Widening the Circle

Jim Fee, '65

Although the WPI Venture Forum is in its fifteenth season, we, like any member-based organization, continually need to reach out to new people to participate in our organization and its programs. For the last few years, we have been relying on public relations and word of mouth to spread our story. That has kept people coming to our meetings. But given the very positive feedback that we get from the WPI Venture Forum programs and events, we want to expand that circle of knowledgeable people.

In September, we launched the electronic version of this newsletter (free subscription available at www.wpiventureforum.org/ email.html) to make it easier for people to learn about upcoming events. This month, we are launching a partner program with other organizations whose members have overlapping interests with those of the WPI Venture Forum. The organizations are the New England chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC), MedDev Group, Inc. (MDG) and 128 Innovation Capital Group. IMC is the leading association representing management consultants (www.imcne.org). MDG is a medical device and technology networking organization created to enhance business development opportunities for its members (www.meddevgroup.org). The 128 Innovation Capital Group, with January's 288th breakfast meeting, is one the region's oldest entrepreneur organizations (www.128icg.com). As part of this arrangement, we will provide web links and event notifications for these organizations on our web site and in other communications, and they will do the same for WPI Venture Forum events. In addition, we are planning several joint events that will bring together all of these organizations' members.

Our common thread is that each organization's membership is made up of entrepreneurs, small businesses and/or people that support them. We also each offer strong professional, educational and networking components for our members. As greater numbers of organizations form to meet specific group needs, creating links among organizations with overlapping interests presents an effective way to reach out to more people and share the success of the WPI Venture Forum with them.

Sincerely,

Jim Fee '65
Chairman, WPI Venture Forum
Marketing Committee
JFF Associates