Early Stage Equity Financing

Capital is the lifeblood of an early stage company.  Without sufficient capital, a company founder may never be able to develop even the most promising and innovative product or service and bring it to market.  A shortage of capital is a key reason for the failure of many early stage companies.  While some company founders may be able to “bootstrap” a company and others may have access to grants, sooner or later, a company is likely to need capital from angel investors, professional investors or strategic partners.

The panel includes executives from Massachusetts-based early stage companies that have recently completed successful capital-raising transactions and an angel investor.  They will give their perspectives on the capital-raising process, identifying potential investors, anticipating investor concerns, negotiating transaction terms and getting to funding.  Panelists are:

•           Neal Gouck, Founder/CEO, Freedom Wind Tunnel, LLC.  Gouck plans a facility providing indoor skydiving to enable people to enjoy the experience of skydiving without jumping out of an airplane.  Gouck also serves as Assistant Dean of Charlton College of Business at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

•           Eric Sandberg, CEO, RasLabs, LLC, offers best practices in stage gate product development, customer designed feasibility studies, human centric design, manufacturing and supply chain.  As an early employee of the OSRAM SYLVANIA LED Division, he helped develop capabilities to grow the business to $100+ million in revenue.

•           John Poole, Co-Founder and Managing Director of P.T.I. Advisers, LLC, a financial services firm providing professional business valuation and appraisal services with an emphasis on private, early stage and transitioning companies.  Poole also serves as the outsourced Chief Financial Officer of BL Healthcare, Inc. an early stage medical device company.

The Moderator is Neil McLaughlin of the TCF Law Group, PLLC, Boston.  He has worked on private equity deals across a broad range of industries, including IT services, 3-D printing, medical devices and consumer products.  He has also worked on many equity financings from early stage financings through initial public offerings.

The Southern New England Entrepreneurs Forum, SNEEF, is dedicated to developing entrepreneurship and innovation activity with programs that combine topical forums with networking opportunities.

The SNEEF event is open to public.  Admission $20 in advance, $25 at the door, SNEEF Affiliate member $15, SNEEF Members free.  Pizza and salad dinner.  Join SNEEF for $75 and attend free.  Register at www.SNEEF.org.  Info on membership, sponsorships and partnerships at:  info@SNEEF.edu.

CALENDAR:

Southern New England Entrepreneurs Forum (SNEEF) hosting “Early Stage Equity Financing”, Thursday, April 14, 5:30-8:00 p.m., UMass Dartmouth Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 151 Martine Street, Fall River.  Admission $20 in advance, $25 at door, SNEEF Affiliate member $15, SNEEF Members free.  Pizza dinner.  Register at www.SNEEF.org, info@SNEEF.edu.