e² Plus

Entrepreneurs face unique challenges when launching a new product or building a new team, and recruiting professionals with the most appropriate skill-sets is tough. The reality is that funding and resources are always scarce, hence many hats need to be worn by each person – welcome to the real world! But hey, small companies can be nimble right? – and that is how we can shellac the incumbents in many market segments where we have a better idea. Along the way though, management has to learn how to manage everything from soup to nuts – in our case all the complexities of an innovation business, driving an innovation market adoption.

To address this need, OCRI has created the e2 Plus series of workshops which provide access to some of the region’s best entrepreneurial veterans. Topics include: bootstrap market entry, team leadership and motivation, bootstrap corporate structure and IP protection, and communicating with influence (…well, selling…) in greater detail than the main e2 Program. Each e2 Plus session is about five to six hours long and focuses on a single topic allowing for thorough examination of specific skills, provision of problem solving tools, and hands-on workshop time with a group of like-minded other participants. Bring your own current issues and take away solutions you can implement tomorrow!

The Lead to Win (LTW) participants, and Main e2 Program Graduates, qualify for a special low price on these highly rated e2 Plus workshops – only $50 per e2 Plus session, which rewards these two groups for their established commitment to entrepreneurial advancement (standard price is $195, and OCRI member price is $125).

The current e2 Plus workshop calendar covers the following topics:

Next Session	e2 Plus Topics & Speakers
March 18, 2010	Leading Effective Executive Teams Team leading skills to get clarity around goals, high motivation , commitment and job satisfaction Doug Somers, Co-founder and Past CEO, Bridgewater Systems, VP & GM Newbridge For complete details and registration information visit the e2 Plus Leading Executive Teams page.
March 29, 2010	Bootstrap Market Entry This workshop provides hard-hitting action ideas for bootstrapping a new product idea into a real business. Breakout sessions help you take away proven chasm-crossing strategies for your own business, building answers for Market Value Discovery, Target Buyer & Value Chain strategy, Revenue Model for both entry and growth Caroline Somers (Vienna Systems, Cassidy Bay Group) and Rick O'Connor (Tundra, True Reckoning) For complete details and registration information visit the Bootstrap Market Entry page.
TBD	Advanced Business Communication and Influence (BCI) How to communicate with influence – to attract staff, customers, partners, industry thought leaders, investors? Trevor Wilkins, Holis & Associates - Veteran sales executive and sales trainer For complete details and registration information visit the e2 Plus - Advanced Business Communication and Influence page.
TBD	Social Media Marketing Demystifying social media marketing through lively discussions and interactive exercises. Natasha D’Souza, Digital Media Strategist and founder, Virtual EyeSee Rick Radko, Social networking and web application architect, founder of R-Cubed Scott Lake is the founder of ThinkSM and SWIX and a co-founder of Shopify and StartupOttawa For complete details and registration information visit the e2 Plus Social Media Marketing page.
TBD	Market Value & Product Opportunity Assessment Models for market assessment, product/offering potential, market entry – mostly hands-on workshops Larry Lam, BDC - VC Group Peter Fillmore, Avoca Tim Upton, CEO Titus Labs For complete details visit the Market Value & Product Opportunity Assessment page.