Here’s what you missed at Forge’s first Business Breakthrough Session

Forge, Birmingham’s newest coworking space, had its first business breakthrough session for entrepreneurs looking to connect and learn from each other.  If you missed out don’t worry! I have the highlights for you here.

Business Breakthrough Session

Starting a business is hard-a lot harder than many entrepreneurs expect.  Whether through successes or failure, along the way entrepreneurs learn invaluable lessons.

Forge created their new Business Breakthrough Sessions to create a place for entrepreneurs to share the wisdom they’ve learned to encourage and connect with one another.

Given that Forge already serves as a hub for Birmingham’s startup community, these business breakthrough sessions are an awesome way to keep the ecosystem growing, learning, and innovating.

Today’s sessions featured Kasey Birdsong, CEO of Planet Fundraiser.  He shared the story of his company and a lot of lessons he learned along the way.

After Kasey spoke, a panel of other successful Birmingham entrepreneurs answered questions about how they made it to where they are.  These included Bham Now‘s very own Cindy Martin, Luke Allen of Occupational Health Dynamics, and Jeremy Carter CEO of Breakout Birmingham.

Nuggets of Wisdom

Kasey and the panelists shared a lot of tips-here’s the SparkNotes just for you:

Kasey Birdsong, CEO of Planet Fundraiser:

“Market validation is so important. Identify who will pay for your idea.  I found that churches loved my idea but wouldn’t actually pay for it.”

“Around our office we say ‘People buy painkillers not vitamins’ so find  the annoying problems consumers are dealing with and provide a solution.”

Jeremy Carter, CEO of Breakout Birmingham

“The best and hardest parts of businesses are people so it’s important to learn how to be a good leader for my team members.”

“The most important thing for growing our business has been listening to customer feedback and reviews.”

Cindy Martin, CEO of Bham Now

“Inspect what you expect.  I’ve found its very important to follow up and keep communicating what you expect to your employees.”

“Don’t buy into one liners like ‘fail fast’ and measure your success by client happiness not just revenue growth.”

Luke Allen, Vice President of Occupational Health Dynamics

“We strive for success by knowing our markets needs and building a great team that can take our product to the market.”

“My favorite part of this business is getting to provide technology that protect people like the CIA and the NYPD who are sacrificing their lives every day.  That’s what makes me enjoy my job.”

Giveaways and Biscuits

Not only did we learn these nuggets of wisdom, but they also gave away prizes!  From Forge t-shirts to a free month-long membership and day passes, these prizes made the early morning a little sweeter.

And did we mention they had free breakfast from Alabama Biscuit Company?

Don’t miss out on the next Forge Business Breakthrough session!

Stay tuned and follow Forge on Facebook to stay in the know!