Entrepreneurs will gather to hear fireside chats with top business leaders, enjoy multiple networking and engagement opportunities and hear startup pitches Nov. 3 at Entrepreneurship at Cornell’s Eclectic Convergence 2023.
The conference, which takes place at the Cornell Tech campus in New York City, will feature speakers sharing their personal stories and perspectives about the ways they built their brands and organizations. It will also include startup pitches from five companies with ties to Cornell or Cornell technology. Registration is still open.
Moderating the day will be Scott Belsky ’02, an entrepreneur, author and investor who is chief strategy officer and executive vice president of design and emerging products at Adobe; Greg Morrisett, the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost at Cornell Tech; and Zach Shulman ’87, JD ’90, director of Entrepreneurship at Cornell.
“Our speakers come from a broad range of businesses and industries, and they always share amazing entrepreneurial insights,” Shulman said. “The connections made at Eclectic Convergence have helped our attendees in countless ways, both professionally and personally.”
One of the featured speakers will be Heather Friedland ’99, chief product officer at Ancestry. Friedland said she plans to highlight the importance of hiring a strong leadership team, as well as creating “a culture and company environment steeped in psychological safety,” she said. “Enable each team member to ‘bring their whole selves’ to work, and the results will follow.”
Friedland, who was a communications major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has more than two decades of experience in product management at iconic companies including Glassdoor, eBay and Microsoft. She joined Ancestry in June 2019 as vice president of product for AncestryHealth, responsible for the health product vision and strategy.
Over the years, Friedland said she’s discovered that the best product thinking comes from a team of cross-functional contributors.
“The PM’s job is to create a collaborative environment where the best ideas can surface,” she said. “They don’t have to invent all of the ideas themselves, but they do need to identify the right ideas to work on based on all the inputs they receive. The best PM’s are humble enough to know this.”
Friedland was named one of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women of Influence for 2015.
Source: cornell.edu
Photo Credit: getty-images-mysticenergy
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