03-Retail Week: From Prototype to Manufacturing @ TechShop 6/24/16

Do you have an idea for a product but don’t know how to prototype it? Are you ready to move to the manufacturing stage and need to know what resources are available? Hear from experts in the Maker’s Movement—and get a tour of the new TechShop facility in Crystal City. Please arrive on time. If you arrive 15 minutes late you will not be able to attend the workshop. ** This workshop is made possible by the generous contribution of time and expertise by a CBP volunteer. Please respect our volunteer's time by arriving on time. If you are unable to attend the class, please notify us promptly. ****LOCATION: This event is held at Location: TechShop, 2110-B Crystal Drive, Arlington VA 2220**** OUR PANELISTS: -Kyle Barras Kyle currently serves as the Prototyping Services Lead at TechShop DC-Arlington and is primarily concerned with helping people understand and utilize technology with regard to rapid prototype production. A graduate of Virginia Tech's Chemical Engineering program, Kyle has always entertained the questions "Why" and "How" as applied to macroscopic impacts caused by microscopic change agents. Exploring creative solutions to complex problems is one of his major passions, and he attempts to fully connect with other makers in his search for a fully defined set of specifications and the potential corresponding solutions which surround a challenge. Relying on experience as both a Project Engineer with the Department of the Navy and a Dream Consultant at TechShop, Kyle meets with innovators and entrepreneurs to discuss physical and digital ideas with the intent of actually creating or building said ideas. These customer projects, which range from mass-produced stickers to high-altitude weather balloons, are often a person's lifelong dream or invention idea, and Kyle happily works to assist others in realizing these dreams. -Culin Tate Culin Tate is a serial entrepreneur who has demonstrated success in diverse industries. His educational background includes a BSBA in Economics and MBA from University of Maryland. Culin Tate’s first company CAT Controllers; designed, manufactured and sold advanced electronic control systems. Just before selling CAT, he co-founded MissNowMrs.com which monetizes a service which can be used by 90% of the 2.4 million annual brides in the US. Most recently, he has turned his attention to solving state charity registration filing obstacles for US nonprofits with SimpleCharityRegistration.com -Dr. Michael Mort Dr. Mort has been an Engineer, Entrepreneur, Novelist, and Attorney. He earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University. He turned that research into a product idea and started a software company, grew it during the 1990s, then negotiated the company's sale, and stayed on to preside over the merged organization for several more years before moving on. Throughout the lifecycle of his own company Dr. Mort used several advisors, some valuable, some not so much. He realized that advisors help the most when they can bring outside industry experiences to bear on issues the entrepreneur faces. So he became a business attorney and now serves as Legal Business Counsel to a number of small to medium sized businesses in Northern Virginia. He loves to use his education and experience to guide other entrepreneurs along the path from ideas to wealth through the planned monetization of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. -Evan Smith Evan Smith is an experienced corporate executive and an expert in intellectual property law. He led product development and production in three startup companies. As COO of a pioneering biometrics company, he managed international projects in Canada, Spain, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom. He founded a company that developed iris identification systems for clinics and hospitals, obtaining venture capital investments, implementing patent strategy, product development, manufacturing and sales strategies, and directing operations. The company was recognized on CNN and other media for developing a revolutionary biometric system that produced zero transactional errors in independent testing, used by major hospitals and clinics. Evan is an electrical engineer and has an MBA and JD, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University. Evan is an attorney at Cogent Law Group and was previously General Counsel for Autoscribe Corporation, a Partner at Greenberg Traurig, and Partner at Sixbey Friedman Leedom & Ferguson. -Paul Chin commercialization specialist, from the VA SBDC Network will be present to answer any questions on commercializing your products.

Speaker(s): Kyle Barras-TechShop, Culin Tate- SimpleCharityRegistration.com, Paul Chin-VA SBDC Network, Evan Smith-Cogent Law Group, Dr. Michael Mort-Argent Place Advisors

Registration is mandatory.

Fee: No Cost