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June Entrepreneurs Forum:
Financing Lean/Agile Startups
June 17, 2010 - 6:30PM at WorkBar Boston
- What is an "lean" or "agile" startup? Do non-lean startups exist?
- What are viable options for financing a startup until you achieve profitability or fundability?
- Is "lean" a (temporary) stage of a startup or a (permanent) type of startup?
- If it's a stage, what is the objective of the stage? What is a "product/market fit". How do you know when you've achieved it?
- If it's a type, what makes certain startups more applicable to the lean/agile approach than others? How do you finance startups not of that type?
- If you've already achieved a product/market mix, why would you then give away equity and control by seeking venture funding?
- What legal structures (LLC, C-Corp, S-Corp; Delaware vs. New York; etc) are most appropriate for the lean approach?
- What impact will proposed changes to angel finance regulations have on bootstrappers?
- What event should trigger a search for investment? Competition? Acceleration? Being first to market? Finding an application for a new technology? Funding development of an initial prototype? Sustaining a system with lots of users but no revenue model?
- Does 'lean-ness' change after financing? What should change about the way a startup spends money after a financing round?
Moderator:
Panelists (alphabetic order):
Panelist Bios:
Jeff Emig
Jeff is a Principal at Brook Venture Partners. He joined Brook in August, 2005 after receiving his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he graduated with Honors as an Edward Tuck Scholar with Distinction. At Brook, Jeff assists in sourcing and analyzing deals, structuring transactions, and working directly with portfolio companies. Jeff sits on the Board of Directors at Security Innovation and is a Board Observer at Pointcare Technologies, BabyAge, Arigo, Really Strategies, Peminic, HistoRx and Mobile Medical. Before Tuck, Jeff was one of the founders of Tenor Networks, a firm focused on developing high-end optical networking equipment. At Tenor, Jeff helped build the finance and operations groups and assisted in raising over $120M of Venture Capital through three rounds of financing. Prior to Tenor, Jeff held finance and operations roles in 3Com Corp.'s Switching Division. Jeff holds a Bachelors Degree with Honors from the University of Massachusetts where he graduated as Valedictorian of the School of Finance and Operations Management. In his free time, Jeff can be found spending time with his wife and two kids or running, cycling, playing tennis, or ice climbing in the White Mountains.
Tedd Lustig
Mr. Lustig is a partner in Seyfarth’s Corporate and Finance practice group and is resident in the Boston Office. His practice focuses on the representation of middle-market and emerging-growth companies in an array of industries including high-tech, bio-tech and medical devices. Mr. Lustig counsels his clients on issues relating to corporate formation, capital structure, venture capital, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, securities law compliance, corporate governance, intellectual property licensing, equity based compensation, and general corporate and commercial law. His practice also frequently involves cross-border international transactions.
Due to the breadth of his experience, Mr. Lustig frequently serves in the capacity of outside general counsel to his clients. Mr. Lustig also lectures on a regular basis on topics relating to corporate formation and venture capital.
Jon O'Shaughnessy
Jon is an associate at Dace Ventures, a $70m early-stage venture capital firm located in Waltham, MA. which focuses on digital media, consumer marketing, and mobile investments. Jon is also a serial entrepreneur and prior to working at Dace, co-founded a Boston-based startup called Emerginvest. Emerginvest was selected as a Techcrunch50 finalist in 2008 from a field of 1,000 companies in 49 countries, and while there, Jon developed an international network of financial partners (from countries such as Chile, South Africa, Latvia, China, and India), and successfully helped secure funding in October 2008. Prior to Emerginvest, Jon worked with a variety of venture capital firms and angel groups including Brook Ventures, Breakaway Ventures, and Hub Angel Group.
Ken Steinberg
Ken is a thought leader for many private and public corporations providing insight and direction for entry into new markets and/or increased traction in existing entrenchments. A prolific problem solver with a continuously growing portfolio of patents in numerous fields including computer science, healthcare and safety.
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| ULS Boston is organized by Graham Clarke, Partner at 53 Technology & founder of Dealicio - @grahamclarke. Feel free to contact me with suggestions for future forum topics, speaker requests, and information about becoming a sponsor. Email: graham at 53tech dot com |
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