Category Archives: Business

Princeton Regional Chamber Events, useful tips from U.S. 1 Newspaper

Guest Post: Karen L. Johnson

Business, Technology & Innovation

mehta johnsonThanks to Karen L. Johnson for this account of an important evening at the Princeton Tech Meetup. One must be a member to be told the location — but the Princeton Public Library is one of the sponsors! And the next meetup is Tuesday, August 27. BFF’

When Princeton techies gathered Tuesday night at Meetup Princeton Tech, they were treated to an energy-charged talk by Nihal Mehta. He captivated Creatives, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Service Providers and Techies (whose color-coded badges made for easy networking) with his roller-coaster ride in mobile tech marketing – 5 startups in the last dozen years.

Among his ventures is ipsh!, one of the first full-service mobile marketing agencies which he founded in 2001
and sold to Omnicom in 2005 (NYSE: OMC), buzzd, a real-time city guide which evolved into LocalResponse, which gives marketers real-time consumer input. Active angel investments to his credit include Admob (sold to Google), Greystripe (sold to Valueclick), and Movoxx (sold to Adenyo).

Mehta took what in a sense was a victory tour in Princeton. That he resigned himself by going to UPenn when Princeton wait-listed him was lost on no one, nor were his exhortations to all to leave the 40-hour/week job for the exhilaration and despair of the 100-hour week of the
entrepreneur, that being a self-established metric for his speech’s success.

Interspersed in his stories of failure and success as a mobile tech entrepreneur were quotations from Jay-Z, Nelson Mandela and tales compete with accents of his Indian family gatherings where his aunties tisk-tisked about the boy-who-went-bankrupt and later counted their cash as his ventures proved successful. Mehta advised people to “Take the wrong path the fastest…” so they could get through the steep learning curve from failure to success. With his record and the inspirational words, the 225 attendees stayed on a high-energy level.

After Mehta’s talk, new apps were presented by their creators, then the mic was offered as many persons as could be crammed into the remaining 2-minute segments. Those with new endeavors solicited feedback and collaborators as they headed off in many directions, as Mehta did before them.

Photo of Mehta and Johnson by Marek Malkowski.

Speaking To Connect

Business
Speech consultant Eileen Sinett will lead a mini-workshop, “Perception — Do You See What I See?” for a Business Breakfast Forum on Friday, July 26, 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. at her studio on Plainsboro Road.  “Share your stories and insights, engage in some creative networking, and reap the rewards of peer perspectives,” says Sinett.
 
I’m a regular at these “fourth Friday” sessions and never fail to learn some new communications tip that I can put to use right away — either in conversation, or teaching Sunday School, or conducting a meeting, or in an actual speech. Reservations are limited and required. The very reasonable $10 fee includes a yummy continental breakfast catered by Shirley Reynolds.
 
Sinett also offers her special brand of “Speaking That Connects” to teenagers on Wednesday, July 31, at 6 p.m. at a branch of Kumon, 1800 Route 33, Hamilton Square. This complimentary introductory session is free. RSVP for either to eileen@speakingthatconnects.com or 609.799.1400.  

Spin the Wheel — Preserve the Sourlands

Business, Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

Two “do-good” events come up in the next 18 hours. Will you be stopping by the Plaza Palooza this afternoon, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.? I’ll be at the table sponsored by Princeton United Methodist Church and United Front Against Riverblindness. We’ll have a “Help Us Help Others” Wheel — for $1 you get to spin the wheel and either win a prize — or your dollar goes to the charity that the wheel chooses. It’s fun. At the other tables you’ll meet area business folks, get free tastings and lots of giveaways. BAI water will be there, sure to be a hit in the heat! It’s free and a great place to network.

Bryson
Tomorrow morning, Wednesday, Jennifer Bryson will speak at the Princeton Chamber breakfast on one of her recent exciting endeavors.  For two years she had worked for the Department of Defense at Guantanomo Bay. Now her day job involves partnering with Muslim advocates for religious freedom, but she also campaigns to defend the Sourland Mountains from encroachment. Bryson (Stanford, Yale) is currently teaching at the Army War College.

I’m not always in agreement with preservationists (I’m siding with the Institute of Advanced Study re building on its property). Hear what Bryson has to say and make up your own mind about the 90 square miles of the Sourland Mountains, New Jersey’s “last great wilderness.” Everybody can come to this breakfast for the reduced member price, $25, and it’s great networking.

War Stories at WIBA

Business, Faith and Social Justice, Memoir, , , , , ,

“Coveting Not the Corner Office, but Time at Home,” a July 7 article in the New York times, resonated with me, as I am sure it did with thousands of women. It begins:

Sara Uttech has not spent much of her career so far worrying about “leaning in.” Instead, she has mostly been hanging on, trying to find ways to get her career to accommodate her family life, rather than the other way around.

I’d been pondering the balance between career and family as I prepared my speech for the WIBA “Women of Achievement” breakfast last month.

Along with three other women (Denise Taylor, Danielle Gletow, and Barbara Hillier) I was “honored to be honored” at this event. Richard K. Rein, my ex-boss at U.S. 1, wrote an “outsider” column about it, outsider because he was a man at a predominently female gathering. Rich comments that Hillier was the one who put the career balance thing in context. She used the familiar Ginger Rogers metaphor (does everything that Fred Astaire does, but backwards and in high heels) but it is oh so true.

In the ’60s, ’70s, and even ’80s, women did not have so many choices as we do now. But living with limited horizons can be easier. Each of us must find her own way.

Marion Reinson — whom I know from the chamber program committee and the former Einstein Alley Entrepreneur’s Group — wrote a sweetly complimentary account of the WIBA awards breakfast. I posted it on my personal blog for my grandchildren to read someday.

It’s more difficult than you’d think to be praised in public, but it was a truly wonderful event, planned to be specially nice from the table decorations to the engraved Simon Pearce glass bowl that the honorees received.

So here is the ultimate thank you to everyone on the committee, printing all the names: Elizabeth Hampton (chairperson), Brenda Ross-Dulan (emcee), Lorraine Holcombe (chamber liasion), plus Mary Betz, Dale Blair, Donna Bouchard, Jodi Brigman, Carol Einhorn, Michelle Everman, Robin Fogel, Danielle Gletow, Meg Helms, Judy Hutton, Heather Kumor, Nicole Lyons, Jane Mahon, Eileen Martinson, Susan Mullin, Helen Okajima, and Lucia Stegaru. You did a great job!

And while I’m at it, the sponsors were Wells Fargo, jasna Polana, WithumSmith+Brown, PNC, MacLean Agency, Fox rothschild, Lindt Chocolates, and Monday Morning Flower & Balloon Co. Thank you all again.

Glenn Paul: From dotPhoto to the Digital Divide

Business, Technology & Innovation

Every time I wrote or edited a U.S. 1 story about Glenn Paul, we said he was a serial entrepreneur. In the latest U.S. 1 cover story on Paul, by Michele Alperin, he insists that he’s just a computer guy who has had to change with the technology. He has a good cause, and she’s written a good story.

Hotel Mavens: Rabon and Kunz

Around Town, Business

Two women who know a thing or two about treating hotel guests well — Lori Rabon and Deborah Kunz — will have their say in the next couple of days. Rabon is being honored, deservedly so, for her unstinting dedication to the cause of Princeton’s tourism community. She chaired the CVB, the moniker for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, for the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce, for 10 years. She is also the general manager of the Nassau Inn in the heart of Palmer Square. Well done, Lori — and continued success with the hotel. A reception in her honor is on Thursday.
Kunz is the former customer service manager at the Hilton Hotels, and her topic is — yes, customer service. She speaks at the Princeton Regional Chamber breakfast on Wednesday, June 19, at 7:30 a.m. at the Nassau Club.
Some Princeton retailers do very well on customer service; I will leave the rest unsaid. But we can all pick up tips. About 10 years ago I remember interviewing a speaker who implored Princeton retailers to join together in marketing — not just their own enterprise — but the Princeton region as a whole. Do you have a tourist in your store? Offer sightseeing tips. A good “insider” tip is the photo opp by the Einstein statue, or the Einstein exhibit at Landau’s.
And did you ever offer to get behind the tourist’s camera? Someone at Landau’s did that, took my camera to get a photo of my granddaughter and me and earned a soft spot in my heart for at least 4 years. That’s customer service.
annie at landaus<a

Karen House with Alice Barshaw

Karen House with Alice Barshaw

Karen House (right), former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, with Alice Barshaw, on the staff of the Princeton Regional Chamber. Karen spoke at the chamber on June 6.

Not Just Old White Men

Business, Dance and the other arts, Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

Image

That someone in the Medici family had African heritage may come as a surprise, but that’s what we learn in Revealing Presence in Renaissance Europe, on view through Sunday at the Princeton University Art Museum. When Alessandro de Medici, the out-of-wedlock son of Pope Clement VII and an African maid in the Medici household., became the Duke of Florence, there were no full-face portraits of him. Contemporary portraits showed him with a hood. After his death the portrait was painted that hangs on banners all over campus to promote the exhibit. Look here for an intriguing art history puzzle, about the picture next to it. The label on the picture reveals the sad fact that Alessandro was no popular favorite, “tyrannical,” is the word they use.

It’s definitely worth trying to get there before this exhibit closes on June 9. And it makes an intriguing juxtaposition to the four walls of shoulder to shoulder portraits of Old White Powerful Men, the former portrait collection of the New York Chamber of Commerce.  J. Pierpont Morgan, William H. Vanderbilt,  Grover Cleveland — these portraits are fascinating because the  personality of each man shows through.

This exhibit has a different title from the one I used, but the bottom line is — that when the need for diversity came along, i.e. the idea  that women and people of other races might possibly be admitted to the great halls of business, the paintings needed to go. As the New York Times review says, “old white men did not fit in with the chamber’s commitment to diversity. ” They are now owned by Credit Suisse and on view in Princeton through June 30.

If you think that in 2013 nobody makes politically incorrect comments about race, or gender, think again. Today in the racing column of the New York Times, in a discussion of a filly that will run in the belmont, a veterinarian was quoted as saying, “It takes a special filly, one that is willing to stare down the boys and say, ‘No this one is mine.’  It’s so much about personalities and intimidation when these horses match up. I think it’s the same reason women don’t have as much, and the same kind of success, as men in the workplace.”

I would be more outraged, except that the person quoted was a woman.

Chris Kuenne: Secrets of His Success

Business, Technology & Innovation, , ,

kuenne talks

A year after he sold his company, Rosetta, for more than $500 million dollars, 13 years after he founded the firm, Chris Kuenne began grooming his successor, and at the 15 year mark he is now, basically, “emeritus.”

He’ll begin teaching High Tech Entrepreneurship in the fall, and he spoke to an SRO group, without notes, as part of the reunion activities for the Princeton Entrepreneurs Group. Continue reading Chris Kuenne: Secrets of His Success →

Orange and Black Entrepreneur: Chris Kuenne

Business, Technology & Innovation, , , ,
Chris Kuenne
Chris Kuenne

Chris Kuenne was one of my favorite interviews in 2010.  He founded Rosetta 15 years ago and sold it to Publicis for $575 million three years ago. He will speak at the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club reunion event on  Friday, May 31, 11 to 12:30 p.m. at the Mathey College Common Room.

Kuenne graduated from Princeton in 1985 and will follow  Ed Zschau, in teaching the university’s very popular (highly competitive)High Tech Entrepreneurship class.

Read about the university’s success in commercializing technology in the cover story of this week’s U.S. 1  Newspaper.