Desperately Seeking Entrepreneurs

Where do you turn in an economic decline when youre an emerging technology company seeking funding?

For Immediate Release:

Desperately Seeking Entrepreneurs

Where do you turn in an economic decline when youre an emerging technology company seeking funding? Traditional methods would call for a company to submit their executive summery and business plan to a handful of VCs who in turn would review these submissions, schedule follow-up meetings and hopefully, fingers-crossed, offer up acceptable term sheets to all parties concerned. Okay, so thats an over-simplification of the process. But, nonetheless two years ago meetings were occurring, dot coms were booming and money was pouring from investors to entrepreneurs on an ongoing basis. Then the economy began to shift gears, companies werent meeting estimated earnings, quarterly reports fell well below forecasts and expectations, stocks dropped overnight and all of a sudden we were faced with a different environment. Everyone knows the story from here: layoffs occur on a nationwide level and companies that were once considered almighty rocks crumbled amidst dramatic declines in sales.

Since the market downturn entrepreneurs and investors alike have been holding their breath waiting to see what the verdict would be. Both parties agreed that this decline would be short-lived, but exactly when the market would pick up nobody was willing to say. In order to survive, entrepreneurs required funding, but it appeared that investors were unwilling to commit to new opportunities, no matter how attractive they seemed. Meetings were no longer a guarantee and investors were receiving hundreds of submissions, most of which were outside of their industry focus. To improve ones chances of funding it became apparent that entrepreneurs needed to come up with new ways to reach the investment community.

Enter the Fundraising Forum. Created in 2001, Fundraising Forum (www.fundraisingforum.com) provides emerging startups with the resources and introductions needed to drive them onwards to the next level of success. Fundraising Forum introduces entrepreneurs with leading venture capitalists and angel investors. Since launching the event in November, the forum has introduced 60 emerging startups to investors in the bay area region. A handful of these companies are already in the process of due diligence and many more are in ongoing discussions with leading venture capitalists and angel investors. So how does the process work and how does the forum attract both investors and entrepreneurs? Gordon Smythe, senior partner of Propel Partners and sponsor of the Fundraising Forum explains, Fundraising Forum provides a valuable service to both investors and entrepreneurs alike. Each company is pre-screened before being invited to present at the Forum. Companies are reviewed based on their technology, customer traction, management, and past funding habits, and only the top ten submissions are invited to present at the next event. The value to the entrepreneur is they present their technology to a panel of VCs and Angels who are interested in investing in their specific industry. The value to the investor is that they know the opportunities presented at Fundraising Forum are relevant to their focus and investment criteria.

Since its conception, Fundraising Forum has received and reviewed hundreds of submissions from San Jose to New York to the United Kingdom and Japan. Their sponsors include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Silicon Valley Bank; all of whom have helped mold the Fundraising Forum into what it is today.

Currently the Fundraising Forum holds two events per month, one is geared towards seed and early stage funding, the other is geared towards later stage financing. The forum has been focused on the enterprise software, wireless and networking space though they are now offering specialized forums that cater to other unique industries, such as Life Sciences and Semiconductors. Nicola Foreman, Marketing Manager for Fundraising Forum, anticipates that their first biotech conference, scheduled for April 18th at PwC in Menlo Park, CA will be a great success. Biotech remains a very hot topic in the investment world. It has been one of only a few industries that has remained relatively untouched by the downturn in the market".

So whats next for Fundraising Forum? National Expansion. Nicola explains, We have received numerous requests to provide other tech centers throughout the United States with this same type of formatted event. I believe that the Fundraising Forum with the assistance of our sponsors and current network will be able to offer a valuable service to entrepreneurs and investors throughout the nation, promoting economic growth and encouraging the good old entrepreneurial American way." Fundraising Forum is set to launch their national events this May in Austin, TX. They will be following this up with Boston and New York events at the beginning of June.

Entrepreneurs interested in submitting their company to the Fundraising Forum for consideration at one of these events can register online at www.fundraisingforum.com ; for investors who would like to attend one of these events you can contact the Forum at 650.838.9500 or register online at www.fundraisingforum.com

For entrepreneurs the glass appears more than half full these days, while the VCs and Angels are only now willing to commit to the fact that there is water in the glass. Who can say if the dot com heydays come and gone. But we can at least be encouraged that both entrepreneurs and investors alike acknowledge that capital is not only available but ready, willing, and able to be had, when the right investment opportunity shows up.

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Press/Media Contacts:

Fundraising Forum
Nicola Foreman
650.838.9500
nicola@fundraisingforum.com

Propel Partners
Govind Gupta
650.322.2800
ggupta@propelpartners.com