The first Entrevestor Dinner will be held in the Fredericton area May 12, and we hope it will offer members of the startup community a chance to plan lasting improvements to the regional startup ecosystem.

Held with the assistance of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, the discussion-and-dinner event will feature working sessions in which participants will discuss ways to enhance the startup ecosystem. We didn’t think the community needed another dinner with a speaker, but there are serious issues facing the startup industry in the region. The Entrevestor Dinners seek to identify and address such issues.

The event will begin at 4 pm at the Kingswood Golf course with two discussions on topics that could greatly improve the development of regional companies.

First, Calvin Milbury, the CEO of NBIF, will lead a discussion on how to develop mentorship networks. PropelICT and the New Brunswick Business Council have already done great work on this brief. We want to look at what can be done to deepen the talent pool and to increase the spread of the mentorship base across the region.

At 5 pm, East Valley Ventures Chairman Gerry Pond will chair a session examining what can be done to encourage more early adopters.  What is the best way to encourage governments and large companies to adopt new technologies being developed in the region? Would an education program help?, or a registry of early adopters? Maybe a certificate recognizing and thanking early adopters?

The discussions will be followed by dinner at Sam Snead’s, the elegant dining room at Kingswood.

We are hoping the event will attract a roomful of people passionate about the startup ecosystem so that lively discussions will result in concrete proposals. We hope a few people will step forward to work on the proposals in the coming months. And Entrevestor will communicate the results to the broader community and look for feedback from across the region.

Tickets for the dinner at $75 each can be purchased here until May 8. Space is limited so we suggest you book early.

The Entrevestor Dinners are being held as part of the Entrevestor Intelligence series. This year, the series will include the publication of four Intelligence reports, each to be followed by a dinner. The first report has been written and is due out at the end of this month. We plan to hold an Entrevestor Dinner in each of the four Atlantic Provinces this year.

We’d like to thank our partners in the Entrevestor Intelligence series:  Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; Bonfire; East Valley Ventures; Innovacorp; New Brunswick Innovation Foundation; Nova Scotia Business Inc.; the Sobey School of Business;  Springboard Atlantic; and St. Mary’s University’s Masters of Technology, Entrepreneurship and Innovation program.