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Tuesday,
May 20, 2008
Deciphering the Funding Value-Chain:
How Seed Capital Scroungers Become Bankers' Best Friends
Register
Online
Meeting
Overview
For our May 20th event, the EntreTech Forum takes a break
from its industry-specific theme and refocuses on the issue of how
new ventures of all types are funded, starting from their embryonic
stages in academic research labs to fully-realized
commercialization. In particular, the EntreTech Forum’s
panelists will help the audience understand the funding value-chain
from the perspective of the funding sources themselves.
Panelists have been brought together from seed-level government
grants and angel funding through venture capital sources all the way
to mature investment banking and commercial banking applications.
This forum event will break new ground in bringing together
representatives of each funding source all at once. For all of
those individuals interested in understanding the inputs, outputs,
incentives, and issues from the standpoint of venture funding
sources, this is a must-attend event.
Moderator:
 Mr.
Andrew Fairbairn, Managing Principal, Fairbairn Ventures.
As Managing Principal of Fairbairn Ventures,
Andrew partners with driven entrepreneurs to rapidly prove out value
propositions and to build solid growth companies around that value.
Prior to establishing Fairbairn Ventures, Andrew was a founding
partner and Principal of JVKellyGroup, Inc. (JVKG), a New York-based
management consulting, performance management and software
development firm. He has also served as Vice President of
Deutsche Bank, focused on corporate venturing in financial
technology companies and strategic planning roles in New York and
London. Andrew began his career with UBS Securities in New
York, where he worked on global telecommunications industry
financings, across a range of geographies and investment banking
product disciplines. Andrew earned his B.A. in Economics
(1996) and M.A. in International Development Policy (1997) from
Stanford University.
Panelist:
Mr.
Robert Kispert, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
Bob Kispert
is Program Director, Federal and University Programs, JAII at the
Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the state's development
agency for renewable energy and the innovation economy, which works
with cutting-edge companies to create new jobs and stimulate
economic activities throughout Massachusetts. As the
university and federal programs director at the Innovation
Institute, Bob is in touch with a wide circle of professionals in
this area. Prior to joining MTC, Bob provided consulting
services to a variety of domestic and international technology based
firms in the software, instrumentation, consumer electronics,
energy, and environmental business sectors. He has served on
source evaluation panels for federal and industrial organizations.
He is the former President of Dynatech Scientific, Inc., a research
and development services, testing and instrumentation manufacturer
serving government, institutional and industrial markets. Bob
holds S.B. and S.M. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and is the author or co-author of a number of technical
and management reports and papers.
 Mr. Eric
Shealy, Innovation Advisors
Eric Shealy brings a strong background in investment banking,
operations and venture capital. With 20+ years of experience, Eric
has completed more than 20 M&A and capital raising transactions
covering a broad range of technology sectors including work with
both public and private companies in executing growth and liquidity
strategies involving acquisition, divestitures, restructurings, and
capital raisings.
Prior to joining Innovation Advisors, Eric
spent 6 years as a Managing Director at Covington Associates, a
specialty investment bank based in Boston , where he led their technology practice
and completed over 15 transactions. Before Covington , Eric founded NewBridge Associates,
an M&A advisory firm where he sourced and completed 6 transactions
for primarily internet-related companies over a 2 year period.
Eric’s operating experience includes stints as head of business
development for ON Technology, a publicly traded networking software
company, Director of Corporate Development for Amnet, Inc., a
venture backed consolidator of ambulance companies, and a variety of
product management and general management roles at Everex Systems, a
publicly held manufacturer of PCs and peripheral products. Eric
also spent 5 years at Summit Partners, a leading venture capital
firm. Eric received a BA degree in Economics from Boston
College .
Mr. Jay
Schwartz, Boston Harbor Angels & Stage 1 Strategies
Jay
is currently an angel investor and member of Boston Harbor Angels
serving as a member of both the executive board and life science
committees. His specialty is in the life sciences. In
addition to his role at Boston Harbor Angels, Jay consults through
his company Stage 1 Strategies LLC to companies regarding business
strategy, competitive intelligence, and business development, due
diligence, corporate finance and interim management. At his
last company, he served as co-founder and principal scientist at
engeneOS, Inc a venture-backed company. Jay has performed
research on many aspects of cardiovascular molecular medicine,
bioassay development, diagnostics and gene therapy at M.I.T and
Harvard
Medical Schools . Have served as Research
Scientist Faculty at the M.I.T. Center for Biomedical Engineering.
Continues relationship with M.I.T. as a member of the MIT Venture
Mentoring Service and a Deshpande Center Catalyst.
 Mr. Rob
Day, @Ventures
Rob Day joined @Ventures in 2007, and operates out of the firm’s
Boston-area office. He currently holds an observer seat on the
boards of Powerit Solutions and M2E Power. Prior to joining
the @Ventures team, Rob was an investor with Expansion Capital
Partners for over two years, where he was an investment principal
responsible for various aspects of that firm’s clean technology
venture capital activities, including investments in Tiger Optics,
SensorTran and Orion Energy Systems. Rob was formerly a
consultant with Bain & Company, where he worked with companies and
evaluated private equity transactions in the energy/ utilities,
telecom, IT, health care and retail industries. Earlier in his
career, Rob was also a founding member of the World Resources
Institute's Sustainable Enterprise Program, where he developed
partnerships with companies across a wide range of industries to
foster new business opportunities with economic, environmental and
social benefits. Rob is the co-author of The Next Bottom Line:
Making Sustainable Development Tangible, co-leads the Renewable
Energy Business Network (www.rebn.org), and authors the website
Cleantech Investing (www.cleantechvc.com). He also serves on
the advisory boards of the New England Clean Energy Council
(www.necec.org) and GreenTech Media (www.greentechmedia.com). Rob
received his MBA at Kellogg Graduate School of Management (
Northwestern
University), and his BA at
Swarthmore
College.
Mr. William Sweeney, Senior Vice President and
Managing Director, Comerica Bank, Venture Capital Group
Bill Sweeney is currently the Managing Director of Comerica's
Venture Capital Group in Waltham, MA, where he oversees delivery of
Comerica's broad platform of financial services, including banking,
financing and advising Venture Capital backed emerging technology
companies. Bill focuses on companies in the technology sector,
with particular emphasis on Software, Internet & New Media, and
Communications & Wireless sectors. Prior to Comerica, Bill
held senior management positions at Deloitte & Touche and Arthur D.
Little.
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