At the basis of the transition from something that is a cool idea to an actual business, lies the question: what is the market for my intended product or service?

The answer to that question is many-faceted. What is the exact problem that you're addressing? Is the time right for your idea? Is the state of technology ready for your envisioned solution? Who are your intended customers and what do they look like? How many of them are there in your intended market area? How many are currently in the market for what you have to sell? And between you and your competition, how many will want to buy your solution instead of someone else's?

All of this is not an exact science - but the more realistic your estimates, the better your chances of gauging your chance of success, and the more credible you will be to a potential investor.

Come hear from Dave Shanley, new TiE Oregon Charter Member and CEO/Founder of Notion,who will speak about Market/ Opportunity Assessment.

After the talk, as always, we will be practicing pitches! Bring your presentations, with or without slide decks! Get up and pitch us on your concept, business, or idea, to sell, find co-founders, get funding or otherwise!

Cost: TiE Members: FREE (and you may pre-register a non-member guest for $10); Public: $25

For more information and to register please visit:

http://oregon.tie.org/event/tie-oregon-pitch-club-june-2015/?instance_id=403

There may be remodeling going on at TiE Pearl/ISITE, but Pitch Club must go on!

Join us for the last TiE Oregon Pitch Club of the year, and the last one before TiE PitchFest 2014!

Our featured speaker is Tom Sperry, Managing Director at Rogue Venture Partners, and he will talk about what investors are looking for in a pitch. There will of course be plenty of opportunity for Q&A as well, so bring your questions!

After Tom's talk, we will be practicing pitches and you will get constructive and actionable feedback from attendees. If you have a slide deck, put it on a USB memory stick so we can project it (from a Windows laptop); or do a pitch without slides.

Take this last opportunity in 2014 -of course we will be back in 2015- to test drive and fine tune your pitch at Pitch Club, especially if you are thinking of competing in TiE PitchFest! (Did you apply for PitchFest yet...? https://oregon.tie.org/event/40/tie-pitchfest-2014 )

TiE Members: FREE Public: $25

COST: TiE Members: FREE, Public: $25

Join us for another edition of TiE Oregon Pitch Club, the most educational pitch clinic in town! Our featured speaker for this edition is Brent Hieggelke.

Brent Hieggelke is the Chief Mobile Evangelist for Urban Airship and is responsible for uncovering and inspiring innovation with customers, app development and agency partners, mobile platform providers and the industry-at-large.

Before Urban Airship, Brent spent more than a decade helping brands optimize digital marketing initiatives in Marketing Executive positions at WebTrends, TouchClarity and Omniture. Most recently, Brent founded and launched Second Porch, the first Facebook-integrated social vacation rental site that was sold to HomeAway, Inc. in May 2011. Early in his career, Brent also co-founded New City, a media company in Chicago.

Brent has been awarded multiple marketing awards, and is a frequent speaker at both marketing and digital conferences. He is a member of the Mobile Marketing Association’s North America board and the International Executive Council of the Internet Marketing Association.

Once Brent is finished speaking, you will have the opportunity to practice your pitches with us. You can practice investor pitches, concept pitches, sales pitches, co-founder pitches, product pitches, elevator pitches, or any other pitch you can think of. Bring your pitch and pitch deck to receive actionable and valuable feedback from fellow entrepreneurs who have been through it or are going through it. You never know, there may be an investor or two sprinkled throughout the crowd.

Not fully comfortable pitching? Come be part of the audience and learn by watching and providing feedback to others. However, it pays not to just be a watcher; you will definitely get the most benefit from this event by getting up and practicing your pitch! Many went before you, lived to tell the tale (we don’t bite!) and got a lot of actionable feedback!

Receive feedback on your pitch before stepping foot in front of investors, buyers, or customers.

Pitch, Please is a member-only monthly event hosted by OEN offering founders and entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their 5-minute pitch virtually or in person at select events throughout the state.

Following the pitch, regional thought leaders will ask questions and provide feedback to help strengthen pitches for when it’s time for the real thing.

Cost: Free for OEN members

Join us for another edition of TiE Oregon Pitch Club!

Kanth Gopalpur, longstanding TiE Charter member, Board member and experienced entrepreneur, has just been named "Entrepreneur In Residence" for Business Oregon. What do you know about this state agency, whose mission it is to promote business and communities in Oregon? Did you know that this organization provides millions in grant money to all kinds of initiatives every year? And do you know how you might engage and get assistance to develop your business? Come find out more, and bring your questions!

Then we practice pitches! Pitch Club offers an open, supportive environment for entrepreneurs to practice their pitches and get actionable and constructive feedback. Bring your presentation and plug into the A/V system, or pitch without a slide deck. Or, come check out new companies and ideas, and provide feedback to the presenters!

All kinds of pitches are welcome: elevator-, concept-, sales-, co-founder-, or investor pitches.

TIE Members: FREE (and you can bring a pre-registered guest for $10); Public: $25

Join us at Quick Left for this month's Pitch Club! We are delighted to feature speaker Marcelino Alvarez. He is the CEO and Founder of Uncorked Studios, where his responsibilities include shaping the company's vision and strategy, business development, and community outreach.

Prior to Uncorked, Marcelino served as Executive Interactive Producer at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, where he worked on Old Spice, Electronic Arts, Laika, and Nike.

After Marcelino's talk. practice your pitches with us! Bring your VC-, concept-, angel-, sales-, cofounder- or elevator pitch! Come practice your pitch for your budding idea or your growing startup.

Pitch with a slide deck (bring a USB memory stick or laptop with VGA connector) or present without visuals. You will get a ton of actionable and useful feedback from the attendees.

Due to Inclement Weather Conditions, TiE Pearl Pitch Club with Vanessa Van Edwards is cancelled.

We will be rescheduling it for next week. Please stay tuned for details.

Join TiE Pearl Pitch Club, a series of sessions where you can practice your pitching skills.

In this edition, Vanessa Van Edwards, author and behavorioral investigator, will present a talk on body language and non-verbal communications for entrepreneurs, after which she will hear pitches, and help you work on yours.

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is designed as a supportive environment in which to try out your presentation - in front of a group of peers, including established entrepreneurs, and others just getting their start.

Bring your pitches, with or without slides (bring your laptop to plug into the A/V system), and walk away with valuable feedback and coaching. Or come to see others pitch, and provide feedback to and/or learn from others. Before and during the Pitch Club session we will offer drinks and refreshments at the TiE Pearl Incubator, network, discuss feedback and mingle.

Join TiE Pearl Pitch Club

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is a supportive environment in which you can practice your pitch.

This can be a concept or idea pitch (for instance to find a co-founder or for Portland Startup Weekend), a sales pitch, a pitch to investors, or any other type of pitch where you need to convince someone that your idea, business or product is worth their time.

Bring your laptop if you want to use a slide deck for your pitch, or provide feedback and learn from others.

Join us for TiE Pearl Pitch Club - a series of sessions where you can practice your pitching skills.

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is designed as a supportive environment to try out your presentation - in front of a group of peers, including established entrepreneurs, and others just getting their start. TiE Mentors also regularly look in.

Bring your pitches, with or without slides (bring your laptop to plug into the A/V system), and walk away with valuable feedback and coaching.

We will offer refreshments at the TiE Pearl Incubator before and during our session, while we network, discuss feedback and mingle.

Pitch Club is open to all TiE Members (free), as well as the public ($25). 

Join us for TiE Pearl Pitch Club - a series of sessions where you can practice your pitching skills.

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is designed as a supportive environment to try out your presentation - in front of a group of peers, including established entrepreneurs, and others just getting their start. TiE Mentors also regularly look in.

Bring your pitches, with or without slides (bring your laptop to plug into the A/V system), and walk away with valuable feedback and coaching.

We will offer refreshments at the TiE Pearl Incubator before and during our session, while we network, discuss feedback and mingle.

Pitch Club is open to all TiE Members (free), as well as the public ($25). 

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is designed as a supportive environment in which to try out your presentation - in front of a group of peers, including established entrepreneurs, and others just getting their start.

Use this opportunity to practice pitches, for instance for Startup Weekend, PitchFest, the PDC Startup PDX Challenge, or to sell to customers, attract co-founders or raise funds for your startup.

Bring your pitches, with or without slides (bring your laptop to plug into the A/V system), and walk away with valuable feedback and coaching. Or come to provide feedback and learn from others.

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is here for you! Let us know what you would like to practice.

We provide refreshments, while we network, discuss feedback and mingle.

It's time for another Pitch Club!

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is designed as a supportive environment in which to try out your presentation - in front of a group of peers, including established entrepreneurs, and others just getting their start.

Use this opportunity to practice pitches, for instance for Startup Weekend, PitchFest, the PDC Startup PDX Challenge, or to sell to customers, attract co-founders or raise funds for your startup.

Bring your pitches, with or without slides (bring your laptop to plug into the A/V system), and walk away with valuable feedback and coaching. Or come to provide feedback and learn from others.

TiE Pearl Pitch Club is here for you! Let us know what you would like to practice.

We provide refreshments, while we network, discuss feedback and mingle.

Please register through website link above. TiE Members: FREE; public: $25

It's the last TiE Pearl Pitch Club of the summer!

For this event, we feature a presentation by Robin Wang: "10 Tips for Launching Sales".
Robin Wang is a serial entrepreneur, startup veteran and business coach, who is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs achieve "sales happiness".
Whether you’re just starting to think about sales or have already closed some deals, many entrepreneurs approach sales with misconceptions, hesitation, and perhaps even uneasiness.
As a result, you may have a hard time reaching your sales goals and risk jeopardizing your business.
In this presentation, designed for those who perhaps feel that they're not "natural born" salespeople, you will learn 10 tips that you can use to help launch your sales.
Topics covered include: demystifying sales, breaking sales into manageable steps, leveraging your emotions, doing sales if you are an introvert, and much more. Everyone is sure to get some useful take-aways!

Then join us to practice your pitch in a supportive environment and get constructive feedback.
Our unique event format allows you to practice your sales pitch, your VC pitch, your elevator pitch or your pitch to find a co-founder for your startup business or -idea.

You can bring a laptop to plug into the A/V system or pitch without a presentation.

Join others who have gotten a lot of useful tips and pointers on the structure of their story, slide deck, presentation style etc.

Get actionable feedback and suggestions from peers and TiE mentors, and enjoy networking and refreshments.

Please register through the website link above. Event cost:

• TiE Members: FREE
• Public: $25

It's time to get the structure of your pitch right!

How can you best put together your story for a one-minute pitch, and how would it be different from say, a three minute pitch?

Ravi Sinha, entrepreneur and business coach, will facilitate a workshop where we practice one- and three minute pitches.
Come ready to deliver your pitch, with slides if you want, or with no A/V materials, and we will work on the structure and the best way to tell your story.

This session can be taken as part of a preparatory series for our annual pitch competition, TiE PitchFest, coming in December 2014 (watch this space)!

Please register through the website link above. Event cost:

• TiE Members: FREE
• Public: $25

You've worked hard on the structure of your pitch. You've practiced your delivery. But somehow your story is just not engaging people.

Could be it because your slide deck, ... well, kinda sucks?

You are not alone! A lot of entrepreneurs find it hard to resist putting too much information on their slides.

Design is more important than ever - and it's not limited to your product or your website. The last thing you want, is for your slide deck to be a hindrance instead of a help, in conveying your story in an engaging manner

Are you sure that your slide deck supports and reinforces your message? How about some insights from a consummate user experience and marketing expert?

Come and join us at TiE Pearl Pitch Club, this time featuring a presentation by Colin O'Neill of ISITE Design: "Slides That Don't Suck". As Vice President of User Experience, Colin is not only an impressive creative talent; he is also a passionate and deeply experienced marketer with a long career, working with customers like IBM, Kodak, Charles Schwab, LinkedIn and Adobe, who knows how to engage and connect.

So, bring your pitches (and your slides)!

We will start the evening with an opportunity to network while enjoying refreshments. Then we will listen to Colin's presentation, after which you can practice your pitches, with (or without) slide decks, to get actionable and valuable feedback from Colin, peers, TiE mentors and other attendees.

Don't miss this - your slide deck, and your pitch, will be all the better for it!

TiE Members: FREE Public: $25

TiE Pitch Club is back for 2015!

Join us for a talk by Nitin Rai about Cash Flow for your startup. How can you ensure that your available capital lasts you while building up your business and your revenues, and maybe in anticipation of outside funding; and what to do once you land that outside investment?

Nitin Rai, president of TiE Oregon is a successful entrepreneur and active angel investor.

After the talk from our speaker, we will continue with pitches by you! Any entrepreneur is invited to get up and present their pitch to the assembled group. This can be any type of pitch: an elevator pitch, a business concept pitch, a co-founder pitch, a sales pitch or an investor pitch. We will help you with timing you, being your chosen audience, and giving you feedback and input on your pitch, business and ideas. Just like many before you, you will come away with a lot of valuable and actionable feedback! People who do not want to pitch but are interested in finding out what Pitch Club is about, hearing new startup ideas, networking, and/or helping others are of course welcome!

TiE Members: FREE (members can also pre-register a non-member guest for $10) Public: $25

Founders: need insights into how to insulate your personal finance life from entrepreneurial risk? Then join us for a talk by Jason Saunders of SKA Wealth Management. What? You have no wealth to manage, I hear you say? There are definitely steps you can take to ensure you are financially positioned to take on the adventure of entrepreneurship, well before there is wealth to manage!

As a bonus, we will also be talking about Oregon's new crowdfunding law, courtesy of event sponsors Tonkon Torp.

And of course we will be practicing your pitches, and provide you with valuable feedback. Bring your elevator-, concept-, co-founder-, sales- or investor pitch, plug in your laptop with your slides (or present without a slide deck), and get actionable feedback and constructive criticism from an audience of your peers, investors, TiE Mentors, etc.

Check it all out at http://oregon.tie.org/?p=2469

Cost; TiE Members: FREE (and pre-register a non-member guest for $10), public/non-members: $25