Seed and Angel Financing

Meeting Presentations:

 Gaurav Jain - Principal, Founder Collective, Presentation

Ben Littauer - Investor, Boston Harbor

Angels, Presentations

Sheryl R. Schultz - Angel Investor, Technology Marketer and Startup Mentor, Presentations

Panelists:

Ben Littauer, Investor, Boston Harbor

Angels,  http://www.bostonharborangels.com 

Ben Littauer is an angel investor with expertise in Internet and communications technologies, as well as healthcare IT.  Currently an active member of Boston Harbor Angels and Walnut Venture Associates with investments in a wide variety of startups, he sits on the boards of two portfolio companies. He is a mentor for Mass Challenge and The Capital Network, and is on the advisory board at TCN. Mr. Littauer is a judge for Mass Challenge, MITX Innovation Awards, and various academic competitions.
 
  Gaurav Jain, Principal, Founder Collective,   http://foundercollective.com/
Gaurav is a Principal at Founder Collective and makes seed-stage investments in disruptive companies. The fund has invested in companies such as Uber, Buzzfeed and MakerBot. Prior to the Founder Collective, Gaurav product managed Android and was instrumental in making it the #1 smartphone platform. Gaurav was recognized with the Founders Award, highest employee achievement award at Google, for his significant contribution to the growth and success of the Android platform. Gaurav was also the founding Product Manager for Google+ for Enterprise. Prior to Google, Gaurav co-founded Polar Mobile. Under Gaurav’s leadership, Polar closed deals with publishers such as TIME Inc., ran successful ad campaigns for brands such as Pepsi, and closed multiple rounds of venture funding. Gaurav helped take the company from an idea to 30 employees in less than two years. Polar powers 1,500 smartphone apps serving 18 million users globally and has raised $9 million in equity financing thus far. Gaurav’s other work experiences span 3 continents in various technology-related roles at Amazon, IBM and BlackBerry. Gaurav received a Bachelors of Software Engineering (with distinction) from the University of Waterloo in Canada and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Hugo Van Vuuren, Partner, The Experiment Fund,http://www.experimentfund.com/
Hugo received his Masters of Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he was a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Harvard Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. A TED Fellow, he earned his A.B. degree at Harvard University in Economics and co-founded startups backed by YCombinator before helping grow Artscience Labs and The Lab @ Harvard as Founding Director. South African by birth, Hugo can be found in New York or Cape Town when not in Cambridge, MA.

  Sheryl R. Schultz, Angel Investor, Technology Marketer and Startup Mentor
Sheryl is an expert in startup company dynamics, with a deep understanding of the marketing and organizational challenges faced by growing businesses. She has spent over 30 years working with a range of technology companies as a marketer, board advisor, mentor, and investor.   Sheryl is a member of two of the country’s most active angel networks: Golden Seeds ( www.goldenseeds.com  ), where she served as the Boston Forum Co-Leader from 2009-2011, and Launchpad Venture Group. Sheryl also spent over 20 years as President of SRS Associates, a firm she founded to provide communications and market strategy consulting to telecommunications startups. In that capacity, Sheryl launched dozens of companies, 20 of whom engaged her from inception through successful exit by IPO or acquisition.