Talk to an Angel: Crucial Connections
to Early Stage Capital
Wednesday,
June 7, 2006
MIT's Kresge
Auditorium
Viewing Options:
There will always be entrepreneurs with new ideas and new ventures. And there
will always be people ready to help finance these startup companies. It's one
of the engines that drives the US economy. And an increasingly larger component
of the financing picture is angel investors.
In June of last year, our global broadcast explained angel investing. In our
"sequel" presentation on June 7th, the MIT Enterprise Forum presents a hands-on,
real-world examination of
how entrepreneurs can approach angel investors, and tactical advice on how both
parties work together to craft a financing agreement that benefits all.
Produced in association with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the
Angel Capital Education Foundation, program attendees and viewers will learn:
- how to find angels
- what is, and isn't, a good fit
- when to work with VC instead, or with both angels and VCs combined
- how to pitch
- how to work together after funding
Through conversations amongst the panelists, the focus will be on principles
and the best steps to follow, as well as real-world case studies, and how different
sectors create different approaches.
Our featured panel includes James Geshwiler
GM '00 (moderator),
Managing Partner, CommonAngels, and Chairman, Angel Capital Education Foundation; Cynthia
Fisher,
CEO, BioMed 20/20 Technologies;
David Friend, CEO & President, Carbonite; Bob
Greene GM '88, Managing Partner,
Contour Venture Partners; and John May, Managing Partner,
New Vantage Group, and Chair, Angel Capital Association..
Speaker Biographies
James Geshwiler
GM '00
As
chairman of the Angel
Capital Education Foundation, James Geshwiler
GM '00 [moderator] works with angel
investors, venture capitalists, academic leaders and entrepreneurs around the
country to foster better understanding of patterns and practices in angel investing.
He is the former chairman of ACEF's sister organization, the Angel
Capital Association, a trade group formed to promote angel groups
and their best practices. He is a contributing author to "Cutting-Edge Practices
in American Angel Investing," has written papers on angel investment
processes published by the Kauffman
Foundation, and regularly
speaks on entrepreneurship and private investing.
James joined CommonAngels in
1999, and since that time has participated in funding 24 companies through
over 60 rounds of financing totaling over $100 million, as well as five M&A
events and two shutdowns. He has also raised two $10 million co-investment
funds managed by CommonAngels. Within CommonAngels, James manages deal flow,
due diligence and the investment process. He also guides the group's strategic
direction and works closely with follow-on investors. He was Phi Beta Kappa
and holds a bachelor's degree with highest honors from the Liberal Arts Honors
Program at the University of Texas at Austin , a master's degree in political
science from UCLA, and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management.
Cynthia Fisher
Cynthia Fisher was a co-founder
and President of ViaCell,
Inc., a cellular medicines company
developing pharmaceutical grade cord blood stem cell products and human cellular
therapies to treat diseases. Today, ViaCell is a publicly held biotechnology
company with 250 employees. Cynthia also founded Viacord,
Inc., now part of
ViaCell, and served as President and CEO for eight years. Viacord, established
in 1993, provides umbilical cord blood stem cell banking services for expectant
families. In 2002, Cynthia founded and serves as CEO of BioMed 20/20 Technologies,
Inc., a healthcare and medical information products
company focused on enabling on-line, comprehensive patient profiling technologies
and services to insurers and hospitals.
Previously, Cynthia was Marketing Manager for Haemonetics
Corporation in charge
of the Blood Bank Division and its blood cell separation products. She started
her career with IBM Corporation and over seven years held various positions
in sales and marketing.
Cynthia also served as Chairman of the Massachusetts
Biotechnology Council where she implemented an eight year strategic action plan and new leadership
for the organization
She is
a trustee of Ursinus College and a member of the National Advisory Council
of Harvard Medical School for Systems and Cell Biology. Cynthia received her
MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's in Biophysics from Ursinus
College.
David Friend
David Friend
has been a successful technology entrepreneur for over 25 years, and is currently
CEO and President of Carbonite,
an Internet-based data backup solution for mainstream PC users. He previously
co-founded five companies: Sonexis,
FaxNet, Pilot
Software, Computer Pictures
Corporation and ARP Instruments. He has been featured in numerous national
magazines and newspapers, and Tom Peter's best-selling management book, "The
Pursuit of Wow!"
David has been a lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management and is an active
supporter of music and the arts in Boston . He is a trustee (emeritus) of the
New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and the Brookings Institution
in Washington, D.C.
David holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Yale University and attended
the Princeton University Graduate School of Engineering where he was a David
Sarnoff Fellow.
Bob Greene
GM '88
Bob Greene GM '88 is Managing
Partner of Contour Venture Partners and has been a venture capitalist for the
past 18 years. Some of Bob's notable investments over the past 17 years include
3Dfx Interactive, Acurian, Agamatrix,
Cobalt Networks, EXIT41, FundQuest,
Kinkos.com, Kozmo.com,
Multex, Nextec, NuRide, Resonate, SeamlessWeb, Stamps.com,
and Vindigo.
Prior to
launching Contour Venture Partners, Greene was an active private investor,
investing his own capital in emerging technology companies in the northeast
United States . Since early 1999, he has also been one of the three Managing
Partners of Flatiron
Partners. Flatiron focused on the information
technology sector and backed 59 companies with over $550 million of
capital. Before joining Flatiron in 1999, Bob was a General Partner at
Chase Capital Partners (now known as JPMorgan
Partners).
In
his five years there, he started, built and led their Technology and Internet
practice, which included launching Flatiron, backing
Pitango Venture Capital in Israel , and launching TechFund Capital in Silicon
Valley .
Bob serves as the President of the Venture
Investors Association of New York (VIANY). He has been
a guest lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management, and is on the Undergraduate
Financial Aid Committee of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
Bob received a bachelor's from the Wharton School and an MBA from
MIT/Sloan.
John May
John May is the managing
partner of New
Vantage Group, a Vienna, VA firm that innovatively mobilizes
private equity into early-stage companies and provides advisory services to
both funds and private investors. John's experience in private equity capital
over the last 15 years ranges from VC fund management to angel
investing.
John has been at the forefront of the angel investor movement. In 1991,
he co-founded the Investors'
Circle, a national non-profit group of 125 family
and institutional investors working to grow the social venture capital industry.
Additionally in 1996, he co-founded and became executive director of the Private
Investors Network, an angel network sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic
Venture Association,
which he led until 2002. John is now Chairman of the Angel
Capital Association, is
a lead instructor for their "Power of Angel Investing" seminars,
and is co-author of two books, "Every Business Needs an Angel" and "State of
the Art."
John co-founded The Dinner Club, an investment group of 60 regional angels
who collectively invest in regional early stage ventures. A larger private
investor pool, the eMedia Club with 75 members, followed it, and in 2000, the
Washington Dinner Club with 75 members was started. In 2003, Active
Angel Investors,
a "pledge" fund was created. New Vantage Group administers all of these groups.
