News: Go Create the Next Company: Entrepreneurship for Those Under-30

Premiere Entrepreneurship Event For College and High School Students during EWeek Maine

Contact: Dianna Fletcher, Fletcher-Media
(207) 831-8148
dianna@fletcher-media.com

(For Immediate Release) February 3, 2010, Portland, ME: Making a dream a reality: what is the secret behind making YOUR business idea your FUTURE.

Find out February 23rd when five under-30, world-class entrepreneurs will reveal their secrets to success. “Go Create The Next Company” is the lead event of this year’s Maine Entrepreneurship Week, sponsored in conjunction with National Entrepreneurship Week Feb. 20 –27.

The event will include free prizes (iTunes, Amazon, Best Buy and Hammacher Schlemmer gift cards) and free advice from Maine’s top under-30 entrepreneurs. And best of all, there’s free admission. If you’re a student, you can’t pass that up.

The February 23rd “Go Create the Next Company” event will be at the Hannaford Lecture Hall, at the University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Center from 6-8pm.

You’ll hear from:

Becky Stockbridge McKinnell, Founder and President, iBec Creative. Recently named one of one of the Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25 by BusinessWeek, McKinnell is a USM grad and a leader in internet marketing. iBec Creative is a Portland-based graphic and web design company that’s setting its clients apart. www.ibeccrreative.com

Jeremy Litchfield, Founder/Chief Pacesetter, Atayne, LLC. Litchfield’s company, which launched in 2007, inspires positive environmental and social change through the power of active lifestyles. Atayne leverages groundbreaking technologies and uses "trash" (e.g. plastic bottles, coconut shells, crab shells, old garments) for the designs of high performance outdoor and athletic apparel. www.atayne.com

William Sulinski, Founder and CEO of AccelGolf. The Portland-based company provides tools for savvy golfers including golf analytics and self-improvement platforms. The company recently closed a $600K seed round from several investors. Sulinski attended the University of Maine as a finance major where he ran a $1.4 million stock fund. Silinski also founded two other companies in high school and college. www.accelgolf.com

Ryan Donnelly, Director of Interactive Marketing & Client Services , UcompareHealthCare. Donnelly, a graduate of North Yarmouth Academy, co-founded UcompareHealthCare just two years after graduating from Wheaton College. Donnelley led the development and creation of the core data systems powering the company’s hospital comparison tool, encompassing risk adjustment and statistical comparison of administrative discharge abstracts. In 2007, UCompare was acquired by About, Inc, a part of the New York Times family of companies. www.UcompareHealthCare.com

Ryan Beaumont, sole proprietor, RM Beaumont Corp. From a techie in high school to a mechanical engineer at University of Maine, Beaumont leveraged his skills in an unimaginable career. He’s now designing tidal turbine components, testing racing surfaces and studying blood flow in arteries as part of RM Beaumont Corp.

Host: Kerem Durdag. Durdag is a published essayist, poet and past editor of poetry magazines. He has served on boards of several non-profits, notably International Child Enrichment Program (www.icepkidsplay.org). Durdag is currently a partner of BlueWave Investments. Previously he was the Director of Sales and Marketing of SenGenuity, a division of Vectron International responsible for global sales, marketing and product management initiatives. Prior to joining SenGenuity, he was the Chief Executive Officer of a young high-tech company BiODE, Inc responsible for the coordination and direction of operations, sales, marketing, manufacturing and business development activities for viscometer sensors for multiple scalable markets and eventually led the company to an acquisition event.

“Go Create the Next Company” Details

• Tuesday, February 23, 2010
• Hannaford Lecture Hall, University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Center
• 6 – 8pm
• FREE admission
• FREE stuff (Gift cards for iTunes, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Hammacher Schlemmer)
• For high school and college students (“older” entrepreneurs are also welcome!)
• Website: www.createmaine.com

The event is sponsored by FAME, the Maine Technology Institute, Maine Angels and a group of Maine entrepreneurs dedicated to supporting Mainers’ entrepreneurial dreams.