STARTUP WORKSHOP: Surviving & Funding the Startup Experience | Hosted by Charlie Crystle, Founder of $70 Million Startup ChiliSoft April 16, 2009

---

INTRODUCTIONEntrepreneurs are inherently optimistic, opportunistic, and tenacious. Pennsylvania's Charlie Crystle is no different; he is a tenacious self-taught entrepreneur with 15 years of startup life under his growing belt (see About Charlie Crystle below).
Charlie will give a brief overview of his own startups, fromraising money to managingperonal life. He'll give his personal story of starting companies, including one project that lost $1.5 million in just 9 months (a true crash and burn) and the story of the $70 million sale of ChiliSoft to Sun Microsystems.
Finally, he'll talk about what it means to run a principles-based business. He believes business can be a framework for our highest aspirations. He'll leave you with 10 Principles and 3 Questions to ponder that will hopefully inform your own path.
BACKGROUND: ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS

Entrepreneur (Feb 2009)
Forbes Interview
Inc Article
Wired Interview (Politics)
PC Mag CD Review (SalesWorks)

10 Principles & 3 Questions
From vision to sales, these 10 principles can form a framework for starting and running your company. The 3 Questions are important, personal, and for most people, not simple to answer.
FundraisingAdvice for Startups in any EconomyIn this session we will discuss what you need to successfully raise capital for your business in 2009. We'll review how to package your business so investors can understand what it is, the potential for your business in your chosen market, finding the right investors, presentation tips, time away from the business caused by funraising, and advice on how to manage relationships with investors before and after the deal.
Startup PresentationsCharlie will select 5 people from the audience to give a brief presentation of their company and why investors should trust them with their investment capital. Each presentation will be limited to 3 minutes. Come prepared with your computer and presentation; there will be little time for set-up so please keep it simple. Charlie will lead the group with tough questions for each presenter, with the goal of helping you improve your presentation.
WorkShopInteractive workshop among attendees to share issues and insights. Three issues will then be elevated to the broader group for a final discussion of current, pressing issues that you face.
VIP SESSIONSVIP tickets are available to meet with Charlie one on one for 30 minutes each after the main workshop. You can ask him anything, pitch your startup, ask for advice, or talk through issues you're facing as a startup leader.
WHAT TO BRINGBring your presentation of your business on your own notebook computer or on a USB drive.
WHAT TO EXPECTCharlie is a classic serial entrepreneur, but limited to his specific experiences he's had over the past 15 years of starting, funding, building, and managing companies. You should expect a frank and open discussion of the issues as he sees them, a relevant but flexible agenda, and possibly some direct advice. Charlie is not a motivational speaker, nor is he a seasoned lecturer or MBA graduate. Hence, the workshop is somewhat informal but serious. You can expect him to be sincere, thoughtful, open, and helpful; in his words he is "experienced, seasoned, insightful, flawed, optimistic, supportive, and accomplished."
The goal of the workshop is help spark your own thoughts about your startup, how you manage, how you can raise capital and from whom, and how you can grow your business so it becomes a attractive for customers, investors, and acquirers.
Charlie intends to serve as a catalyst for your ideas. If you leave the workshop with new ideas and productive thoughts, the workshop has been a success. If not, please let us know why so we can better craft the workshop for future audiences.
WHO SHOULD ATTENDThis workshop is designed for anyone starting a new business or currently running a startup interested in learning about building and running startups. If you're a veteran of raising venture capital and starting, this islikely not the workshop for you, but come anyway and add your voice.
ABOUT CHARLIE CRYSTLECharlie Crystle is the founder and former CEO of ChiliSoft, a pioneering early internet software company that sold to Sun Microsystems in 2000 for $70 million. Mr. Crystle has served on technology and nonprofit boards, raised over $12 million in venture capital, friends and family investment, and state funds through the Ben Franklin Technology Partners program. Most recently Charlie started and led Mission Research, a software company now serving over 8,000 nonprofits.
Charliehas invested both in his own startups and three others, two of which bombed around 2001 after burning through several million dollars. Through his experiences as a repeat founder, CEO, board member, startup advisor, and nonprofit advisor, Charlie has developed a unique understanding of founders, venture capital, fundraising for startups, surviving in tough times, managing people, and what it's like to give up everything for what you believe in. Charlie is a unique entrepreneur with both success and failures that inform his view of starting and running businesses.
Charlie Crystle lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and is actively involved in the community. In 1996 he started Chilisoft, raised venture capital from Draper Fisher Jurvetsen in the Silicon Valley, and moved the company to Bellevue, Washington. After growing the company to 70 people,the company sold for $70 million to Cobalt NetWorks/Sun Microsystems in 2000.
Since the sale of the company, Charlie has lived in San Francisco, New York, and New Jersey. From 2000 to 2003 he volunteered for human rights organizations in Central America, Ecuador, and New York City, and made a film on street kids in Honduras and Nicaragua. In 2002 he started Mission Research, a fundraising software company dedicated to helping small nonprofits focus more resources on their core missions and less on technology.
In 2008, he developed and launched CircleDog, a small business CRM software sold through retail stores. The CircleDog effort crashed and burned into the new economic reality in November 2008, when no retail stores would take on new product.With no revenues to support the growth of the team, he shutdown the effort and resigned as CEO of Mission Research,whichisprofitable with the flagship software GiftWorks.
Charlie has moved on to less traumatic pastures and now shares his experiences with others. He is currently writing a book of advice for entrepreneurs, and has been featured in Forbes, Wired, Fortune, Business Week, Entrepreneur, Business 2.0, and a variety of other publications, and is developing a number of new possible startup ideas because when it comes down to it, serial entrepreneurs can never really stop starting.
INVESTMENT FROM CHARLIE CRYSTLECharlie is not currently investing in new companies, but is happy to take on new clients who need help developing investment presentations, investment vehicles, or just need general strategic advice from a seasoned founder who understands startups and the fundraising process.

Organized by Crystle Consulting

---

Official Website: http://charliecrystle-upcoming.eventbrite.com