Linda founded Plano & Simple based on her experience as both coach and "yenta" to literally hundreds of entrepreneurs for the state of Massachusetts. While coaching the entrepreneurs on how to pitch to investors, she came to realize that she had been training for this vocation for most of her career. Her training in technology (PhD Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford; BS Physics, MIT) and subsequent management and new business development experience in companies ranging from very early startups to multinational conglomerates coupled with an innate ability to pitch had led to her being the go-to person when it came to presenting new opportunities to board members, customers, investors and others.
In addition to coaching while she was Associate Director at the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC), Linda helped to manage several major investor pitch events each year, including the Conference on Clean Energy and the Early Stage Life Sciences Conference, which featured in total about 200 entrepreneurs. She ran the Conference on Clean Energy, leading its growth from a one day event with a hundred people in attendance to the largest event of its kind in the region, spanning three days and anchoring Massachusetts' Clean Energy Week. Linda also helped to produce 50 smaller events, each featuring an individual startup pitching to a hand-picked group of experts to provide candid feedback to the entrepreneurs as well as the opportunity to have their pitch coached.
Prior to becoming Associate Director at MTTC in 2005, Linda co-founded the Ignite Clean Energy Business Plan Competition with other founding members of the Energy Special Interest Group at the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. She then ran it on a volunteer basis for two years, helping dozens of entrepreneurs in the clean energy space to improve their business plans and raise their profiles. While winners received thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, her main focus was on ensuring that all the competitors received quality mentoring from qualified business leaders and investors, thereby helping to build and strengthen the clean energy cluster in the region. The competition was merged in 2010 with the Cleantech Open, a national competition that the founders of the ICE Competition helped to launch by sharing their best practices in 2005.
Her work in clean energy entrepreneurship led to awards from the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge and the Global MIT Enterprise Forum, as well as board seats on the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, the New England Clean Energy Council and both the local and global MIT Enterprise Forums.
