logo


Entrepreneurial Best Practices Series



Opportunity Recognition

Launch of the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition
and the Global Social Venture Competition


Tuesday, October 6, 2009
6:30-8:30pm
Andersen Auditorium - Haas School of Business


 

(AutoTB/Karns presentation available: pdf)

Please join us for the first workshop of the 2009-2010 Entrepreneurial Best Practices Series and the launch of the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition and the Global Social Venture Competition.  This session will focus on opportunity recognition. There are lots of opportunities out there - how do you know which one is right for you? This session will bring three entrepreneurs who have made their choices and have launched their companies. They will tell you how they found their opportunity and the decisions they made in starting their ventures. Many entered our business plan competitions - come hear why you should too.


FEATURED SPEAKERS

Kelly Karns

Kelly Karns
Co-Founder and CEO, AutoTB


Kelly and her team at AutoTB won first place in the 2009 Berkeley Business Plan Competition.  Founded in 2007, AutoTB is developing an innovative diagnostic test for tuberculosis for use in both developed and developing countries. More than one-third of the world’s population is infected with tuberculosis, and AutoTB’s automated sputum microscopy device improves upon current procedures by decreasing analysis time, increasing sensitivity and eliminating the human error present in current procedures. AutoTB has been successful in raising funds in several international business plan competitions and is in the process of advancing product development, securing IP and forming initial customer contacts.  
Kelly is also a graduate student in bioengineering at UC Berkeley where she is researching electrophoretic microfluidic systems that allow for rapid, analytical quantification of disease-specific biomarkers.  Prior to graduate school at Berkeley, Kelly completed an MPhil in bioscience enterprise from the University of Cambridge where AutoTB was conceived and incubated.



Antony Passemard

Antony Passemard
Co-Founder, ulteamail


Antony and his team at ulteamail were one of the eight finalist teams at the 2009 UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition and won the Adobe technology company prize. ulteamail provides a team collaboration platform which leverages the design of a personal email interface to foster communication among entire teams with great transparency.

Antony is a 2009 Full time MBA graduate from the HaasSchool of Business where ulteamail came to life. Prior to Haas, Antony was General Manager of Iniflux, a company providing services around network security and opensource software tosmall andmedium size companies in France. Antony improved revenue of Iniflux by 5 folds in less than 2 years, reaching cashflow positive after years of loss. He also spent four years as CTO and co-founder of Integrity, a Value added Reseller of Network and IT Security solutions. Antony is proud father of 2 little girls, 4.5 and 8 months old.



Jason Kibbey

Jason Kibbey
CEO & Co-Founder, PACT Apparel


Jason Kibbey is the CEO and co-founder of PACT Apparel.  PACT is an online apparel company offering design-driven, responsibly manufactured, premium organic cotton underwear connected to powerful social and environmental causes.  While working at Patagonia, he co-founded and served as Executive Director for Freedom to Roam, a non-profit initiative that brings together people, organizations and businesses to enhance and protect wildlife corridors and landscape connectivity in North America.  Before business school, Jason ran Defense of Place, a non-profit land conservation organization that works to assure parks, open space, and wildlife refuges stay protected in perpetuity. Jason has participated in the development of several successful early stage companies.  Jason was an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company, where he worked on turnaround and product strategies for high-tech companies. Jason graduated with degrees from UC Berkeley including Environmental Economics and Policy (B.S.) and Religious Studies and received his MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in May 2008.