September 27, 2011

Josh Linkner to keynote Nov. 15 Get Launched! event at Wayne State

Josh Linkner, CEO and managing partner of Detroit Venture Partners, will be the keynote speaker during Wayne State University's Get Launched! event, to be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, in WSU's Student Center Ballroom, 5221 Gullen Mall, in Detroit.

Together with business partners Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, Linkner is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. He has been honored as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Detroit News Michiganian of the Year. His book, "Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity," is a New York Times best-seller.

Get Launched! is hosted by WSU's Blackstone LaunchPad, a resource center for student entrepreneurs. At the event, students from Wayne State and other Metro Detroit colleges will showcase their business models, which range from mobile apps and social media technology to retail and automotive engineering, and everything in between.

The students with the most innovative business models will have the opportunity to pitch them before a panel of Detroit business leaders, "Shark Tank" style. The panel will include Rishi Jaitly of the Knight Foundation, Hatch Detroit founders Ted Balowski and Nick Gorga, Slow's Bar-B-Q owner Phil Cooley, and Dan Izzo of BizdomU.

There also will be opportunities during Get Launched! to win cash and prizes. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Aubrey Agee, senior program administrator for Blackstone LaunchPad, at 313-577-1533.

Also at the Get Launched! event, Hatch Detroit will reveal the winner of their contest for the next great Detroit-based retail business idea. The prize is $50,000 cash and a suite of donated professional services. Visit hatchdetroit.com for details.

For additional information about Get Launched!, go to facebook.com/getlaunchedwayne.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 400 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students.