Creating a Technology Services Company

Posted on January 4, 2012May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

I moderated a panel entitled “Creating a Technology Services Company” last night. I recruited a great panel of experts including: David Kelleher, founder and CEO of CGI Interactive; Denise Aronson, founder and president of Safety Partners; and Joseph Sanromá, Principal of DBA Partners. The event was jointly sponsored by the IEEE Boston Entrepreneur’s Network (ENET) and IEEE Consultants Network (CNET), the session was a huge success.

We had some technical difficulties at the start but got them all worked out. Words for the wise: always bring your slide deck(s) with you, as well as hardcopy slides, handouts, & notes if used. The panel started a little slowly but after about 25 minutes we hit our stride. The audience of about 70 people started to ask good questions and made good observations; they were clearly into it. I enjoyed orchestrating the event—interacting with the Denise, David, and Joe; picking out members of the audience, and keeping things moving. Not surprisingly, the most animated part of the meeting centered on social media—how much time people spend on it, what the costs are, and what is the ROI. A lot of heat came into the room on such a cold night!

Here are some comments from people who attended:

Robert Adelson, Chairman, ENET Executive Committee commented: “We had a very nice meeting of ENET last night. Tim did a fine job moderating, all panelists were very good and the meeting proceeded right on time. Also despite low earlier registration, the attendance was 70 which is the best of our last three meetings and very good for a cold January 3.”

Robert Lento, ENET Vice Chair, Programs and CNET Liaison to ENET agreed: “Jan 3. was one of the best joint programs ever presented by CNET/ENET. Congratulations to you, David, Denise, and Joe. The panel was well-rounded. The speakers complemented each other and worked well together in the panel-discussion format. Several attendees commented on the contributions made by the moderator during the meeting. Of course, they were not aware of another major contribution—the teleconferenced dry runs that you orchestrated!”

Angela Roberge of Accurate Staffing, LLC

Angela Roberge, President of Accurate Staffing, LLC: “Enjoyed the panel – liked how they each had varying years of experience – found that interesting and informative.”

After the meeting each of the panelists had a cluster of people around them—always a good sign. Many people came up to me too, including a David Beberman, a long-ago colleague from Genetics Institute who now works at a Solutions Architect at Aicas Realtime…small world!

The New England Venture Summit and the Top 5 Things You Ought to Know about Raising VC Money!

Posted on December 17, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

This past week was the 5th annual 2011 New England Venture Summit. This event was New England’s largest VC summit and man do I wish I had a startup to pitch there. The Hilton hotel in Dedham was crawling with investors and entrepreneurs, and was one of the best networking events I’ve been to in recent memory. The wonderful people at Foley Hoag hooked me up with a free pass to attend, which was key given the $500 ticket price. Maybe $500 is a good deal for the target audience, but free is my kind of price.

Seeing real early-stage companies was an excellent opportunity to learn about the business process and even throw in my 2 cents. Everyone I met was easily approachable and truly interested in sharing ideas and seeing how we could help one another. It was a great feeling to be able to talk with company xyz about their business model and how they’re attracting investors to reach the next gate in growing their company. I could even look at the data on projected cash-flows and use that in conjunction with competitive analyses to analyze the potential. In my head I was saying things like, “Oh that’s interesting but I’d never invest,” or “wow this is going to make some people very rich,” or even “there’s too much risk involved,” to “I like the company and the technology but they need a marketing guy because what they have just isn’t working.” VCs do that everyday so it’s important to think like one if you want them on your side.

That being said, I imagine playing a venture capitalist is more fun with real money.

Some of my top takeaways I learned from the conference were:

If your technology or company is million dollar grade, your presentation better be too or you’re wasting your time. Marketing is cheap but can make a world of difference.
Don’t BS your cash-flows. Stand out with honesty and if you don’t know so, state so. People don’t invest because you wrote $ 100 Million in income 5 years from now in your business plan. They invest in you, your team, your idea/product and in your passion.
Don’t spray and pray with business plans. Every VC group has a targeted portfolio so find ones that are interested in your industry and level of risk. Also find a way to make a warm-intro because they gets loads of unsolicited plans and that’s an unsound strategy. Also, if they give you 5-20 minutes to present your plan, take it and stop by the agreed time. If they like you- you’ll get all the time you need.
If you expect an NDA to be signed, then you clearly don’t know the game.
Money isn’t hard to find, good companies worth the risk are. If your attitude sucks it will effect your performance when soliciting investors. Stay positive and utilize your network. Linkedin anyone? If your idea is a good one then you will find investors who agree.

Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network Meeting: Legal Issues and MORE!

Posted on December 11, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

ENET with Christina Inge, Tim Schmidt and Ryan Connors — ENET Advisory Board members Christina Inge and Tim Schmidt with TRA360’s Ryan Connors

This past week was ENET’s (Boston’s IEEE Entrepreneurs’ Network) monthly meeting on legal and tax issues. I guess there’s no big reason to learn about those when starting a company. Who likes keeping their hard earned money anyways? Did you catch that?

Decisions made in the early stages of forming a company are critical to the company’s future. From forming as an LLC, C corp or S corp, there are pros and cons that must be fully understood to prevent things such as double-taxation (don’t we pay enough?), unnecessary liabilities, and future investments. Now all of these can’t be laid out in a single article, and even so I’m not qualified to do so. I happen to know a few people that would be qualified and ENET is the place to meet them. It’s good food for thought.

The next meeting will be January 3rd from 7:00 – 10:00PM at the Foley Hoag Emerging Enterprise Center, 1000 Winter Street, Suite 4000 (north entrance), Waltham, MA and will be on Creating a Technology Services Company. The meeting is sure to be an exciting one and will feature none other than Valentina Rosa, founder & CEO of TRA360, and a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs. If you’re interested in the topic or just in networking with the best group of professionals in Boston, ENET is the place to be.

ENET Boston Entrepreneurs Network

Posted on November 6, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

Welcome back reader! As you probably know by now, I’m a member of ENET the Boston Entrepreneurs Network. It’s a great association of entrepreneurs where opportunity comes to life. If you live in MA you should seriously consider joining. I’ve found the information over the past year to be invaluable.

This past week’s event was around the topic of Funding a Company Without an Angel or VC. There are countless examples of successes that weren’t funded those ways, and often companies are better off delaying inorganic growth. Angels and VCs want something (a ROI on the $) and aren’t company saviors looking to burn money. Friends and family can often provide a lot of the financing needed to start a company on a budget. Bootstrapping is another way to grow a companies without risking dilution from investors or bankruptcy from loans. Often an investor wants to see cash flow and growth over time, and without those, the investor really holds the cards because they’ve heard “it’s a great idea it’ll work” a million times.

That being said, VCs and angels serve a great purpose in investing in small businesses that will grow the economy. The important thing to do is weigh all the options and get multiple opinions on growth strategies to protect yourself. Sometimes delaying growth can be deadly, but so can uncontrolled growth.