Monthly Member Meetings

 

 

2024 Membership Lunch & Learn Meetings

We invite our members to join us at our Monthly Membership Lunch & Learn on the third-Thursday of each month from 11:30am – 1pm. Lunch will be provided courtesy of our event sponsor. We will enjoy networking, a meal and an informative presentation to empower business owners with the tools and resources needed to succeed. Each member may bring up to 2 additional people from their organization/business. Please register each attendee using the link below for the current month's lunch and learn. The Lunch & Learn Meetings are held at the Amy Van Andel Library in Ada -7215 Headley St SE.

*Please note we do not meet in June, July, August, or December*

Our Lunch & Learn Series for September 2023 - May of 2024 is presented by:

 

 

 

March 21st Lunch & Learn 

9 out of 10 ventures fail. So, how do you launch a successful venture? Where do you begin? How do you avoid spending your time and money on creating something that doesn’t succeed in your market? Join City Innovations Founder and CEO, Josh Barker, as he'll take you step by step through the Market Validation Funnel playbook, designed to help you develop and grow the right products, services, and ventures in your industry. In this session, you'll learn:

  • A step-by-step guide to building rapid-growth ventures with the help of the Market Validation Funnel — a proven playbook based on Silicon Valley and Big 4 innovation experience.
  • Tips on how to validate your product or service before spending money on your go-to-market strategy.
  • Information on how to run successful market experiments to determine the next steps for your venture

We will also be joined by Cynthia Hagedorn from Community on Canvas for an overview of their programming and mission.

Register here.

11:30am to 12:00pm - Networking & Lunch

12:00pm - Meeting & Program

This lunch will be held at Amway World Headquarters.

Josh's Bio:  Josh has always been an innovator at heart with a passion for developing products and ideas. While serving as the Director of Innovation at KPMG, he was offered the chance to launch a Silicon Valley-based startup that he couldn’t turn down. However, the startup ended up being wrong for the market and it failed. From that point on, his mission turned to helping ventures build the right thing at the right time for the right market. Since then, Josh founded City Innovations, a Venture Studio that helps corporations and entrepreneurs envision, validate, fund, and launch sustainable digital ventures and products by building the right thing — the first time around. Now, he takes his decades of Silicon Valley experience and helps corporate and startup ventures understand what it takes to gain traction within their market, validate their innovative ideas, and build ventures that achieve exponential growth.

 

April 18th Lunch & Learn

Our April ABA Lunch & Learn conversation will look at local culture and your brand. How do you identify with yourself as a business? How can you use this brand identity to connect with customers and clients in your local community? Join us for this informative program where we will look at a small business case to help you figure out what marketing activities and tools may be right for you and your business.

Registration will open April 1st.

11:30am to 12:00pm - Networking & Lunch

12:00pm - Meeting & Program

Mark's Bio:  Dr. Mark A. Hamilton is President of Versa Culture LLC, a management consulting firm that helps Michigan businesses to solve people-related challenges in the workplace. Dr. Hamilton has spent the past 15 years managing and advising projects valued from $25-$180 million in the United States and overseas. His expertise includes manufacturing culture, workforce development, coaching, leadership development, performance management, and organizational development. Read more here.

 

May 16th Lunch & Learn - Coming Soon!

 

Fall 2024 Lunch & Learn Dates:

September 19, 2024

October 17, 2024

November 21, 2024

Lunch & Learn Presentations

Member Meeting Photos