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George Washington University Hosts VC/Angel Workshop
On May 22 the George Washington University School of Business, the GW School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Council of Entrepreneurial Transfer and Commercialization and the Angel Investors of Greater Washington co-hosted a VC/Angels Workshop. At this workshop a panel of angel investors, venture capitalists, serial entrepreneurs, economic development specialists and other experts discussed a recently released report from the National Governors Association concerning state strategies to promote angel investment for economic growth. The panel reflected on a variety of findings in the report including the statement that in order for a state to have successful angel activity it needs to have seasoned entrepreneurs, new wealth, a strong university base and a relevant industry base.
The workshop also featured 13 start-up companies from the region who presented their business plans and then had the opportunity to network at a reception following the workshop to further discuss their companies and potential investment opportunities. One of the presenting companies was Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS participant Gourab Nanda, Founder and CEO of MyBusinessAssistant, LLC.
VIRGINIA IS FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Kristin Seitz, Director of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, discusses small business and entrepreneur development in Virginia with Delegate Brian Moran (D-Alexandria).
Governor Timothy M. Kaine last week announced the launch of Virginia's online business formation portal, or Business One Stop, to assist in the formation of new businesses in the Commonwealth. The Business One Stop will begin to streamline the business formation process by automatically finding and filling necessary forms associated with business formation, with the capacity to expand and diversify services.
The Virginia Business One Stop was created through legislation sponsored by Delegate Brian Moran (D-Alexandria) and strongly supported by NVTC during the 2007 General Assembly Session.
"The Business One Stop provides a single location for entrepreneurs to find and complete the needed forms to open their business," said Governor Kaine. "This simplifies the business formation process, speeds up business transactions, and helps eliminate data duplication by identifying and delivering forms needed by 80% of new businesses."
"This important initiative represents a synergy of technology and business, benefiting entrepreneurs by streamlining the creation of small businesses all across Virginia. Virginia is the best state in the nation to do business and our technology sector leads the way. I greatly appreciate NVTC's support of this initiative throughout the legislative process." said Delegate Brian Moran.
"We believe this initiative will keep Virginia competitive as a preferred place to start a business and help entrepreneurs reduce their transaction costs with government so they can instead focus on hiring talented employees, bringing their products to market and growing their bottom lines," said Bobbie Kilberg, President & CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. "We applaud Delegate Brian Moran for sponsoring the legislation and Governor Kaine for ensuring its successful implementation."
The Business One Stop is available at: http://www.virginia.gov/bos/index.html, under the business tab of the Commonwealth's homepage, www.virginia.gov, and will also be available as a link from many agency websites. The system collects users' information, then provides and pre-fills the new business formation forms required by 80% of new businesses. The new portal will be available to entrepreneurs for free for the first 90 days. After that a nominal usage fee may be charged to future users.
NVTC promotes entrepreneurship in the technology community through The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC. The Entrepreneur Center is a resource hub for technology-focused start-ups and entrepreneurs at every stage of their lifecycle. The Entrepreneur Center fosters entrepreneurship in students, mentors the first-time entrepreneur, advises and supports the experienced entrepreneur, and facilitates strategic business relationships in the technology community.
For more information about the Business One Stop, please visit: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/MediaRelations/NewsReleases/viewRelease.cfm?id=662
Kristin Seitz, Director of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC
Kristin Seitz Interviewed by TiE-DC
When was the Entrepreneur Center founded and why?
The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC is a project of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Due to the sponsorship and exceptional support of U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf, NVTC was awarded an earmarked federal grant in 2004 to develop a technology entrepreneur center that will serve as a model for other centers around the country.
The Entrepreneur Center is a resource hub for technology-focused start-ups and entrepreneurs at every stage of their lifecycle. We foster entrepreneurship in students, mentor the first-time entrepreneur, advise and support the experienced entrepreneur, and facilitate strategic business relationships in the technology community.
I was appointed the director of the Entrepreneur Center in November of 2007. Previously, I was NVTC's public policy manager for three and a half years.
What are some of your most successful programs?
The Entrepreneur Center has two core programs from which all of our other activities stem. The first is Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS, which provides start-ups and entrepreneurs with the unique opportunity to connect with seasoned veterans of the region's technology sector. The program supports entrepreneurs through a variety of mentoring, coaching and advisory sessions and programs.
TEConnect, our second core program, assists small- and medium-sized NVTC member companies in connecting with larger companies, NVTC members and non-members alike, in both the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) markets-and vice versa, through an online matchmaking database.
To learn more about these two programs and all of our other activities and resources, visit our Web site at http://tec.nvtc.org.
Could you tell us more about Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS?
Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS is designed to give entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to connect with seasoned veterans of the Greater Washington technology sector - from a wide array of fields-and is tailored to provide the support needed at every phase of early-stage businesses. We are fortunate and thankful to have wonderful advisors from a wide range of business backgrounds who help us make this program successful.
Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS offers three programs:
Mentoring: The Mentoring Program matches entrepreneurs with an experienced professional who can provide them with advice and guidance on developing their business plan and connect them to other resources and opportunities in the business community.
Coaching:The Coaching Program matches young companies and their teams with experienced business people who can help refine their business plans and strategy as well as grow their management team. Coaches can give guidance on the preparation/or enhancement of their elevator pitch, executive summary, detailed financials and presentation.
Advisory Sessions: On a selected basis, for entrepreneurs who have gone through other coaching and for whom team advising makes the best sense, we can assemble a cross-functional team of seasoned professionals drawn from a pool of advisors, whose backgrounds may include accounting, legal services, business planning, sales and marketing, and financing, among others.
What advice would you give to an Emerging Entrepreneur?
I would emphasize that it is important to connect with individuals who have been "in their shoes" and who know what they are going through during the various stages of starting a new technology business. Mentors and advisors can be invaluable when it comes to answering questions, providing advice and helping entrepreneurs successfully navigate the maze of a establishing a start-up.
The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC collaborates with TiE-DC on the VC Elevator Pitch Dinner series. What feedback have you received on this program from your members?
Our members have found the VC Elevator Pitch series to be very rewarding. They have told us that they appreciated the opportunity to really work on finalizing and communicating their business plans and to receive feedback from experts who hear pitches everyday-and know a good one from a bad one. We are pleased that a large number of our members have been able to participate in the series and have been successful in the competitions.
Is there anything else you would like to share with TiE-DC?
The Entrepreneur Center could not be successful without all of the other organizations in the National Capital Region that also support the entrepreneurial community. There are many groups striving to help entrepreneurs-no matter what stage in their professional lifecycles--and when we all work together on this same objective, wonderful results can happen-new innovations in the marketplace to solve a variety of business, social and economic challenges, and continued growth in the technology economy in the region and the nation, as a whole.
Yes!Circle Newsletter Featured a Guest Column by Entrepreneur Center Director
Organizations Working Together to Help Start-upsGuest column by Kristin Seitz, The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC
The National Capital region is a unique area because of the numerous and diverse organizations that all have the same goal of supporting entrepreneurs and promoting innovation. The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC is proud to be amongst these organizations. The Entrepreneur Center is a resource hub for technology-focused start-ups and entrepreneurs at every stage of their lifecycle. We foster entrepreneurship in students, mentor the first-time entrepreneur, advise and support the experienced entrepreneur, and facilitate strategic business relationships in the technology community.
The Entrepreneur Center has developed and continues to grow a solid set of programs, services and partnerships to assist entrepreneurs from the conceptual stage and beyond. We collaborate with other organizations to provide these services, manage a virtual exchange of resources and support special programs to ignite the minds of the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The Entrepreneur Center could not be successful however, without all of the other organizations that also support the entrepreneurial community. When we all work together and act as a support system for entrepreneurs, we can see wonderful results come about, including new innovations in the marketplace to address and solve a variety of business, social and economic challenges.
Entrepreneurs Attend the Business Alliance of GMU Bootcamp
(l-r) Ram Shetty of OPEX Solutions and Phil Brown of Conflicts Authority.
(l-r) Isaac Mosquera of Family Oven, Dan Odio of DROdio Real Estate, Inc. and Kristin Seitz of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC.
bootcamp.html.
The 5th Annual Business Alliance of George Mason University Bootcamp for Growing Companies and Entrepreneurs, held on April 4 at the Hilton McLean, attracted entrepreneurs including participants from The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC's Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS program and NVTC member organizations - several small businesses, educational institutions and companies that service entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur Center was pleased to provide scholarships to students attending this informative day-long event.
Bootcamp participants had the opportunity to attend a variety of panel discussions that focused on important topics, such as Financing Your Business - Venture Capital and Alternative Sources, Marketing & Sales - Practical Tips for Growing Enterprises, Managing Your Growth, Opportunities in New Media, Web 2.0 and Telecom, and Opportunities in Government Contracting. The highlights of the day were the three keynote speeches by Philip McKinney, Vice President and CTO, Personal Systems Group, HP Company, Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman Emeritus, AOL LLC, and Phillip Merrick, Chairman and Co-Founder, VisualCV.com.
NVTC Member Companies Provide Students with First-Hand Tech Job Experience on Job Shadow Day
Fifteen NVTC member companies, including several start-ups, participated in the 10th Annual Groundhog Job Shadow Day on March 28 to provide local high school students with first-hand exposure to the high-tech workplace. The goal of Job Shadow Day is to provide students with one day of onsite job experience to inspire new academic and career choices, and to help employers gain new awareness of the potential talent of the workforce of the future from local high schools and to assist the students in career planning.
NVTC and The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, in conjunction with Fairfax County Public Schools, matched more than 115 students from Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax schools with businesses from across Northern Virginia. The Entrepreneur Center arranged Job Shadow opportunities at start-ups and other enterprises to provide students with the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship.
NVTC thanks following the NVTC members that participated in the 2008 Job Shadow Day
- Boeing S & SI Mission Systems
- CACI International Inc
- Catapult Consultants
- Cisco
- Conflicts Authority
- Deloitte
- GTSI
- LeapFrog Solutions, Inc.
- Noblis
- Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC)
- Project Performance Corporation
- SI International
- The Rainfield Group
- Turtle Wings
- Verizon Multimedia
Caroline Boulanger of Chantilly High School and Steve Furrey of Catapult
Bob Thompson of LeapFrog Solutions, Inc., and Arjun Patel of Chantilly High School
- Catapult Consultants
- Conflicts Authority
- LeapFrog Solutions, Inc
- Mpowerplayer
- NVCC
- Turtle Wings
Young Entrepreneurs Academy 2008
Inspiring Tomorrow's Business Leaders
Students prepare presentations for the business plan competition at the Young Entrepreneurs Academy.
(l-r) Jim Wolfe, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, GMU School of Management; three young entrepreneurs at the academy; Judy Costello, Executive Director, Business Alliance of GMU; and Yan Ling, Professor, GMU School of Management
The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC supported the 4th Annual Young Entrepreneurs Academy hosted by the George Mason University School of Management on Friday, March 22. The event brought together aspiring student entrepreneurs to learn practical business skills and gain advice from seasoned entrepreneurs on strategies for successful business development. This full-day event, attended by more than 40 promising high school and undergraduate students, featured a series of panel discussions and sessions led by successful entrepreneurs from a variety of industry backgrounds.
Panel discussions were held throughout the day on key important entrepreneurial topics, including "What is an Entrepreneur," "Vision and the Big Idea," "Introduction to Patents and Intellectual Property," "Marketing and PR" and "Creating a Service Firm." At one of sessions, successful young entrepreneurs described their personal experiences, the strategies required to build a better business and the tools needed to compete in today's market.
A highlight of the academy was a business plan competition during which the students provided three-minute presentations on their business ideas, which varied from a pet resort, an underwater MP3 player, a text-book page auction Web site and a provider of wireless networks (which took the top prize).
Technology Transfer and Innovation Forum Hosts Lesa Mitchell of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Mitchell Discusses "Issues and Trends in Technology Commercialization"Lesa Mitchell, Vice President of Advancing Innovation of the largest foundation in the United States that focuses on entrepreneurship, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, was the featured speaker at the Technology Transfer and Innovation Forum held at George Washington University on March 12. This event was co-hosted by The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC and was attended by more than 40 people representing international governments and businesses and economic development authorities, as well as entrepreneurs from across the region.
Mitchell discussed the importance of building relationships between start-up companies, established large-scale firms, universities and the government. She said that "rock star entrepreneurs" focus on the relevance of a product to the marketplace and work closely with industry to better understand the needs and trends of the economy. Mitchell also noted that such collaboration enhances innovation and entrepreneurship and that a large number of U.S. jobs come from start-up and growth companies.
The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC Co-hosts First Venture Capital Entrepreneur Challenge of 2008
NVTC Member Company Wins $10,000 Seed Prize
(l-r) Kristin Seitz, The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC;
Katherine Magalif Thomas, TiE-DC; Steve Thomas,
TiE-DC; Phil Brown, Conflicts Authority; Holden
Hoofnagle, Conflicts Authority; Ila Talwar,
The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC; Manoj Ramnani,
DubMeNow; and Emily Campbell, TiE-DC
The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC and TiE-DC co-hosted the first Venture Capital Entrepreneur Challenge of 2008 March 6 at the Tower Club in Vienna. Building on a series of private VC "Elevator Pitch Dinners," also co-hosted by the two organizations, the Challenge was the first business pitch competition of the year held before an audience of more than 80 entrepreneurs and investors.
Five out of the 10 early-stage entrepreneurial companies chosen to compete for a $10,000 seed prize and test their "elevator pitches" before a panel of judges were NVTC members. And the first-place seed prize of $10,000 was awarded to Phil Brown and Holden Hoofnagle of NVTC member company Conflicts Authority.
In addition to Brown and Hoofnagle, the following entrepreneurs presented their business plans during the evening:
- Greg Alexander of e210 (an Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS Participant)
- Jay Amirmokri of Ultracomm
- Dede Haskins of InTouch Systems (NVTC Member Company)
- Chris Hopkinson of TaxScan (NVTC Member)
- Daniel Odio of Maptimizer (NVTC Member)
- Joe Ordia of Ordia Solutions (NVTC Member Company)
- Ranjan Pant of BPL Products
- Manoj Ramnani of DubMeNow (awarded second prize of airfare and complimentary admission to a TiE conference of his choice to be held either in Boston or Silicon Valley)
- David Sherbow of MPTrax (Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS Participant)
The competition was kicked off by 17-year-old Aaron Sacks, winner of the 2006 National Foundation of Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Regional Business Plan competition, who provided a special presentation about his company, You're On Deck.
The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC congratulates the winners and the other participating entrepreneurs!
Entrepreneur Center Director Judges Marshall Academy Students Business Plans
Students Compete for Seed Prize to Start Their Businesses as Part of a Class Project
Students from the Marshall Academy's entrepreneur class pose with Entrepreneur Center Director Kristin Seitz (far right) at last week's business plan competition.
Kristin Seitz, Director of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, visited Marshall Academy in Falls Church on February 29 to judge the business plans of students enrolled in the school's entrepreneur class. For a class project, each of the students was required to create ideas for new companies and produce business plans. The winner received $100 in seed money for their company.
This is the third year for the entrepreneurship curriculum at Marshall Academy. Currently 80 students are enrolled in the program-the first in Fairfax County. The curriculum provides students with the opportunity to learn how to develop, finance and market a new product or service. During the 2008 - 2009 school year Marshall Academy will offer a second level entrepreneurship class-the only class of its kind in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS Companies Present Business Plans at GWU VC/Angel Workshop
(l-r) Bernice Lemaire and Lori Kavle of Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS participant, SimERM, present their company's business plan at the VC/Angel Workshop.
At the VC/Angel Workshop, hosted by The George Washington University's Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer and Commercialization at the Elliot School of International Affairs on February 21, two Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS companies, SimERM and Wade Enterprises, presented their business plans before angel investors, venture capitalists, serial entrepreneurs, economic development specialists and other experts.
The workshop, which attracted more than 100 people, included a panel on the recently released Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Angel Capital Education Foundation report, "Returns to Angel Investors in Groups" by Dr Robert Wiltbank of Willamete University and Dr. Warren Boeker of the University of Washington. The report claims that angel investors participating in organized angel groups achieved an average of a 27 percent internal rate of return on their investments. Views and opinions about the report's findings were discussed, as well as implications for the region's entrepreneurs and investors.
Following the panel discussion, 15 companies, including the two Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS companies, made presentations about their businesses and were offered the opportunity to discuss their companies one-on-one with investors at a networking reception.
Technology Transfer and Innovation Forum Hosts Joseph Romm, Ph.D.
Discussion of "The Trillion-Dollar Clean Tech Opportunity"
Joseph Romm, Ph.D., and Vernon Wade, Sr,. President, Wade Enterprises, an NVTC member company. Wade is a participant in the Entrepreneur SOLUTIONS program of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC.
Joseph Romm, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the Center, American Progress, and Editor, ClimateProgress.org, discusses "The Trillion-Dollar Tech Opportunity" at last week's Technology Transfer and Innovation Forum.
Joseph Romm, Ph.D., discussed "The Trillion-Dollar Clean Tech Opportunity" at a recent event co-hosted by The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC. The lunch-time discussion, held February 13 at the George Washington University's Cafritz Center, was the first in this year's Technology Transfer Forum Series. Romm, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and Editor of ClimateProgress.org,. is one of the world's leading experts on clean energy technologies and greenhouse gas mitigation.
A group of nearly 30 attendees from international governments and businesses attended the forum to hear Romm talk about how lifestyle and the technologies currently in use will affect the world's climate in the coming years. He explained present market conditions and forecast a major shift in all types of investment in clean technology within two to three decades. With energy prices at an all-time high and continuing to increase, and carbon dioxide restrictions imminent, Romm also predicted which technologies are favored to benefit in the coming "trillion-dollar market for clean energy."
To learn more about clean energy technologies and details of Romm's discussion, don't miss the March/April issue of The Voice of Technology, NVTC's bi-monthly magazine.
The Technology Transfer Forum Luncheon Series is a monthly event and is co organized by Technology Transfer Society - Washington Area Chapter, George Washington University - Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer & Commercialization, The Federal Laboratory Consortium, The Angel Investors of Greater Washington, The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO), and Rockville Economic Development, Inc.
MIT Enterprise Forum Hosts Annual Gala
Entrepreneur Center Advisory Board Co-Chair John Burton Speaks About Investment Trends
John Burton, The Entrepreneur
Center @NVTC Co-Chair,
NVTC Board Member, and Updata
Capital Managing Partner
The MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) of Washington and Baltimore hosted its Annual Gala on January 29 that featured speakers John Burton, Co-Chair of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC Advisory Board, NVTC Board Member and Updata Capital Managing Partner, and Jason Pontin, Publisher and Editor in Chief of Technology Review (MIT).
Burton discussed venture capital trends in the Mid-Atlantic and focused on the steps that entrepreneurs should take when seeking VC funding. Pontin told the audience about several exciting new technologies being developed by entrepreneurs throughout the United States that will soon change everyday life. Several of the technologies discussed could be introduced in the consumer market within the next several years.
Technology Transfer Forum Hosts Gerard Eldering
Discussion of the Pitfalls and Opportunities with Technology Transfer Start Ups
Gerard Eldering, Founder and President of InnovateTech Ventures, discusses Technology Transfer.
On December 12, 2007, The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC co-hosted a Technology Transfer Forum at George Washington University. At the forum, Gerard Eldering, Founder & President of InnovateTech Ventures, spoke on the topic, "Get Rich Quick from Tech Transfer-How the Business Community is Waking Up to the Opportunity of Tech Transfer Startups."
Eldering highlighted in his presentation that our region has remarkable research done each year and that there are many opportunities to leverage new technologies. Although the process of tech transfer is "long and painful," he predicts a slow, positive and continued growth in the area.
Gary Pan Serves as Panelist for MIT Enterprise Forum Event
The Entrepreneur Center Co-Chair Shares His Expertise
Gary Pan, President and CEO of Panacea Consulting and Co-Chairman of The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC's Advisory Board, speaks at MITEF event.
Along with Pan, the panelists included Rich Sun, Founder & CEO of Sun & Co., and Joe Garner, Ph.D., Founder, Advanced Product Enterprises. The Entrepreneur Center is a supporter of MITEF events and the organizations collaborate on various activities that benefit the National Capital Region's entrepreneurial community.