Our 2nd Incubator boot camp kicked off on February 10th at Galvanize, an incredible community of developers, data scientists and entrepreneurs in San Francisco. Galvanize serves as a startup ecosystem focused on collaboration, connection and education to facilitate and grow emerging companies. Yodlee Interactive selected this forum to inspire and drive disruptive thinking. In this previous blog post, Jeff Cain, Director of Ynext Incubator, shares the journey from boot camps to demo day. Our 1st incubator boot camp in November 2014 included 3 days of interactive sessions at Intersection for the Arts plus 2 days of technical support at the Yodlee headquarters. In this blog, we’d like to share highlights from our 2nd boot camp. Below is a list of presentation topics and speakers:
- Design thinking and user interaction: Rose Figliano, RXF Lab
- Financial institutions and digital innovation: Jamie Armistead, Bank of the West; Neff Hudson, USAA; Brian Shenson, Charles Schwab; John Stewart, RBS; Kurt Kicklighter, McKenna Long & Aldridge
- How to sell: Rebecca Cooper, Grant Thornton; Felipe Daguila, Everis Consulting; Dan Shapiro, Wells Fargo
- How to tell a great story: Deirdre Davi, Sterling Brands
- Fundraising: Steve Bernardez, Onset Ventures; Thomas Smythe, Core VC; Ron Weissman, Band of Angels
- Legal issues for startups: Chad Ensz, McKenna Long & Aldridge; Renzo Rocchegiani, McKenna Long & Aldridge
In addition to several presentations from experts, there were also team pitches from incubator companies, interactive brainstorming sessions on design and sales, as well as evening networking events at 25 Lusk and Lucky Strike. During Tech Day at Yodlee’s HQ, incubator companies showcased product demos of their websites and mobile apps. It was awesome to see that everyone is making progress with early mock-ups and working hard in preparation for demo day. We’re certain that they will dazzle VCs on pitch day, coming up on May 27th! Tech Day included hack sessions with Yodlee technical teams comprised of solutions engineers, software architects and product managers who provided guidance to help companies with product roadmaps and financial apps. Our experts also showed previews of new technologies which incubator companies have access to – participating in early adopter programs and offering feedback for improvement. According to the Founder of Telito, “The investor panel at Ynext Incubator Boot Camp was excellent. In addition, the presentation on how to tell a great story was very insightful.” Throughout boot camp, we saw lots of buzz from companies about their experience on Twitter. Below are select tweets and photos. For more photos of speakers and incubator companies, view our Facebook album. Connect with us @YIDeveloper on Twitter with the hashtag #YNEXTIncubator for live updates! Are you interested in getting involved in upcoming events as a mentor, expert or investor? Feel free to contact Jeff Cain at JCain@yodlee.com with any questions.
