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Wright Fitness & Cycling

2012-02-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

Last Fall my friend April Wright decided the time was right to fulfill her dream of having her own personal training gym. April is a popular Ithaca, New York based personal trainer and indoor cycling instructor. She reached out to her friends and the entrepreneurial business community for support, and the result was that six weeks later, she hosted the grand opening of Wright Fitness & Cycling!

Wright on!
Here's a portion of the list that she knocked out to go from concept to grand opening in just six weeks:

Find retail space
Negotiate lease
Spec out gym equipment
Negotiate equipment price
Incorporate
Open bank account
Design logo
Build 5 year budget
Find lenders
Negotiate terms of loan
Securing funding
Design retail space
Oversee build-out
Assist with labor for build-out
Get URL and build initial website
Build Wright Cycling and Fitness Facebook page
Install stereo system
Install gym equipment
Buy and install furniture
Create class and training schedules
Notify all customers and friends of new business
Throw grand opening party!

I should also mention that she did all of this while still teaching cycling classes, working with clients, and juggling the needs of 3 kids with her husband. An impressive feat in such a short amount of time, and a testament to what can be done with the right mindset and support.

Congratulations April!

The Efficiency of the Trade Show

2012-01-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

This month I attended my tenth Consumer Electronics Show in a row. This trade show is a massive catch-all for thousands of technology products, with thousands of companies setting up booths and over 150,000 attendees. Mezmeriz had a small booth in an area dedicated to small technology companies.

The show was a good one for us. We made a lot of good new contacts, reconnected with some folks we've known for years, and got a little press exposure in Entrepreneur Magazine and Raleigh's News and Observer.

Trade shows are an efficient way of making a lot of contacts in a short amount of time, and especially important for startups: without spending a lot of money on travel. Many people are surprised that tradeshows can cost thousands of dollars to present at, and some even cost $1,000+ just to attend, but from an efficiency and overall cost standpoint, they're worth it.

I regularly advise aspiring entrepreneurs to find the trade show for their target market. There is a trade show for EVERYTHING. Really. I've been to some bizarre ones, big ones, tiny ones, and have traded stories about wacky things seen at trade shows, but they all exist because of the efficiency of having so many of your customers, potential customers, potential investors, competitors, industry analysts, and the press all in one place at one time.

Theory of the Gold Miner

2011-12-22T11:50:00.000-08:00

Having done startups on both coasts, I have a theory of why people have different perceptions of an entrepreneur who has to close his company, and by extension, indicates why there are significantly more California startups. All things being equal, i.e. you worked long, hard hours, stayed current with the market and technology, and ran an honest business, there are still plenty of reason good business people close a business. Here's the difference in perception:

On the East Coast, closing your business means you are a failure. People don't want to be associated with a failure

Failure

One the West Coast, closing your business means that you weren't able to make it work for what's likely a combination of things you can control, and things you can't control, but you learned a lot along the way. People will work with you the future because your experience can be invaluable.

Experienced

I hear this in just the casual conversations with people. East Coasters regularly used the phrase "failed", whereas the West Coast folks say "shut down". So where does this come from? I think it's from the gold miners.

In the early days of gold prospecting in California, finding gold was an inexact science that involved a lot of hard work, persistence, and a fair amount of luck. When a gold miner didn't find gold, they would only be perceived as a failure if they didn't work long, hard days. If their fellow gold miners did hit a big vein of gold, they'd look around to their peers who had not been so fortunate, and bring them into their mine. The other miner had learned the art of mining, but had just not found the vein of gold. They weren't failures, but they did have enough sense to know when to stop digging in an empty hole, and work where the better opportunity arose.

I like to perceive closed startups as "shut down". There shouldn't be such a social stigma against an honest, smart, hard-working entrepreneur who didn't make their company soar. If they learned how to run a business, they're likely to help someone accelerate their growing business, and will likely use the experience to start and grow their own company in the future.

Wells College Entrepreneurship Dinner

2011-11-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

Recently a few of the practicing entrepreneurs from Ithaca were invited to a dinner at the Aurora Inn in lovely Aurora, New York to meet faculty, administration, and students from Wells College who are actively teaching, supporting, and learning entrepreneurship.

President Ryerson and Wells College students thinking I look funny when I am talking
The format of the dinner was a sort of round-robin where students changed tables at each course of the meal. This gave them a chance to meet different entrepreneurs, and for us to meet different students. Since there were more tables then courses, some of the students made a point of making the rounds to meet everyone once coffee was served - a move I applaud.

The center point of the evening were the presentations by the two teams that won the Wells Entrepreneurship Week. In the not-for-profit track was a business concept to allow professors to loan their pets to homesick and stressed students. In the for-profit category, a unique new concept for a golf training aid was demonstrated and explained, with the additional good news that the team has a commitment of seed capital funding from an angel investor!

Wells College has a great entrepreneurial history, dating back to its founder Henry Wells, who was the entrepreneur who founded Wells Fargo and American Express. This tradition has been continued this year with the announcement of a $5MM donation from Wells College alumni Susan Wray Sullivan to endow the Susan Wray Sullivan '51 and Pike H. Sullivan Center for Business and Entrepreneurship. As a liberal arts college, business and entrepreneurship has not been a traditional focus, but students and educators are keen to the changing winds and now see these skills as part of a well rounded education.

$85K Ithaca College Business Idea Competition

2011-09-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

This Fall Ithaca College launched their inaugural Business Idea Competition. This competition is designed to encourage and accelerate the new company formation for all of their students, in all parts of the school.

Get your good ideas reved up!

This competition was made possible by Ithaca College alum J. Christopher Burch. Chris is a wildly successful entrepreneur himself, who successfully launched his first multimillion dollar company while a student at Ithaca College, and is now well known as the cofounder of Tory Burch. He has also made a number other successful investments, including Jawbone, Voss, and PowerMat .

The competition format is simple to explain, but hard to do: You have 4 minutes to explain your entire business idea to a panel of judges that will include Chris Burch. You then get 4 more minutes to answer their questions. 8 great minutes is all it takes to get the seed capital needed to start a business.

Good luck students!

Lawyers, Accountants, and Insurance Brokers I Trust for a Startup

2011-08-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am often asked about which service providers I use at Mezmeriz and would recommend for other startup companies. Therefore, I have compiled my official list of the people and firms that I use and trust. Even though we're based in Ithaca, New York, I've found that not every service provider needs to be local. Furthermore, I think most of this list is applicable for startups in New England and on the east coast of the USA.

Corporate Insurance

I have been with the husband and wife led team at McManamey & McManamey for over ten years and three companies. They are based in Virginia, but do a bang-up job regardless of where you are. They now do the corporate insurance for a number of Cornell and Ithaca startups and treat you well regardless of size. They'll take good care, do all the heavy lifting of the complicated stuff, and do it at a fair price.

Legal: Corporate & Patent

We have been with the firm of Choate Hall & Stewart for a number of years. However, I would really say that we're with the firm that employs David Rickerby. I have had a number of different lawyers from small boutique firms as well as from Washington DC and Silicon Valley's elite firms. I have found that it's really about the relationship and quality of your main contact and how well they manage the people at the firm who are working on your issues. David is a great contracts and licensing guy, but he's also a great manager of corporate, HR, and patent attorneys. On an hourly basis, these guys can be expensive. The message I tell aspiring entrepreneurs is that a cheap lawyer per hour will often turn into an expensive invoice, whereas closely working with an expensive lawyer per hour results in much lower invoices.

Accounting: Bookkeeping

I use Intuit Quickbooks Online. It's a good solution for it's accessibility and universal familiarity. It's accessible because you can get to it through any browser, and that it really nice when traveling or when you need to allow access to your accountants. Its universal familiarity means that when you need to upgrade to a fancier accounting system, or have your books reviewed and audited by an outside firm, the process doesn't involve everyone relearning a brand new system.

For the actually data input and record keeping I have a contract bookkeeper, Leslie, who comes in a few times a month. I have a big box-o-bills that she sorts through, and then makes sure all the new data gets entered, checks get cut, bills get paid, and all invoices and receipts are filed in an organized manner. I do make a point of personally signing every check. It's a bit old-fashioned, but it's a good way to enforce the discipline of knowing where each dollar goes.

Accounting: Payroll

Seamlessly integrated with Intuit's Quickbooks Online is Intuit Online Payroll. They take care of all of the taxes, filing, direct deposit, and forms.

Accounting: Tax

I use the local Ithaca firm of Sprague & Janowsky to do our corporate tax work and general accounting help. They take care of all the tax issues - which in New York can be amazingly complicated - as well as help us out whenever our accounting gets complicated. For example, they made sure that our books were in a professional format prior to use sending them out to potential investors.

Banking

I am a strong advocate of having a local banker. We work with the folks at Tompkins Trust Company. A local banker is like a solid defense: They won't score you any points, but they'll make sure the important stuff gets done right. I have heard first hand of incidents where entrepreneurs had a standard banking transaction screwed up by a faceless person in a massive call center at one of the mega banks. I like to know that for the big stuff, I'm going to sit across the desk from my personal bankers Matt and Kim and they're going to get it done right.

Employee Health Insurance

The newest addition to this list is our employee health care brokers, Tompkins Insurance Agencies. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has been the actual providers, but he had to change brokers after our first broker passed away, and the second broker ignored us. We went with Tompkins Insurances because they showed that they actually cared, and based on our positive experiences with the bank, we made the switch. So far, so good.

If you want a formal introduction to any of these folks, please don't hesitate to ask. I don't mind helping drive business to people who are doing a good job. If you happen to contact them directly because you read this, please let them know. That sort of good will has a way of coming back around.

Text Me a Cab

2011-07-21T08:29:00.001-07:00

Earlier this year my friend Paul launched Collegetown Cab. His goal was to use technology to make a better taxi cab company. They use mobile phones, GPS, email, text messaging, electronic meters, and credit cards. While many businesses have been using these technologies for awhile, this innovation has been slow to come to commercial taxi services in small towns like Ithaca.

You can also wave your cell phone in the air for a pick up

One of the programs that made it possible for him to launch was the Small Business Administration 7(a) loan program. This program is administered through banks, but is backed by the Federal Government. The Feds basically co-sign the loan with qualified entrepreneurs. It's like having a rich uncle, except in this case it's Uncle Sam. This program helps with the problem that most entrepreneurs have when starting: No capital and no collateral.

Things are going well at Collegetown Cab and it looks like the bank will get repaid. Paul's working long hours, and even drives a cab sometimes, but he's learning a lot about the business. Give him a hand by calling 607-588-8888 the next time you're in Ithaca and need a ride.

Why Park So Serious?

2011-07-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Sean Neville had these signs made for the parking area at the Oakville, Ontario offices of Books for Business. I love it when a business can not take everything so seriously. Another nice perk of being an entrepreneur.

Books for Business just launched their new website, so you can see them here, and follow them at their @BritnellB4B Twitter feed.

Bankers and Students

2011-06-28T05:53:00.000-07:00

Recently my friend Adam Fitzner came to town as a guest speaker at Ithaca College. It was an interesting juxtaposition of a Wall Street banker and bucolic Upstate New York:

Wall Street on Main Street
The students really enjoyed his visit. It was nice to see the Wall Street guys humanized and to hear specifically what they are trying to do. Adam's specialty is distressed companies. He's the guy you call when your business is faltering, and you need some banking and contractual help to right the ship. His group tries to save companies, and thus saving jobs. Often they do this using scary sounding techniques like "leveraged loan issuances", "covenant waivers", "dividend recapitalization", and "liquidity enhancing divestitures" - but at the end of the day, they're trying to save the company.

Thanks for coming to Ithaca Adam!

Orthogonal helps ZetroZ Wins $50,000

2011-05-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yet another Ithaca entrepreneurial team, Zetroz, recently won a bunch of money with a little help from their friends! We've got a good track record of this sort of thing in Ithaca, so some have come to expect it. Even with our little town's track record, I think it's great that Bryant and George did such an awesome job, and probably should have won even more. That said, $50K is good money for any startup, and I think it's great that they are going be be able to use the prize money to accelerate their growth.

The things in this deck? Those things can only get better!

But that's not the whole story here. I think a wonderful untold story is of two people taking the high road, Fox Holt of Orthogonal and Bryant Guffey of Zetroz. In the picture above, you can see my living room, and you can guess that I took the picture. What you don't see is that one of the people in the room was one of Bryant's direct competitors in the finals - Fox Holt from Orthogonal.

It's amazing to think about: Fox and Bryant were 2 of the 5 finalists, yet they were working to help one another win, knowing that 3rd, 4th, and 5th place paid no money: $00.00. On two long nights leading up to the finals, these guys worked together and with other members of the Ithaca entrepreneurial community to refine their presentations, messages, and slide decks. In doing so, they knew that the were probably helping a competitor, but they also understood that what was more important was getting the messaging and strategy right for the marketplace and outside investors, and not just this competition.

So the written part of the story is that Zetroz won $50K, and Orthogonal won $0. The unwritten is that both took the high road, and both should be applauded equally for their character. This sort of help-each-other attitude may not pay off each contest year, but it will certainly pay off over the long term.

Kudos to you both!

Someone just stole my tech transfer guy!

2011-05-23T15:23:00.001-07:00

For the past decade, through two companies, and a handful of other stalled starts, I've worked with the same patent and technology transfer guy at Cornell, Scott MacFarlane. Scott and I fought and argued and raised our voices and yelled at each over over deals. We've argued about big things like percent equity ownership, and we've fought about little things like choosing the right phrasing of a patent claim. It never came to blows, and it was always respectful, and I grudgingly admit now that every now and then he was right. Very grudgingly.

Recently Scott was hired on to lead the patent and technology transfer office at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. We wished him well on his new adventure, and we are sorry to see a guy go who really gets it.

Somehow, they'll get the last laugh here.
While not the teary-eyed set, the local Ithaca entrepreneurs saw this as a bittersweet moment. We poured some beers, and wished him well. We'll keep fighting over the details of the patent language, it just won't be as interesting.

Cheers and Good Luck, Scott!

Name Game

2011-04-27T11:48:00.001-07:00

Recently my friend Alex concluded that he needed to rename his startup. The business had changed direction a little, and the name they had had them metaphorically boxed in. He and I decided to have a casual afterhours brainstorming session and invited folks from the Ithaca entrepreneurial community over to my house. Alex provided the food and brought along some fancy spirits to sample too.

From one of my EIR lectures at Cornell, I had a few slides on company names:

What's in a name?

Alex put up on the walls large PostIts with some of the ideas he had been working on. From there, we added, critiqued, and debated the ideas late in the night. Probably a little too late, but we were having fun. Though it was just a name change, it felt like we were helping the company out of their box so they could explore new products, markets, and marketing opportunities.

Call it Rose? Nah, won't smell as sweet

The result is a company name that makes a lot of sense for what the company has evolved in to, and where they're going. He's not yet announced the new name, so I'll not spoil the fun. Suffice it to say, when he went back to his team with the recommendation, they loved it.

List of Ithaca startups: 2011 Edition

2011-04-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

In what is now an annual posting, here is my 2011 list of startups based in Ithaca, NY, just in time for the Entrepreneurship Celebration at Cornell:

Adenios
Adispell
Aerofarms
Advion
BinOptics
Biophyzica
Blue Stamp
Bombyx
cheribundi
Comet Action Sports
DataPoint Labs
DNANO
e2e Materials
Energy In Common
Flex Kinetics
Fortis Wind Energy US
Incandescent Software
Finger Lakes Aquaculture
Gene Network Sciences
Glycobia
Hybrid Silica Technologies
Illuminaria
International Climbing Machines
iFyber
MADathletic
Mezmeriz
MicroGen
MiTeGen
Nanomedik
MouseCare
North Sea Resins
Nova Speech
Novasterilis
Novomer
Odyssey Molecular
Ontology2
Optigen
Orthogonal
PiXL
Primet
Red Tail Hawk
ReMarkable Paint
Rheonix
Sanmita
Sound Reading
Snappy Screen
Spider Holster
Strut Your Hut
Synairco
Tech S2
Terrenew
Tetragenetics
ThinkWorks
Veratag
VideoNote
Vybion
Widetronix
Zetroz
Zuma BioSciences

Creative Core goes to $250,000 for 2011

2011-04-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

I'll be there rooting on the three Ithaca startups: Orthogonal, Zetroz, and Microgen. Good luck guys!

We Live NY Summit March 24-26, 2011

2011-03-14T09:44:00.001-07:00

Live it!
I'll be there on Friday the 25th chairing a panel for the Business & Entrepreneurship Track.

--------------------------------------------
Addendum: Sorry I had to miss the event with a last-minute personal matter. Kudos to Tom Schryver for covering for me and earning rave reviews in the process. Thanks Tom!

Ordr.In

2011-03-03T03:58:00.001-08:00

My friend David Bloom just rebranded his company, and I love the new name, look, and feel. The company is Ordr.in, and their mission is to make it easy for restaurants to connect with customers, and customers with restaurants.

.It's .What's .In

This isn't yet another food ordering portal. We have enough of those. As a veteran of that industry, David saw a problem that restaurants were constantly fighting to drive customers to their tables or their website. But marketing is time consuming, expensive and a huge distraction from actually running a restaurant. A huge struggle and a real pain in their side.

Like a good entrepreneur, he set out to solve a straightforward question about a particular pain point: "How can I make it easier for restaurants to get in front of customers where they already are?" He started with hotels by creating virtual room service thats links restaurant ordering systems directly to hotel wifi. Now he is working on other places where restaurants can find hungry customers.

I'll not go into too much minutia about how it works, so I'll summarize it this way:

If you are a restaurant who wants to get more orders from hotel guests and others, click here.

If you have a hungry audience, hotel guests or otherwise, and want a commission when someone orders, click here.

If you are a software developer who wants to build a web site or mobile app that pays a commission each time a user orders in, click here

For everyone else, it's possible that the next time you have a great experience ordering in your hotel room, you can know that Ordr.in probably made it possible.

Bam! Boobies!

2011-02-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

My friend Kerry Gilmartin just had her third child. Her nipples are sore. It's a simple fact, and her husband Eddie's no help (though he tries!); here's the math folks:
Mom + Babies = Sore Nipples
Like a good entrepreneur, she decided to do something about it. Kerry also loves the environment (she's from Boulder, what'd you expect), so she devised a solution to ease the discomfort of nursing mothers in a way that wouldn't be bad for our planet. The solution? BamBoobies!

One Boobie. Two Boobies. BAM Boobies!!

Besides being a huge fan of the name and branding, I love the practicality behind the product. This is a great product that addresses a real need for women who are nursing. Nursing results in brilliant babies, and those babies don't want to inherit a world full of disposable non-biodegradable products. I really think she's onto something great.

If I were nursing a baby, I'd buy BamBoobies. You should too.

New Entrepreneurial Friends in Saudi Arabia

2011-02-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

Recently I was part of a group of Cornell entrepreneurs who helped mentor/advice/brainstorm with students in business school in Saudi Arabia. Using email and video conferencing technology, we each worked with teams from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Mentors included Ithaca and Cornell representatives from Globe Composite Solutions, Enhanced Capital Partners, Singlebrook Technology, Adenios, e2e Materials, Widetronix, Mezmeriz, and Choate Hall & Stewart.

Jon Greene from Widetronix doing his best Oz impersonation

My team started out with a really big idea - fix all health care record keeping and dissemination in Saudia Arabia. While I loved the idea of thinking big, I wasn't sure that was the right problem for a new company to tackle right out of the gate. After talking to 52 doctors in just 3 days (WOW!), they figured out that just acquiring the data was a huge problem. They then formulated a plan - and viable business - that would focus on solving this major problem. However, they also worked into their plan how solving data collection was just the first step in many towards fixing all health care record keeping and dissemination in Saudi Arabia. That's thinking big, and thinking practical. Good stuff!

I look forward to following their continued progress as they take this plan out of the classroom and into the world.

Nice work team!

---------------------------

To see more pictures of the KAUST Entrepreneurship Program, click here.

You All Aboard for Adventure?

2011-01-30T15:41:00.001-08:00

YallAboard is a new Boston-based startup that is putting together affordable adventure travel packages for young professionals. Through a lot of work, they have been able to pull together a number of interesting travel deals that they'll be rolling out throughout the year. This is a great way to do something new and interesting, with people who are new and interesting.

Yes

Dan and Drew were students of Cornell Entrepreneur in Residence Jim Quest. After I posted a little promotion for them on Twitter, they reached out to me and introduced themselves. During a trip to Boston last fall, I had the opportunity to meet them face-to-face and walk through their business plan and offer whatever advice and experience I could. I could tell they were smart and hardworking, and I was excited to see them launch their first promotion this month, Snowkiting!

But then they went the extra mile and did something unexpected. They sent me a thank-you postcard. That's right, two young guys running a website-based business sent a piece of paper via snail mail. I love it!

That's old school, in a good way

To Dan and Drew, you're welcome. Congratulations on the launch. Keep up the good work!

Feld Good Inc.

2011-01-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

The folks in Ithaca and upstate New York are really excited about the coming visit of Brad Feld. The reason is that we want to copy his model for entrepreneurial success. In Ithaca, we view Boulder Colorado as our brother from another mother. If they can do it there, we can do it here.

Do It in New York

Brad Feld and his entrepreneurial lessons are coming to Ithaca. And we're stoked. For those of us who are already bought in, it's time to convert the others. There's a big event at the Ithaca County Club on February 2nd. You can sign up for it here.

The Porch in Winter

2010-12-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

We have this great big social porch at our house. My friend and fellow entrepreneur Sean Neville lists this porch as one of his 5 favorite places. It's really about the people, conversations, atmosphere, and beverages that happen there.

To extend the porch's usefulness as the weather turned, my dear wife had the brilliant idea of getting an outdoor heater. It's a hit! Not only were we comfortable outdoors as the weather turned colder, but now we have a conversation piece with any of the neighbors who walk by and feel its warmth. They usually stop and say "Hi", which adds to the porch's ambiance.

Enjoying the Tropical Warmth of an Ithaca Winter
Sadly, the snow got ahead of us and we had to shut down porch living for the season. If you stroll by in the early springtime, stop to warm your hands. We'll be back!

Linking Communities

2010-12-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

One of the goals of the Upstate Venture Connect is to link the different entrepreneurial communities in Upstate New York. Last night, we all got together to grab some beers and watch the Syracuse vs. Cornell basketball game. We had entrepreneurs from Sound Reading, PiXL, Widetronix, Zetroz, Mezmeriz, qur.ly, and Bear Claw, as well as representatives of the Seed Capital Fund of Central New York, Syracuse University iSchool, and The Syracuse Student Sandbox. Also along the way we ran into our friends from CenterState CEO.

Our Syracuse hosts hooked us up with phenomenal 2nd and 4th row tickets. From that distance, we couldn't miss how big and fast the 'Cuse players are. The Orange were in control for the entire game. The Ithaca contingent was pleased that the score ratio wasn't a ridiculous blow out, so we'll just mark this one up to a rebuilding year for the Big Red. It did give us more time to catch up on everyone's startups, so that's something.

Carrier was the tech entrepreneur who funded this Dome

It's get togethers like this that creates a broader, stronger community. I personally learned a lot more about the Sandbox and qur.ly, and I think they learned more about the state of high tech in Ithaca. The other guys had similar experiences.

By the way, check out this qur.ly link that with one click will open the websites for everyone involved: http://qur.ly/RqTSP. Qur.ly is a free website service which allows you to combine multiple url's into a single, small link. Handy for Twitter, Facebook, and blogging!

Next game is in Ithaca for Big Red Hockey. Who's wants to join us?

$250,000 and a Great Experience!

2010-10-29T05:14:00.001-07:00

Now it's fifth year, the Creative Core Emerging Business Competition is bigger than ever! This year, there is a quarter of a million dollars on the table for startups that are located in Central New York State.

Just a few short bites to the $250K seeds

With all that said about winning all that money, I think these competitions are a great way to focus an entrepreneurial team on a specific goal with a specific deadline. I have seen many strong business plans get written by people who were under the time pressure of a strict deadline.

One of the things every business plan needs - but doesn't always have - is a discussion of the main parts of a business. For those who are thinking of entering, here is the table of contents to the business plan we submitted and won with in 2008:

Table of Contents.......................................page 1

Executive Summary...........................................2

Business Plan

Company Mission..............................................6

Technology & Product Description..........................6

Market Size & Potential......................................8

Market Validation.............................................9

Competitive Analysis........................................10

Management Profile.........................................12

Revenue Projections & Operational Expenses............14

Intellectual Property........................................16

Risk Assessment..............................................17

Stage of Development & Operational Steps...............18

Financing Plan...............................................18

Regional Economic Impact and Potential.................19

Contact Information........................................19

Good luck!

Teddy would love this place

2010-09-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

I was recently invited to attend the annual board meeting of the Central Upstate Regional Alliance. They wanted to hear first hand from emerging businesses in upstate New York. It was a great opportunity to share the our perspective on the current environment for emerging companies, and to ask for some assistance from those who influence the decision makers in Albany.

What was unique about the meeting was the setting. Instead of the normal bland conference room with a grey table surrounded by grey chairs in a beige room, it was held in a massive log cabin that looked like Theodore Roosevelt decorated it himself.

Here, have a teddy graham
The location was Savannah Dhu. Greg from Sound Reading and I drove up in the pouring rain and parked in the underground garage, where you get a first glimpse of what his place is like. Over each parking spot was a mounted animal, mostly deer and boar. And everything was either stone or "log cabiny". You enter next to the wine cellar, which is flanked by a full action scene of a stuffed moose in a fight with stuffed wolves. Up the stairs past the magnum-sized bottles from their private winery, you enter a cavernous room built from whole tree trunks, rough hewn beams, and lit by a massive wrought iron chandelier. In all parts of the room were spectacular examples of wildlife, from a polar bear, to massive stags, moose, elk, white deer, as well as grizzly bears, bobcats, and a rafter of wild turkeys in full strut.

We all sat in a circle in heavy wooded chairs appointed with red leather and sipped coffee from cups that said "Savannah Dhu 1984" on them. Other than feeling like this place was from 1874, the rest of the meeting and day was normal. We got some work done, shared a lot of good ideas, and enjoyed being dry and warm on a wet autumn day.

Smith on Logos

2010-08-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Our friends over at Smith Marketing Services are running a neat promotion. If you send in your logo, they'll give you an 100 word analysis about what your logo says about your company. We recently changed the Mezmeriz logo, so I was interested to hear what they had to say about it.

" Eye-catching. Unexpected. Dynamic.

Mezmeriz' logo, like Google's, suggests the company / service / product provides a lively, entertaining EXPERIENCE. The compelling central shape radiates color splashes, reminiscent of stylized people in a group, that are neither sequentially nor hierarchically arranged but illustrate movement. The shadow indicates something tangible. The logo type is futuristic and streamlined in an elegant, tech-based treatment. The source verb mesmerize connotes varying levels of fascination.

Your logo communicates that the Mezmeriz experience includes an engaging, even fascinating, technology that can be shared, an appropriate and positive message.

Scalability and color choices may be issues."

___________________________________________

SMS groups logos into three categories: CORPORATE, EXPERIENCE, or PROMISE. I'd tell you all about it, but I don't want to steal their thunder. Click here to learn more from the good folks at Smith Marketing Services, and how to get your own logo analysis

Barn Poker, Post Doc

2010-08-15T17:37:00.001-07:00

We've had a long running poker game in Ithaca between the MBA's and the PhD's. We typically play in the barn of our friend Steve. It's out in the country and smells like sawdust. The game is more about the company then the stakes. If it's good night, you'll lose $20. If it's a bad night, you'll lose $20. The poker isn't nearly as important at the conversation.

I got this one, Oui?
We talk about the latest research in behavioral physiology, and ruminate on what we would or would not do for a Klondike bar. We have also been known to harass people's idiotic game play, and to question the manner in which a few of the homely guys ended up with supermodels as wives. And we have a special meaning for the phrase "Booyah", which I can't share, but it is way beyond R-rated.

The games have become less frequent as our PhD friends have taken jobs around the world, but every so often one of them will find their way back to Ithaca and we'll have a game with as many of the old crew as we can pull together. We recently invited back our friend Kevyn, who now teaches in France. It was good to see him, except that he took all of our US money.

Zut alor!

Orthogonal is out to win the $1MM MassChallenge

2010-07-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ithaca based Orthogonal Inc. has advanced to the second round of the MassChallenge startup business competition and they need your help!

Pointing to Good Green Things
Based on patent-pending Cornell research, Orthogonal is a specialty chemicals company whose products enable electronics manufacturers to produce the next generation of electronics that are unbreakable, wallpaper thin, and environmentally friendly. Furthermore, not only are the things they make good for the environment, but using their chemicals, the WAY they are made is good for the environment.

So here's how you can help:

The MassChallenge is a new global annual startup competition with the objective of promoting innovation, collaboration, and commercialization. You can help Orthogonal win the competition by registering with MassChallenge and giving Orthogonal a 5-star rating. Go here and check "Supporter" to get started. Once you register, type Orthogonal into the search bar and you'll find their page. Then give them 5 stars! It will just take a few moments, but will mean a lot. Thanks!

A Mass-ive Opportunity

A Congressman's view of Entrepreneurs

2010-06-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

This week the Ithaca entrepreneurs had a chance to meet with our man in Washington, Congressman Maurice Hinchey.

Listening to the Roots of Economic Growth

The Congressman was gracious enough to meet with an entire group of Ithaca entrepreneurs - not knowing what he was getting into. We felt the same way.

It was a good session. We asked the Congressman to help us grow the economy in the region. We also asked him how we can help him create economic growth. Entrepreneurs create a LOT of jobs, but we are largely invisible because we don't have lobbyists or special interest groups to petition the Feds. He responded by telling us that he wanted to know more, and to stay in touch.

It was a great jumping off point. We listened. The Congressman listened. Now our challenge is to grow the area together. Though Ithaca boasts one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state, we want to say "Don't ignore us and consider this area solved", but rather "We are doing something right. Let's not compare ourselves to the rest of the state, but to the rest of the country. Let's grab this momentum an fuel it to make it one of the country's growth areas"

We think he listened, and we thanked him for his time.

Thanks Congressman Hinchey!

John Jaquette, Friend of the Entrepreneur

2010-06-17T21:36:00.001-07:00

Today I had the honor of presenting the 2010 Finger Lakes Entrepreneurship Forum's Cutting Award. This is an award the entrepreneurs use to say "Thank you" to the folks who help us make it happen. This year's award went to John Jaquette.

The Guy on the Right is the reason for the Guy on the Left
I love a microphone and a captive audience, so I was surprised at how choked up I got doing the presentation. I wanted to talk about all the ways that John has helped me personally, and I have numerous examples, but I was fortunate enough to be able to go to an email I received from former award recipient Tony Eisenhut. Here's what Tony had to say:

"John Jaquette personifies the true meaning of the award and exemplifies those attributes that are Cutting. He is a tireless networker who connects people from all parts of our community because of potential. There are no predisposition about the potential there is only a view towards creating a mutual benefit. This optimistic outlook and commitment to potential is one of the hallmarks of both Dave and Robb Cutting. Additionally, John has a deep love for the Ithaca area and believes endlessly in its capacity to produce world class entrepreneurs."

John is the newest addition to a list of people who have done a lot to promote entrepreneurship in the Ithaca+NY Finger Lakes region. I want to repeat my sincere "Thank You" to all of them!

2004 R. Davis "Dave" Cutting
2005 Dave Ahlers
2006 Roger Williams
2007 Andy Sciarabba
2008 Tony Eisenhut
2009 Zach Shulman
2010 John Jaquette

A Sound Group of Entrepreneurs

2010-05-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

On May 10th, Ithaca startup Sound Reading won the $200,000 Grand Prize for the 2010 New York Creative Core Emerging Business Competition. Greg and Bruce worked hard to make the dream of winning a reality. One of the key ways they made it happen was by reaching out to Ithaca's entrepreneurial community for support. After the win, they invited everyone from that community out for a party to celebrate. This included other entrepreneurs, educators, venture capitalists, and - most importantly - their families:

Pictured: Support
Their win marks four years in a row that an Ithaca startup has won this event:

2007: e2e Materials
2008: Mezmeriz
2009: Widetronix
2010: SoundReading
A major part of the reason for this trend is that we all help each other. The Sound Reading guys practiced and drilled on getting their presentation precise and their business plan right. Whether it was refining the look and order of the slides, working on getting the presentation under the 7-minute time limit, practicing for the question & answer portion, or working out what to wear and where to stand - they covered everything.

Congratulations guys!

_________________________________________

Next year's prize is $300,000! I know of a handful of Ithaca entrepreneurs who are already gunning for it. Who wants to win $300K?

World's Best Technology is Orthogonal, Inc

2010-04-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Recently Ithaca's own Orthogonal Inc. won the first prize in the 2010 WBT Showcase. Today Orthogonal's CEO Fox Holt received this cool trophy in the mail:

WBT also means World's Best Trophy
This puts Orthogonal in strong company with startups like Mesh Networks (acquired by Motorola), Sensant (acquired by Siemens), and Planning Systems (acquired by QinetiQ). I see a positive trend forming!

List of Ithaca Startups: 2010 Edition

2010-04-09T19:32:00.001-07:00

My most requested blog posting is my list of startups based in Ithaca, NY, which I now update each year just before the annual Entrepreneurship Celebration symposium at Cornell, here is the 2010 list:

Adenios
Aerofarms
Advion
Assetize
BinOptics
Biophyzica
Bombyx
Catchmakers
cheribundi
Comet Action Sports
DataPoint Labs
DNANO
e2e Materials
Energy In Common
Fortis America
Finger Lakes Aquaculture
Gene Network Sciences
GeneWeave Biosciences
Hybrid Silica Technologies
Illuminaria
Instinctiv
International Climbing Machines
iFyber
Instictiv
M.E.S.S. Express
Mezmeriz
MicroGen
MiTeGen
MouseCare
North Sea Resins
Novasterilis
Novomer
Optigen
Orthogonal
Primet
Red Tail Hawk
ReMarkable Paint
Rheonix
Sanmita
Seamless Receipts
Sound Reading
Spider Holster
Strut Your Hut
Tech S2
Technizzel
Terrenew
Tetragenetics
Veratag
VideoNote
Vybion
WePlace
Widetronix
Zetroz

Special mention needs to go to one company no longer on this list, Kionix, which was acquired in 2009 by ROHM. Congratulations guys!

Cornell Venture Challenge: A Great Place to See Great Entrepreneurs in Action

2010-04-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Story of a Hat

2010-02-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

I recently had a fun conversation with the founder and CEO of Branders.com, Jerry McLaughlin. Among other things, Jerry asked this question: "SightSpeed bought a lot of hats from us in our early days. Why?".

For those who don't know Branders.com, they are my preferred source of schwag. The answer to "Why Branders.com?" is simply "quality, service, and cost". The "Why hats?" question is a little more complicated.

Here's my perspective on the schwag hats: They were for tech tradeshows and friends of the company. Specifically, we traveled the world with Intel as part of their "partners showcase". If you have ever seen an Intel booth, you'll know they are large, beautiful, and in the prime location at any tradeshow. We wanted to use the hats for a couple of reasons:

If you give something meaningful away at a tradeshow, you will have a crowd at your booth.
If you have a hat, you can have people put it on right away as part of the condition of getting the hat
If you have a video-cam focused business, you could take video of them wearing the hat.
If the executives from Intel see a crowd people wearing SightSpeed hats in the Intel booth, they are happy because they like crowds, and if those crowds like SightSpeed, Intel execs keep inviting us to tradeshows.
People will continue to wear a hat at the tradeshow, and other people would come find us to get a hat.

In order to get a hat from us, all they had to do was:

Give us a card or email address
Put the hat on.
Record a video mail message and send it to someone. (People really liked that, often sending fun video clips home to their families.)

Making the case

I'll tell you three other stories with the hats:

I almost shouted with joy and lept into the air when I was sitting in an outdoor cafe in Hamburg Germany and saw a random guy walking across the nearby plaza wearing a SightSpeed hat!
The producers of the movie "40 Year Old Virgin" asked our permission to use the hat in the movie (which we granted). I have seen the movie a handful of times and never seen the hat, but it might be in there somewhere.
When SightSpeed was acquired by Logitech, we didn't really have any "company sale souvenir". So I made one of my own by putting the SightSpeed hat in a case and putting it on my memories shelf. That's the hat in the picture above.

Jerry, thanks for reminding me of those memories! All the best on selling more hats.

Predictions Dinner 2010

2010-01-20T08:34:00.001-08:00

Each year, the folks from Cornell's Johnson School of Management put on the Predictions Dinner with various alumni clubs around the world. I recently attended the Ithaca event, where I made these predictions:

Swami with a coffee stain
First prize is a Magic 8 Ball! Runner up gets a set of steak knives (say like Alec Baldwin).

My friend and MBA classmate Tom Schryver won this year, and I was a runner up. Another friend and classmate Tim Sallade won last year, and I was a runner up.

Magic 8 Ball, will I win next year?

Reply hazy, try again.

Sigh.

Cornell Entrepreneur in Residence 2009-10: Sean Neville

2009-11-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

Sean Neville is the new Entrepreneur in Residence for The Johnson School at Cornell for the 2009-2010 academic year. Sean was most recently the founder and CEO of Simply Audiobooks. He is also a classmate of mine from the MBA class of 2002, and a close friend.

Sean (on right) at his other Ithaca office, The Regent Lounge

Sean and I recently co-taught a class at Syracuse's Whitman School. It was interesting how we had such different answers to the same questions. Where I tend to come at things with a perspective of "use great technology to create a global product that we sell by the millions" , he approaches entrepreneurship from a perspective of "let's find a problem that consumers have and solve it for a profit".

Since most of the startups coming out of Cornell are driven by the $650M annual technology research budget, there is a lot of similar thinking around Ithaca about how to grow a company. So much so that some of it has become conventional wisdom within our community. Therefore, with Sean's role as the new Cornell EIR, it will be helpful for both students and entrepreneurial alumni to hear a different perspective. Breakthroughs typically occur when someone challenges the conventional wisdom.

If you are interested in meeting with or talking to Sean, I encourage you to not procrastinate. His calendar began filling up before he even stepped foot on campus. You can see Sean's full bio here, and you can email him at SMN25 at cornell.edu.

Welcome back Sean!

A bunny suit means I'm helping

2009-10-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is the flyer for the 2010 Creative Core $200K Business plan competition

(click on image for larger view)

Standing Out of Place
Mezmeriz is on this flyer because we won the event in 2008. What's funny about the flyer is the picture. First off, I've only been into the clean room twice. This picture was one of two times, and it was just so they could take a picture of me in the clean room. Equally amusing is that I don't ever get to touch the wafers or mirrors or anything fragile. I tend to break fragile things. However in this picture, it looks like I am Shahyaan's able and indispensable assistant. Shahyaan, You're Welcome!

Anyways, you should enter this event. It's a great focal point for any startup. If you want to hear about how to win a business plan competition, check out these videos.

Sometimes entrepreneurs get married too

2009-10-12T19:59:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of my longtime friend Andy Lufburrow. I could tell you all about what a great entrepreneur he is and all that sort of stuff I tend to write about, but really it was about seeing a good friend take a major step in his life.

The start of a new venture
Some of you may remember Andy as a regular feature on this blog and most famously as SightSpeed member #4, others have more colorful recollections that I'll not post here. Nonetheless, he's a great guy and a great entrepreneur who I count as one of my closest friends.

Not the first time I have leaned on Andy

In closing, I'll quote Andy's brother John quoting Scottish sages:

"To make a marriage a success, you should never lie, cheat,or drink.

However, if you must lie, lie in Heather's arms.

If you must cheat, cheat death.

If you must drink, drink with us!"

Cheers!

List of New York Companies that Presented at the Department of Defense Tech Forum

2009-09-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

I recently attended the Defense Tech Showcase in Syracuse. It was a forum for companies who are seeking, or have been awarded, SBIR grants - especially as they relate to the military. It was interesting to see all these unique companies that are doing some really high tech stuff all in one place. These are small companies that you'd never come across unless you were looking for some very specific technology.

The neat thing about these companies is that many of them have the potential to be huge companies, and the SBIR / Department of Defense launch pad could just be the start for them. At this event, they let a few of the companies stand up and give a venture-capital style elevator pitch. It was fascinating to hear about each company. Here's a list of those who presented:

Applied Visions
Binghamton Simulator
D&R Technical Solutions
Diamond Visionics
DualAlign
InterScience
Medgraph
Red Tail Hawk
Zweave

It was great to see such a vibrant, high-tech crowd at this sold-out event. It certainly lends credibility to the notion that entrepreneurship is alive and well in the region - it's just under the radar.

Homer Simpson Would Work Here Just for the Little Café

2009-09-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

Mezmeriz and whole bunch of startup tech companies are based near the Ithaca airport in the Cornell Business and Technology Park. As much as we like to stay fueled on coffee and more coffee, we also need sugar. That's where the Little Café in the Park comes in. It's a short and healthy stroll past Kionix to get frosted goodness.

Great with coffee and friends!
The nice thing about having our own little cafe is that we can meet for a coffee and commiserate. Sure, we've got MEMS envy (Kionix again), but we figure we'll get there. And those guys help us out in their own way.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy my cinnamon swirl.

That Informal Support

2009-07-30T13:47:00.001-07:00

I have written before about our little informal entrepreneurship club here in Ithaca. I wanted to share a few pictures of one of our sessions from the Spring. Greg Hubbell of Sound Reading was working on his venture capital presentation, and the group was there to provide support, insight, and opinion.

Have beer, will opine

The audience included CEO's and Founders from Simply Audiobooks, Novomer, Instinctiv, Orthogonal, Mezmeriz, plus a few aspiring entrepreneurs and Cornell business school students, including future members of BR Ventures.

One more time with passion

This last picture was taken slightly after Midnight when the rest of the was group long past their first beer. Greg got his presentation dialed in and was able to take his pitch on the road the next day, winning money in a venture capital competition, and attracting new professional investors to the company. He still has a ton of work to do with this promising startups, but I am glad we could help along the way.

Entrepreneurship & Innovation & Beer

2009-07-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

I am often asked "How do people find these great technologies that become the cornerstone of a great business?". The answer is "At happy hour". Specifically, one that involves a lot of smart technical guys at a great engineering school. There's one coming up at Cornell, so if you are an entrepreneur in search of a technological spark, or a smart technologist who is looking for someone to help you start a business, you should attend this event:

This is where some great companies have started

And if you already have a great business idea, you can go to see one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Jason Springs of Geneweave Biosciences, speak. He's a great public speaker and always has something worthwhile to say.

List of Ithaca & Finger Lakes Entrepreneurship Resources

2009-06-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

At a recent Finger Lakes Entrepreneurship Forum meeting we were reflecting on all of the support and resources that are now available to current and aspiring entrepreneurs in the area. If you are thinking about starting a new business in upstate New York, then all of these organizations and the people in them want to help you:

The Johnson School at Cornell University
Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization
The Whitman School at Syracuse University
Syracuse Tech Garden
Metropolitan Development Association
Entrepreneurship@Cornell
Cornell Entrepreneurship Network
Finger Lakes Entrepreneurship Forum
Upstate Venture Association of New York
SmartStart Venture Forum / UNYTECH
Pre-Seed Workshop
Elab

3D is all the rage -- at nerdy tech conferences

2009-06-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

In the past month I have attend three major display industry trade shows, SID, ProjectionSummit, and InfoCOMM. As is typical with these types of tech shows, the new, cool thing gets a lot of attention, and more and more, it's 3-Dimensional displays. (and, ahem, picoprojectors).

I see 3D people

In between people throwing out big fancy concepts like anaglyph, psychovisual, and switching polarizers - I got to see these things in action, and they are AWESOME! Samsung had one that the glasses had a sensor, and as I moved, the 3D plane on the screen moved too. A lot of fun, and makes me look at my fancy HDTV as downright mundane.

The holy grail of this world is a glasses-free 3D display, just like we saw in the first Star Wars. I think it's telling that even in the visionary world of Star Wars, the image is low-def. This stuff isn't easy to do, but it's cool!

Widetronix Wins Again!

2009-06-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last year I wrote a note about Ithaca company Widetronix winning the $250K DFJ Venture Challenge. This year they did it again by winning the MDA Creative Core $100,000 Emerging Business Competition!

The Force is strong with this Widetronix

This marks the third year in a row that an Ithaca/Cornell company has won this competition. e2e won in 2007, and Mezmeriz in 2008. It's a nice hat trick for the community, but it's not really a surprise to anyone here. That's because of the strong supportive environment fostered in the community. Of the 10 semifinalists, 5 were from Ithaca, and three of them were in the same building!

Well done Widetronix! Now, who wants to be next year's winner from Ithaca?

SmartStart Venture Forum

2009-05-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday, May 20th, a marquee list of the best New York startups will be presenting at the SmartStart Venture Forum. Here are the list of companies that will be presenting:

Arclay
Diffinity Genomics
Ener-G-Rotors
FloodWatch
Free Form Fibers
Geospatial Systems
HireCube
HYPER Wall
Intellidemia
iZoca
Jodange
KinetiCast
Liban
MicroGen Systems
Oral Health Innovations
PCAsso Diagnostics
Road Lok
SensGard
SOMS Technologies
Sonostics
Sound Reading Solutions
TheraSyn
Touche
UniteU Technologies
Upside Over
VisionScape Interactive

I'll be there. I get to be the guy who separates the investors from Happy Hour. I look forward to seeing you there too!

Vote for Digiceipt

2009-05-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Cornell MBA student Keith Cowing's company is a finalist for the 2009 DFJ $250K East Coast Venture Challenge. Cornell has a good history at this event. Mezmeriz as a top 5 (of 12) finalist in 2007, and Widetronix won the whole thing last year!

I want my receipts digitally!

Internet voting is brand new this year, so Keith needs your help making it to the finals. Please click here to vote for Digiceipt.

Go Digiceipt!

------------------------

Addendum! Digiceipt won! Way to go Keith!! Thanks for everyone who voted online!

Scott Murphy Won!

2009-05-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

We are so delighted that a venture capitalist has made his way to Congress. Way to go Scott! It really seemed improbable, but Scott and his team showed the value of having a guy who understands markets is what we need in an economic crisis. Though we are sad to lose Scott as one of our investors, we can't be happier that he has found this new opportunity.

Congratulations Scott!

Updated List of Ithaca Startups: 2009

2009-04-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

In what is turning into an annual posting, I am updating and refreshing my list of startups based in Ithaca, NY. We have a great entrepreneurial startup community here that is interactive and supportive. As I travel the country, people are beginning to hear about our pocket of entrepreneurial fervor, and as a result we are drawing interest and visits from some of the top investors in the country, many of who are following up with investments in Ithaca companies.

In preparation for the this year's Entrepreneurship Celebration symposium at Cornell, here is the 2009 list:

Achronix
Advion
BinOptics
Biophyzica
CherryPharm
Comet Action Sports
DataPoint Labs
DNANO
e2e Materials
Fortis America
Finger Lakes Aquaculture
Gene Network Sciences
GeneWeave Biosciences
Hybrid Silica Technologies
HireCube
Illuminaria
International Climbing Machines
iFyber
Instictiv
Kionix
M.E.S.S. Express
Mezmeriz
MiTeGen
North Sea Resins
Novasterilis
Novomer
Instictiv
Primet
ReMarkable Paint
Sanmita
Rheonix
Scrimple
SFS Therapeutics
Sound Reading
Strut Your Hut
Tech S2
Terrenew
Tetragenetics
TimeDiff
Veratag
VideoNote
Vybion
Widetronix

As you can see, there is a ton of activity and a vibrant community. I invite you to come visit us to learn more!

A non-tour of my super secret office

2009-03-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

How engineers make video compression funny

2009-03-11T06:39:00.001-07:00

Recently one of my favorite Dilbert cartoons from my SightSpeed days came up in conversation. I used to have this cartoon hanging in my office in our Berkeley headquarters:

Uh, I guess I am supposed to be the guy on the left
Aron Rosenberg loved to poke fun at the business guys. That seems to be a trend here at Mezmeriz too. With video projection, video compression and decompression is also a big deal, so here we go again with codec jokes.

Peak Pitch Redux

2009-03-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

I did Peak Pitch again this year. Last year I wrote about Peak Pitch 2008. What was key this year was the mood. Deals are still happening and businesses are still getting funded.

Economies are like skiers - they go up and down
The mood of most was "this too shall pass", and that businesses cycles are just that. Good businesses get funded in all cycles, and investors still invest in all cycles. So what can we entrepreneurs do about this economy? We can keep making our businesses stronger. We look forward coming back next year!

Brad Tweet

2009-02-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

Twitter was started by the same guy who started Blogger. I like Blogger (obviously), so I thought it was high time I checked out his new thing. Twitter is an easy to use tool for people to update the world on, well, whatever. I have been reading a lot about it so I decided to jump on the bandwagon, not exactly knowing where it was going, but I do like a ride.

Little birdie, what makes your wings so blue?

There are plenty of people who extol the virtues of, and claim to be making money on Twitter. I'm not so convinced of that just yet, but I will keep an eye on this interesting trend. Twitter is designed like text messaging, so you have to be clever in just 140 characters. It's tough to do, but since I do love a word game, that's what I decided to make it into. For me now, Twitter is a word game that challenges me to be clever and/or informative in 140 characters. Bonus points for both.

You can follow my Twitter "tweets" at http://twitter.com/bradtreat.

While I usually use this blog space to talk about something profound or interesting, this time I'm just curious and a tad befuddled. If I or someone else figures this thing out, I'll be sure to let you know - 140 characters at a time.

Scott Murphy for Congress

2009-01-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

One of the investors in Mezmeriz is running for Congress! I found this out via the entrepreneurial gossip hotline (the only thing faster than email). Scott Murphy of Advantage Capital has declared his intention to run, and I wholeheartedly endorse him!

Run Scott Run!
I'm not saying this because he is an investor in my company. In fact, this is kind of a bad thing for us because we aren't big enough to be on the radar of Congress members. And I'm one of about three Republicans in Ithaca.

The main reason I support Scott is because he isn't changing his tune to get to Congress. Scott has been consistent with his message long before there was a representative's seat vacancy. He has repeatedly publicly stated the same ideals and beliefs about growth and job creation at conferences and seminars that I have attended.

Scott would like to ask for your support. You can learn more at the Scott Murphy 2009 website.

Entrepreneurs, Technologists, and Delinquents at CES

2009-01-12T12:31:00.001-08:00

I spent the better part of last week talking myself hoarse at the Consumer Electronics Show. We also used this opportunity to converge a bunch of our technology and entrepreneurial Cornell friends for some social time. We had friends from Simply Audiobooks, Widetronix, Instictiv, 3M, Qualcomm, P&G, Harrah's, and (of course) Mezmeriz.

True, except for the juvenile part
We compared notes, tales of woe, and passed around a lot of encouragement. Of course, it's not always a big case study session and we did have a little Vegas-style fun.

I am not at liberty to reveal most of the details of the week's non-conference activities, but maybe Harvard Business School psychology professor Abraham Zaleznik is right:

"To understand the entrepreneur, you first have to understand the psychology of the juvenile delinquent...the hallmark of the entrepreneur is a drive for autonomy, for a freedom from restraints that bespeaks an inner rebelliousness and a fearlessness in the face of risk."

Well put, Professor Zaleznik. And for everyone who wasn't there, I encourage you to join us next year.

The Santa Mix

2008-12-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

One of the fun cool things about living the entrepreneurial life in Ithaca is the mix of people that you interact with on a daily basis. Not everyone here wants to be a high-tech entrepreneur. Ok, almost no one does. That's all right. This isn't Silicon Valley, nor do we want it to be. The fun part of it is bring folks together who wouldn't otherwise meet or even know the other exists.

Trees, Plastics, Hospitals, Ideas, Tennis, Investor
It's a fun place to start a business. We have community and smarts and a lot of support. In a small town, a modest holiday party brought together grad students, a film professor, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, kayaking instructors, a photographer, a nurse, a massage therapist, a banker, a lawyer, a tree salesperson, a tequila expert, and at least one person willing to harness a few reindeer:

Merry Christmas!

Business Success and Academic Peers

2008-12-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

Within some halls of academia there is an opinion that your research peers will fault you for using your research to also seek commercial success. Recently Alan Paau dispelled that myth with the story of 2008 Nobel Laureate and serial entrepreneur Roger Tsien.

Business and Academia All Wrapped Together
Dr. Tsien is currently Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of California, San Diego, and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

He is also the founder of Aurora Biosciences. Aurora Biosciences was formed in May of 1995 by Dr. Tsien and two of his UCSD colleagues. The goal of the company was to commercialize their research into a new way of screening molecules as potential drug candidates.

The company raised $13 MM in their first round of venture financing in March of 1996, and took the company public in 1997. The company was purchased in 2001 for $592 million by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Tsien maintains a positive relationship with industry to this day, but his focus is back in the lab where he continues his research into how researchers can us multicolored fluorescent proteins to observe the behavior of cells.

Congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize, Dr. Tsien!

Entrepreneurship Incubator in the heart of Ithaca's Collegetown

2008-11-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

eLab is a entrepreneurship incubator smack-dab in the heart of Collegetown, ie. the "student fun part of Cornell". Their fun, funky thinktank/brainstorming space is designed to bring together the energetic and creative minds in a pro-entrepreneurship atmosphere. At eLab, it's all about a supportive atmosphere to make your business idea thrive.

The E turns concEpts into rEality

eLab is having an open house this Friday, and they want everyone to come. They are off to a booming start with their first graduate, Wiggio, having already launched, raise significant angel and venture capital money, and garnered widespread acclaim. If Wiggio was their first, then you definitely want to learn about the other great companies to follow!

When: Friday, November 21st @ 4:30pm

Where: eLab incubator, 409 College Ave. Suite 100S, Ithaca, NY 14850

What: An open house to showcase how eLab is working with energetic undergraduate entrepreneurs, discussions with current and past eLab participants, and networking with local entrepreneurs.

Who: You! That includes aspiring undergraduate entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial mentors, friends of Cornell, and the curious are all encouraged to attend!

Bloomist Launches

2008-11-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

Megan Kamil and her fellow GSB partners recently launched their new flower ordering site after being underwhelmed with the offerings they found online. They wanted to buy local, not corporate. And they wanted to know exactly what they were getting. They launched Bloomist to allow you to browse and buy flower arrangements from local florists in the Los Angeles area and most San Francisco Bay Areas.

A Better Arrangement
Because local florists don't ship arrangements through expensive services like UPS or FedEx, consumers can get a better bang for their buck by using Bloomist to send flowers to friends, family and loved ones. They are just getting going and have the site in beta. If you want to send flowers to someone in LA or SF Bay, give them a try. They'll give you a great experience, and they'd really appreciate the feedback.

Logitech Buys SightSpeed

2008-10-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

As my boy Andy would say, "Well, there you go. It happened!" True that.

SightSpeed sold, and to an awesome company: Logitech!

A Perfect Fit
I first sat across the table with the Logitech folks five years ago. They liked us then, but weren't sure what to do with us. We were punks who were sure we were going to take over the world - or at least the world of videoconferencing. Which is a notably smaller world. Nonetheless, we were undeterred to continue to build the product and brand of SightSpeed. In doing so, we built a world class, best-of-breed, global communications company. Millions of calls and billions of calling minutes later, the two companies came together.

At the heart of our company, and this deal, is an extraordinary individual: Aron Rosenberg. I first met Aron when he was a 20-year-old undergrad at Cornell. After working with him for just a few months in the spring and summer of 2001 laying the groundwork for founding SightSpeed, I knew he was a superstar. Now we are 7+ years into this journey together, it turns out that he's a $30MM superstar. I think he's worth a lot more, so LOGI got a great deal.

Well, there you go. Congratulations to SightSpeed on joining a great company. Congratulations to Logitech on buying a great company.

_________________________________

Finally, for one last laugh, click here for a video of me and Aron interacting in classic style as we test the record feature SightSpeed introduced a few years ago.

Finger Lakes Entrepreneur's Expo 2008

2008-10-22T06:31:00.001-07:00

The Finger Lakes Entrepreneurs' Forum annual Expo is a great way to meet folks from all sorts of businesses in the region. I will admit that some of us think all entrepreneurship around here is high-tech and Cornell-related. Not true.

I was scanning the list of companies, and I was amazed at the ones I didn't know. Here is a partial list of the companies I am looking forward to learning more about:

Date & Time: Thursday October 23, 2008. 5:00pm until 8:00pm

Location: Moakley House at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, 215 Warren Road, Ithaca, NY

Registration: Norma Cushner ‐ ncushner@amt‐mep.org or 607‐774‐0022 x302

I'll be there. I hope you will too. Plus, it's free of charge! For more information click here.

Like those old Reese's ads, but with beer

2008-10-10T12:34:00.001-07:00

Remember those old Reese's ads where the guy with peanut butter would bump into the guy with chocolate and they'd exclaim that the combination was brilliantly delicious? Well some students at Cornell are trying to make a few such collisions, but this time with the business side bumping into the technology side.

Following the grueling entrepreneurs & angels due diligence session, there will be beer. This beer and idea session is being co-sponsored and promoted by the entrepreneurial MBA's and the biomedical engineering students. It's a brilliant idea.

Like a flash of chocolately peanut butter

If you have an idea and want a business buddy, you should go.
If you are an experience business person who doesn't have a brilliant biotech idea, you should go.
If you like beer and want to see what this is all about, you should go too.

To learn more, check out the flyer.

An Entreprenuerial Approach to Solving the Bottled Water Problem

2008-10-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

Jim Quest wants to pay you for the most unique way to reduce the impact of the 60 Million water bottles discarded every year. Jim is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell. As such, he is looking for a unique, clever, and cost-effective way to solve this problem. He's looking for an entrepreneurial solution.

Plastic and Water Don't Mix Either

Jim succinctly stated his position and approach during a front-page interview with The Cornell Daily Sun:

“I’m not an environmentalist. I’m socially responsible."
With $6000 from the Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship, Jim has assembled a talented panel of judges who are looking for innovative and realistic ideas for how to address the need bottled water fills, without the landfill the empty bottles create. You can be part of the solution. If you have a keen new idea for how to reduce the negative impact of water bottles, please enter the H2O Competition here.

My Favorite Analyst

2008-09-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Bill Coggshall is one of the key analysts in our industry. Right now that industry is defined as "ultra mobile projectors". That terminology is likely to change in the future, and Bill and his colleagues at Pacific Media Associates are probably the ones who will coin the term for this new market.

But that's not the most interesting or noticeable thing about Bill. What you notice about Bill is that he dresses like a cowboy. While most of the people at technology conferences and symposiums are either dressed in suits or company-logo-gear, you can find Bill by looking for his 10-gallon hat.

BIG hat, RED Shirt
Did I mention that Bill is also Cornell alum? Probably no surprise to regular readers of this blog. Though he lives in California now, he regularly returns to Ithaca to visit his family here. I am sure he bottles up a little bit of Ithaca wacky to take with him.

I think he keeps it in his hat.

The Diligence of an Angel

2008-09-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

On October 17th, the Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization, the Kauffman Foundation, and the Seed Capital Fund of Central New York are hosting a free workshop on how to get your business books in order for when you are seeking investment from individuals, also know as Angel Investors.

Divine Advice
Angel Investors are good to know. They are eager to provide contacts and advice, and access to their Rolodex. If you can find good Angels, they can make a big impact on the success of your business. This seminar teaches you what they are looking for and looking at in your business.

You can register here for this free event.

Real M

2008-09-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

We are going to launch our new Mezmeriz website in a few days. We went with a different model this time. And for anyone wondering, yes, that's real ink.

M is for charMing
How perfect is her tat? We already had an interesting-tattooed-cool-pretty-girl thing going, so why not ramp it up with a letter-appropriate tattoo? It doesn't hurt that she has stunning eyes. You could almost say that they are mesmerizing... but that would be corny, and we don't do that around here.

High Above Harbor Waters

2008-09-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

Today some old friends are working with me at the offices of one of Mezmeriz's new friends in downtown Baltimore. These not-to-be-named new friends were kind enough to give us all-day access to their corner conference room high above the famous Inner Harbor and Camden Yards.

Hey Andy, over there, it's Camden Yards
Because of all the lasers we use, we are usually working from laboratories with darkened windows. Therefore, this daylight and these panoramic views are a nice change of pace.

EIR at Dawn

2008-09-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

At dawn this morning Fox and I hit the lake with the new Cornell Entrepreneur In Residence, Steve Benjamin.

Benjamin Jammin'
We drank some coffee, read the Journal, and enjoyed a few turns on the water. The morning lake session gets you going, especially in the crisp September air. I can't say we talked about any profound entrepreneurial ideas, but we did get to learn more about the newest member of our ever-growing group of Ithaca entrepreneurs. Welcome Steve!

Rob Ryan visits the Ithaca Entrepreneurs

2008-09-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

Last night Terry and Rob Ryan hosted a bunch of the Ithaca entrepreneurs for a rowdy dinner. Rob cofounded Ascend in 1989. Ten years later he sold it to Lucent for $23 Billion. He now mentors entrepreneurs. One of his mentoring efforts was to fund the expansion and reach of the Cornell Entrepreneurship Network.

Last night's dinner was both a thank you, and proof of the success of his vision. We had entrepreneurs from plastics to websites, microbiology to tequila. It went late, and the room was so noisy you almost had to shout. That's sure sign of a great outing. Thanks Terry and Rob!

Afrik Fall Collection

2008-08-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Cornellian Fritswa Baffour initially launched her clothing company Afrik in order to keep her friends from taking her clothes. Fritswa was hand painting images of Pan-African culture onto her favorite hoodies. Her friends liked the styles so much that they would borrow her outfits and didn't want to give them back. With that, Afrik was born.

Entrepreneur, Author, Educator, Star
The company has grown from a small operation in her apartment in Ithaca into a New York City based design and manufacturing business. They have been featured in multiple fashion and lifestyle magazines, and Afrik hoodies have been spotted in music videos and the hottest clubs.

My favorite piece from the 2008 Fall collection celebrates Marcus Garvey. He was a cultural activist, entrepreneur, and educator who lived during the turn of the century.

If you are in New York City, you can find Afrik styles at a number of hip stores. You can also buy them online here.

eLab's first graduate: Wiggio

2008-07-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

Last summer I worked with the folks at Student Agencies to build a business model for an undergraduate student incubator. That project launched earlier this year as eLab, with Dan Cohen as the Entrepreneur In Residence for the lab. They lab has already spawned it's first graduate: Wiggio.

Wiggio Works in Groups
In their words:

Wiggio.com™ is a free, simple group collaboration website for students. Wiggio provides students with a toolkit of functionalities that among other things, makes it easy to share documents,communicate within groups, schedule and remind people of events, share resources, and get a quick consensus among group members. Wiggio’s key strength lies in its simplicity— the goal is for Wiggio to be the easiest way for students to work in groups.

This is not a social networking "me too" site, but a productivity tool geared towards the modern mobile student. Check them out. It's free, useful, and simple.

Exit Photo

2008-07-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

My brother Cameron just accepted a new job which came with a big promotion. In a poignant and well worded two sentence email, he thanked and said goodbye to the folks he had worked with for the past 10 years. The simplicity of the letter was punctuated with this photo:

Hello Future Moon
The cool thing about this picture is that's a picture of him paragliding on the evening before his last day. Good luck on the new gig, bro!

Cafepress Acquires Imagekind!

2008-07-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Friend and fellow Cornell entrepreneur Kevin Saliba has successfully led the sale of Imagekind to CafePress. Employees, founders, and investors are delighted.

Lifting the Money
I wrote about Kevin when he took the helm of Imagekind. In less than a year of accepting on the responsibility of CEO, Kevin was able to get the company in position for a fantastic sale. This is even more impressive in light of the current market conditions. Well done!

____________________
Also, if you like the art with the girl holding the golden $ sign, you can buy a canvas from Imagekind/Cafepress for only $19 here.

Instictiv

2008-06-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

A hilarious 40-second video from Ithaca startup Predict Systems. Just watch. I don't want to ruin it:

You can get the software for free at Instinctiv.com. Getting the girl is up to you.

Big Red Don

2008-06-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had the Mezmeriz board meeting. Our outside board member is Don Greenberg, who has been a Cornellian for almost his entire life. Don is exactly the kind of guy you want on a high-tech startup board. He's knowledgeable in both the science and business of our company, and has a wealth of experience that just can't be measured.

Tennis Anyone?
Don is a model for leading a well rounded life. He is an avid tennis player and regularly beats guys 40 years his junior. I ran into Don one morning at the grocery. He was all sweaty and was buying a large Gatorade. I asked what he had been up to. "A full set of tennis". And it was only 9:30am.

To celebrate his long commitment to Cornell, the university put together a retrospective about Don that includes great stories about him training with with the US Olympic Soccer Team, building his famous "Flying Diaper", and much more. I encourage you to watch it by clicking here.

----------------------------------------------------

Addendum: Phil and Maddy Handler at Fly on the Wall Productions volunteered to make this video as a labor of love for Cornell. See and support them at http://www.FlyonWall.com

You are invited to eat burgers with Ithaca startups

2008-06-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Langmuir Labs is full of small companies and startups. Many of Ithaca's larger locally-grown companies started here. We all have separate labs and locking doors (and lasers!), so it's amazing how little we socialize.

To remedy that, the building managers are throwing a barbecue cook-out. Nothing fancy or fussy – just a gathering of friends and colleagues for refreshments and some good old fashioned Summer food and perhaps a game of volleyball or two.

Please drop in. It’s good to take a break and meet some of the companies here, learn about the cool "incubator-like" environment, and meet the responsive building managers.

Who knows, maybe you'll want to move in too!

Entrepreneurial Shorthand

2008-05-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

There are a few key phrases that get tossed around among the Ithaca entrepreneurial crowd. These typically derive from some longer story, but they work as a quick reference. One of my favorites is "7-minute abs". That's short hand for a wacky idea, usually from a wacky person. It originates from this scene from Something About Mary:

Step into my office

Some other phrases suitable for print:

"You aren't here for the hunting"
Meaning: repeatedly doing something the same way, and getting the same negative result.
Origin: An incredibly crass joke.

"Well wake the gimp up"
Meaning: Stop giving me excuses and go do what I just asked
Origin: Pulp Fiction

"That's $20 Canadian"
Meaning: Not only is it inexpensive us, it's inexpensive to to our northern friends.
Origin: Unknown. Probably originated at the Toronto Ballet after a few Steam Whistles. It has now been gleefully reversed on us due to the weak dollar.

"Cheney '08"
Meaning: Doing something to intentionally annoy someone.
Origin: The easist way to piss off most of Ithaca? Walk around with a Cheney '08 shirt on.

"How about a monorail?"
Meaning: That sounds like an idiotic plan dreamed up by inept government.
Origin: The same Ithaca government that can't seem to fix a pothole is seriously considering installing a podcar monorail system.

Chris from Widetronix

2008-05-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

The look of a winner

thanks to CollegeMogul.com for the picture.

Widetronix Wins!

2008-05-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Widetronix, one of Cornell's representatives at the DFJ East Coast Venture Challenge, just won the whole thing! That means $250,000 from one of the best venture capital firms in the world. Well done guys!

I'll have more on this later, but here's a sample stream of emails initiated by our man in the crowd, Justin Smithline:

1:40 pm Justin: Widetronix just made the finals! One of four finalists. Stay tuned...
2:54 pm Tom: Cornell represent! Very nice...
3:46 pm Justin: Guys just went. Guys did well, especially considering the limited prep time-nice job all you coaches! Def the most entertaining of all the groups too. Judges were excited about the idea of a "nuclear battery". All the finalists are rock solid, so it will be close.
5:13 pm Justin: They won!!! No shit!!!
5:33 pm Cliff: WOW!! FANTASTIC!!
5:35 pm Charles: f'n great job! Justin, thanks for the play by play
6:03 pm Me: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

A exciting day for all of us in our little Cornell-Ithaca entrepreneurship club. Way to represent!

The Rose By Another Name

2008-05-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

When I graduated from business school my father came to Ithaca and stayed at the Rose Inn. We had the celebration dinner there, and he gave me the one item I consider my prized possession - a Seiko with a long back story. That's a tale for another time, today I want to talk about The Rose.

In March of 2004 the Rose Inn was gutted by a spectacular fire. It sat as a burned out hulk until 2006 when Ithaca natives John and Elizabeth Hamilton bought the property they had once been married on with the intent of retaining the nostalgia while taking the place to a higher standard for quality and hospitality.

They changed the name to The John Joseph Inn and Elizabeth Restaurant to emphasize a new management and a new commitment. Their rebranding included a new logo that combines themes from their animal family, as well as locally-located, internationally-reknowned artisans MacKenzie Childs whose furnishings permeate the facilities.

You can call me logo, but my friends call me Prep
Sitting on their porch enjoying a glass of wine and talking to John, you'll be visited by the hysterical duo of Hudson the Lab and Prep the Pig. Sure, there are various roosters and hens and chipmunks milling about, but this twosome steals the show.

Is it my turn for a belly rub?
As CIA graduates, Ithaca lovers, and experienced entrepreneurs, John and Elizabeth exemplify the route of entrepreneurship as a means to achieve a dream. In this case, a well executed, classically fashionable, deliciously garnished, and personally-driven dream.

How's it going so far? It's all peachy. Just ask Prep and Hudson!

Can't you feel it coming? EMPIRE ZÖNES!

2008-05-06T08:11:00.002-07:00

Maria Maynard and Heather Filiberto are hosting a coffee and donut chat to explain and discuss Empire Zones. This a New York State economic development program designed to encourage companies to operate in specific geographic regions. By operating your business in an Empire Zone you could get income tax breaks, sales tax breaks and tax credits.

When: May 15, 2008 at 10am
Where: Courtyard by Marriott, 29 Thornwood Dr, Ithaca, NY 14850
Price: Free

Business the American way

Not appearing at this event will be Queensrÿche. Instead, Heäther Filibertö, from Tompkins County Area Development, will explain how businesses currently in an Empire Zone can take advantage of this program, and get access to grants, low-interest loans, and venture capital and other financing assistance. The session is also encouraged for those folks considering locations to grow their business and want to learn more about the benefits of being in an Empire Zone.

Please RSVP by May 13 to Maria Maynard at 257 1725 x 223 or mariamaynard@sbashley.com
------------------
Note: I added the umlauts for heavy metal effect. Rock on Heather!

Mezmeriz wins $100K; Uses money to buy drinks for Ithaca Entrepreneurs

2008-04-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Mezmeriz winning thee New York's Creative Core $100,000 Emerging Business Competition, we decided to throw a party for all of our entrepreneurially minded friends in Ithaca.

Ithaca Entrepreneurs and Executives
We held the event at Pixel. In attendance were founders and executives from GeneWeave, Advion, Veratag, Novomer, Mitegen, The Service Auction, Fibershield, Tetragenetics, Student Agencies, Predict Systems, and 2007 winner e2e Materials.

2007 and 2008 Winners Toast an Ithaca Sweep
A lot of the buzz at the event was about the amazing entrepreneurial spirit coming out of Ithaca. It's no mistake that the first two winners of this competition came out of Ithaca, and we have high hopes and expectations that next year's winner will as well.

A special thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. I owe you all a lot more than a few beers, but I hope that was a good start.

Check

2008-04-22T14:12:00.001-07:00

Thanks!

Big Red Brat Pack

2008-04-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

The past three days have been a blur of events and ideas. The 2008 Entrepreneurship Symposium was incredible. The scheduled events were phenomenal, but the unscheduled parts were even better. The highlight of the event was dusk on the deck.

This, right here, right now, is why
Tom, Sean, Fox, Justin and I were taking a breather from the networking to put our bags in my truck parked on the top of the parking deck. We took the moment to chill, reflect, and let our guards down.

We love this stuff. We loved watching the undergraduate business idea competition. They were phenomenal! I hated to pick a winner because I want to fund the whole bunch. But we needed a breather and an escape.

Foxy pontificating at dusk. Good stuff.

That's part of the experience. It's the driver. My boy Andy has always said it's the concepts that matter. The entrepreneurship lifestyle is one of ideas. We're not philosophers, but we deal in the realm of the concept. The "what should be". It is during these top deck sessions when those ideas flow. With a beautiful Ithaca dusk settling upon us, the choice is solidified and new theories are formed.

Go Green Right

2008-04-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

Spring is the time of building anew. So what better time is there for Cornellian Dave Wax to launch his new company, FreeGreen!?

Sooo Sleepy, Sooo Green
FreeGreen offers high-quality architectural plans for environmentally friendly housing - for free! How do they make money you ask? By promoting the best green building materials companies out there. It turns out that you can have a beautiful, earth-friendly house without sacrificing quality or paying a lot of money. All you need to do is plan. That's where FreeGreen comes in. They do the planning for you! All they ask is that you use the certified product vendors they recommend when building your dream home. It's one of those rare instances where the phrase "win-win" is not only true, but one of the winners is Mother Earth!

I love what Dave is doing and I love his spirit. He is a big thinker with a realistic bend. Right now, you can get any type of home as long as it is a suburban middle class home. They are starting small and growing. If you like his spirit as much as I do, but don't see you dream home, contact Dave directly. They want to help you g0 green!

Business Idols

2008-04-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

For the past two evenings, Matt Wagner and I have been coaching the ten finalists for the Cornell Undergraduate Business Idea Competition.

The Fastest 3 Minutes in Business!
The finalists only have 3 minutes to pitch their idea to an auditorium full of people. They will be judged both a panel of expert judges, and by the audience - American Idol style.

You would be amazed at how hard it is to do a great pitch in just 3 minutes. But this crew has done a bang-up job. The actual event takes place on April 11th, 2008 at 4:00pm in 196 Beck Center, at Statler Hall. It is free to attend, and you should get there early as we expect an over-capacity crowd.

To get a preview of the companies, and to vote on who you think has the best idea (before the presentations), please see this article in Cornell Business Magazine.

$100K NY Style

2008-04-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

Ithaca startups Mezmeriz and Geneweave Biosciences were thrilled to be recognized today as two of the top five emerging businesses from Central New York. We were included as finalists for the Metropolitan Development Association of Central New York's $100,000 Emerging Business Competition.

A Yummy Delicious Core
The finalists:

Alpha DC Motors of Syracuse has invented a new manufacturing process where they swap out traditional metals for engineered metals, resulting in direct current motors that are significantly better than anything on the market.
Aviation Services Unlimited of Oriskany is creatively using helicopters for things way beyond just travel. They are completely re-thinking aviation.
GeneWeave Biosciences of Ithaca has a breakthrough technology for detecting harmful bacteria that is significantly faster, cheaper, and more precise that current methods.
Make & Take Gourmet of Syracuse has 18 stores throughout the east coast where people can quickly and cheaply make gourmet meals for their whole family that previously they could only get at overpriced restaurants.
Mezmeriz of Ithaca. That's us! We're making the tiny little projector display thing you have read about here before.

Diego of Geneweave and I carpooled to Syracuse for the event. We weren't sure what to expect. The location in the classic downtown M&T bank lobby and all of the television cameras were a bit daunting, but we had a great time nonetheless. I don't know if we made the TV news, but we did make the WSYR-TV website!

Beforehand we got to meet the other entrepreneurs and found they were more brothers in arms than competitors. It sucks that there is only one winner. With businesses so disparate, how in the world do you compare? If we had a DC motor-helicopter- biotesting-projection-gourmet restaurant, we'd be all set!

The Venture Capital Investment Competition Wants You!

2008-03-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

You have heard me extol the virtues of the Venture Capital Investment Competition here and here. Now is your chance to participate at their national finals! Excerpts from a letter from organizer Patrick Vernon:

Brad,

As a former participant, you know the value of VCIC to presenting entrepreneurs, but did you know that 40% of the entrepreneurs selected to present at the Finals go on to raise an average of $9M in venture capital. See successful ventures here.

This is a rare free opportunity to present a venture to VCs from around the United States as a part of the prestigious Venture Capital Investment Competition. Now in its 11th year, the VCIC finals is the culmination of 40 events around the world in which top MBA students are competing to be the best VC. If selected, a venture will be one of four entrepreneurs at the event joining 20 VCs who will act as judges.

WHAT: 11th Annual VCIC
WHERE: Chapel Hill, NC
WHEN: Friday and Saturday, April 18-19

If interested, click here for more information and to apply online. It is free to apply and participate, but don't delay!

Thank you!
Patrick
---------------
Patrick Vernon
Associate Director and Adjunct Lecturer
UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School

Updated List of Ithaca Startups

2008-03-22T10:18:00.001-07:00

Ithaca continues to have a growing amount of entrepreneurial startup activity. With Cornell's massive research budget, and the draw of a great lifestyle, it is really no surprise that a new breed of startup is finding a comfortable home here. In preparation for the upcoming entrepreneurship symposium at Cornell, here is my current list:

Achronix
Adirondack Packaging
Advion
BinOptics
Biophyzica
Buzz In Media
CherryPharm
Comet Action Sports
DataPoint Labs
DNANO
e2e Materials
FiberShield
Finger Lakes Aquaculture
Gene Network Sciences
GeneWeave Biosciences (formerly Phagenetics)
Gorges Websites
Hybrid Silica Technologies
Illuminaria
International Climbing Machines
Kexter
Kionix
Mezmeriz
MiTeGen
North Sea Resins
Novasterilis
Novomer
Predict Systems, who power Additune
Primet
ReMarkable Paint
Rheonix
Scrimple
SkillsBazaar
Technizzel
Terrenew
Tetragenetics
The College Freeway
Veratag
Vybion
WePlace
Widetronix

I am sure I am leaving off somebody, but 40 active entrepreneurial companies is a pretty good start!

Cheering Big Red or Looking Ahead?

2008-03-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Cornell Big Red basketball team is playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20 years. The game is on this Thursday at 5pm ET. Which is also the same time as this month's Finger Lakes Entrepreneurs' Forum meeting. Decisions, decisions!

Post Positions or Acquisitions?
This month's topic is "Acquiring a Company - from the Acquirer's Point of View". I'd like to say I am looking so far down the path for Mezmeriz that I'm thinking about a time when the company might get acquired, but I really want to see the game. I've not yet decided, but if you see me sneak out the back of the room, you'll know where I went.

Go Big Red!

Addendum: It looks like I am not the only one in the lovely hamlet of Ithaca that has Big Red Basketball on the brain. The Finger Lakes Entrepreneur's Forum has been postponed to next Thursday. Now, let's hope the Big Red do so well this weekend that they have to cancel that meeting as well!!

Start Smart

2008-03-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

The SmartStart Venture Forum in Rochester on May 13 & 14th is a great way for New York companies seeking venture capital to meet a whole lot of folks all at once. It is part of New York State's ongoing effort to promote entrepreneurial companies.

Hey VC, come see!
The venture folks like it because the venture forum acts as a screener for the truly zany, and the entrepreneurs like it because they get a lot of exposure quickly.

If you have a viable, venture-fundable technology company, this is a great opportunity. To learn more and apply to present, click here.

Arundel County Chopper

2008-02-28T08:44:00.001-08:00

Chopper
A friend in Maryland sent me a picture of Chopper. He kind of looks like Paul Sr., who is an entrepreneur. Other than that I don't know how it pertains to anything in this blog, but the picture was too funny to leave in my inbox. Enjoy!

Those darn kids and their text machines!

2008-02-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

Matt and his crew at Scrimple have made good use of the Ithaca winter. They decided to stay inside and develop something simple and cool to save us all a few bucks.

Scrimple recently introduced text coupons to their site. I absolutely LOVE this feature. No printer? no problem! But more importantly, how many times have you printed something, and then forgot to pick it up? Happens to me all the time. Introducing the solution:

Yep, that little button is the solution. See your coupon, press the button, text yourself. It's easy and free. I like easy. I like free. I love text coupons!

Well done Scrimple!

An antidote to the 'California No'

2008-02-19T08:04:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of the Venture Capital Investment Competition conducted each year by the University of North Carolina at top graduate business schools around the world.

A Honest Good Time

I recently encouraged Jon Greene of Widetronix to participate as an entrepreneur at the Harvard VCIC. The VCIC is one of the few times entrepreneurs get to hear honest feedback from real venture capitalist about your business.

Venture capitalists typically give a myriad of excuses for why they won't invest in your company. This is casually referred to at the "California No". VC's do this to keep their options open in the future. Saying "You aren't really in our investment space" is a lot easier and less risky than saying "We hate your business plan and we have no idea what your technology does". Nobody wants to piss off the next Google/Yahoo/eBay. However, it never really helps the company get better. The beauty of the VCIC is that the companies get the honest feedback, AND they get to hear how valid that feedback is. It's a great experience all the way around.

I have had the good fortune of participating as a student, a faculty adviser, and twice as an entrepreneur of a VCIC venture. If I someday attend as a venture capitalist, I'll have hit for the cycle!

Pique Investor Interest at the Peak

2008-02-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

Borealis Ventures, High Peaks Venture Partners, and Fresh Tracks Capital are once again hosting their unique Peak Pitch events this March.

Bringing New Meaning to Green Trails
This is a clever invitation-only event where investors and entrepreneurs get to talk shop while hitting the slopes. The basic premise is that the entrepreneurs tell their story to a different investor on each chair lift ride up the mountain. Then the investor gives feedback during the ride down. Where it goes from there depends on interest on both sides.

The event is free to attend, but you have to be apply for an invitation. To get one of the coveted blue entrepreneur's bibs, apply here.

Good luck! I hope to see you on the slopes!

Opine on Superbowl Ads and win money!

2008-02-04T05:54:00.000-08:00

Adjack.tv is a website where you can watch and rate television advertisements, share you opinion on them, and win money! The site is free and fun. They already have all the Super Bowl ads, including my favorite with Will Ferrell drinking Bud Light.

Adjack: The place to tell Amp that a dancing redneck using jumper cables as nipple clips doesn't make you thirsty

AdJack was founded by fellow entrepreneur and Johnson School alum Dave Boland. He has been working on the idea and details for awhile, and made sure the site launched in time for the Super Bowl. Now he is up and running and giving away $ to people watching and rating ads. Here's my lucky number:

Good luck with yours!

How Bazaar

2008-01-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

Cornell MBA Sumit Mittal started his company while still a student. They launched at the end of last summer and are now aggressively growing the site. Check it out at SkillsBazaar.com.

Pele speaks "righteous," Sister Zina says "funky"
SkillsBazaar connects students to employers for specific projects. It's not a job site, but rather a project site. Want to get some work done for a good price without outsourcing halfway across the globe? SkillsBazaar is your solution!

Oh, and you students looking for some work, Skills Bazaar needs you. Sign up here.

Well done Sumit!

Entrepreneurship as a Career

2008-01-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

"Why would someone spend all that time and money to get an MBA and not go get one of those high paying corporate jobs? Well, we have the answer!

Some of the local Cornell Johnson School MBA alums are going to be holding an open discussion/forum session with the Johnson School's Career Management Center office on Monday January 28th at 7:30pm on Cornell's campus in Sage Hall, room B5. The basic theme will be entrepreneurship as a career option, with folks talking about their experiences - and why didn't go and get "normal jobs".

I like having a "normal job"
There will be a handful of us local Johnson School alum entrepreneurs on hand. The focus will be on the MBA crowd, but feel free to stop by and to spread the word to any entrepreneurially minded students you know.

What I learned in an (almost) empty room in downtown Philadelphia in 2000

2008-01-04T07:30:00.001-08:00

When I was an MBA student, I attended the Wharton Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Symposium. It was November of 2000 and those were dramatic times indeed. Everyone was just starting to feel the hangover from the '90's tech boom, but there was still hope in the air.
Akamai co-founder Jonathan Seelig was the keynote speaker. Jonathan co-founded his company while a MBA student at MIT-Sloan. He had done exactly what I was aspiring to do, so I got there early for a front row seat for his talk.

As it turns out, my eagerness was not necessary. I could have had my pick of over 1,000 empty seats. The internet/tech bubble had burst, but this event had been planned based on the 1999 attendance. Since then many people's interest in entrepreneurship and technology had evaporated, but the Philadelphia Convention Center had been booked and paid for well in advance.

Jonathan was bemused but gracious as he leaned over the lectern looking out at the sea of empty seats and remarked "Where is everybody?". He went on with his talk anyway. I was especially grateful because the lessons I learned there were crucial to the founding of SightSpeed six months later, and Mezmeriz six years later. He told his story in plain terms about meeting the professor/grad student inventors, building the business plan, and launching the company with the help of experienced entrepreneurial investors. That then became my game plan.

The next year the symposium changed it's name and location, but continued their practice of outstanding speakers. It is now split up into two conferences, and the second part is called the Wharton Private Equity Conference and it's happening January 18th.

Plus, all the background music will be provided The Scorpions
I don't know if I'll be able to make this year, but if you can, do. They have fair pricing, including big discounts for students. To learn more, click here.

Can I buy you a coffee in Las Vegas?

2007-12-28T01:49:00.000-08:00

I have attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the past seven years. First with SightSpeed, now with Mezmeriz.

If it has a circuit, it'll be here

The name is a bit of a misnomer, but "All the electronics you might possibly find at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Frys, Crutchfield, Tweeter, and The Wiz" doesn't have quite the same ring. There used to be show called Comdex that involved all computer stuff, but that has also been absorbed by the massive CES amoeba.

It's the place to be, so I'll be there again this year. If you are going to be attend, drop me a line and we'll meet for a coffee and an chat.