The following was written by Beth Goldstein, one of our ATI Interns who is currently working with member company, Terapio, about her takeaways from one of the classes in the Product Realization and Technology Commercialization seminar series on Understanding Funding Sources.
The speakers on Friday, October 9, 2009 and their takeaways are as follows:
Ms. M. K. Holody is the Director of Business Retention & Expansion, Central Texas Regional Center of Innovation & Commercialization (CenTex RCIC). She talked about the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) whose purpose is to keep early stage development in Texas. The state uses the fund as an investment making it self sustainable. The criteria for an ETF award are:
*Is the technology emerging, needed & demanded?
*Is there a university collaboration?
*The technology must be patented
*The company must be based in & creating jobs in TX
*There must be an end goal of commercialization.
There are two types of awards- Early & Late Stage- so companies can apply regardless of developmental status. After applying there is a local selection team that listens to quick pitches. The winners then present in front of a state advisory committee that selects the final technologies that will be invested in.
Mr. Rob Donnelly currently a Venture Advisor for DFJ Mercury and General Partner of Guardian Ventures has had a lot of experience with funding as an investor, senior executive, and entrepreneur across a broad range of industries, stages, and types of businesses. He discussed three different types of funding available to startups.
1. Personal contacts (friends, family, partners, customers)
-requires personal credibility, hard work, persistence & creativity
2. Professional investors (angel networks, venture capital)
-requires management, product, market & forming personal relationships
3. Government sponsored (ETF, grants)
-requires time, patience & applicability
About the Class
Are you interested in technology commercialization and entrepreneurship? The Product Realization and Technology Commercialization graduate level seminar is hosted in conjunction with the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), and the Idea to Product ® program (I2P®). It is open to the UT community and will be held on Fridays from 3 – 4 pm in the Engineering Teaching Center, ETC 2.136. The seminar will cover topics essential to technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, such as ‘Market validation and customer needs’, ‘Risk, return and product design’, ‘Legal and IP issues’, ‘Technology transfer and commercialization at UT’, ‘Understanding funding sources’, ‘Entrepreneurs as innovators’, ‘New venture creation and business plans’, ‘Market launch’, and ‘the Global Idea to Product Competition’. A complete schedule of topics is attached to this email.
Furthermore, we will be hosting Technology Commercialization Office Hours on the first Fridays of the month: 9/4, 10/2, and 11/6 immediately following the seminar. If you have an idea and are interested in learning how to commercialize your idea or start a company, now is your chance to ask your questions and brainstorm ideas with ATI, OTC, and I2P.
Remaining Class Schedule:
10/16 Entrepreneur as Innovator and Leading a Technology Venture
10/23 Market Launch
10/30-31 Global Idea to Product® Competition, AT&T Center
Tags: dfj mercury, emerging technology fund, guardian ventures, mk holody, rob donnelly
