The Connected Entrepreneur - TiECON East 2024 Co-Chair Nithya Iyer Singh Shares This Year's Vision
“The theme of “The Connected Entrepreneur” is what TiE Boston exemplifies best.” With TiECON East 2024 just weeks away, today’s woman dreamer, entrepreneur and conference co-chair, Nithya Iyer Singh shares everything you need to know, including key advice to first-time attendees, the session she is most looking forward to, the unique aspects of this year’s TedX format conference, and what motivates her work in growing the Boston entrepreneurial ecosystem. An entrepreneur herself, she also reflects on how she is combining her passions for science, technology, and business to support budding entrepreneurs with new venture, 2123 Frontiers. Don’t miss her inspiring interview with Women Who Win and learn how you can be a part of this transformative event.
You are an entrepreneur, angel investor, and biotech professional. You have recently co-founded 2123iX which is the parent company of 2123 Frontiers. 2123 Frontiers is focused on creating a platform to promote early-stage entrepreneurship. This year, you have taken on the exciting role of co-chair of TieCon East 2024, which is just weeks away on September 13th. What motivates you to foster entrepreneurship in the community, and what aspect of the co-chair role have you enjoyed the most thus far?
I have combined my passion for science, technology and business in creating a platform to promote early-stage entrepreneurs through my company 2123 Frontiers. This passion permeates into the theme we have chosen for TiECon East where the sessions are targeted towards helping entrepreneurs as they go through their entrepreneurial journey from company creation around a core technology, to marketing and growing the company, raising funds to support the company goals and then finally exiting the business either through a sale, an IPO or some other creative avenue which meets the goals of the company and it’s employees. In terms of my role as co-chair, what I have enjoyed most is working on building the content. We have an amazing team of session chairs and co-chairs who have helped weave meaningful journeys in each session and I have really enjoyed this collaborative and creative process.
2. "The Connected Entrepreneur" is a very timely theme for this year's conference, as it reflects the strong role that networking and collaboration have in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. How did the team decide on this theme, and what does “The Connected Entrepreneur” mean to you?
The theme of “The Connected Entrepreneur” really resonated with the organizing team as it is what TiE Boston exemplifies best. We are a very connected community, and we have all had opportunities to leverage these connections in our entrepreneurial endeavors. This year we have TiE NY and TiE Toronto also participating in the conference. We wanted the conference to be a means for the entrepreneurs in the Northeastern part of the US, the greater NY and Toronto areas to meet over a day, get inspired by our speakers, network and make meaningful connections and explore collaborations.
3. What advice would you give to first-time attendees? As an entrepreneur yourself, what is your top tip to them in becoming “connected entrepreneurs”?
Try to meet as many people as possible and follow up on any leads that may be generated. But one needs to show up first and register to attend the conference.
4. With the introduction of a TEDx-style format, a lightning round, and the collaborations with TiE New York and TiE Toronto, this year’s conference is shaping up to be quite different. What excites you about these changes, and how did you and your team work to differentiate this year’s TiECON East from past conferences?
Bhaskar Panigrahi who is my partner in chairing the conference and I felt strongly on the TEDx style format for the speakers. We have such an exciting line up of speakers, we wanted their message to be communicated undiluted to the audience. We also wanted to channel the energy of having our 500+ attendees all in one room, again providing more opportunities to form connections. In terms of TiE NY and Toronto, we are very excited about their participation, this is new for TiECon East. Not only do we expland the reach of TiECon East by including attendees from these geographical areas, we also have companies pitching and speakers coming from our partner chapters.
5. With such a diverse lineup of sessions at this year's TiECON East, which one(s) are you personally most excited about, and is there a particular session(s) you would recommend attendees not miss?
This will be a biased answer. I am a technologist at heart, so I will recommend the Emerging Tech: Reshaping Entrepreneurship session where we have very powerful speakers such as Anantha Chandrakasan, the Dean of the School of Engineering at MIT talking about the Technology Revolution, Sam Kulkarni, CEO of CRISPR Therapeutics, who will be discussing the Future State in Healthcare Technologies and the potential of completely curing inherited diseases, to give you some examples. In terms of a must for the attendees, I think all of them all are a “must attend” since we have powerful tools and stories being shared in each of these sessions.
6. How can people sign up and purchase tickets? And, are there opportunities to still get involved in this year’s event?
Please visit tieconeast.com to register for the conference. You will find the entire agenda, session topics, links to speaker profiles and much more at this site. There is also a “Get Involved” tab where you can sign up to volunteer for the conference. You can also help by spreading the word and asking people in your network to attend. See you at “TiECon East” on September 13, 2024 at Sheraton Boston.
To learn more and purchase tickets, please visit the conference Website here www.tieconeast.com
Conference Agenda:
https://www.tieconeast.com/schedule-2024
How to Get Involved:
https://www.tieconeast.com/volunteer-2024