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A panel of four high energy entrepreneurs addressed a packed house at the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s (OEN) September 8th PubTalk: “Activewear Innovation Mecca” (a.k.a. Portland). Staged at Portland’s Backspace Cafe, the OEN PubTalk’s monthly event was moderated by Rob Langstaff, founder of men's footwear brand RYZ and former president of Adidas U.S. and Japan.

The panel, providing both unique and common entrepreneurial perspectives, included outdoor footwear provider Korkers CEO Sean Beers, “funky” sock distributor and online retailer Sock it to Me founder and president Carrie Atkinson, Ed Dalton, Principal and Co-president of bicycle lifestyle clothing designer and manufacturer Showers Pass, and Bill Worthington, Co-founder and Creative Director of OluKai Premium Footwear.

Activewear Entrepreneurial Takeaway Samples

Biggest Challenges:

• Maintaining a balance of life and patience
• Quality channel partner representation and support
• To partner with other companies in the same markets or to “go it alone”
• Managing growth to maintain operational efficiency

On Raising Capital:

• Ideally find an investor who is already an avid consumer in your product category
• Be prepared to address investor “fashion fears” of short shelf life and turnover

Best Advice:

• Trust your gut
• Maintain a brand strategy, a customer-first focus, and trust your partners
• Do your research first with product naming and branding
• Personally interview prospective dealers on their customers’ demographics and their willingness to merchandise your brand
• Consider regarding receivables: 90-days-after-sale pay terms to reps; credit card charge authorization for aging beyond terms
• “Go as fast as possible”

OEN’s Value: Panelists’ Perspectives

Carrie Atkinson, Sock it to Me

“Entrepreneurs of all levels need information at insatiable levels. OEN provides tremendous value to these entrepreneurs by holding discussions on topics that are core to building one’s business, and by providing a distinct summary of each topic, entrepreneurs are immediately able to distinguish if the discussion is right for them or not.”

Sean Beers, Korkers

“OEN can make a significant positive impact on the entrepreneurial community in Portland by connecting entrepreneurs with the coaching, connections and capital that will enable them to succeed.”

Ed Dalton, Showers Pass

“OEN can provide time saving advice in creating a start-up company and help you to set-up an effective process which may ultimately get you to market faster, better protected from a legal standpoint and more prepared.”

Don't Miss Seed Oregon 2010 Round 1 PubTalk October 13th

The next OEN PubTalk on October 13th will mark this year's first round of OEN Seed Oregon 2010. The event will be held at the Backspace Cafe--115 NW 5th Avenue Portland, Or 97209

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Goldman Sachs recently implemented a policy forbidding employees from using profanity in electronic messages. This  comes hot on the heels of a particularly embarrassing Senate hearing when one  email in particular, featuring an expletive, was repeatedly quoted. Goldman has implemented screening software to electronically enforce the new policy.

While the situation in question refers to the usage of naughty words within an  organization, the enforcement software - a content filtering engine or data-leak  prevention solution (such as smarshDLP) - can provide significant additional value to an organization looking to mitigate risk. It can:

• Delay or block the delivery of messages using objectionable language,
• Block outbound delivery of emails intended for internal use only, and
• Automatically encrypt intellectual property or private client data sent via  email.

Data leaks are often inadvertent - for instance, misaddressed recipient lines or an over-eager "auto-complete" in your email client - and these sorts of risks can also be addressed.

Having a solution in place is not fool-proof, but implementing a DLP solution as part of an overall data protection strategy is a sound investment. Have a policy in place; train employees; and enforce, evaluate and adjust your procedures as  necessary.

Whether it's enforcing a no-swearing policy, or protecting your organization from information leaks, the use of a data-leak prevention solution for monitoring and enforcing is a smart decision.

For more information on DLP, including why proactive implementation can save your company dollars and cents in addition to reputational damage, check out the Osterman Research white paper Why Your Organization Needs to  Implement DLP.

Adam Bullock is the digital media specialist for Smarsh and veteran blogger. In previous stops in his professional career, Adam has spent time with an Internet marketing firm as a project manager as well as a leading domain name registrar.

Smarsh was an OEN Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Award Finalist for Working Capital Stage Company of the Year in 2009.