Crafting Successful Business Plans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/June 3, 2002
Contact: WPI Venture Forum, 508-831-5075

June's Venture Forum meeting features Bob Creeden who will address the issue of crafting successful business plans. Creeden joined Egan-Managed Capital as a general partner in April 1999 and has spent more than 20 years focusing his attention on assisting early-stage technology companies. He has more than ten years venture capital investment experience. Creeden previously was a director at Global Telemedix. He currently serves on the board of directors for Sprockets, Inc. (www.sprockets.com), Oracom (www.oracom.com), Centerstone Software (www.centerstonesoft.com) and WebEvent (www.webevent.com). In addition, he is a director of the Technology Capital Network, a private investor group affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Enterprise Forum. A former chair of the WPI Venture Forum, Creeden continues to serve as a member of the executive board of the organization.

In a previous position as vice president of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), a 20-year-old venture firm that funds technology-based companies in the Commonwealth, Creeden reviewed more than 750 business plans and invested in 25 companies. His portfolio included companies developing leading-edge technologies in semiconductors, software, telecommunications, medical devices, manufacturing and advanced materials. Before joining MTDC, Creeden gained strategic operating expertise with start-up ventures, both as a senior officer and as a management consultant at Control Data Corporation, Data General, Legal Data Systems and Wolf & Co. of Massachusetts. He holds an AB in Economics from Holy Cross College and an MBA from Suffolk University.

No case presenter

In lieu of the usual single case presenter, all finalists of the annual Venture Forum business plan contest will have the opportunity to present their plans to the audience. The winner of the contest will then be selected from the finalists, based in part on the presentation. John Merrill of Worcester Capital Partners and another, as yet unnamed, business professional will join speaker Bob Creeden in judging the entries and also serving as panelists.

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.

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Last modified: Aug 19, 2005, 16:32 EDT