University Calendar

Three entrepreneurs will share their startup journey, including how they got started, overcame failure, landed funding, etc.

Why did Jason Vitug leave Silicon Valley, backpack around the world and then choose New Jersey as the location of his startup, Phroogal? How did Inbox Messenger recently raise $3.9 million in seed round funding? What is Futurestay, which recently closed its first round of funding, doing to disrupt the vacation rental market?

Featured entrepreneurs include:
Philip Kennard, CEO/CTO, Futurestay
Hani Shabsigh, co-founder, Inbox Messenger
Jason Vitug, founder and CEO, Phroogal

Event is co-sponsored with McCarter & English, and Montclair State's Residence Life.

Event is free, but you must pre-register at:
http://www.meetup.com/Montclair-Entrepreneurs/events/220633702/ 

Agenda:
6:00-6:45 p.m. Networking with pizza
6:45-7:00 p.m. Welcome and 1-minute pitches from the audience
7:00-8:30 p.m. Presentations by featured entrepreneurs, with audience Q&A

Directions and parking info:
http://www.montclair.edu/conferencecenter/campus_parking_directions.pdf

Join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram: #MSUmeetup and @FelicianoCenter

Speaker bios:
Philip Kennard is the CEO/CTO of Futurestay, which lets vacation rental owners create powerful e-commerce websites with cloud-based central management systems, instantly and free. He previously was director of Green Business Development. Philip has a degree in psychology and biology from the University of Virginia.

Hani Shabsigh is cofounder and CTO of Inbox Messenger, a design-centric messaging app that makes conversation personal again. Hani previously was the founder of Fun Factory Apps and a consultant at Deloitte Consulting. He was a first-place winner at Startup Weekend in Madison in March 2013. Hani has a bachelor's in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

Jason Vitug is an author, speaker and first-time entrepreneur as founder and CEO of Phroogal, a financial education startup harnessing collective intelligence to empower millennials to make better informed financial decisions. Jason worked in the financial services industry previously as vice president of marketing and business development in Silicon Valley. In 2012, he left his senior executive job to find his next challenge, which turned into a yearlong backpacking adventure through 20 countries. In 2013, he successfully raised over $78,000 through crowdfunding. Jason's been featured in Forbes, Inc. and Business Insider. His writings can be read on the Phroogal Blog, U.S. News and various personal finance websites. Jason has recently settled back to New Jersey full time and is establishing a coworking space in midtown Elizabeth. Jason has a bachelor's of finance from Rutgers and an MBA from Norwich University.