Voices of Experience
Voices of Experience showcases working professionals talking to students about what it takes to succeed in a career. This program provides a great way for students to gain valuable advice, and gives employers the opportunity to spotlight their organization.
The CPDC Voices of Experience Series Presents:
INTERN TO FOUNDER: Picking the Right Place to Work Next Summer and What It Takes To Succeed
Featuring Matt Rogers, Founder and VP of Engineering, Nest Labs
Monday, October 22 - 6-7:30 PM
Peter/Wright, UC
Matt's presentation will cover the key skills & experiences which prepared him to join Tony Fadell in launching Nest Labs (http://www.nest.com). Prior to Nest Labs, Matt was responsible for iPod software development at Apple, from concept to production. He is passionate about mobile products, loves team building and rapid productization. Matt earned his BS and MS degrees from Carnegie Mellon University.
This event will be a ‘Camp Fire’ format, an open forum where the presentation’s agenda and content will be shaped and driven by questions from the audience. Seating is limited.
To register for this program, log onto TartanTRAK, click on ‘events’ (top menu bar), then the ‘workshops’ tab.
Previous Voices of Experience Speakers
The ROI of User Experience - An Interactive Conversation
Steve Johnson, LinkedIN
Wednesday, March 28, 7 p.m.
McConomy Auditorium, University Center
Many designers these days don't truly understand that simplicity is not a feature or buzz word, but a key element to designing a practical and marketable product. In this talk, Steve Johnson will give a quick high level overview of a product that is simple and has yielded significant revenue from that core attribute, and then go into some principals for designing with simplicity as a business metric in mind.
Presented as part of the CAOC - Creative Arts Opportunities Conference.
The Ups and Downs of a Start-Up: A True Story - College Prowler
Presented by Luke Skurman, CEO
Monday, February 27, 4:30-6:00 PM
McConomy Auditorium, University Center
The lecture will focus on the journey of coming up with the idea of College Prowler while Luke was a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon; finding classmates to become co-founders; writing the business plan in an Entrepreneurship course; pursuing the company full-time the day after graduating. Touching on raising capital, terminating co-founders, laying-off employees, changing business models three times and many other details that chronicle the ups and downs of real life start-up story over the past ten years. It's an exhilarating tale with many ups and downs.
Luke Skurman is the founder, president, and CEO of College Prowler Inc., publisher of student-written guides on more than 400 colleges across the country. He oversees investor relations, management, partnerships, product development, and overall strategy for the company. Luke has been named among the Top 20 entrepreneurs under 25 (Business Week, 2005) and the Top 30 entrepreneurs under 30 (Inc. magazine, 2006), and he was a finalist in Ernst & Young’s regional Entrepreneur of the Year competition in 2010.
Advice is for Winners: Seeking, Getting, and Using Advice
Wednesday, February 1, Connan, 4:30-6:00 PM
Speaker:
Raul Valdes-Perez (Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Vivisimo)