The officers’ push to connect all lifetime members of the Entrepreneur Society is off and running. We recently set up a group on LinkedIn, and all Class of 2010 & 2011 members have been invited via their McCombs email addresses. If your McCombs address is not linked to LinkedIn, then you’ll have to join the old fashioned way—submit a request to join directly in LinkedIn. Just search for the group called “Entrepreneur Society.”

In the day and a half since we invited ES alumni from around the world, over 200 additional lifetime members have joined!!! Don’t take these new connections for granted; be active within the group!

When: Wednesday, Feb 17^th 2010

Time: Panel of Previous Winners: 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Finals Presentations: 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.

Where: Legacy Events Room

We have quite a few McCombs students (and ES members) that have moved onto the finals of Moot Corp.  Congratulations to MBAbenchmark, Ordoro, Solavicta, and Mentionables!  Come here about their great business plans and offer your support at the next round.  Additionally, a panel of previous winners of Moot Corp will be answering questions and speaking about their experience after winning this prized competition.  Find more information on the later rounds of Moot Corp and a panel of previous Moot Corp winner at the Moot Corp website: www.mootcorp.org/TXMC.asp

I am very excited to announce that the new ES Board has taken over for the 2^nd years.  A huge thank you to Naruby and the rest of the board for their excellent work and setting the bar so high.  The new ES Board is very excited for the upcoming year and we welcome all suggestions and feedback.  Feel free to reach out at luke.jones@mba11.mccombs.utexas.edu

Luke Jones

If you missed tonight’s election, you missed a lot. Great speeches, great food, and a down-to-the-wire race for VP. In fact, the vote for VP was so close, we went back home to perform a thorough recount and we confirmed that there was a tie. Realizing we have no formal tie-breaking rules in place, we feel it is a fair decision to honor the tie. Plus, with all of the plans announced tonight there will be plenty of work for the future board!

We are very happy to announce the new board with six new Vice Presidents! Please join me and the outgoing officers in congratulating your new board members:

The Pitch Party was a lot of fun!  This year we had a lot of interest from investors including Gary Hoover (Hoover’s) and Jamie Rhodes (Central Texas Angel Network).

Thanks to Sonia M. Honne-Gonzalez and Esther Osborn and the rest of Plus Program Office staff for their help with all of the party logistics.  Also, thanks to HomeAway for their generous sponsorship of the event.

** Anyone can sign up for this so come up with an business idea (real or not, product or service) and sell it to the mock investors!! Top three folks with the most fake money at the end of the night walk away with some cool cash! Look for it in the Fall 2010.

Congratulations to the winners of the Pitch Party!

#1 Prize ($1250)                  Perry Nelson

#2 Prize ($750)                    Jeff Harbach

#3 Prize ($500)                    Kathleen Voboril

HomeAway Honorable Mention ($500)    Cam Houser

Click here for complete set of pics from the Pitch Party

First ES members only mixer of the 2009-2010 year. We floated up and down the Colorado river on a perfectly warm clear night with drinks in our hands among good company. Even the bats streamed out of the Congress bridge to give us a show.

Click here for the complete set of pics from the night.

First and second year UT MBA students, be sure to register for the 2009 Entrepreneur Society Boat Cruise!

Float along the river and soak in the views of downtown Austin while meeting  entrepreneurially-minded students from both classes. Additionally, the cruise is a great opportunity to learn more about the Entrepreneur Society and all of our upcoming events, including the Pitch Party and Start Up, Meet Up.

Registration is done online through the McCombs Community Calendar. Please see the exact details below:

DATE: Thursday, August 27th
TIME: 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
LOCATION: Capital Cruise Dock @ the Hyatt Regency Hotel (208 Barton Springs Road)
** Adult beverages & water will be provided.

Gary Marino (CEO of BillMeLater.com) came to Austin to speak to McCombs MBA’s about his experience selling his company to eBay for $1B.

Click here for more photos of this fantastic talk!