IdeaMensch Portland – July 9 at Instrument

Ideas by themselves are of little value. Whether your idea is an app, a nonprofit, a book, a website or an invention – what matters is that and how you bring it to life. And really it doesn’t matter whether the idea you’re bringing to life is a business, a project or a cause – the one thing that connects all of us is our passion for what we’re building.

That’s the assumption IdeaMensch (created in Portland) is built upon. And that’s why during our events we bring in a wide range of awesome speakers who then spend 10-15 minutes talking about an idea they brought (or are bringing to life), how they did and what you can learn from it. And then you’ll have 10 minutes to ask them questions and continue the conversation.

We promise you’re going to walk away with at least five super valuable nuggets of information to put to use for your own idea. This isn’t a networking event, but you’re sure to meet some fascinating people.

Starting with these five amazing speakers, who each will share with you their journeys of bringing to life these ideas.

Tim O’Leary, the CEO of R2CGroup, will share with you what it takes to build America’s largest independent direct response agency.

Jennifer Foss, the face behind the popular blog JobJenny.com will discuss how she leveraged her professional expertise to build a blog from zero to “nearly-six-figure incremental revenue” status within two years.

Paresh Patel, of VendScreen, will reveal how his big idea of making vending machines “smart” and how he was able to secure $12MM in funding with no finished product.

Ryan Wines, a Managing Partner at Marmoset Music,  will talk about what it takes to make a living in music, even if you aren’t a musician. He’ll also tell us what it took to be able to produce the music for two superbowl spots during his first year in business.

And last but not least, we have a special guest from another continent. Benny Lewis, a professional language hacker will talk about how he is able to move around the world, becoming fluent in languages by teaching others how to learn other languages.

The event will be held Instrument, who’re gracious enough to host us. We hear their space is awesome, so we’re all in for a treat. Their office is located at:

419 NE 10th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232


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Here is the schedule we have planned for you.

Schedule:
6:00 – 6:30
Networking

6:30 – 8:00
Speaker presentations

8:30 – 9:00
Networking

And here is some more information on our speakers.

Tim O’Leary

Tim O’Leary is the CEO of  R2C Group.

For the last two decades Tim has been a visionary in direct-response and online marketing, helping expand DRTV into an integrated, measurable, multiple-channel advertising medium now embraced by a client list that has included Apple, AT&T, Toshiba, Sears, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and many other Blue-Chip companies.

A lifelong entrepreneur, he has founded or co-founded more than a dozen companies, including four that have been named among Oregon’s fastest growing private companies. Prior to co-founding R2C Group, Tim was one of the founders and the CEO of The Tyee Group (now the direct division of Euro RSCG).[divider]

 Jennifer Foss

Jenny Foss a Portland-based recruiter, career coach and the face behind the popular blog JobJenny.com will discuss how she leveraged her professional expertise to build a blog from zero to “nearly-six-figure incremental revenue” status within two years. She’ll share her personal entrepreneurial story and provide input on ways to engage and build a loyal fan club, and then profit from this following.[divider]

Paresh Patel

Paresh Patel is Founder and CEO of VendScreen, developer of an innovative Android touch-screen device for vending machines. Founder of one of the largest vending companies in the Pacific NW, he grew increasingly frustrated by “dumb vending machines.” His device provides users with a rich interface, featuring nutrition facts, promotions and discounts. The pre-revenue, pre-product company secured $12MM in initial funding commitments. If you’re interested in learning how a big idea becomes reality, including how to secure funding, this is a talk you won’t want to miss.[divider]

 Ryan Wines

Co-founder and Managing Partner of Marmoset Music, Ryan Wines has worked on both the agency side and the client side of the of advertising world, while simultaneously pursuing adventures in the music biz. An Oregon native, in less than two years Ryan has turned a random idea between two guys in a coffee shop into a rocketing music agency, shepherding a growing conduit between Portland’s indie music community and Madison Avenue. During Marmoset’s brief history, they’ve scored original music for commercials in the past two Super Bowls, they regularly work with the top creative agencies on the planet, and have cultivated a unique community of uber-talented, hard working, blue collar artists. In his free time, Ryan releases records with his boutique record label, enjoys spending time with his baby girl Eleanor, and battles a mad addition to nachos. Give the guy some chips and cheese and there’s no telling what might happen.

[divider]

Benny Lewis

Benny Lewis is a vegetarian from Cavan Ireland, who doesn’t drink. He likes to describe himself as a “technomad” – a full-time technology-enabled globe-trotter. Dozens of countries and many languages (8 of which he speaks fluently) later, he is now a full-time language hacker and blogs about his travel and language learning adventures onfluentin3months.com. He has also given a TEDx talk, about speaking from day one, which summarizes his learning approach: http://speakfromday1.com/tedx

With all of our events, it’s satisfaction guaranteed. Our goal and mission is for these events to inspire you to start bringing to life your own idea. If we fail in that, just shoot us an email and we’ll gladly refund your ticket.