Smart-ups usually hosts an Ignite-Style pitch competition in November. This year we are hosting a mini Pub-Talk event with the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network November 11th at the Willamette Innovators Night in Corvallis.
Location: Oregon Electric Station, Eugene | directions
Register: Click here [$20 - includes food and bev | $15 for Eugene Chamber, Corvallis Chamber and SAO members | $10 for students | $25 at the door]
*** And bring your business cards because we’re bringing back the “5 Minutes of Start-up Fame” – where you can enter into a drawing for an opportunity to deliver a 5 minute pitch about your start-up company! ***
Rich Barbis – CEO and founder of Opa Cove™ will share his story about starting, running and growing his emerging growth company – including how to know the difference between the “Wolves” and the “Angels” out there!
One of the best learning opportunities is listening to other entrepreneurs share their stories – learn from their successes and their mistakes. Rich will talk about the importance of his business plan, deciding on the right way to structure his company (LLC v. C-Corp, v S-Corp) – including why this is so important, the manufacturing of his prototype, the importance of the right attorney at the right time – and ultimately – launching his product into the market. Visit www.opacove.com for more information.
Opa Cove creates Neoprene water safety products that are safe and fun for kids ages 2-7.
*** And bring your business cards because we’re bringing back the “5 Minutes of Start-up Fame” – where you can enter into a drawing for an opportunity to deliver a 5 minute pitch about your start-up company! ***
Thanks to our great sponsors for supporting entrepreneurship in our community!
Entrepreneurs — showcase your start-up company, and share your entrepreneurial Super Powers with your peers, investors, service providers and the media!
Investors, Service Providers and the Media — meet the hottest/hippest start-up companies in our region and the Superhero Entrepreneurs starting, running and growing them.
Larry Kaplowitz (co-founder of of Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss) will share his personal story about how he and his co-founder (Luna Marcus) started, grew and sold their business in less than 6 years. Hear how they started the business with just $10,000, how they quickly became cash-flow positive, how they built their team, marketed their business, hit their first million, explored partnerships — and ultimately sold their business.
Larry has truly come full-circle. He’s now excited to become an angel investor and share his knowledge and skills with other local start-up companies. Larry is a member of the Willamette Angel Conference investor LLC. You won’t want to miss hearing his amazing story!
Following Larry’s talk we’ll begin the “Speed Pitch” competition (where Larry is one of the investor panelists – see other investors below…).
Calling Oregon-based Start-up Companies to Deliver a Speed Pitch! There’s no fee to submit, no fee to present and presenting companies do not pay a fee to attend — so you have nothing to loose and a lot to gain!
Includes food and beverages | Note: Seats are limited!
Speed Pitches: 3 minutes each to pitch, 3 minutes of real investor feedback
The audience will vote for the winner – and the one winner will receive a free hour of coaching from the Executive Team for the Willamette Angel Conference (includes investors, entrepreneurs, and lawyers). Note: Any start-up in Oregon is eligible to submit to pitch at Smart-ups — including those who submitted to pitch at the WAC and those who have not submitted to pitch at the WAC. All investors from the WAC will be invited to attend this event, and the investor panel are members of the WAC Investor LLC – so this allows for a great educational and networking opportunity.
Create a single slide (slide should include your company logo, tag line, and no more than 7 bullets describing what’s unique about your business)
Submit your single slide to Smart-ups by clicking here – you will be contacted if selected to deliver a speed pitch at the pub-talk. Note: Up to 10 companies be be selected to deliver Speed Pitches
Deadline to submit is 5pm, April 9th.
If selected to deliver a Speed Pitch you will be given 3 minutes to pitch your business (you will be timed).
Tips for what to say in your 3 minutes include: your name/title, the problem in the market you’re product is addressing, 2-3 sentences that describes your business, your target market, how you will generate revenue, your competitive advantage/value proposition, and key team members/advisers
The investor panel will take 3 minutes to ask you questions/share suggestions.
The audience will vote for the company they feel delivered the best pitch. The winner will receive one free hour of coaching from the WAC Executive Team
Rehearse! Rehearse! Rehearse!
Thanks to our great sponsors for supporting entrepreneurship in our community!
We all know that starting a business is very difficult —- well dissolving one is even more challenging! This panel is going to be one of the most educational events of the year. You’ll get to hear the good, bad and ugly from a panel of your peers. These entrepreneurs will share the valuable lessons they learned in their respective start-ups. They each have a very different story to share, and these lessons could change how you start, run and grow your start-up.
Come join us for an evening of training relevant to any start-up. Whether you’re a start-up company or not, these principals apply to all companies – especially in these tough economic times. We will cover two topics during the evening:
1) Top 10 Business Planning Mistakes: Submitting a Winning Plan to Investors, Banks, Business Partners, etc…
The business plan experts from Palo Alto Software will discuss the top 10 mistakes made in the business planing process. Learn how to avoid these mistakes and create a truly buzz worthy business plan. The competition is fierce and you owe it to yourself to present the best business plan you can.
2) Accounting: Financial Statements and Forecasting for Growing Companies
Expert accountants from Moss Adams, LLP with knowledge in the emerging-growth business space will be leading this section of the workshop. Accounting is pure overhead and won’t help you increase revenue, but if you spend your resources wisely then your accounting information can help you make decisions and save money. A poor accounting system or lack of financial statements could be detrimental to both your bottom line and your ability to attract funding.
The presentation will focus on how you can make sure you have financial records that will be ready for due diligence by potential investors or helping you secure business loans or partners. We’ll start with your day-to-day accounting and hit the main points all the way through to the 5-yr forecast focusing on cost effective processes for small companies.
Come and vote for the company you think has the most viable business plan. Audience members will be given a fake million dollar bill and asked to give it to the company they think deserves to win. Come out and support the amazing and talented start-ups companies in our region!
*** You must submit your executive summary and your 13 slides BEFORE 5pm, October 19th.
This Smart-ups is going to be an Ignite-style business plan competition (13 slides, slides automatically advance every 15 seconds = 3.5 minutes to pitch your business plan). It’s an exciting competition – one you won’t want to miss! Click here to view Ignite Pitches from Feb 2009 Pub-Talk.
Any emerging growth start-up company (with an “investor-ready” plan) in the Willamette Valley can submit for the opportunity to present at this pub-talk. The audience will vote for the best overall pitch/plan.
Note: Ignite Eugene is a business-plan pitch competition sponsored by Smart-ups and is not affiliated with the worldwide network of O’Rielly Ignite community events.
The winner of this event will receive two prizes:
The winner will feed into the Willamette Angel Conference submission process (conference is May 13, 2010 in Eugene) – meaning they will have their $199 conference submission fee waived, and receive additional coaching from the conference’s Selection Committee (consisting of investors, and seasoned entrepreneurs). Up to six companies will be selected to pitch.
The winner will also receive 20 hours of business consulting donated by Moss Adams LLP. These free services will follow Moss Adams’ SCORE (Systems, Control and Operations Risk Evaluation) consulting services. This prize is estimated at $4500 in value.
*** You must submit your executive summary and your 13 slides BEFORE 5pm, October 19th.
If you’ve ever wondered why investors choose to invest in one company over another, or why the companies in the recent Willamette Angel Conference were chosen, or why the winner was awarded the $125,000 investment prize, or why certain companies were not selected – this is the Smart-ups Pub-Talk for you! We are hosting a panel of investors from the May 2009 Willamette Angel Conference. They are looking forward to hearing your questions and sharing the qualities of “investor-ready” business plans. Whether your raising funds for your business or not – this is going to be a valuable conversation you won’t want to miss…
Ann Carney Nelson will be the panel moderator. Ann has over 11 years of experience investing in and supporting young and innovative technology companies.
Previously, Ann was the Senior Associate at Menlo Ventures, an early-stage high-technology venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, CA.
Also – don’t forget to bring your business cards – as we’ll be doing the “10 Minutes of Start-up Fame” after the panel. These are fun and offer great experience about how to pitch your business opportunity in 5 minutes. And who knows – maybe you’ll even get some live feedback from investors! It’s also great practice to prepare for the Nov 19th Smart-ups Ignite Pitch competition.