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Start Me Up: Getting Your Business Off the Ground
You have an idea. Now what? Hear from representatives from many entrepreneur support organizations and get an idea of what you should be doing to build your business on a solid foundation. How
can entrepreneurs bring innovative ideas to market? The panel discussion will be geared
towards entrepreneurs in the early stage of getting their businesses started.
Time will be allotted for audience members to ask questions.
William Loesch (Moderator), Principal, Goldberg Kohn
Will Loesch is a principal in the firm's Corporate, Securities & Tax Group. He advises businesses ranging from start-ups to public companies in a variety of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic alliances, debt and equity financing, dealership and distributorship relationships, and employment and consulting agreements.
Clients for whom Mr. Loesch regularly provides representation span a broad range of industries, including consumer products, advertising, marketing, business services and equipment manufacturing. Mr. Loesch also has extensive experience in education law, particularly in mergers and acquisitions of post-secondary schools, both domestic and international. In addition, he has experience in contract matters relating to the Internet, including Web site development agreements, Web site hosting arrangements, and Web-based advertising and marketing agreements.
Mr. Loesch is involved in a variety of charitable and civic organizations. In particular, he has performed pro bono services for numerous artists and art-related enterprises, including Division 13 Productions, a not-for-profit theater organization for which he serves on the board of directors.
David Weinstein, President, Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center
David Weinstein is president of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), an organization that seeks to make a lasting economic impact on the Chicagoland region by helping entrepreneurs build viable, sustainable and profitable enterprises. The CEC works with high growth entrepreneurs to create and sustain opportunities for business success, job growth and profitability. Since 2003, clients of the CEC's advisory services secured contracts in excess of $135 million and financing valued at $87 million. Mr. Weinstein also is a founder and current Managing Director of the Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund (i2A), a $10 million seed-stage venture capital fund that is administrated by the CEC.
For the last 15 years, Mr. Weinstein has worked in a variety of management positions in the technology field, both in the public and private sectors. Previously, he was president of David Weinstein & Associates, LLC, a Chicago-based consulting and advisory service firm specializing in assisting businesses extend their technology services and products to the public sector.
Throughout his work life, Mr. Weinstein has been active in the local Chicago community and was recently appointed by Mayor Daley to be a member of the Chicago Plan Commission. He also participates on the board of directors for the Chicago Cultural Center Foundation, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Citizens Advisory Board, M5 Artist Collective, the Target Group Inc., and the Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors. Mr. Weinstein was recognized for his work with technology entrepreneurs and received the 2006 City Lights Award from the Illinois Information Technology Association and has also been named to Crain's Chicago Business' 2008 "Who's Who in Chicago Business."
Mr. Weinstein is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, receiving his degree with honors and distinction from the Phi Kappa Phi National All-University Honors Society and the Golden Key National Honor Society. He earned his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
John Nix, Founder, Go2Call.com
Mr. Nix has over 15 years of experience with both telecommunications and Internet companies including serving as the founder and CEO of Go2Call, which provided hosted VoIP solutions to carriers in emerging markets and connected more than a billion minutes of international phone calls. In 2005, the "Deloitte Fast 50" ranked Go2Call the 22nd fastest growing technology company in North America over a five year period, where Mr. Nix grew the company from inception to $20 million a year in revenue with 35 employees. He also received the "Best Bosses" award from Fortune Small Business Magazine. At Go2Call, Mr. Nix was responsible for technology development and also managed partnerships with several of the world's largest telecommunications firms. Mr. Nix has led multiple financial transactions including venture financing, debt financing, and the sale of a business line to a public company. Before Go2Call, he also served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, where Mr. Nix planned and managed the installation of line-of-sight microwave networks. Mr. Nix is an inventor of four patents and approximately 10 pending U.S. and international patent applications.
Mr. Nix holds a B.S. in physics from Davidson College, an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Master of Engineering Management degree from the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.
Jeff Taylor, Vice Chairman, Taylor Capital Group, Inc.
Jeff Taylor joined Cole Taylor Bank in 1978 as assistant general counsel, and later as general counsel. He became CEO of Cole Taylor Bank in 1991 where he helped build the first branch bank in Illinois through the recruitment of an experienced management team from major financial institutions. Mr. Taylor became CEO of Cole Taylor Financial Group in 1994 and took it public in May of that year. In 1997, he led a group of family and employee investors in a buyout of the bank from the publicly traded holding company. That transaction created Taylor Capital Group, Inc. the holding company of Cole Taylor Bank. Mr. Taylor holds a JD from Northwestern University School of Law and a BS from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. He is a member of the World President's Organization, Loyola Family Business Center Peer Advisory Group and Supercommunity Bank Forum. He is the Chairman of the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts Foundation Board and Chairman of Healthcare Alternative Systems Development Advisory Board. Mr. Taylor is on the Board of the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Foundation, Northwestern University School of Law, After School Matters and Weizmann Institute Midwest Regional Board.
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