Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Raising Money from Angels and Venture Capitalists

Presentations

NOTE: Meeting at the Forefront Center, 404 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 5:15 pm (sharp) at Bertucci's, Waltham

Meeting Overview:

Raising money is one of the most critical and time consuming tasks for entrepreneurs, when starting and growing a company. Angels and VCs prefer to invest in startups with strong management teams, sizeable defined markets, and tested products, with sales a plus. Startups are usually lacking in one or more areas, so exceptions are expected. On Tuesday, April 3, at The Forefront Center in Waltham, you will learn about raising money to build and grow your company from an Angel Investor, Venture Capitalist (VC), and an Entrepreneur who has done it successfully. Our panelists, with backgrounds in raising and investing money, and as entrepreneurs, will provide point-counterpoint. The panel will discuss investment criteria, answer all your questions, and tell you what domains are hot, and not. Come on out and hear what they have to say and ask some of the tough questions that you need answers to.

Panel:

Moderator:

Meeting Site and Cost:

5:15 PM Pre-meeting Dinner
Bertucci's Restaurant
475 Winter St., (exit 27B off Route 128), Waltham, MA ("pay-as-you-go")

7:00 - 10:00PM Meeting Presentation
Forefront Center, 404 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA

There is a $20.00 fee for nonmembers of ENET.

No reservations are necessary for either the meeting or dinner

Click here for directions and a map to the dinner and meeting

Panel:

VC: Paul Tu, Principal, Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (www.mtdc.com). 
An equity fund that addresses the "Capital Gap" for start-up companies with investments of  $300k to $500k per transaction in early Massachusetts stage technology companies.  MTDC focuses on �A� round investments in software, telecommunications, internet, and medical instruments as well as enterprises involved in industrial automation systems, material sciences and environmental management,  has invested in 125 companies to date, and has a current portfolio of 28 companies. Paul has over 15 years of experience in operating and managing businesses, and investing in and financing high-technology companies. As a Principal, Paul is responsible for reviewing business plans, interviewing entrepreneurs, identifying marketable technologies, and making new and follow-on equity investments.  Currently, Paul serves as a member of the Board Observer of Courion Corporation, PermissionTV, Inc., Polatis, Inc., TerraTherm, Inc., and Texterity, Inc. Paul presently serves as a Director of Merrimack Valley Venture Forum.  He is a former Director of the Smaller Business Association of New England (SBANE) and has chaired several of their subcommittees.  Paul is also a former Chairman of OCEAN (Overseas Chinese Entrepreneur Association) Capital Club and a former Auditor of CCBA (Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association).  Paul earned an MBA from Suffolk University and a BA from Boston University.

Angel: Norman Strate
Norman Strate ([email protected]) has thirty-five years of business experience with major corporations, both in the United States and abroad. He is past CEO of Protonex Technology Corporation, a PEM fuel cell company focused on affordable power which completed an IPO on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) in June 2006.  He is currently President and on the advisory board of TBS Technologies, a biotech firm and has also been appointed to the advisory board of Strategic Insights, a global commercial intelligence firm. He has been involved in several successful turnaround situations and has served as Chief Executive Officer and principal shareholder of J. F. Jelenko & Co., which company has been sold to Heraeus Incorporated, the U.S. subsidiary of Heraeus Holdings, GmbH. Mr. Strate graduated from Lehigh University in 1962 with a B.S. degree in Accounting.  In 1965, he received an L.L.B. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law and is a member of the bar in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.  He also served as an officer in the U.S. Army.

CEO: Douglas J. Daniels, President and CEO, Hydrocision
Doug Daniels is currently the President, and Chief Executive Officer of HydroCision Inc. of Billerica, MA and is a member of the HydroCision Board of Directors. Mr. Daniels started with HydroCision in 2002 as the companies Chief Operating Officer and was promoted to President and CEO later that year. Mr. Daniels has a positive track record of leading, building and expanding world-class medical device companies. HydroCision is currently scaling up its� operation to market products to the spine field, the fastest growing field in the medical device market. Mr. Daniels prior start up experience was as the President and CEO of Vein Rx a start up company focused on vascular surgery.

Mr. Daniels spent the majority of his 24-year career in the medical device business working for the Boston Scientific Corporation where he held numerous positions including Vice President of New Market Development, Vice President of BSC International and Vice President and General Manager of the Microvasive Endoscopy Division. Microvasive Endoscopy was the fastest growing division of Boston Scientific from 1988 to 2000 growing from $8.5M to $450M in revenue worldwide. A key part of of Microvasive�s growth was acquiring technology to keep the new product pipeline full and feed the growth engine for Microvasive Endoscopy. Mr. Daniels graduated with honors from Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, MA and holds several patents in the field of minimally invasive surgery.
         

Moderator:

Les Brown (Les.Brown@ieee.org) is a private investor, and CEO & President of Brown & Burstein, Lexington-based management advisors to VC firms, Boards of Directors, CEOs and senior executives of technology-based companies. Les is also an interim CEO for startups and turnarounds, and as a company doctor rapidly resolves business and technology issues in company performance, markets, management, and technology implementation. He is a serial entrepreneur, founded three technology-based companies, was instrumental in starting and mentoring many other businesses, and is now working on another startup.

Les has over 30 years of multidisciplinary experience, and has commercialized $250 million of successful products and services in the fields of medical devices, photonics, communications, sensors, Internet, mechanics, and more. He earned advanced degrees in engineering and business, and has been an invited speaker and moderator at many conferences, seminars, and universities. Les is a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), was co-founder and for five years Chair of the Boston Entrepreneurs' Network (www.boston-enet.org) now in its seventeenth  year, and was past Chair of the 11,000-member IEEE Boston Section (www.ieeeBoston.org).