State of Virginia Commends TiE-DC Executive Director

Tanya Girdhar, Executive Director of The Washington DC Chapter of the Tie-DC organization of entrepreneurs has recently received a Commendation from the State of Virginia for her contributions to the Community and efforts to alleviate the suffering of the victims of the tsunamis that struck the Indian Ocean nations on December 26th, 2004. A resolution commending Girdhar for her charitable work was passed by the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate on February 26th, 2005.

Advisory Capital

Tom Evslin reports: "I created an entry in Wikipedia (see below) for advisory capital because I think the discussion following Stowe Boyd’s introduction of the term is interesting and that wikipedia provides a good place to agree on a definition and draw out the distinction between advisory capital and venture capital on one hand and advisor capitalists and advisory board members on the other. This is also a good place to record either existing examples of advisory capital and/or future development."

Advisory Capital is an investment of experience, expertise, social capital, and public authority into a company in return for some form of equity in the company. The first known use of the term is in a post by Stowe Boyd on February 20, 2006.

Technorati Tags: advisory capital

The Business Growth Network welcomes the Venture Forum of Richmond

The Venture Forum is the newest member of the Business Growth Network. Thomas A. Grant and Robert H. Mitchell represent the Richmond group on the BGN Board of Directors.

Since 1986, Venture Forum membership has been open to Richmond area entrepreneurs and others committed to their mission of promoting the success of entrepreneurial ventures, and the growth of entrepreneurship in central Virginia.

The next Venture Forum luncheon event is scheduled for March 22, 2006. The topic is People Power. You can sign up at VF luncheon .

MIT Media Lab's Moss Wants To Reinvent R&D

By Aaron Ricadela

Frank Moss says innovation will come from online communities of inventors rather than universities, corporate research labs, and organized startups. Moss, named earlier this month as director of MIT's pioneering IT lab, is preparing for a future in which online communities of inventors--rather than universities, corporate research labs, and organized startups--germinate the best ideas. Nicholas Negroponte, one of the Internet's original big thinkers, founded the Media Lab in 1985. He is leaving the lab to pursue his goal of delivering a $100 laptop for less-developed countries.

snippet from InformationWeek.com, February 27, 2006

Technorati Tags: innovation

Third Annual $10,000 Boomer Business Plan Competition

Are you developing innovative products and services for the 45+ market?

The baby boomer market represents over $2 trillion in annual spending power! The first of 76 million baby boomers turns 60 in January 2006 ... A massive demographic shift means new opportunities for growth, service and profit. Do you have a business plan or startup venture that shows significant business potential for this burgeoning market?

From early-stage ventures in medicine to media, fashion to financial services and beyond, we invite you to enter this exciting $10,000 Boomer Business Plan Competition

snippet from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara, CA

Technorati Tags: Business+plan

LiveFire at CVG

The LiveFire Business Plan presentations will be held on April 18 at 7:30 AM at the Darden Graduate School of Business.

More information at the CVG Calendar

Photo from the February Darden MBA Business Plan Competition. Jerry Bailey, CTO of LanguageWorks LLC is presenting.

Venture Capital's Space Shot

By next week, NASA hopes to have gathered a bunch of ideas from investing entrepreneurs on the particulars of its proposed Red Planet fund, and the aim is to get something launched before the end of this year. NASA Venture Capital

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has run its own venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, since 1999. It is widely considered to be a success, though performance numbers are hard to come by. In-Q-Tel was founded out of the recognition that government development of information technology was not keeping pace with the blistering speed of new IT ideas being developed in the commercial sector.

The U.S. Army has a fund, too, OnPoint, which invests in power and energy projects and defense systems.

Snippet from Forbes.com, by Liz Moyer, February 21, 2006

Technorati Tags: venture+capital

FarmShoring

Technology companies are putting high-level programming and data- crunching jobs in rural America locales with less traffic and lower rents to cut costs and remove the legal entanglements, cross-cultural differences, and time-zone hassles that come with overseas outsourcing.

Snippet from the Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 23, 2006, by Patrik Jonsson

Technorati Tags: Farmshoring

Language Works, LLC, Wins Darden Business Plan Competition

The Darden Graduate School of Business awarded Language Works, LLC the $10,000 prize in the annual MBA Business Plan Competition last night.

OpSmart, LLC, placed second in the competition hosted by the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club. Kid-A-GoGo placed third, and Allomics, Inc. ranked fourth. Congratulations to all the participants.

All winners are eligible to enter the Darden Progressive Incubator.

The CVG coaches for the teams were Elizabeth Pyle (LanguageWorks), Rick White (Allomics), Rod Nasbe (Kid-A-GoGo) and David Tobey (OpSmart).

For more information about the winners and the competition, see
Darden Business Plan Competition

A Garage and an Idea: What More Does an Entrepreneur Need?

Pino G. Audia and Christopher I. Rider , CA Management Review, Fall 2005

There exists a common belief that entrepreneurs commonly start businesses in garages (or basements or dorm rooms or kitchens). The garage entrepreneur is a highly popular contemporary legend, but not quite accurate.
Although the belief of the garage entrepreneur contributes to the preservation of the American ideals of opportunity and upward social mobility, it offers misleading insights to would-be entrepreneurs because it suggests an undersocialized view of the entrepreneurial process.
Snippet from Paul Kedrosky at Infectious Greed

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, networking

BGN Welcomes the Virginia Council of CEOs

The Virginia Council of CEOs joins the UVA Patent Foundation as Allies of the Business Growth Network.

The Virginia Council of CEOs is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to support and encourage the CEOs of second-stage companies. The group is expanding into the Charlottesville area.

They welcome prospective members at their introductory meeting on March 21, following the CVG presentation Collaboration Innovation and Trends. Register for the CVG event at CVG

Contact Scot McRoberts, the Executive Director, from VA Council of CEOs

Elizabeth Pyle new CVG Chair

At the CVG Anual Membership meeting on Tuesday, February 21, it was a Jungle out There!

New Board members and officers were elected for 2006-2007. The officers are Dave Ferron, Vice Chair, Kurt Krueger, Secretary, and Liz Pyle, Chair.

New CVG Board members include Dr. Grant Tate, Torrance Hampton, Rod Nasbe, Sandra Thomas and Dargan Coggeshall.

The Artisans Center of Virginia created a thematic display for the evening.
Thank you to Michael Dowell of the Artisans Center, and to event sponsor LeClair Ryan.

Debra McMahon to pass the Gavel

UPDATE: Debra McMahon receives Angel Award!


Tonight from 5:30 to 7:30, CVG annual bash for CVG members and guests!

Get your 90-second pitch ready. Elect the new slate of board members. Hear the latest on CVG 2006. Gather together for some power networking, some libation and hors d'oeuvres. This will be a fun evening. Sponsored by LeClair Ryan.

Evslin: Disruptive Technologies

Tom Evslin says all venture capitalists (VCs) SAY that they like to invest in disruptive technology; some VCs (the best ones) actually do invest in disruptive technologies. So it is certainly a fair and relevant question to ask whether new technology or other changes will disrupt the venture capital industry. And, fair and relevant or not, the discussion has broken out all over the blogosphere.
More at Fractals of Change from January 2006.

Technorati Tags: disruptive+technologies

Drzal: Strategic Alliances

Attorney Mike Drzal of LeClair Ryan defines the various types of strategic alliances appropriate for entrepreneurs and helps to identify the situations in which a company can best leverage these unique relationships.
(Presentation sponsored by the Charlottesville Venture Group, January 17, 2006)

Drzal's presentation is available here on the CVG site.

CVG presents: LiveFire

The Charlottesville Venture Group presents the Live-Fire Forum.
Entrepreneurs present their business plans to a review panel and an audience of potential investors simultaneously.
More information at the CVG Calendar

Location: Darden Graduate School of Business
Date: April 18, 2006
Time: 7:30 – 9:00 AM
RSVP by: April 14, 2006

Thank you, Stephen Dahl!