Attracting Venture Investment in a Tough Economy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/February 18, 2003
Contact: WPI Venture Forum, +1-508-831-5075
Tuesday, March 11, 2003, 6-9 p.m.
WPI, Campus Center Odeum
WORCESTER, MA (February 18, 2003) - Venture capital investment has declined substantially in the past several years, as many venture capitalists have shifted their focus from aggressively funding promising start-ups to managing current portfolio companies through these difficult times. Even seasoned entrepreneurs who had a relatively easy time obtaining venture funding in the 90s are now finding it difficult to attract the attention of venture firms. To increase your chances of obtaining venture investment, Bob Creeden, general partner at Egan-Managed Capital, will provide insight into the screening process used to evaluate candidates for investment. He will give specific advice on what entrepreneurs should and should not do to improve their chances of standing out from the crowd. Following Mr. Creeden, the evening's case study will be SQGO LLC, developer of a new wireless messaging product that lets users quickly create, send, and receive mini messages.
The WPI Venture Forum meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 11, 2003, at the Odeum Campus Center on the WPI campus in Worcester, MA. Registration begins at 6:00 p.m. and the meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Registration cost is $10 individual, annual, and lifetime members; and $20 nonmembers.
About the Speakers
Bob Creeden has more than 10 years of venture capital experience and has worked in senior management positions at a variety of companies, including Control Data and Data General. At Egan-Managed Capital, Mr. Creeden focuses on New England-based, early stage, technology companies, such as Almeric Networks, Centerstone Software, Comjoin, Genalytics, SOFTRAX, and WebEvent. Prior to Egan, Mr. Creeden served as vice president at Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), a 20-year old venture firm that funds technology-based companies in Massachusetts. While at MTDC, he invested in more than 25 companies and reviewed more than 750 business plans.
Bruce Warila is founder and CEO of SQGO LLC. At the WPI Venture Forum, Mr. Warila will discuss SQGO's new wireless messaging product, Ultimate Messenger. Ultimate Messenger is an enterprise messaging platform that enables real-time insertion of live, self-configuring, mini applications into a communications session and the messaging stream. Mr. Warila has 15 years experience at successfully starting, operating, and growing profitable businesses. Prior to SQGO, he founded London-based Yospace, a worldwide seller of software to the carrier, developer, and reseller segments of the wireless Internet market. Previously, Mr. Warila served as CEO of Crawford Group, which was acquired by a division of Ford Motor Company. In addition, he has developed and marketed packaged software services to such companies at MITRE, Lotus, Microsoft, and Harvard University.
About the WPI Venture Forum
The WPI Venture Forum was created in 1990 to promote the entrepreneurial spirit and to serve those who engage in technology- based entrepreneurial enterprises by providing advice, support and education tailored to meet their needs. The forum fosters entrepreneurship through such activities as monthly programs, a business plan contest, a weekly radio show on News Radio WTAG (Saturdays, 5-7 pm, 580am), and a monthly newsletter.
The Venture Forum, as part of the Collaborative for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in the Department of Management at WPI, serves individuals who are seeking to begin their own technology-based businesses; founders, presidents, and senior managers of start-up or early-stage companies; senior managers of companies that are restarting or making a transition for one mode of operation to another; and employees leaving large companies due to a reduction in force or to start businesses.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: September 28, 2007 11:49:00