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TiE SoCal Successfully Holds Annual Conference TiEcon Southwest 2020

TiE SoCal successfully held its annual TiEcon Southwest conference on Saturday, December 12th, 2020. This year’s theme “Innovate, Invest, and Inspire” was on full display at this, first-ever, virtual conference for TiE SoCal.

The conference was attended by a global audience of over 10,000 business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs, and was extremely well received. The event boasted a series of well-recognized speakers and panelists who shared their knowledge and experience with the virtual crowd.

Keynote presentation was given by Mr. Jeffery Ma, Vice President of Microsoft Startups. Mr. Ma was a member of the infamous MIT Blackjack Team and has helped start four different companies including Circle Lending (sold to Virgin) and Citizen Sports (sold to Yahoo). In his presentation, Mr. Ma shared practical advice for entrepreneurs and the many lessons he has learned throughout his illustrious career.

jeffery ma explaining 3 lessons for entrepreneurs

The biggest takeaway was to know the difference between a specialist (Tiger Woods, golf) and a generalist (Roger Federer, tennis) in business, and to be intentional with your choices based on this framework.

The keynote was followed up by a fireside chat with Mr. Abhay Deol, Bollywood actor, producer, and entrepreneur. Although Mr. Deol, as a member of the famous Deol family, grew up as an insider, he quickly established himself as a nonconformist by portraying complex characters on screen and pursuing his entrepreneurial spirit off-screen.

abhay deol interacting with the TiE menbers

Mr. Deol started Forbidden Films in 2009 and more recently has focused his attention on philanthropy and supporting various NGOs. Mr. Deol talked with Ashish Saboo and Dolly Kapoor about the mental health epidemic that is ravaging the younger generation, and the challenges we are all facing due to social isolation. Many in the audience were struck by Mr. Deol’s depth of knowledge and character that is often overlooked with popular Bollywood actors.

The event continued with several panel discussions including MedTech startup panel with Sanjay Shrivastava, Manish Singh, Sumeet Maniar, and Raja Sundaram.

It was followed by an Investor panel discussion by Shankar Ram, Axel Tillman, Dhawal Kapadia, and Connie Harrell.

The women entrepreneurship panel featured Shalini Vadhera and Natalie Forest and the “Cybersecurity and Work from Home” panel included Anil Ramineni, Bharat Saoji, Fred Cohen, Navin Kapoor, and Vidya Murthy.

The event ended with a conversation on “How to bounce back in 2021 and beyond!” This conversation was moderated by Mr. Navneet Chugh, founder, and CEO of Chugh firm. Participants included Elango R, Imtiaz Mohammady, Saleem Iqbal, and Rajesh Shah.

TiEcon southwest was a 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. online event held on December 12th, 2020, that was hosted by Mr. Moe Rock, TiE SoCal Community Outreach Chair. The event featured a welcome address by Mr. Anshuman Sinha, President of TiE SoCal, and presentations by Mr. Anil Ramineni, TiE SoCal Executive Director, and Mr. Ashish Saboo, TiEcon Southwest Chair. In between the panel discussions, the team shared prerecorded messages from TiE SoCal’s Charter Members and luminaries such as Mr. Bill Gates, who received a Lifetime Achievement award from TiE Global Summit just a few days before.

Although hundreds of comments and questions poured in from the virtual audience throughout the event, the award for the best comment was split between two active and worthy participants, a 12-year-old student and a 94-year-old female entrepreneur. This highlighted the reach of this event as well as the power of the TiE brand around the world.

About the organization:

TiE is a non-profit, global community founded in 1992 by a group of successful entrepreneurs and is currently the world’s largest entrepreneurial organization. We believe in the power of ideas to change the face of entrepreneurship and growing business through our five pillars: mentoring, networking, education, incubating, and funding.

TiE SoCal chapter was founded in 1997 as the first TiE chapter outside Silicon Valley. It was founded to inspire, foster, and support entrepreneurship in Southern California. Professionals with aspirations to start a business venture learn from other entrepreneurs, or working with or within a startup will gain access to invaluable educational, networking, and partnership opportunities through TiE. TiE SoCal Charter Membership is by invitation only, and despite the global pandemic, has grown by over 85% during 2020.

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