The PennWest Clarion Small Business Development Center, in partnership with Ben Franklin Technology Partners, is hosting a powerful new speaker series led by entrepreneur and investor Brian Slawin. This series runs through March 2026, offering real-world insights, hard-earned lessons, and actionable strategies for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Each session—ranging from topics like challenging industry norms, raising capital, and scaling innovation to lessons learned from the startup journey—is filled with practical tools and interactive discussions.

Each event is scheduled as a one-hour webinar, except for the final networking-focused master class taking place in person on March 19, 2026, from 12:00–1:30 p.m. in Oil City, Venango County. 

Whether you’re launching your first business or looking to take your company to the next level, this series is designed to spark new ideas, build confidence, and provide clarity for your entrepreneurial path.

In this event, we will learn about how My Dad Stole My Startup Money:

1. Like many of you, my brother and I had a big vision for our entrepreneurial future. More important than creating vast wealth or turning our little corner of the world into something meaningful, in the beginning, it was about making a life-altering difference for our customers and to have fun. That changed, once the money started pouring in. This presentation is designed to help entrepreneurs better understand the difference between their mentor network’s “Signal and Noise”, focus on how to effectively divide duties and responsibilities, understand what an investor is really looking for and effectively determine what the right ‘ask’ is, at each stage along the journey.

   Based on this blog article, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-dad-stole-our-moneyand-other-lessons-journey-brian-slawin/, Brian will be sharing his experience and insights on:

• Why the best investor isn’t who you might think it is.
• The half dozen reasons entrepreneurs should, or should think twice, about pursuing outside investment.
• The lessons he’s learned along an entrepreneur’s journey in his talk titled “My Dad Stole My Startup’s Money.

Future sessions include: 

Thursday, November 20, 2025 – How to Start Your Startup as a Non-Technical Founder (Webinar)

Thursday, January 22, 2026 – How to Hook Investors to WIN (Webinar)

Thursday, February 26, 2026 – Don’t Quit Your Daydream (Webinar)

Thursday, March 19, 2026 – NETWORKING (In person – Oil City, PA)