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| February 28, 2008 | Volume 12 Issue 9 |
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Editor: George Lipper | |
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(Please scroll down for the full story) -- Angel Investing Top the News for Second Week in a Row -- Top 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs Seeking Angel Capital -- Start-up Investment Values Are All over the Place, But No Sign Yet of a Downturn -- New York Comes to Silicon Valley -- Report: Massachusetts Faces Hurdles in Life Sciences -- Illinois Venture Capital Fund for Startups Makes First 3 Investments -- Hawaii Profs Get Private-Sector Help with Spinoffs -- For Starters, Portland Area Is Getting Better -- Sacramento Advised: Nurture Startups, Don’t Import Them -- Few Staff Members Fear Death of New Jersey Commerce Commission -- Can Poor Little Rhode Island Become a High-Tech Hub? -- Kansas, New York Lawmakers Wonder if Economic Development Funds Are Spent Wisely -- Legislative Bill Aims to Rein in Kentucky's Incentive Program -- Maryland Hopes to Attract Emerging Nanobiotechnology Industry -- 'Incubator Alley' Bids To Transform Route 195 Into Connecticut's Technology Corridor -- Louisiana Research Park Eyes Program for Loans -- Man Bites Dog. Florida Biotech Firm Nudged by Investors to Move to Cleveland -- Clean Energy: University of Minnesota Biofuels Study Upsets Farmers -- Jury Sides With Blackboard in Patent Case -- Proof of Concept: Accelerating the Commercialization of University Innovation -- Measuring the ‘Impact’ of Business School Research -- Film Industry Continues to Capture Outsized Share of Tax Credits: Connecticut, South Carolina -- Seminars & Conferences Angel Investing Top the News for Second Week in a Row Angel investing gains traction as Dow Jones VentureSource announces that it is partnering with the Angel Capital Education Foundation (ACEF), to raise the visibility of the earliest stages of innovation investment. Together, ACEF and Dow Jones VentureSource will gather and report on angel organization investment in United States:: Earthtimes Press Release A growing number of angel investors are expected to find more investment opportunities, but fewer exits, in 2008, according to a new report from the Angel Capital Association. The organization, a peer-to-peer affiliation of independent investment groups that funnel individual wealth into startup companies, also asserts that angel investment is somewhat insulated from macroeconomic trends and can thrive during economic downturns: The Seed Stage Here are the the results of the 2008 Angel Group Confidence Report, as published by the Angel Capital Association: Angel Capital Association Meanwhile more and more angels groups are heralding their arrival. Midland's MidMichigan Innovation Center announced the launch of the Blue Water Angels investment group. Blue Water Angels has more than $1 million in capital available to invest in promising companies on an annual basis. The new group has 25 members to date: Great Lakes IT Report And Tom Still of the Wisconsin Technology Network point to the rise in angel investing across Wisconsin being accompanied by more activity by other private equity investing, as well: Wisconsin Technology Network Still was referencing a story last week suggesting that. while Wisconsin is rich in intellectual capital, it remains saddled with attitudes that get in the way of leveraging it. G. Steven Burrill, chief executive at Burrill & Co., a San Francisco venture capital firm whose funds invest nearly $1 billion in life sciences companies doesn't buy the state's standard argument - that it lacks the kind of capital available on the coasts to fund new companies: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Top 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs Seeking Angel Capital Jim Roberts, former executive director of the Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council and the Blue Ridge Angel Investors Network, offered some thoughts for entrepreneurs in search of angel support: WRAL Radio Start-up Investment Values Are All over the Place, But No Sign Yet of a Downturn If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably concerned the weakening economy will force venture capitalists to lower the value of your company when they invest: The Standard The key to survival is to find truly patient capital. Richard Blackwell tells how a cleantech company flourished with the help of a venture capital group that was in it for the long haul: Toronto Globe & Mail For female entrepreneurs it remains a challenging barrier. Ousted Zipcar C.E.O. Robin Chase finds women are held to different standards by the male-dominated VC community: Portfolio.Com New York Comes to Silicon Valley The relationship between the venture capitalists of Sand Hill Road and the securities firms and power investors of Wall Street has long been a cozy one. VCs hoping for a return on their investments will need banks eventually, while Wall Street needs VCs to nurture the most promising startups until they're ready to go public. Or do they? Look to recent funding deals for Ning and Slide to see evidence that Wall Street may be cutting out the middleman—venture capitalists: Business Week Report: Massachusetts Faces Hurdles in Life Sciences Massachusetts faces several challenges if it's to remain home to one of the world's top life sciences clusters, including increased competition from around the globe, a shortage of trained workers, and a lack of coordination among key players, a new study concludes. "Taking success for granted could be disastrous in the face of new competition," says the report by Mass Insight Corp., a Boston research firm, and the McKinsey & Co. consultancy. "As one of our interviewees said: 'The days of a Massachusetts monopoly are over": Boston Globe In an op-ed piece, Jim Stergios challenges the rationale behind Massachusetts decision to entice British drug maker Shire, PLC to expand in the Bay State at a cost to taxpayers of $40.5 million in state and $7.5 million in local incentives, or nearly $70,000 per job. At that rate, he notes, reaching the goal Governor Patrick set out in his State of the State address for the administration's $1 billion life sciences proposal to "add another 250,000 jobs over the next decade" - will cost upward of $15 billion: Big Dig territory: Boston Globe On the plus side for the Bay State, the law firm Nutter McClennen & Fish has borrowed a strategy from the venture capital community by partnering with promising startups as a way to develop future clients. Three years ago the Boston-based law firm invested $1 million in its Technovation program, a grant system that doles out free legal-service credits to fledgling companies: Boston Business Journal Illinois Venture Capital Fund for Startups Makes First 3 Investments A new Illinois-based venture capital fund for start-up firms announced Monday that it has invested in its first three companies, two in technology and one in consumer products. The Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund, which recently achieved its $10-million goal in capital commitments, chose Viewpoints.com in Chicago, One Llama Media Inc. of Champaign and Ifbyphone Inc. of Skokie as funding recipients: Crain's Chicago Yet Illinois continues to waive the regret flag over the loss of the internet foundation. If the next killer app is invented in our backyard, University of Illinois President B. Joseph White hopes his school and the local economy at large can take proper advantage. This was not the case in 1993, when students and researchers at the Urbana-based National Center for Supercomputing Applications conceived of a graphic interface technology that would become the foundation of today's Internet: Chicago Sun Times Hawaii Profs Get Private-Sector Help with Spinoffs With help from the local business community, University of Hawaii assistant professor Stefan Moisyadi has formed a company around the new gene therapy method he created on the Manoa campus: Pacific Business News For Starters, Portland Area Is Getting Better A decade ago, the Portland area had one business incubator providing fledgling companies with low-cost space or other help. Now it has at least eight incubators or other business assistance programs. The change signals the metro area's increasingly diversified and innovative economy, expert observers say. But, they add, the region has a long way to go before it ranks among the nation's best cities to start a business: The Oregonian Sacramento Advised: Nurture Startups, Don’t Import Them What's the best way to bring sustained economic growth to Sacramento? Go local, suggests a new report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. Researchers there urge state and regional officials to stop trying to entice companies into moving operations and instead focus on forming and growing new companies right in their region: Sacramento Bee This essay from a newly posted Kauffman paper provides a guide to policymakers and citizens to what is known about the effects of various local and state policies aimed at fostering entrepreneurially driven growth. There is also much we do not know; thus, the essay identifies subjects that require further research. Before discussing these topics in further detail, we recommend keeping in mind several broad lessons from the academic literature. Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneurship and Urban Success: A Roadmap Toward a Policy Consensus Few Staff Members Fear Death of New Jersey Commerce Commission "It doesn't matter if New Jersey has something called the Commerce Commission; what matters is that the state continues to carry out economic development work at a high level." Governor Jon Corzine has proposed a budget that slashes $500 million in state spending, cuts 3,000 government jobs and eliminates three state departments: Commerce, Agriculture and Personnel: Newark Star-Ledger Can Poor Little Rhode Island Become a High-Tech Hub? Many areas compete to be tech hubs, trying to attract the high-wage jobs of a knowledge economy - whether it is Governor Deval Patrick's proposed $1 billion life sciences initiative, or New Hampshire's drive to develop a new tech park in Nashua and rebrand the state as a tech hotspot as well as a bucolic getaway. Now, the smallest state is trying to position itself as an entrepreneurial hub, offering tax incentives and playing off its location between New York and Boston, its size, its universities, and Providence's urban renaissance: Boston Globe Kansas, New York Lawmakers Wonder if Economic Development Funds Being Spent Wisely A $1.5 billion price tag for economic development in Kansas is drawing new questions from state officials. “People ought to understand we are spending a heck of a lot of money here,” said Rep. Kenny Wilk, a Lansing Republican. “Are we getting a return on our investment?” Kansas City Star The state's industrial development agencies are vital tools for creating new jobs. Unless they are poorly supervised boondoggles that deliver far less than they promise. Backers and critics of the state's IDAs, which include the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, are in a battle of competing numbers over the effectiveness of the organizations. The state's 116 IDAs award tax breaks to new or expanding businesses in exchange for guarantees of job growth. Several labor organizations, activist groups and the state Comptroller's Office are questioning how well the IDAs meet their objectives: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Legislative Bill Aims to Rein in Kentucky's Incentive Program Two key Democratic lawmakers want to rein in an "out of control" tax incentive program for mega-developments such as Louisville's Museum Plaza, but some fear the proposed changes could needlessly hamper future projects in downtown Lexington. State Rep. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, has proposed a bill that would significantly curtail the state's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program, which has approved five tax breaks since late September potentially worth $2 billion to developers over the next 30 years: Lexington Herald-Leader Maryland Hopes to Attract Emerging Nanobiotechnology Industry Boosting Maryland as a hub of nanobiotechnology research, legislators and higher education leaders joined yesterday to propose a $5 million state program to award research grants and lure private-sector firms to locate in the state. The Coordinating Emerging Nanobiotechnology Research in Maryland Program would leverage federal and state money to establish new research centers and foster public-private partnerships: Washington Post In January, just as anger over a new tax on computer services was beginning to boil over in Maryland's high-tech sector, Robert Epstein received a call from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Maryland's secretary of economic development, David W. Edgerley, says that his office is aware that Pennsylvania and Delaware have recently targeted Maryland computer companies. He said he is "monitoring the situation" but does not believe it is widespread: Baltimore Sun 'Incubator Alley' Bids To Transform Route 195 Into Connecticut's Technology Corridor Seven miles from the University of Connecticut campus, a short, unremarkable building houses the beginnings of what a handful of entrepreneurs dream will become Connecticut's version of Silicon Valley. Inside the headquarters of the research firm Nerac, a handful of twentysomethings, most of them recent UConn graduates, sit in glass-paneled offices that form "Incubator Alley." The offices house six startup companies created by the employees themselves: Hartford Courant Louisiana Research Park Eyes Program for Loans The Reesearch Park Corp., the nonprofit corporation that operates the Louisiana Technology Park and owns a stake in the Bon Carré Business Center, might launch a business and industrial development corporation — called a BIDCO — to provide working capital for young technology firms: The Advocate Man Bites Dog. Florida Biotech Firm Nudged by Investors to Move to Cleveland Heavy-hitting investors on the East and West coasts offered ViewRay a $25 million investment to speed development of its medical imaging and treatment device. But there was a catch. To get the money to continue its product development, the company had to move from Gainesville, Fla., to a center of bioscience innovation. The investors suggested a handful of places. Would it be Boston? San Francisco? North Carolina's Research Triangle? Atlanta? Nope. The company picked Greater Cleveland: Cleveland Plain Dealer Clean Energy: University of Minnesota Biofuels Study Upsets Farmers A pair of agriculture groups has temporarily suspended about $1.5 million in grants to the University of Minnesota to protest a controversial study by U scientists earlier this month about biofuels and global warming. The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council decided to stop paying additional research money until they meet with Allen Levine, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and other officials: Minneapolis Star Tribune Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm returned from a summit with the nation's governors saying she's convinced Michigan is in the "backwater" of renewable energy and must pass a law by next month requiring the state to meet some of its electricity needs with wind power and other green sources. She says the state will lose out on wind turbine manufacturing plants and other job-creating ventures without the law, which would mandate that the state generate 10 percent of its electric power from renewable sources by 2015: Detroit News Jury Sides With Blackboard in Patent Case A federal jury in Texas on Friday awarded the learning services giant Blackboard $3.1 million in its patent infringement lawsuit against a much smaller competitor, adding a new layer of complexity and uncertainty to a complex, uncertain market for higher education learning management systems: Inside HigherEd Professor Connie Bagley, Harvard Business School associate, reflecting on conversations with former students who have started business ventures, has heard her share of horror stories. To prepare current students for the HBS Business Plan Contest, Bagley gives a seminar in which she shares these war stories with the prospective entrepreneurs, in the form of a list of "top ten" legal mistakes often made by the unsuspecting: Harvard Business School Proof of Concept: Accelerating the Commercialization of University Innovation A Kauffman Foundation and Max Planck Institute of Economics white paper analyzes an emerging approach to move university innovation to market and to fill the seed-stage funding gap for new technologies. The report explores two "proof of concept centers," the Deshpande Center at MIT and the von Liebig Center at the University of California San Diego. The information obtained from the study has led the Foundation to form a network that will bring centers together to study best practices, establish metrics, define points of future research, and hopefully spur replication of the centers at other universities: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Measuring the ‘Impact’ of Business School Research Ask anyone with an M.B.A.: Business school provides an ideal environment to network, learn management principles and gain access to jobs. Professors there use a mix of scholarly expertise and business experience to teach theory and practice, while students prepare for the life of industry: A simple formula that serves the school, the students and the corporations that recruit them: Inside HigherEd AACSB Final Report Film Industry Continues to Capture Outsized Share of Tax Credits: Connecticut, South Carolina Saying legislators might have become "star struck," a new report questions whether the Connecticut's film tax credit is essentially a giveaway to the movie industry and estimates the loss of revenue at $116 million for the next fiscal year. That is 11 times greater than the state money being spent for stem cell research and more than five times the money spent on research and development credits statewide: Hartford Courant At the height of South Carolina’s film incentive program in 2006-2007, seven movies created about $25 million in total economic impact for the state, according to a USC study released Tuesday. South Carolina’s benefits from the financial incentives given to film production companies outweighed the costs to the state, the study concluded: The State Investor and Entrepreneur Seminars & Conferences Detroit, MI Sept. 10-12, 2008 - 15th Annual Conference of the National Association of Seed & Venture Funds Registration Not Yet Open Offered by Our Friends: Chicago, IL March 17-18, 2008 - Annual Midwest Venture Summit Midwest Venture Summit New York, NY May 4-7, 2008 - Community Development Venture Capital Alliance Annual Conference CDVCA Annual Conference Las Vegas, NV May 4-7, 2008 - Consumer Health World Summit Health 3.0 Summit San Antonio, TX May 4-7, 2008 - NBIA's 22nd International Conference on Incubation National Business Incubation Association San Francisco, CA May 5-7, 2008 - Investors' Circle 2008 Spring Conference & Venture Fair Investors' Circle Spring Conference San Diego, CA May 7-9, 2008 - Angel Capital Association Summit Conference Angel Capital Association Ann Arbor (Ypsilanti), MI May 14-15, 2008 - 27th Annual Michigan Growth Capital Symposium Michigan Growth Capital Symposium Subscribe to NASVF NetNews Unsubscribe from NASVF NetNews 
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