Lean Organisation is the first event of Tech Startup School 2011 (TSS11) - see the overview web page for more details, discounted tickets and ticket information.

Lean Organisation will help you:

understand what 'lean startup' means

bootstrap initial activities, with limited funds and resources

form and organise an initial team

It is for aspiring and current entrepreneurs, as well as anyone else who wants to learn more about the business of innovation.

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Help shape the future of business support.

This FREE workshop is an informal exploration of the needs for and availability of business support for tech companies in the Bristol and Bath region.

Many organisations offer a wide range of business support services. But do those services really match the current needs of tech companies - and how can those companies find the services that can best help them?

In this workshop two leading local support organisations will present their plans for their activities, and ask for your feedback and suggestions. A new web service (www.businessnavigator.org.uk), being set up by the West of England LEP to improve access to local business support, will also be presented and discussed.

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Cloud computing for business - we've all heard about it, but few people have a comprehensive knowledge of this rapidly developing field.

It brings not just potential benefits, such as low initial cost and flexibility, but also risks.

There is a wide a range of exciting commercially-available cloud applications.  But it is not always clear how to select, integrate and use these to maximise business benefits.

This BEN workshop follows on from the recent BEN Cloud Share event in Bristol and will focus on sharing experiences and knowledge of business cloud computing in a collaborative and informative way.

Salman Malik will demonstrate Bristol-based Brightpearl's solution for small businesses and will give his views on the pros and cons of cloud for business based on his extensive experience in software companies. Nigel Hamilton will then talk about his experiences using Amazon Web Services to provide a highly scalable platform for his search engine Turbo10, and will discuss what AWS can offer other businesses.

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The team is the business.

But recruiting, motivating and retaining a talented team, especially in an innovative business, is a major challenge with no easy answers.

The expert speakers at this BEN networking event will present insights, views and case studies to illustrate how this can be achieved.

Two of our speakers - John Grinham and Neil Douglas - have founded and grown technology companies and they will explain how they successfully built their their teams, and what they learned from doing so.

Andrew Morgan Jones will review the pros and cons of different remuneration and share options. He will discuss how to put together a mix of elements that gives an acceptable cost for the employer, is highly motivating for employees and yet is tax efficient and simple.

The event will help delegates build up their understanding of the team building challenge and solutions to it, and they will also make valuable contacts to take their business ambitions forwards.

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This event is for anyone who uses or is considering using cloud computing in business, and wants to know how to exploit its full potential.

Many people in business have now used some cloud applications and have learned a lot from doing so.  But few have broad experience across a range of applications, or of how to integrate them.

The focus of this event will be on sharing experiences and knowledge in a collaborative and informative way.

Professor Dave Cliff of the University of Bristol will give an overview of commercial cloud applications and their use in business. He will highlight areas of challenge and possible solutions as well as reviewing real-world examples of businesses operating their IT in the cloud. For the curious amongst you there may even be a little future gazing!

Martin Coulthard will present how Science City Bristol/BEN is moving its operations into the cloud (click on diagram above for details), and what we are learning from this.

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BEN Investability is a one-day event for entrepreneurs, investors and anyone else with an interest in the funding of early-stage technology businesses.

It will highlight the areas of knowledge and capability that entrepreneurs need in order to be ready to effectively seek investment, that investors require to make investments that will achieve their objectives, and will provide relevant information, guidance and signposting.

It will also give an update on grants and support that are available to help tech businesses, and will highlight the upcoming opportunities at Venturefest Bristol later in 2011.

This event will be held in Building 3 on the prestigious HP Labs site in Bristol - detailed directions can be found here.

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An exploration of why a focus on environmental sustainability can be good not just for the planet but also for profits.

Environmental sustainability is often considered to be a 'nice to have' issue for companies, rather than a top priority.  But it can bring real business benefits such as improved brand, increased sales and cost reductions.

This event will highlight where entrepreneurs have found that environmental and commercial opportunities align.  It will also identify the key local organisations that can support businesses in becoming sustainable, as well as commercially successful.

A workshop session will allow delegates to share and explore their own views on where the win-win opportunities lie.

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Apps are becoming an integral part of modern life for consumers. How can they also be used to achieve business objectives?

The potential of mobile apps for business is only starting to be explored.  They offer a fresh channel to engage, communicate with, market and deliver services to individual customers or partners - wherever they may be.

This event, run jointly by BEN and openMIC, will explore what businesses are already doing with apps and the benefits they are achieving.  It will highlight the opportunities for app developers and will offer insights into how this sector will develop in the future.  Our speakers have a wealth of experience from which to give examples that illustrate their views. 

The event also includes a demonstration of the exciting Layars augmented reality app, using locally-developed content.

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This BEN networking event explores the journey faced by an innovative business to identify the optimum market segment for a new product or service, and the best route to sell to that segment.

When it introduces an innovative product, a business typically faces a period of uncertainty during which it researches, explores and tests a range of marketing options, in order to find the 'sweet spot' market and a way to access it.  This event aims to clarify the nature of this process in order to help entrepreneurs and managers complete it more quickly and with a greater likelihood of success.

The event boasts a panel of inspirational speakers with a range of relevant experience.  They will provide valuable insights into this process, anecdotal evidence of success and lessons learned as well as identifying support resources. This event promises to connect, inform and inspire in true BEN style.

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This free BEN networking event celebrates the re-launch of BEN as part of Science City Bristol Limited - a non-profit company that is a joint venture of leading local organisations supporting science and technology.

The two executive directors of Science City Bristol Limited, Martin Coulthard and Lorelei Hunt, will explain how the new business operates and talk about the activities that we are planning - for BEN, Science City Bristol and Venturefest Bristol 2011.

The event also showcases 2 other important new initiatives that are relevant for local technology business:

SPark (the Bristol and Bath Science Park), which is now being constructed in Emerson's Green and is due to open in mid-2011. 

the iNets South West (Innovation Networks) - the iNets support businesses in turning ideas into new products and services. They do this by providing access to specialist information and research, linking businesses to new markets and through sharing knowledge and expertise.  iNets South West are supported by £13 million of funding from the South West RDA, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and partner investments. They will run from mid 2010 to 2013.

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