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Enter your Project by March 1, 2010 at www.innovationq.org – It’s EASY!

Bob Biddinger, founder of Seagate, liked what Innovation Quest was doing and dropped by to speak about entrepreneurship, its joys, as well as its trials. More importantly, he imparted his raw experience and nuggets-of-wisdom of successful entrepreneurs.

Nate Gallon, a Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati law firm, clears the foggy mist and speaks to the IQueue founding companies about legal entities, LLCs, S and C corporations, tax liabilities and stock implications. He also describes intellectual property rights and laws governing patents, trademarks, copyright and trade secrets. Nate wound up the discussion with a round of Q&A from each company, each of which expressed deep appreciation for his succienct and clarifying answers.

Laura Pickering, Vice President of NetApp and Advisor to Innovation Quest, eloquently demonstrates how to present a business proposition by using one of the student's company as an example. A straightforward, powerful and heartfelt delivery all in one. Laura then speaks and provides a framework from which each of the company founders can prepare for their investor presentation. The voice of experience imparted excellent guidelines for each team

Rich Boberg, employee #6 of the now multi-billion dollar NetApp Corporation and co-founder of Innovation Quest, shares his experiences at a hyper-growth company. He detailed the diverse, complex and strategic role of Business Development and how it shapes the success and growth of a company. Rich's wisdom and experiences demonstrated how flexible one must remain in thinking and yet steadfast in process to assure success for all parties of a partnership.

Guest Speaker at IQuest-to-IQueue Workshop Session #3 Yvonne Hanlon of YCH Consulting, a 25 year veteran of the accounting and controller world, presented the essentials of startup financial analysis. Exercises were handed out to test the theories learned. A model spreadsheet was also provided as a reference model for the attendees new businesses.

Russ Bik, founding shareholder of Sun MicroSystems, shared his "rocket ship" ride experience helping to grow Sun from 30 people to $1 Billion in revenue. His amazing testimonials and raw tips for managing expectations, people and goals were invaluable for any aspiring entrepreneur, management or executive in any medium or large sized company. Russ is now incubating another interesting project. If you live in the San Luis Obispo area and are interested, contact us at iq@InnovationQ.org and we'll forward it on to Russ.

Jo Anne Miller, Partner, Milk Street Ventures, was the guest speaker at IQuest-to-IQueue Entrepreneur Workshop Session #1. She delivered a powerful and insightful view of what venture capitalists seek in entrepreneurs and deals to successfully get funded. She also spoke of the relevance in adapting to today's market conditions. Golden nuggets of wisdom for all the attendees.

Session #1: 03 July 2009 IQueue and You, Comprehensive Business Overview

Session #2: 10 July 2009 Executive Summary and In Depth Market Analysis

Session #3: 18 July 2009 Financials, IPR and Legal

Session #4: 24 July 2009 Sales, Marketing, BizDev and Social Responsibility

Session #5: 31 July 2009 Business Plan

Session #6: 07 Aug 2009 Due Diligence Judging and Investors

1st Place, NetApp Award, Grinds Coffee — “Coffee in your pocket” $15,000 Award went to Patrick Pezet & Matt Canepa

2nd Place, Electric Motor — Unique design for high performance electric cars, $10,000 Award went to Robert Ramm Mechanical Engineering & team

3rd Place, Renewable Electronics Packaging — Renewable electronics shipment packing system, $5,000 Award went to Alan Tepe Mechanical Engineering with Adam Stephen

Session #1: 03 July 2009 IQueue and You, Comprehensive Business Overview Session #2: 10 July 2009 Executive Summary and In Depth Market Analysis Session #3: 18 July 2009 Financials, IPR and Legal Session #4: 24 July 2009 Sales, Marketing, BizDev and Social Responsibility Session #5: 31 July 2009 Business Plan Session #6: 07 Aug 2009 Due Diligence Judging and Investors

Innovation Quest is currently accepting entries for the 2009 Innovation Contest. For details go to "HOME" above, then click on "2009 Innovation Contest Details" in the left menu. To go directly to the contest entry form, at HOME click on step #3 "Get Funded", and then select "ENTER NOW".

1st Place, the NetApp Award, $15,000 went to ANDREW MACALUSO for "SanTasti - The Palate Cleansing Beverage." 2nd Place, $10,000 was awarded to ANDREW OUELLET for the project "Advanced Brake System for Bicycles." And 3rd Place, $5,000 went to DAVE PATIERNO for the project "How to Fix Anything."