Getting Initial Money to go from Nothing to Something
Note: Meeting at Emerging Enterprise Center at Foley Hoag, 1000 Winter Street, Suite 4000, Waltham, MA. PRE-MEETING DINNER at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci's, Waltham. Directions .
Meeting Overview:
Are you trying to launch or grow a startup business?
Do you need money but just can't find it?
Not ready for angels or VC investors? Or already turned down?
You need to build your company and need money to do it -- but how to do that?
This panel tries to answer those questions:
The panel is comprised of two serial entrepreneurs who are also angel investors and the head of Massachusetts Business Development Center, with an attorney moderator skilled in representation of early stage companies.
The panel will focus on getting initial money from non-traditional sources when VCs and angels won't help and friends and family are tapped out. The panelists will speak from experience to show you how they've used SBIRs and governmental grants, strategic partnering and customer funded development. They will also mention current State and Federal governmental programs and developments in private foundations and universities.
Additionally, the meeting will offer attendees techniques for bartering services as you bootstrap your enterprise -- techniques to get money and value equivalents -- goods and services for nothing or at a reduced cost. The meeting will also offer techniques to reduce your burn rate for survival -- to keep costs to a minimum and for managing your cash to go as far as possible.
Investors want to see something before they invest. Yet it takes money to make your company into something to interest investors. It's a catch-22. This panel offers techniques to show you how to break out of that conundrum -- to take your company from nothing to something, and to do so without VC or angel funding.
Panelists:
Jeff Behrens, MS & MBA
Entrepreneur & Investor, Head of Business Operations of
"BI3" - The BiogenIdec Innovation Incubator, BiogenIdec, Inc.
BI3 makes equity investments in discovery-stage biotechnology companies and
provides lab space, scientific expertise, and business management to launch
these startup companies using an innovative model for drug development
investing. Previously Jeff founded an IT managed services company, The
Telluride Group, which was successfully sold to mindSHIFT Technologies in late
2003. From 2004 - 2006 Jeff consulted with a number of biotechnology
venture capital firms while completing graduate work at MIT and Harvard
Medical School. Jeff is also an angel investor and a member of MIT's Venture
Mentoring Service. Jeff also volunteers with several community organizations
including the Museum of Science and the Harvard Alumni Association and sits on
the boards of Finale Restaurants and Marble and Granite, a mid-market importer
and distributor of building materials. Jeff was also a member of YEO (Young
Entrepreneur's Organization) from 1997 - 2004, and served as President of the
Boston Chapter and board member of YEO International.
Donald C. Freeman, Jr., PhD
Angel Investor, Member of Boston Harbor Angels
Don was president/CEO of HydroCision, Inc., a fluidjet-based medical device
company, from 1996 to 2002, when he retired, remaining on the board. From 1996
until 2000, he was also Chairman, CEO and a Director of RadioMed Corporation,
a developer of medical devices incorporating radioisotopes for inhibition of
cellular proliferation. RadioMed was acquired by IBA in 2000. Prior to 1996,
Dr. Freeman was a Principal of Grayson and Associates, an investment banking
firm specializing in the healthcare field. Previously, he was president/CEO of
Intra-Sonix, Inc. and Xenotech Laboratories, both medical device companies.
Still earlier, he was President of Davol, Inc., which was acquired by C.R.
Bard, after which he served as a Group Vice President of Bard. Before Davol,
he was President of Friesen International, a hospital design firm owned by
American Medical International. He was Director, New Business Development for
Union Carbide Corp., where he was also General Manager of its clinical
diagnostics, radiopharmaceuticals and imaging businesses. Dr. Freeman's early
career was as a scientist at Union Carbide. He holds an ScB from Brown and a
PhD in chemistry from the University of Maryland, and did post-doctoral
research in physics at Duke. He is inventor or co-inventor on some 19 US
patents. He attended the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Progam
and has been a Director of numerous companies, public and private, in the
healthcare field. He is currently on the board of PhotoBioChem (Leiden, NL),
SemiNex (Mass), Medical Record Bank (Mass), Electrolyzer Corporation (Mass)
and Pluromed Corporation (Mass). He holds investments in those companies, in
addition to 6 other early-stage ventures.
Margaret Somer, MA
Regional Director, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center at
Salem State College (Northeast Region)
Margaret joined the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Salem State
College in 2005 as its director, after four years as director of the Small
Business Development Center and Minority Business Center at UMass Boston.
Previously, Margaret worked for 14 years in economic and business development
at Massachusetts Community Development Finance Corporation (CDFC). There she
served as external affairs officer and later, fund manager of the $10 million
Urban Initiative Fund. She has consulted with several economic development
groups and for a short time, managed a bi-national trade organization and a
technology incubator. Margaret is a board member of the Creative
Economy Association of the North Shore (CEANS) and participated on the
Bertolon School of Business Advisory Board at Salem State College, the MA
Community and Banking Council, the Swampscott Elections Board and the
Swampscott Town meeting. She has participated in the development of new
business products and programs, community development initiatives, and public
affairs and government relations. Margaret has a BA from Boston University and
an MA from Tufts University. She completed her thesis at Tufts in 1999 on the
turnaround of Ireland's economy, the role of the European Union and the
country's emerging small business sector.
Moderator:
Robert Adelson, JD, LLM
Partner at the Boston Law Firm of Engel & Schultz, LLP, has
been a corporate and tax attorney since 1977. He began as an associate
at major New York law firms Dewey Ballantine and Weil Gotshal & Manges,
before returning home to Boston in 1985 where he has since been a partner in
small and medium sized firms. Rob's clients are (1) early stage
companies, (2) independent consultants, (3) senior executives and key
employees, and (4) family businesses. His main practice areas are:
business formation and finance; commercial contracts, licensing, alliances;
executive employment, stock, options and severance; trademarks, copyrights;
M&A. Rob is a frequent speaker and author of articles published by Boston
Business Journal, Mass High Tech, Family Business Magazine, Genetic
Engineering News, Culpepper Letter and others. A member of the MA
and NY bars, Rob is also Vice-Chairman of Boston Entrepreneurs' Network and a
128 Innovation Capital Group board member. He holds degrees from Boston
University, B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Northwestern
University (Chicago), J.D., Law Review, New York University, LL.M. in
Taxation.
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
The Foley Hoag Emerging Enterprise Center at Bay Colony Corporate Center, 1000
Winter Street, Suite 4000, North Entrance, 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 to the dinner and meeting.
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