SPACES Davis Square.

A free pilot mentorship office hours event for Somerville’s aspiring and existing entrepreneurs and business owners and operators to receive advice from experienced business professionals, entrepreneurs and investors will be held 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 27, at SPACES Davis Square, 240 Elm Street, Somerville (entrance on 54 Chester Street; take elevator to 2nd floor).

Bring your questions on business concept, start up, or funding or on retirement and financial planning.  We will have experienced mentors on hand to answer those questions. Office hours attendees can participate in a one-on-one 15-minute conversation with the mentors at the event.

Scheduled Mentors

Ben Holmes is the CEO of AERONAUT, researcher of biotechnology and machine learning at MIT & the Broad Institute, and board member of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce. Much of his recent work has related to permitting, community development and growth strategy to develop a stable business in the city of Somerville positioned for growth elsewhere. In his capacity as a mentor, he aims to help startup entrepreneurs understand and surmount the hurdles of founding and growth, ranging from funding their projects to achieving positive outcomes with government and regulatory bodies.

Jessica Manganello is the corporate attorney and legal structuring guru for New Leaf Legal, a flat fee firm that provides corporate and IP services to emerging and small businesses and artists.  She loves everything from helping businesses design their initial corporate structuring, through their expansion and growing pains, all the way to developing their exit strategies. Her firm particularly enjoys working with socially/sustainably minded businesses using experimental new models and cementing new core values into the old tried and true models.

Rod Laurenz is an independent wealth advisor providing custom, objective guidance and planning strategies to individuals/families, small businesses, and non-profits — helping them pursue their long-term financial goals and dreams.   With a Bachelor’s degree in Biosystems Engineering (cum laude), an MBA in Finance from Michigan State University, a love of helping people, and nearly 20 years of experience as a Financial Advisor, Rod provides individualized investment portfolios and seasoned advice.   For more than ten years, Rod has been teaching investment classes including “Fundamentals of Investing” at the Boston Center for Adult Education and “Retiring Well in a Low-Rate Environment” at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

Andrew Lynn is a Massachusetts attorney offering legal services to individuals, small businesses, design professionals and innovation entrepreneurs. Andrew has done legal work for multinational software companies, the ACLU and the Massachusetts Land Court. In private practice, Andrew has executed projects ranging from individual wills, to drafting of contracts for employment, intellectual property licensing, and business acquisitions, to technology company mergers and acquisitions. Andrew is a graduate of the Northeastern University School of Law. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Architecture degree from Syracuse. Before entering the legal profession, Andrew worked as an architectural designer in New York and Boston on a range of commercial, K-12 and higher education projects.

Program notes

This program is intended for informational and advice purposes only. Sessions with a mentor are not to be used for sales or marketing purposes. Should you and an adviser identify opportunities to collaborate, those engagements should be managed outside of our Mentorship Program. The Somerville Chamber’s goal is to improve the success rate of small businesses throughout Somerville by offering mentorship services.

https://business.somervillechamber.org/events/details/mentorship-program-1274