fnGlobal Keynote & Roundtables with Ian Collins (August 27, 2024)

Common startup wisdom suggests startup founders should focus less on chasing the next big idea and more on identifying a problem worth solving. For 30 years, serial entrepreneur Ian Collins has taken that guidance to heart. Across his impressive career, each of the seven tech startups he's founded has stemmed from a single, powerful source: a real-world problem that needed a solution.

In a fireside chat with Founders Network Founder and CEO Kevin Holmes on August 27, Ian will dissect his entrepreneurial journey, revealing the fascinating stories behind each of his successful ventures. From navigating the early days of mobile networks to developing solutions for the burgeoning chatbot revolution, Ian will showcase his ability to identify critical customer pain points across diverse industries.

Opening Remarks @ 9:30am PT

Join us for opening remarks with Dina Fattom, Member Success Manager at Founders Network, to get the latest updates from the Network and opportunities for getting involved.

Keynote Speaker @ 9:40am PT

Ian Collins is a seasoned entrepreneur with a passion for innovation & problem solving. Ian was most recently the founder and CEO of Wysdom.AI, one of the first AI evaluation solutions for the enterprise. Through his career Ian has founded 7 tech companies over the past 30 years by focusing on solving real problems in large markets.

After starting his career as an engineer in the telecom industry Ian’s entrepreneurial journey started in the 90s when cellular networks were emerging as a new technology and there was demand around the world for talented engineers. Then he applied that domain expertise to the emerging internet and founded a company to take the internet from the desktop to mobile phones. After that he solved a problem that the telecom industry had supporting smartphones as they took over the mobile device market. The next challenge was helping the mass market avoid the loss of digital photos and music before cloud storage was cheap and plentiful. Then most recently Ian saw that AI was going to need an independent evaluation framework and solved that problem for the enterprise contact center industry.

Ian invests in, mentors and sits on the boards of startups and is currently working on his next company.

Stage-Based Roundtables @ 10:30am PT

Community Partners:

Jeff Erickson

Jeff leads the Partnerships Team at Forecastr — a leading FP&A software company that helps startups create kick-butt financial models to impress investors, confidently raise capital, and effectively run their businesses better.

Jeff serves on the advisory boards of several startup companies and is an active angel investor. He's passionate about startups and enjoys working with founders and mentoring entrepreneurs.

Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur and was the founder and CEO of a successful consumer goods company that he rapidly grew from $1M in sales its first year to over $40M in annual revenue in its fourth year of operations and was ranked #138 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies.

Prior to founding his own company, Jeff was a partner at Beanstalk Partners where he led the sales and business development activities. He also served as the National Sales Director for a venture-backed tech startup where he generated over $45M in client contracts and developed the company’s channel partner program.

Jeff has a degree in accounting and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah. After receiving his MBA in Finance from the University of Utah he served as the Vice President of Investments for Sentry Financial Corporation.

Cathy Keeler

Cathy is the Managing Partner at FullScope Growth, a global consortium of elite Fractional Executives and Business Acceleration Partners that provide the exact combination of experts that organizations require.

She has cross-functional experience in sales, management, marketing and business planning, client services, network development and operations. Delivers strong results within highly competitive markets.

Guests Are Welcome!

Please bring a guest! Every member can bring one (1) guest to each event. Each guest must be a full-time tech startup founder so they can bring new perspectives, skillsets, and experience to your chapter.

All guests must be full-time tech startup founders and you can register them directly on this function page. See How to Register a Guest here.

Confidentiality Policy:

All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.