The new team will make an excellent addition to the school, and reflect our commitment to bring the best technologies to market.  Invictus has already had their first meeting this week and more details and information will come in the following weeks as these new student work their way through our program.

Instead of having PREE Corp speak at the August Idea Xchange and then again at the SATC Mixer, we’ve decided to combine the two events and will now be having our Idea Xchange at the SATC Mixer on September 2nd.

The SATC mixer is a HUGE event. Everyone is San Antonio comes out for the quarterly event, so we figured it would just be better to have PREE focus on that day when everyone can meet them. We know people are busy and may not be able to attend both events, so we’re going to stick with the bigger one.

So if you were wanting to meet PREE Corp and learn about how they’ve managed to become the only graduates from the UTSA Entrepreneurship Program to actually keep developing their company after they graduated and how thanks to IFS, they’ve now gotten $35k in seed money, then come on out the the SATC Mixer on Sept 2nd.

The SATC Mixer is in the San Antonio Technology Center building at 3463 Magic Dr, San Antonio TX 78229 on September 2nd, 2010. It starts at 5pm.

The Idea Finishing School is located inside a bright red building in San Antonio called the San Antonio Technology Center.

Each quarter, they have their own big shindig. The next one is the Fall Mixer, and it’s on September 2nd. These are normally pretty big affairs. They take up the whole downstairs of the building, with an open bar at each end, and have pretty good nibblies. People come from all over San Antonio to socialize and network. There’s always some interesting guest speakers and around the edges, other businesses will set up mini tables showing off their companies.

On Friday, I got a call asking about our August Idea Xchange with PREE Corp, and if PREE would also be available to appear at the September mixer. I said of course, they’d love to. (Then quickly called Rudy to make sure.)

So, it’s going to be a super exciting week for PREE. They’ll be at the August Idea Xchange and then a few days later at the SATC Mixer.

So if the end of Summer and all the partying that goes with it is getting you down, get your social on by coming out to see the Idea Finishing School folks and the PREE Corp group at the August Idea Xchange and then at the SATC Mixer.

This might be one of your last opportunities to say, “I knew them before they were famous”.

Joshua Sellers, Matthew Jackson, Amanda DeKay and Matthew Ellison, the foursome behind the new iPhone charger technology that means you never have to plug your phone in again will be the guest speakers at the August Idea Xchange.

PREE Corp are graduates of UTSA and are current students of the Idea Finishing School. Rudy De La Garza initially discovered PREE Corp when he was a judge at the The 100k Venture Startup Competition at UTSA. They didn’t get first place, but Rudy thought they should have, so he immediately talked to them about the Idea Finishing School. Rudy could see the massive potential of the group. They had a great product and the group worked well together.  PREE has already raised some seed capital through IFS and has many more investors and distributors wanting to talk to them.

PREE Corp are currently working on perfecting their marketing pitch and would love to get your feedback on their product at the Idea Xchange.

The Idea Xchange will be on Wednesday August 25th, starting at 4pm

3463 Magic Dr, suite 245
San Antonio, TX 78229

RSVP Here at Twtvite

or below in the comments.

Last week, Matthew Jackson decided that PREE needed a website. Well, it was decided a few weeks ago, but Matt decided it was time they actually made one. It didn’t have to be pretty, but they needed something up. Eventually, PREE will have a couple of sites, like most corporations do. One for the public to see the products, then a corporate site so people can see more about the actual corporation.

So, PREE Corp is now online. There’s not much info on there yet, but we’re working on it. Every site has to start somewhere. In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be teaching Matthew how to make sure it’s SEO’d properly, we’ll be working on the blog and adding all kinds of content. So make sure you have a look over there and see how they’re growing.

So, when the Flicks and Food website became available, we all discussed whether someone should grab it and what could be done with it. Really, we were most interested in acquiring it so we could eat out and write off our lunches as a business expense… We did think it may be interesting to get it and see what we could do with it. It had been owned by Robert, a guy I shared space with at my last gig and who had also worked with Dean at Ideagin. After much deliberation, it was bought and we all started eating out and taking pictures to upload to the site. I was put in charge of moving stuff around and making it more user friendly. Marie and I discussed how to streamline the site, getting rid of all the superfluous stuff that we weren’t interested in keeping up on. Whenever anyone actually eats out, it’s my job to remind them to take photos.

During our weekly meeting yesterday, when we were wondering what other potential the site has, such as should it be just a San Antonio site, how do we make money from it, does anyone else log on, etc, we had the idea that maybe it should be run through the Idea Finishing School. I mean, why not? It’s a start-up. It’s technology. It has the potential to make money. It would be a great case study for us. We could then use it as the showpiece that we follow every week without worrying about infringing on another startups privacy. When talking about IFS students on the blog, I worry about revealing too much about a patent, or saying something before they’re ready to release that information. This way, we can really show people what’s going on inside the Idea Finishing School without messing some potential future Steve Jobs up. I know it’s nepotism, since we’re all here, but it’s a win-win for me! Plus, I don’t have to drive anywhere…

So, everybody say welcome to the newest IFS student, Flicks and Food. While you’re saying hi, run on over the the Flicks and Food site and check it out. There’s some interesting reviews, and we’ve made it super easy for you to submit you own review.

Who do you want to meet at the next Idea Xchange?

So far we’ve had lawyers, entrepreneurs, SEO and SMM and financial people giving a small presentation at the Idea Xchanges.

Who would you come and see. Tell us by name or industry. We’ll do our best to get them here. We may not be able to get Steve Jobs, but we can probably get Pat Condon.

The Idea Xchange is all about YOU. We want to make you successful. We want to know what are you need him in. Where are you struggling? Who do you need advise from? Who’s brains would you pick if you had them caught in a room for half an hour? Who would you love to be trapped in an elevator with?

Send us an email, leave a reply below in the comments or even tweet us @IdeaFS We just want to hear from you.

The Marketing Director position would be responsible for Marketing the Idea Finishing School as well as helping the start-ups going though the Idea Finishing School with their marketing needs. We are looking for someone who is willing to teach small business entrepreneurs how to effectively market their company.

The Idea Finishing School is a small business incubator helping start-ups. We are seeking someone with proven Marketing experience who can effectively target small business start-ups with potential and bring them into the Idea Finishing School. The Idea Finishing School has active investors looking to fund start-ups. We are looking for someone who knows how to reach out to these potential start-ups.

If you would be interested in the position of Marketing Director for the Idea Finishing School, or can recommend someone who would be a good candidate, please contact IFS CFO Rudy De La Garza.

Last week, I went through SEO, Social Media Marketing, Publicity, Personal Contact and any other way they can get their name out there.  It was good practice for me for the Idea Xchange on Wednesday. Today, they’re going over more paperwork with the lawyers.

Most days, Rudy De La Garza sits with them and discusses how to move forward with their corporation. My favourite week was when he created some conflict in the group by asking them why they had chosen each person to be in their current position, and if they really thought that everyone was right for that job. He was testing their strengths and loyalties to the group. I think they’re on the right track. As soon as Rudy left, they all arranged to go out to dinner together and discuss it. They did and came back the next week, as a team and stronger than ever.

Sometimes you need to be tested as a group. It’s much better to go through a rough patch before you go public. A couple meetings later, the group did re-arrange their alphabet soup of positions, but they’re still happy.

The group is moving along nicely. They’ve even had their first press release. Keep watching this space for more news on Pree Corp, or come meet the group in person. They’ll be at the Idea Xchange on Wednesday.

Sarah grew up in Australia and moved to the US in 2000. She literally grew up on television, where the show’s publicist also doubled as her chaperone, before moving into other fields of work. She’s spent time in restaurants, both front and back of house, worked at a racing stable, owned an IT services company, spent several years in marketing and promotions as well as Search Engine Optimization. Several other varied fields fell between, including teaching acting classes to kids and producing a web series.

After moving around and meeting people from so many industries, Sarah got a feel for what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to getting your name out there. More importantly, how people are taking that message when they receive it.

Sarah understands the importance of making a brand name. She understands that you want to be seen in a positive light. She also understands that not all publicity is good publicity, no matter what other people say.

Sarah Monahan will explain the truths and myths behind social media marketing, how to create a brand name, how to get people talking about you and how to make sure you keep a positive image.She will also discuss SEO and how it all works together.

Come meet Sarah Monahan and learn how to create a buzz for your small business at the June Idea Xchange.

Idea Xchange

Wednesday, June 30th 4-6pm

Idea Finishing School

3463 Magic Drive, San Antonio TX 78229

RSVP HERE.