Sam Blackman, Sc.B. ‘98
The Entrepreneur's Imperative
Joy, freedom, pain and suffering:
Lessons from a 21st-century software startup
Date: Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Time: Noon (yes, there will be pizza)
Room: Barus and Holley 190
Overview:
Sam Blackman '98 is the CEO and co-founder of Elemental Technologies, a video software startup company based in Portland, Oregon. In 2006, Sam took the leap out of corporate comfort to start his own company with a couple friends. Since then, there have been a few successes, more failures, and above all else the Brown mantra of "lifetime learning" fulfilled. This talk will focus primarily on the lessons learned about starting a company, with a sprinkling of Elemental's technology added for flavor. If the thought of working for someone other than the man (or woman) has ever crossed your mind, this is the talk for you. Lunch is included, so please bring your appetite as well as your curiosity!
Speaker Background:
As CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder of Elemental, Sam has grown Elemental into the leading provider of GPU-accelerated video processing solutions. Prior to co-founding Elemental in 2006, Sam specified and architected next-generation products as an IC design manager for Pixelworks. He spent time in China organizing the company's Shanghai design center and was responsible for a wide variety of functional blocks on six ImageProcessor ICs. Prior to joining Pixelworks in 2000, Sam held engineering positions at Silicon Graphics and Intel Corporation. Sam holds an M.B.A from University of Oregon, an M.S.E.E. from University of California at Berkeley and a B.S.E.E. from Brown University in Providence, RI. While he's not as active as before Elemental and his two toddlers, Sam is an avid Ultimate Frisbee player.
Organized in collaboration with the Dean of the College Degree Days,
the Division of Engineering, and Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship.
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