XSITE 2011: The Entrepreneurship Era. The Day in Pictures
Close to 400 people showed up to Babson College last Thursday for our flagship all-day event, XSITE: The Xconomy Summit on Innovation, Technology, & Entrepreneurship. This year’s conference focused specifically on what we’ve called The Era of Entrepreneurship, taking a look at a driving force in innovation and social and economic impact.
We kicked off the program with keynoter Desh Deshpande, founder of Sycamore Networks and chairman of A123 Systems. His address looked at the intersection of technological and social innovation as a big force in entrepreneurship and innovation. His talk helped set the tone for the day, which contained a mix of keynote addresses, chats with entrepreneurs, debates, panels, a ranting session, afternoon breakouts on cleantech, healthtech, and infotech, and a series of 12 early-stage startup pitches to end the day.
Beyond Deshpande, the day’s speakers included MIT’s Phil Sharp, Sage Bionetworks co-founder and president Stephen Friend, Gilt Groupe co-founder and chief merchandising officer Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, Edward Jung of Intellectual Ventures, the MIT Media Lab’s Pattie Maes, TripAdvisor founder and CEO Stephen Kaufer, FitnessKeeper co-founder and CEO Jason Jacobs, Spark Capital’s Todd Dagres, entrepreneur and investor Lee Hower, Marginize founder Ziad Sultan, serial entrepreneur Joe Chung, a crop of cleantech startup CEOs, healthtech company founders like Bob Fabbio of Whiteglove, and many, many more.
Xconomy editors Wade Roush, Greg Huang, and Luke Timmerman stepped in for a few sessions as moderators, but we also had John Landry, CNET’s Martin LaMonica, and Daniel Isenberg of Babson College.
Most of these speakers you can see below in photos, taken by Keith Spiro of Kendall Press (click on the images for larger versions). We hope you get a sense of the mix of content and speakers. Not pictured, however, is the much-buzzed-about rant that was rapped by Boston College professor and entrepreneur Drew Hession-Kunz before we all broke for lunch. Sorry if you missed it. Ask someone who was there, if you’re so curious.
Babson College president Len Schlesinger welcomes the audience.
Desh Deshpande, founder of Sycamore Networks and chairman of A123Systems, delivers his keynote on making an impact through innovation.
Phillip Sharp and Stephen Friend debate the merits of open source biology in a morning keynote chat.
Xconomy editor Greg Huang made it clear he was representing tech, and Gilt Groupe co-founder Alexandra Wilkis Wilson was repping fashion, in an entrepreneur chat.
Intellectual Ventures’ Edward Jung goes over a new approach to innovation on a large scale during his keynote talk.
TripAdvisor founder and CEO Stephen Kaufer talks to Xconomy’s Wade Roush about staying lean while growing.
Before breaking for lunch, Greenhorn Connect’s Jason Evanish tells Boston entrepreneurs that they need more swagger.
XSITE attendees got to grab some fresh air on their walk to lunch.
Xconomy’s Luke Timmerman moderated the afternoon healthtech track breakout on improving health and lowering costs.
CloudSwitch founder Ellen Rubin sits in on the IT Track Breakout taking a look at founders’ stories.
CNET’s Martin LaMonica moderated the cleantech breakout on energy transformations.
FitnessKeeper co-founder and CEO Jason Jacobs tells moderator John Landry why he went without an incubator.
Venture panel moderator Daniel Isenberg talks to Lee Hower and Jeanne Sullivan.
Todd Dagres of Spark Capital participated in a discussion of the social media bubble, among other things.
Shanker Sahai of Greenbean Recycle won the energy category in the startup Xpo.
Michael Raybman of WaySavvy took the IT Xpo prize for his online travel startup.
Moderator Katie Rae kept Xpo presenters to a strict three minutes, and Wade Roush measured audience applause with his iPad.
The audience clapped the loudest for Heather Keith of Strohl Medical during the healthcare segment of the Xpo.
Attendees moved over to Roger’s Pub at Babson for some end-of-day networking.
Author: Erin Kutz
Erin Kutz has a background in covering business, politics and general news. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Erin previously worked in the Boston bureau of Reuters, where she wrote articles on the investment management and mutual fund industries. While in college, she researched for USA Today reporter Jayne O’Donnell’s book, Gen Buy: How Tweens, Teens and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail. She also spent a semester in Washington, DC, reporting Capitol Hill stories as a correspondent for two Connecticut newspapers and interning in the Money section of USA Today, where she assisted with coverage on the retail and small business beats. Erin got her first taste of reporting at Boston University’s independent student newspaper, as a city section reporter and fact checker and editor of the paper’s weekly business section.
View all posts by Erin Kutz
