A Series of Small Things
Random Thoughts on Building Venture-Backed Companies in the Midwest
Innovation Showcase – call for company pitches
5.9.13 by Dov
This year’s Innovation Showcase in Indy is coming up. Allos will be well represented (I can’t wait) – and you should be, too. Here’s a press release with the details…
The Innovation Showcase: Call for Company Pitches
Here’s what you need to know. The Innovation Showcase is July 11th, 2013. Applications are open now for companies who want to exhibit and pitch. The top presenting companies are competing for over 60K in cash and prizes. It’s free (but competitive) to exhibit and pitch. Companies sign up to exhibit and pitch here.
Now for more details.
This is a call to companies seeking to exhibit and pitch at the 2013 Innovation Showcase.
Entering its fifth year, The Innovation Showcase has grown into Indy’s premier event connecting fundable companies (of all stages) with top local and regional investors all while creating an undeniable energy fueled by Indy’s incredible entrepreneurial ecosystem.
This year’s event has grown even larger and will be held at the Dallara IndyCar Factory in the shadows of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And this year we’re upping the stakes for our exhibiting startups. Each entrepreneur will have the opportunity to pitch to our investor panel for a chance to win more than $60,000 in cash and tangible services including:
5K in legal services from Barnes & Thornburg
5K in web development from Fox.io
5K in PR services from Blast Media
5K in Venture Coaching from DeveloperTown
5K in accounting services from Lehman’s Terms
5K in branding services from The Momentum Group
5K in video production from Neal Moore New Media
5K in web marketing services from DK New Media
5K in office space offered by Launch Fishers
5K in presentation skills training (for multiple companies) from Scientifically Speaking
5K+ in Formstack software (Max plans for three companies for a year)
5K in COLD HARD CASH!
Best of all, the top presenters from the pitch competition will gain access to the most well-known angel investors in the area. At least two presenters will go straight in that evening to make private pitches to HALO and Elevate Ventures. They (and maybe other presenters) will also gain access to guaranteed pitches to Stepstone Angels, Purdue’s P3 Alliance, IU’s Innovate Indiana Fund, Gravity Ventures, Allos Ventures and xCap Angels.
The deadline for company submissions is fast approaching. So if you think you have what it takes to mix it up with the region’s top entrepreneurial companies — we encourage you to apply now for one of the spots in the showcase. The process for companies to exhibit and pitch starts here: http://theinnovationshowcase.com/#exhibitors
Looking forward to seeing you there
The state of The JOBS Act
1.9.13 by Dov
Despite all the hype surrounding passage of the JOBS Act last year and the implications it had for investment in the startup world, nothing’s changed. Much of that is due to the SEC’s delay.
As William Carleton writes at VC Experts, however, the underlying legislation is responsible for much of the problems – and no SEC rule making process is going to be able to fix that.
Still more work to do for the crowd-funders…
We want to be your LiquiGlide
9.20.12 by Dov
With all due respect to my alma mater, thank goodness for MIT. As I’m sure many of you eagerly followed in the news early this summer, those brilliant minds have finally addressed a longstanding problem with western society. Getting the ketchup out of the bottle, using a new coating they’ve named LiquiGlide.
I can’t tell you how frustrating the traditional approaches (knife, shake, or bang) have been to me over the years. That’s why I immediately understood when a CEO recently told me that he found fundraising for early-stage capital in the Midwest to be like getting ketchup out of the bottle. That is, the capital starts off all stuck in the bottle. It’s difficult to find investors who will take the time to dig in, perform the due diligence, and then draft a term sheet. Once you find that lead, though, there are lots of folks who will join a syndicate at the end of the process. At that point, the capital all comes loose, spilling all over your hamburger.
Our commitment to you is this – Allos will never wait for others before digging in. We always do require a co-investor – because we think it’s helpful for companies to have multiple investor perspectives, multiple networks to tap into, etc. But we are more than happy to be the first mover in your capital raising process. We’ll work with you to determine if we’re a fit for you and vice versa, put together an investment structure that makes sense, and then help you build out the best syndicate from all of the available ketchup.
In short – we’ll be your LiquiGlide.
P.S. For those of you who are old school ketchup consumers, you might try this earlier approach from the University of Illinois to optimizing the bottle angle/motion when attempting to shake the ketchup out.
Why Facebook’s face-plant is a good thing
8.24.12 by Dov
Quick – what do Facebook (down 50% since its IPO), Zynga (65%), and Groupon (83%) have in common?
Kent Bernhard argues that the disaster that is publicly-traded Facebook is a good thing because “Startups will have to prove themselves as business instead of just services”. And while he’s focused on Facebook, presumably it’s true of the other recent high-profile venture-backed “eyeballs without profit” companies.
If only it were true. I’m pretty sure we were all told that investors had learned this lesson once before. If the third time’s the charm, I think we have one more bubble still to go.
4 reasons VCs should check out Ohio | VentureBeat
8.8.12 by Dov
Duh. 4 reasons VCs should check out Ohio | VentureBeat.
BioCrossroads forms Indiana Seed Fund II for early-stage life science companies
5.1.12 by Dov
Read about it in MedCityNews.
“Powerpoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy.”
3.26.12 by Dov
And one estimate has put the drain at $250 million of lost value PER DAY. And if it was said in a TED talk, it must be true.
So, for the sake of our children, please stop creating, walking through, and listening to these horrible menaces to our future.
The second mover advantage
2.22.12 by Dov
While I certainly don’t condone plagiarism, they say that adults learn best by copying others. So, with that in mind, Jeff Ready of Scale Computing brings you, The Copy-Paste Financial Plan.
Stuff I used to realize
1.31.12 by Dov
It’s funny how quickly we start to take for granted all those little parts of our jobs that we do every day. And how interesting those pieces are to people trying to better understand what we do. Sometimes it just takes someone seeing it fresh to bring some needed perspective. I’m pretty sure I never could have written this post by John Lilly (former CEO of Mozilla and newly minted VC) with tips for entrepreneurs about why VCs are the way we are, but it’s spot on.
The Little Red Hen – A Venture Capital Fable
12.7.11 by Dov
Remember the fable of the Little Red Hen? I’ve been hearing stories from entrepreneurs lately about their interactions with various investors, and I was struck by the similarity to this wonderful childhood story. For those who can’t recall, the story goes like this:
The Little Red Hen found some extra wheat seeds lying around on the ground. She goes around to all of her ‘friends’ in the barn and asks if anyone will help her plant them so she can bake a loaf of bread. Unfortunately, they’re all too busy to help (or perhaps they can’t see the value of the future loaf?) When the wheat grows, she asks if anyone will help her harvest it. Same story. This goes on and on until she finally bakes the loaf of bread.
“Who will help me eat this bread?” she asks, and guess what – now they’re all more than happy to help! And then, depending on the storyteller, she either shares it anyway or eats it herself. Funny how there’s a lesson there no matter how it turns out, isn’t it?
It struck me that many investors act like the animals in the yard to the entrepreneur/hen. Early-stage investing is hard work, and people (even me, sometimes) are lazy. But to lead an investment in a young company, you have to be prepared to do a lot of work. There’s due diligence, term sheet negotiation, management team and compensation issues, operational questions, strategic turning points, and so much more. And who wants to do all that?
When the due diligence is done and a term sheet is negotiated, it’s not infrequent to find investors starting to increase their interest level in the “baked” deal. And when the company has proven its business model and needs some expansion capital, there’s no shortage of folks ready to come to the party.
So, here’s to all the Little Red Hens out there, along with our assurance that we at Allos love to get our hands dirty and won’t stand by waiting for others to finish the baking.
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