Venture and Angel Investment IS Possible: Insights from the Inside

You read and hear about it again and again: Early stage investment is nearly impossible to get. But we know that to be untrue. It IS possible for an early stage life science or technology company to attract investment, but it requires the right questions, the right opportunity and the right preparation. A panel moderated by Frederic Morris partner and founder at Brook Venture Partners and consisting of Caleb Winder, Director of leading life sciences venture capital firm Excel Medical Ventures; Eric Gordon, CEO of Atentiv which provides personalized digital learning tools for the permanent remediation of ADHD through an EEG-based direct brain computer interface; and Chris Stepanian, CEO of WindGap Medical, which is developing a compact auto-injector for emergency medical interventions, will unravel the mystery of how successful venture or angel funding is accomplished  at the North Shore Technology Council February breakfast event.  Sponsored by Pepper Hamilton, LLP.

OUR SPEAKERS:

Caleb Winder, Director Excel Medical Ventures, has over 15 years of operating and startup experience in life science and healthcare companies. He represents Excel as a Board Member for Aventura and Cleveland HeartLab and is a Board Observer for Saladax and MedVentive. Caleb plays an instrumental role in sourcing and structuring deals and works closely with portfolio companies to form strategic partnerships.

Prior to joining Excel, Caleb was a Principal at Biotechonomy, where he worked to identify, finance, and manage several entrepreneurial ventures, including Synthetic Genomics. He is a former member of the Entrepreneurial Council of the Wake Forest Translational Science Institute. He received his M.B.A. from Babson College, magna cum laude, where he was a Babson Fellow in the Center for Technology Enterprise and a Director of the Entrepreneurial Finance Group. He received a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Economics from Colby College.

Eric Gordon, Founder and CEO of Atentiv has more than 30 years of broad managerial experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics and OTC product industries. He has developed strategies with profound industry impact and then provided the leadership to fulfill financial and operating objectives. He has taken breakthrough scientific concepts and successfully built the infrastructure, external relationships, and financial resources to advance them through commercialization and rapid growth. Eric has completed 12 rounds $126M of venture financing, sold 3 startups, completed one IPO and returned $1.4B to investors. Atentiv has raised $14.2M of non-dilutive financing and just closed on a $6M Series A Preferred with angel investors.

Eric is the former founder and CEO of BioBehavioral Diagnostics, Combinent BioMedical Systems, Cardium Pharmaceuticals, and Ardais, a former CEO of ArQule and Virogenetics, SVP - Sanofi-Pasteur and CFO Sterling Drug.  He has a background in public accounting and M&A at Arthur Andersen.  Eric received his MBA from the Wharton School, BS from Syracuse and is a CPA in New York.

Christopher Stepanian, President of WindGap Medical is a serial entrepreneur and an advanced materials design expert. Chris was a co-founder of Aspen Aerogels, a nanotechnology company that has a pending $115MM IPO on NASDAQ. He has held managerial roles in finance, operations, and R&D in the support of a rapidly growing enterprise. He has a deep background in management, finance and technology commercialization with six patents and multiple awards from NASA. Chris received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School as a Sloan Fellow in addition to earning engineering degrees from Texas A&M and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

Frederic H. Morris is a Partner and Founder at Brook Venture Partners.  Brook is currently investing its Partner Fund III, making control investments in companies in the IT and IT-enabled services sectors with revenues of $2 to $30 million and EBITDA of $1 million and over.  Investment size is typically $5 to $10 million. 

Mr. Morris is on the Board of Intac International, LLC; LW Robbins, Inc.; Telematch, Inc.; PointCare Technologies, Inc.; Verge Solutions, LLC; Bioscan, Inc.; Security Innovation, Inc.; Laser Projection Technologies, Inc.; and Atlas Watersystems, Inc.  He also serves on the Boards of the North Shore Technology Council and the North Shore InnoVentures.  Prior to forming Brook, Mr. Morris founded and led the Specialized Lending Division of State Street Bank in Boston where he was a Senior Vice President and member of the Management Committee.  Mr. Morris holds a BA from Yale and earned his MBA from Harvard after serving as Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

About the North Shore Technology Council

The North Shore Technology Council (NSTC) is a non-profit, volunteer-led organization with a mission to be the leading collaborative for fostering technology businesses in Massachusetts' north-of-Boston region.  The council's mission is to build a strong ecosystem for the success of technology businesses North of Boston by facilitating collaboration, networking, professional growth and economic development in a collegial fashion.  The NSTC welcomes the participation of technology businesses, senior executive and employees of technology businesses, entrepreneurs, companies that support technology businesses, academic and governmental units and non profits.  The council is on the Web at www.nstc.org. Its office is at the Cummings Center, in Beverly, Massachusetts. For more information call, 978-335-5234.