On December 15th, more than 200 business and community leaders from the Greater Lansing region and beyond gathered in East Lansing’s Dublin Square Irish Pub for LAUNCHED 2011, the region’s premier celebration of local and regional business innovation. Nicholas Creative was a Gigabyte sponsor and assisted in organization of the third annual event.
LAUNCHED 2011 once again honored emerging business innovators and student entrepreneurs by presenting the Innovator of the Year awards. This year's award went to Jeff Siarto and Allie Osmar of LoudPixel, a social media monitoring company located in East Lansing’s Technology Innovation Center. The event also acknowledged the success of efforts to foster small business development in the area like East Lansing’s Technology Innovation Center, MSU Technologies and Lansing’s recently inaugurated NEO Center.
Special guest speakers provided their insights and commended the region for its efforts. Organizers of the event were pleased to have a business innovator from outside the region speak this year. Bo Fishback, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Zaarly delivered the keynote address. Fishback offered insight on how his upstart online marketplace launched during Startup Weekend in Los Angeles, created unsurpassed media buzz and has garnered multiple millions in venture funding to date. Fishback also emphasized that the right team of people can accomplish any task, especially in the new, fast paced business climate.
Joining Fishback were Min Jung Kim, deputy director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and Ted Serbinski of Detroit Venture Partners who spoke about culture’s impact on local business and venture capital, respectively.
Guests were greeted with appetizers, drinks, networking opportunities and live entertainment.
Sponsors of the event included the City of East Lansing Downtown Development Authority, Dublin Square Irish Pub, Netvantage Marketing, Nicholas Creative, Truscott Rossman, Anytime Fitness Haslett, CG Financial, City of East Lansing Downtown Management Board, Comprehensive Psychological Services, Digital Active, Good Fruit Video, Great Lake’s Entrepreneurship Quest, Hogg Investments, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, Lansing Regional Smartzone, Leap Inc., Liquid Web, Retro Duck, Robot Couture and Wild Goose Inn.