Panel: Controlling the Chaos

Panel: Strategies for Startups to Avoid Chaos and Burnout

 Many entrepreneurial CEOs/ Founders start with a great idea, full of passion and possibility, but as the company grows in people and revenue the chaos begins and what once was passion can become a burden. Our panel of experts will discuss strategies for helping early stage companies manage the chaos, focus on what’s important, and avoid burnout.

Moderator

Bill Taylor is Chief Marketing Officer for Reveel, a SaaS data analytics company in the logistics space.  Bill started his career as an Electrical Engineer and quickly moved into sales and marketing. For the last 30 years he has held executive positions in Sales, Marketing, and Strategy for SaaS technology companies ranging from early stage startups to multi-billion dollar companies. Previously he was  a fractional CMO for Chief Outsiders, a firm of over 100 corporate CMOs that serve mid-market companies to find their growth engines. Prior to Chief Outsiders, Bill served as CMO and SVP at Llamasoft, an Ann Arbor based Supply Chain software company. He has also served as a Strategy Executive for IBM.

Panelists

Patti Glaza is Executive Vice President & Managing Director of Invest Detroit, the most active early-stage investor in the state of Michigan. Patti joined Invest Detroit in 2014 with over 30 years of experience in the tech sector. Her primary responsibilities include sourcing and facilitating the development of early-stage and high-growth companies by providing guidance and investment capital. She engages in outreach activities supported by a diverse network of experienced entrepreneurs to support inclusion efforts to help ensure women and minority entrepreneurs are proactively mentored to build their high potential tech startups. Previously, she managed the Michigan office for Arsenal Venture Partners, a national venture capital firm focused on IT, energy, and industrial technologies. Patti started her career at Accenture, where she managed national teams of consultants for F500 companies. She earned a BA from Michigan State University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Mike Gruley, is the founder of 1 Vision Advisors, LLC.  He is a 35+ year entrepreneur and has successfully built several businesses from start-up to national scale.  Over the past three decades, Mike has contributed to several businesses and organizations, both national and international, as an owner, board member, or advisor.  He has been published/interviewed in various media outlets on industry topics and is also a public speaker. Mike is a Leadership Team Guide, and Certified EOS Implementer™ (Entrepreneurial Operating System™).  Having used EOS in his own companies, Mike now helps successful business owners, and their leadership teams, get “unstuck” and implement a simple, proven, organizing framework that enables them to get team clarity and alignment and go from chaos to control – to run their business again, instead of it running them.

David Townsend is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Troy-based Awecomm Technologies LLC. The Company, founded in 1999, specializes in technology consulting and IT Service Management. Awecomm is a pioneer in providing leading-edge IT management services, having re-invented the IT Service Delivery Model for the small/mid-market. David has more than 25 years of experience as a business and technology leader who drives innovative change. He has particular depth in connecting people, process, and technology to meet the demands of the business. David’s experience and expertise has been developed at both larger organizations like EDS, serving Fortune 500 clients around the world, and mid-size organizations like Plante Moran, where David helped to build and lead IT Services for the firm.  David earned his bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University and his MBA from Oakland University.    

Networking

Come join us in person to enjoy food and drink and conversation with members of the local startup community.

Featured Sponsor 

Office Evolution of Ann Arbor provides home-based businesses and remote professionals with private offices, conference rooms, co-working space and virtual business services.