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From
Techie to Tycoon
You don't need an MBA to develop leading edge technology for
the marketplace
The phase "technology driven" often has been used in a derogatory
fashion to describe a new technology company. Would-be entrepreneurs
are told that unless they have actual customers and a sophisticated
marketing and sales plan, they should not expect to secure
any financing and should probably not start a new company.
The fact is, however, that many new companies have been started
very successfully and are being started just because their
founders have a vision at the leading edge of a particular
technology. They may be years off from a commercial product
in the traditional sense. They may not yet have professional
finance and marketing officers. What they have is substance
and drive and an early understanding that their venture must
always work as a business.
The 2004-2005 year of the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum will
kick off on October 16, 2004 with a program specifically directed
to the needs of the person who has developed expertise and
a vision for leading edge technology and wants to become an
entrepreneur: How to assess the prospects? How to define a
business before the product has an objectively identifiable
demand? What kinds of financing are available? What opportunities
for revenue in the short term? When are additional team members
needed? How should they be recruited? What are the most important
elements right now?
We have assembled a special panel, each of which has been
involved with companies that were little more than a gleam
in the eye when they started out. They have served as founding
entrepreneurs with no direct business experience, as angel
investors willing to combine seed investments with hands-on
mentoring to help turn the technologist into an entrepreneur,
or as analysts assessing technologies from a practical business
standpoint.
Jeff Lawrence, Founder and Former CEO, Trillium
Digital Systems
Benjamin Chow, Ph.D., Rustic Canyon Partners
DuWayne Peterson, Chairman, Pasadena Angels
Tom Taulli, Author and Manager, Oceanus Value
Fund
Daniel Marcu, Chief Operating Officer, Language
Weaver, Inc.
MODERATOR & PRODUCER
Ira Moskatel, Arnold & Porter LLP
Squire Sanders
Among the strongest global law firms, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey
L.L.P. combines sound legal counsel with effective, efficient
and visionary leadership in resolving client legal challenges.
With more than 750 lawyers in 26 offices worldwide, Squire
Sanders is a full service law firm offering the highest quality
legal services. Squire Sanders lawyers are fluent in more
than 50 languages and have been admitted to practice in more
than 150 courts and jurisdictions worldwide. Squire Sanders
represents a diverse mix of clients - from Fortune 100 clients
to privately held enterprises, and from emerging companies
to mature conglomerates. The firm also represents individuals
as well as national, regional and local governments.
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
Registration
and Continental Breakfast:
8:00 a.m. at Baxter Hall
Program:
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall
Networking:
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at Baxter Lecture Hall
$40.00 per person ($10 for full-time students with student
ID's; free to Caltech students and faculty)
Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum
Industrial Relations Center 1-90
383 S. Hill Avenue
Pasadena, California 91106
626 395-3916 Fax: 626 795-7174
entfor@caltech.edu
http://www.entforum.caltech.edu
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