Austin is no stranger to startups and innovation. Neither is Dell. While some may consider Dell just a hardware company, in the 1990’s they broke record after record with their trusted, reliable mail order computer business.
One thing that makes Dell a unique company is that the company, along with their CEO Michael Dell isn’t afraid of iteration, trying new things and moving on. That’s one thing that has made Dell successful time and time again.
Dell has an entire team dedicated to entrepreneurship, startups and innovation. The team is led, in part by Ingrid Vanderveldt the company’s entrepreneur in residence. Vandervelt is a respected serial entrepreneur, who lives by a mantra she calls the “triple bottom line of people, planet and profits”.
Vanderveldt is working on a new venture while simultaneously serving as Dell’s Entrepreneur in Residence. She is also keeping up with her current companies Green Girl Energy and the GLASS Forum (Global Leadership & Sustainable Success).
Back in June Vanderveldt came up with the idea for the Dell $100 million dollar Innovator’s Financing Fund. Vandervelt and the EIR board at Dell oversee the disbursement of the fund that’s helping startups in a variety of spaces. The fund’s first startup was Current Motor, a Michigan startup that is developing electric powered scooters.
Current Motors is using the financing from Dell along with Dell’s mentorship and other resources to create an e-commerce platform for their scooter business that can operate entirely on a mobile device the way shared biking apps and apps like ZipCar work today.
Dell will be on site throughout the entire conference. Representatives from their innovation team will be around to talk to entrepreneurs, founders and even investors about innovation and starting up. Members of their team will also hold office hours in the Dell Lounge which will be adjacent to the Startup Village. In the Dell lounge attendees will be able to hear more about Dell and their commitment to entrepreneurship, relax and get some work done.
Tuesday February 12th will open with a keynote from Vanderveldt, a highly sought after speaker in the startup and entrepreneurial world. She will talk about Dell’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship, her own journey in entrepreneurship which started in the 90’s and about being a woman entrepreneur. Her discussion will lead into, what’s looking to be one of our most popular panels, Kick Ass Female Founders from Everywhere Else.
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