What does it take to start a company? How do you know if your invention could be the basis for a company? How do you interest investors in your idea to fund the start-up? Where else might you find money and resources? Why do you want to spend time commercializing your technology? Where do you start and who should you talk to? This seminar series will provide students, researchers and faculty with an introduction to their options if they are interested in starting a company. Each seminar will focus on one aspect of the start-up process and the resources that are available to help.
When:
Thursday, April 5 11:30-1PM - for free registration Click here
Tuesday, April 17 11:30-1PM - for free registration Click here
Tuesday, May 15 11:30-1PM - for free registration Click here
(Pizza will be provided)
Where:
The Faculty Conference Room, UMass Medical School
55 Lake Avenue North
Worcester, MA 01655
Topics:
April 5 - Introduction
to Entrepreneurship
Dr Babs Soller,President of Reflectance Medical Inc. and Professor Emeritus at UMass Medical School, will tell the story of how her invention at UMass Medical School became the foundation for building a start-up company that has raised over $10 million in government funding to support product development and testing. What are the lessons she learned in the process and what would she do differently next time.
Following Dr. Soller's presentation, we will have a panel discussion on entrepreneurship and the resources available for entrepreneurs.
Click here to see Dr. Soller's presentation
Panelists include:
April 17 - Pitching the Idea
How do you tell the story of your idea and interest people in joining your team? And most importantly how do you explain how the company will make money in order to interest investors? This session will include several pitches targeted at different audiences as well as some general lessons on what makes a business presentation compelling.
Speakers:
Introduction to giving a business pitch - Abigail Barrow, Director, Mass Tech Transfer Center
Prof. Stephen McCarthy, UMass Lowell and M2D2, is the founder of 3 start-ups and will give a business pitch for his latest start-up
May 15 - Funding the Company
This seminar will be an introduction to several potential funding sources for your start-up company. The panel will include an angel investor, a large pharmaceutical company, a venture capitalist that specializes in investing in early stage academic spin-offs, and a state representative involved in state funding of emerging companies.
Doug Banks, Associate VP for Economic Development, UMass Presidents Office and former publisher of MassHighTech will moderate the panel.
Speakers will include:
David Berry, Partner, Flagship
Vikas Goyal, Associate SR, One's Boston office
Imran Nasrullah, Head of Strategic Alliances, T1D First
Mark A. Tepper, President and CE, JB Therapeutics, Inc
Sara Toussaint, Allied Minds
This seminar series is organized and presented by OTM, UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UMCCTS), UMass CVIP and MTTC.
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