PENSACOLA, FL – ITGulfCoast, an Information Technology Association for the Gulf Coast, will hold their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 28, 2010, at PJC Downtown. Kelly Gontarski of StarPoint Screening will give a presentation on her experiences in starting a tech company in Pensacola in 2009.
About the Presentation
This presentation will center on the cost saving tools one local entrepreneur leveraged to create her own technology based startup company.
From free Microsoft software to inexpensive social media marketing, the presenter will walk you through her journey in starting her own company and share with you many of the cost saving and efficient tools her and her team have leveraged.
About the Presenter
Kelly Gontarski founded StarPoint Tenant and Employment Screening in October of 2009. Leveraging her experience and her capital, Kelly began selling credit reporting and background screening information products to the property management and human resource market in the first quarter of 2010.
Before launching StarPoint, Kelly spent ten years at Advantage Credit International, an internet based credit reporting agency that served the mortgage, tenant and employment industry. She was responsible for the company’s branding, business development, online and targeted market campaigns and managing the company’s sales department’s direction and goals.
During her tenure at Advantage, Kelly successfully evolved the company’s one to one selling model into a highly optimized internet marketing model which in itself generated over a million dollars in inbound business annually.
In the ten years Gontarski was with Advantage Credit International, the company placed 5 times on Inc. Magazine’s Inc.500 list of the fastest privately held companies in America. The rankings granted the company a place in the prestigious Inc. 500 Hall of Fame.
An avid supporter of the local community, Kelly serves as the current president of the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Escambia County. Kelly received her B.A. in Advertising and Communications from the University of West Florida.
Meeting Details
This meeting will be held at the Gulf Coast Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (formerly PJC Downtown ) conference room on the 4th floor) The meeting starts at 11:30 am and ends at 1:00 pm. The cost for lunch is $12 per person. The fee to attend without lunch is $5 per person.
Register for this event online. Payment can be made by cash or check (made out to ITGULFCOAST.ORG) at the event or during registration with Paypal. No-shows should send payment after the event via Paypal to payments@itgulfcoast.org.
The meeting is open to all ITGULFCOAST members, guests and to the public. For more information call our Chairman Chuck Hodge, DestinE Research Group at 850-418-1474.