Being your own boss is potentially one of the most rewarding and liberating experiences. However, passion and a great idea are not enough to guarantee success; the likelihood of achievement is significantly enhanced with deliberate forethought and planning. When Elaine Dickson embarked on her entrepreneurial journey it was in response to an unpleasant and unexpected life event. Looking back there are critical enablers that could have made her startup journey less bumpy. Join us as Elaine shares her story and some of the building blocks that were crucial to her success.

Join us for a Startup Story featuring Ian Estaphan Owen, Co-Founder of Jaia Robotics! Startup stories showcase local innovators, startups and small businesses with their own session dedicated to sharing what they've learned with the Venture Café Community.

Suraj Sait and Morgan Prior currently intern at Marstone, Inc., a leading provider of digital investing solutions. During their internship, they chose to analyze trends in user behavior related to risk tolerance questionnaires using a variety of statistical tools. Using their analysis, they then explored classification of users by persona and built a predictive model for classifying users by risk level. In this presentation, Suraj and Morgan will highlight their key findings, as well as the data science concepts which underpin them.

USEFULL is on a mission to help colleges, corporate offices, campuses, and communities design plastic out of the day-to-day, starting with single-use cups and containers. USEFULL is a Boston-based circular solution that partners can implement. USEFULL provides the technology and inventory - returnable stainless steel cups and containers - to take the place of single-use to-go options. Watch the recording of their story below!