MD and MPH in progress
Onil Bhattacharyya, MD, PhD
Lingling Zhang, MPA, PhD in progress, Unite for Health |
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The Business:Unite for Health, a non-profit organization with a mission to help bridge the gap between developed and developing countries in morbidity and mortality due to chronic diseases. We focus on designing high-quality, simplified guidelines for treating chronic diseases in resource-poor settings.
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| Definition of Success: Making effective care accessible, and reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease, and eventually other chronic diseases, in resource-poor communities throughout the world.
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Role of TiE Boston : First, TiE Boston member, Vikas Goyal, volunteered his time and was instrumental in aiding Unite for Health create a winning business plan. In 2007, Unite for Health won 1st place in the Harvard Business
School Business Plan Competition, Social Enterprise Track. This provided crucial start-up funds for pilot studies now ongoing in China.
TiE Boston has allowed us an incredible opportunity for networking and for improving our skills in leadership and business. As a team we have expertise in clinical medicine, primary care, quality improvement, and human resources for health. In our other jobs, we are strongly rooted in academic medicine and public health. Therefore, TiE has been instrumental in building a network for us in the private sector and among entrepreneurs working in global health. To date, we have made our most powerful and helpful connections through opportunities to present and attend TiE events.
Also, Ms. Chodos, Unite for Health's President, is in the TiE SRA Leadership program and building instrumental leadership skills that will be required to be an effective head of our organization.
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Contact Information: Unite for Health, Inc.
www.uniteforhealth.org
Email: anna.chodos@gmail.com
Phone: 857-719-6623
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| Entrepreneurs: Rishi Shukla, CEO and Founding Member, Fitness Forward |
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The Business:Fitness Forward is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to lead children to live well. The organization envisions a day when all children, regardless of background or circumstance, will grow up with the knowledge, motivation, and tools to live healthier, happier lives. Many of the leading causes of death in the U.S. and abroad, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, are largely preventable. At a time when childhood obesity, diabetes, and mental illness continue to impact millions of children, the need to facilitate healthier lifestyles among youth is profound. However, social inequities block many children and parents from access to the opportunities, knowledge, and resources that can help them live healthier, happier lives.
Fitness Forward's signature program, Drive 2 Fitness (D2F), motivates and empowers elementary school children and their families to lead healthier lifestyles through education, web-based tracking tools, social marketing, and incentives. After successfully launching D2F in North Carolina, Fitness Forward expanded to Boston and is also in the process of establishing sites in New York City, San Francisco, Pennsylvania, and Alabama. The organization serves more than 10,000 children annually. A recent study demonstrated that students participating in D2F, relative to their peers, make healthier decisions and are more aware of how to live a healthy lifestyle.
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Definition of Success:Rishi believes that success comes in all shapes and sizes and is often unpredictable as a social entrepreneur. He says that "in my opinion, there is no blueprint for success as a young entrepreneur and CEO. Fitness Forward is tackling social issues that traditional systems and institutions have not been able to address. We are in the business of coming up with innovative and sustainable solutions to old problems. You learn to make challenging decisions with imperfect data and limited resources and quickly develop an appreciation for reaching out to others for support and guidance."
He believes that a successful social venture is one that is scalable, replicable, efficient, and consistently outcome driven. "If we are able to look back ten years from now and demonstrate that our solution played an important role in preventing a generation of children from developing largely preventable chronic illnesses, both here in the U.S. and in developing countries, we will have been successful."
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Role of TiE Boston :TiE Boston has been an invaluable resource to Fitness Forward and to Rishi. In addition to providing critical exposure for the organization, TiE Boston has allowed Fitness Forward to identify new business partners and to recruit talented volunteers. Fitness Forward was recently featured at two of TiE Boston's most widely attended events, the Global Public Health Conference and the inaugural Forum for Social Entrepreneurship (ForSE), both of which were organized by TiE Boston's Social Entrepreneurship SIG.
TiE Boston has also been instrumental in Rishi's professional development. He credits TiE Boston with providing meaningful opportunities for leadership development, networking, and mentorship. Rishi is a member of TiE Boston's innovative Leadership Program (Class of 2008), headed by TiE-Boston Charter Member Anupendra Sharma, and the TiE Boston Social Entrepreneurship and Life Sciences SIGs.
He shares, "While I have learned a great deal on the job, I have learned equally important lessons from my colleagues at TiE Boston. I frequently find myself looking to the TiE Boston network for advice, encouragement, and inspiration. Surrounding myself with highly motivated, talented, and successful TiE Boston entrepreneurs has not only allowed me to enrich my perspective but also to appreciate what it takes to be successful." Rishi is currently working with other TiE Boston members to organize a Health 2.0 panel at TiECON East and is also involved with mentoring start-up ventures. Through these engagements and the many cross-sector TiE events he has attended and participated in, Rishi has significantly broadened his perspective and furthered his career goals. Rishi will be pursuing his MBA at Harvard Business School this Fall and intends to continue his efforts in the non-profit sector upon graduating.
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Contact Information: Interested in getting involved with Fitness Forward?
Please contact Rishi Shukla at info@fitnessforward.org and visit www.fitnessforward.org
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| Entrepreneurs: : Venkat Kolluri, Founder and CEO, Chitika |
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The Business:Founded in 2003, Chitika is a blog branding and advertising company. By matching advertisements with relevant blog content, Chitika connects consumers with the products they want to buy, which helps companies sell products and raise brand awareness. Hundreds of name brand advertisers display their ads across Chitika's network of 17,000+ bloggers and publishers. As a full-service brand and ad network, Chitika provides companies and their media planners with a distinctive opportunity to engage consumers in relevant conversations. It also provides bloggers with the opportunity to monetize the traffic to their relevant content.
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| Definition of Success:Chitika's solutions are all about engaging shoppers with brands in a relevant space. A success for Chitika occurs when the buyer gets the right product, the brand makes a sale and the blogger or publisher monetizes their expert, original content. Chitika's goal is to build on its success to continue to be the best solution for brands, buyers and bloggers as the Web continues to evolve.
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| Role of TiE Boston :In 2003, when Venkat and co-founder Alden DoRosario decided to start their own business, they turned to TiE and its community to learn from others who were already successful entrepreneurs. "We knew we had a good idea for a business and a technology that could grow with the web, but we had never run our own company. We knew we had a lot to learn." Venkat and Alden embraced the informal and casual SIGs and capitalized on the opportunity to meet with and get feedback from other successful entrepreneurs. Says Venkat, "The relationships we made through TiE Boston were a virtual safety net in the early years. The TiE community always provided us with expert guidance and we still turn to our friends for advice and mentoring. These relationships are something that money can't buy."
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| Entrepreneurs: : Ajay Bam, Founder and CEO MobileLime (ModivMedia) |
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The Business: I co-founded MobileLime (now, ModivMedia) in 2001 at Babson College. While Mobilelime started as a Mobile rewards and payments company, today Modiv MediaT orchestrates relevant retail messages and improved shopping experiences at exactly the right moment in exactly the right place. Modiv MediaT's multi-touch platform delivers consumer-convenient media through in-store self-service solutions and on-the-go shoppers' mobile phones. Modiv MediaT is a privately held company with headquarters in Quincy, Massachusetts. The company is funded by strategic private venture capital investors, including Ignition Partners, Oak Investment Partners and SeaPoint Ventures.
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| Definition of Success: I contribute part of the success of my company to TIE-Boston's mentoring program and the special interest groups on wireless technologies. Through these programs, I was able to receive great advice on my business plan and build business connections to launch my company.
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| Role of TiE Boston : I presented the business plan for MobileLime in 2002 to the special interest group on wireless technologies. The SIG wireless technology group events are well attended by industry experts and investors looking to invest in the wireless space. The critique and comments helped me tune my business plan for the first funding event in March, 2003 for the company.TiE continues to be a source of inspiration and a point of networking for me. It's great to be with like minded individuals who build great companies and are helping other entrepreneurs lay solid foundations for their ideas. I will continue to benefit in future for my career from the relationships that I created at TIE.
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| Contact Information: Please contact Ajay Bam at ajbam@yahoo.com
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| Entrepreneurs: : Nailesh A. Bhatt, Managing Director & Founder, Proximare Inc. |
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The Business: Proximare is a leading advisory firm that exclusively serves the life sciences industry, including, pharmaceutical, biotech and contract research and manufacturing companies. Founded in 2001, Proximare works with senior executives to develop strategies that lead to value creation. In the early days, Proximare was a pure consulting firm; however, it has now become a trusted advisory firm where clients from around the globe depend on Proximare to assist them in implementing strategies as well. Proximare is well-known for its deep knowledge and comprehensive understanding of the industry. It is considered a thought leader in the outsourcing and off-shoring and risk and reward sharing business models. In addition, Proximare has developed vast contacts in the global pharmaceuticals industry, especially in the US, India and China. To date, Proximare has been involved in more than $450 million worth of projects and continues to publish a wide range of white papers.
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| Definition of Success: According to Nailesh Bhatt, Managing Director of Proximare, "creating value for each client is the ultimate definition of success. If we do not create value for our clients through our strategies or advisory services, we have failed. Value creation for each client may be different - which is defined at the beginning of every project. Ultimately, it is my hope that
through our work, we can make the global life sciences industry more productive, efficient and cost-effective."
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| Role of TiE Boston : As a serial entrepreneur, TiE has played a major role in developing my entrepreneurial thinking by providing invaluable learning, networking and collaborations opportunities. Over the last twelve years, I have developed some wonderful contacts that I still rely on for advice and mentorship. I keep learning so much from TiE programs about various success stories as
well as "companies that did not make it." From my previous company BulkDrugs.com to Proximare and my next venture vGyaan, I count on TiE for a wide range of resources.
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Contact Information:
Nailesh A. Bhatt
Managing Director
Proximare Inc.
100 Overlook Center, 2nd Floor
Princeton, NJ 08540
USA
Website: www.proximare.com
Email: nbhatt@proximare.com
Phone: 732-297-7007
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