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| | The May Report: 4/30/2012: Locks being changed at Fastroot http://www.fastroot.com/ Is Terry Howerton, aka Terry I. Howerton II, pulling a fast midnight run out of Fastroot? Two views on Acquity Group's corporate culture: Chris "all is well" Dalton and several letters on the upper management's FU (this is our moment) revolving door policy (but why do we care) - Acquity Group is a Chinese company after all - and not a Chicago firm!; Excelerate has decided to hold its classes at 1871; no word yet on what rent, if any, the participants will pay or what space they'll occupy -- I saw the classroom they have set aside for Excelerate and others, but there were no desks in that room; I had the darndest time finding the interview Carman did with Matt Moog, but I did come across this gem, http://vimeo.com/35136307, which is Matt's 10 minute montage with music of the life of his son, Max Kraft Moog, Bar Mitzvahed earlier this year -- I'll say that Matt Moog may not be much of a businessman, but I'll bet he's a good father; Midwest Renaissance Fund now has a PPM, prepared by that poseur law firm Polsinelli Shughart, as of a week or so ago, and David Bird, one of the GPs, claims he's collecting an actual check from an Iowa investor; Len Bland (whose firm the 10 judges at CCEA took a pass on) and David Carman are still dufuses, so would that be dufi for two of them?
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| | April 30, 2012
The May Report: 4/30/2012: Locks being changed at Fastroot http://www.fastroot.com/ Is Terry Howerton, aka Terry I. Howerton II, pulling a fast midnight run out of Fastroot? Two views on Acquity Group's corporate culture: Chris "all is well" Dalton and several letters on the upper management's FU (this is our moment) revolving door policy (but why do we care) - Acquity Group is a Chinese company after all - and not a Chicago firm!; Excelerate has decided to hold its classes at 1871; no word yet on what rent, if any, the participants will pay or what space they'll occupy -- I saw the classroom they have set aside for Excelerate and others, but there were no desks in that room; I had the darndest time finding the interview Carman did with Matt Moog, but I did come across this gem, http://vimeo.com/35136307, which is Matt's 10 minute montage with music of the life of his son, Max Kraft Moog, Bar Mitzvahed earlier this year -- I'll say that Matt Moog may not be much of a businessman, but I'll bet he's a good father; Midwest Renaissance Fund now has a PPM, prepared by that poseur law firm Polsinelli Shughart, as of a week or so ago, and David Bird, one of the GPs, claims he's collecting an actual check from an Iowa investor; Len Bland (whose firm the 10 judges at CCEA took a pass on) and David Carman are still dufuses, so would that be dufi for two of them?
Editor and publisher: Ron May, ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com,www.themayreport.com, 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here:
www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
_______________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
-- More trouble in Terry Howerton land
-- Briefly noted, by Ron May
-- Wednesday, May 23: Chicago Innovation Awards - Kick-Off Reception
-- Meagan Lopez: Startup America Partnership, FreeUX and more! and there is some deadline today
-- Tuesday, May 1: BNC VC Group:
NoBoss is a unique web data base of small investment income opportunities, with an array of integrated services, to help the huge universe of unemployed Americans become independent earners through self-employment; Are You a Human
http://areyouahuman.com/ creates simple, intuitive games that websites use to verify that their visitors are real people. These games, called PlayThrus, replace obnoxious text based CAPTCHA verification methods that infuriate users and decrease submission rates. PlayThru is the fun, easy, more effective way to stop spam without driving users crazy; Heat Wrangler (TM)
______________________________
***************************************
The May Report is crowdsourcing questions for Iain Shovlin, a key investor behind Techweek who is mysterious and eccentric, and Arabella, the director of Techweek.
I have a meeting with them at the behest of Arabella at 5pm today, Monday, April 30th in their offices at 222 W. Hubbard Street..
I have my own questions for Iain, including how he makes his money from suing people, and the like.
But if you have a question about Techweek (or for Iain), send it to me at ronaldmay@aol.com and I'll ask the question for you. Your name will be kept anonymous.
Better do it soon since I want to leave here by 3:30pm Monday to be there on time.
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_______________________________
The Scoop section:
______________________
More trouble in Terry Howerton land
Subject: FastRoot - Terry Howerton
Date: 4/30/2012 11:56:22 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: Name withheld upon request
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
Ron,
Hopefully this will add some more interesting notes about Terry Howerton.
They are changing the locks at the FastRoot Data Center facility (600 W. Polk Ave Chicago) where Terry Howerton is the CEO.
We are currently in transition to move out equipment out of there in the next month and arrived this morning to fix an issue with one of our servers and found the construction workers there changing the locks. No one is answering the phones and the emergency contact line has been disconnected.
We did get to our equipment to make the necessary changes and the facility seems to be operational…at least for now.
Please note, I am using my personal email and prefer to remain anonymous until I can be rest assured that we will be able to get our equipment out of that facility…
Thanks
[Name withheld upon request]
_______________________________
Briefly noted, by Ron May
* Think of this as "I forgot to mention..." or just continuing with 100 things to tell you mother, which would continue with #16:
-- I've been getting a number of calls and emails about the Dalton gang at Acquity Group.
In general, the senders don't want the emails published, even if they are kept anonymous.
My info. is that Chris Dalton is on a witch hunt.
Here are two short YouTube videos showing Dalton with palm trees in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM01f32BNOE&feature=endscreen&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syMXg-X5T5c
Additional info. on Acquity Group.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-27/second-ipo-below-target-as-economy-slows-china-overnight.html
http://www.streetinsider.com/IPOs/Acquity+Group+(AQ)+IPO+Trades+Flat/7379706.html
http://www.investorplace.com/ipo-playbook/acquity-group-backs-into-its-public-offering-aq/?cc=msnfeed
I have a lot of material, but here is just one thing I've heard, along with the very low office morale.
Employees were told that the founders "put it all on the line" 11 years ago and took all the personal risk to start the company --- and this is THEIR time. The Dalton gang's attitude is that the consultants didn't do anything and don't have any right to profit on their hard work. The people we see in the picture at the NYSE are even richer, some of the sales guys also got a piece of it, no one else even knew it was happening.
-- David Bird, (319-321-5393) is tied to the Midwest Renaissance Fund which, as of a week ago, finally has a PPM which was prepared by lawyers at Polsinelli Shughart. Bird told me Thursday at the CCEA that he actually collected a check (sort of, he has an email commitment to send the check) from an investor in Iowa, although he would not disclose the amount of the check.
-- So, after two years of hearing Len Bland say that he has a fund, he can now say it without lying -- sort of. Even with a legitimate PPM, they still have not raised a fund.
But now, Len can honestly say they're trying to raise a fund, but not that they have a fund.
And now, even David Bird's card says "Midwest Renaissance Fund" and the HQ of the fund is listed as 161 N. Clark, Suite 4200, Chicago, IL 60601.
That, for those of you who don't know, is the address of the offices of Polsinelli Shughart, http://www.polsinelli.com/
I'll be monitoring this situation closely.
-- If Len is successful in raising a fund, it will be more than Matt McCall, Ellen Carnahan, and her partner in the fund that never happened, and Tom Churchwell were able to do.
-- I still wonder whether Len Bland, as COO of www.cleanwaterforever.com, has conflicts of interest here and whether the investors in the Midwest Renaissance Fund will be pushed into coughing up some of the $2MM that Len is seeking, especially considering that the highly qualified ten judge panel at the CCEA competition decided not to recommend Len's firm for moviong to the next stage.
Various people have asked me how Len is different from Flip who personally invested in firms that divine interVentures then later funded -- or even going back further to Platinum technology's fund.
Other than the small detail that Flip http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Filipowski
had pocketed about $300MM on the sale of Platinum technology to CA for $3.5B in 1999, and that he put his own money into companies like Perceptual Robotics and BeautyJungle, and that he had the money to hire professional fund managers, I will have to ask people who are wiser than I am what the differences are.
-- This weekend, actually Friday the 27th and Saturday the 28th, a marketing hackathon was held at the offices of the ITA, and one of the speakers was publicity shy Howard Tullman.
Here's an example of just how publicity shy Howard is.
http://tullman.blogspot.com/2012/04/tribeca-flashpoint-academy-ceo-howard.html
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Tuesday, April 03, 2012
TRIBECA FLASHPOINT ACADEMY CEO HOWARD A. TULLMAN SPEAKING AT MARKETING HACKATHON IN CHICAGO
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-- Also this weekend, there is a marquis event at the Westin Hotel called the 2012 Transformational Leadership Symposium and Dinner.
They are honoring Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus. He's the economist who pioneered programs (banks) which provide micro loans. He used Bangladesh to launch his programs which have now been extended to many other countries and areas of activity.
There is a star studded list of speakers.
The whole shebang will set one back $1,250, but they have it split up so that one can attend the symposium only for as "little" as $350.
I'm always amused by the fact that symposia with a focus on humanitarian causes, on helping poor countries, tend to cost the most to attend.
http://tinyurl.com/cc6ywy6
Some of the speakers/panelists included Roger Myerson, Nobel economist, (Myerson is now at the University of Chicago and has been since 2001, but the work that won his Nobel in 2007 was done at Northwestern's Kellogg), Marc J. Lane, author of Social Enterprise: Empowering Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs; Dr. Richard Boyatzis, Jim Liautaud, Dr. Robert Wright, Dr. Judith Wright, with closing remarks by Brad Anderson, former CEO of Best Buy.
If I can discern a general theme, it is the power of emotional intelligence as a social and economic tool to drive transformation.
Jim Liataud, a clinical professor at UIC, for example, applies ISO processes to EI for (PdEI) (Process directed Emotional Intelligence).
What got me going on this event which I did not even know about was a long conversation with David Carman Friday afternoon.
David did pay the big bucks to go last year (I think) and one name that came up was the 1996 book Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Chris Cowan which is based on the theories of psychology professor Clare W. Graves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_W._Graves
Graves' work came from his being "unable to answer the frequently asked question as to who from among the many competing psychology theorists was ultimately 'right' or 'correct' with their model since there were elements of truth and error in all of them."
As a result, graves developed "The Emergent Cyclical Levels of Existence Theory" (ECLET).
Graves' work was then picked up by management theorists Don Beck and Chris Cowan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Dynamics
++++++++++++++++++++
Spiral Dynamics argues that human nature is not fixed: humans are able, when forced by life conditions, to adapt to their environment by constructing new, more complex, conceptual models of the world that allow them to handle the new problems.[1] Each new model transcends and includes all previous models. According to Beck and Cowan, these conceptual models are organized around so-called vMemes: systems of core values or collective intelligences, applicable to both individuals and entire cultures.
In spiral dynamics, the term vMeme refers to a core value system, acting as an organizing principle, which expresses itself through memes (self-propagating ideas, habits, or cultural practices). The prepended and superscripted letter v indicates these are not basic memes but value systems which include them. The colors act as reminders for the Life Conditions and Mind Capacities of each system and alternate between cool and warm colors as a part of the model.[2]
Within the model, individuals and cultures do not fall clearly in any single category (color). Each person/culture embodies a mixture of the value patterns, with varying degrees of intensity in each. Spiral Dynamics claims not to be a linear or hierarchical model, although this assertion has been contested.[citation needed] According to Spiral Dynamics, there are infinite stages of progress and regression over time dependent upon the life circumstances of the person/culture, which are constantly in flux. Attaining higher stages of development is not synonymous with attaining a 'better' or 'more correct' values system. All stages co-exist in both healthy and unhealthy states, whereby any stage of development can lead to undesirable outcomes with respect to the health of the human and social environment (see Shadow & Spin-off or Sub-Personalities).
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The practical advice side of this, Carman told me was that one has to categorize adversaries by level, and some adversaries may never find a solution: i.e. the Arabs and Israelis.
Another person and book Carman mentioned was Hedgehogging by Barton Biggs.
http://www.amazon.com/Hedgehogging-Barton-Biggs/dp/047006773X
Carman also mentioned senator
Dick Durbin, and I gathered that he might have been at this year's symposium.
-- Thank goodness that David Carman has a strong dufus, schlemiel http://www.thefreedictionary.com/schlemiel
gene since had he not fouled up the running of the CCEA start-up competition in terms of time management, failure of communication with the attendees and presenters (as an attendee I hung around close to an hour extra to find out the judges' decisions,) but then there was no announcement, and by that time, it was so late that the VentureSHOT event was over and it was too late to go. As a result of my not knowing what the judges decided, I ended up calling about 20 people from the event -- judges, presenters, and attendees -- and learned a great deal, plus I established better relationships with those I called.
So, I'm grateful that David Carman and Len Bland both have wandering in the weeds in common.
Len's company, www.cleanwaterforever.com was not selected by the judges to move to the next stage and I've been trying to figure out why.
My best guess, not having asked any of the judges directly, is that Len's firm has a weak and under qualified management team, and it is basically a VAR.
All they're doing is licensing technology developed to bring oxygen to heart attack patients, and using that machine to bring oxygen to sludge.
Here's a video of Len's presentation on March 6, 2012 to the BNC VC Group.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3559430908264
I don't think they've paid yet for the licensing/marketing rights.
-- I've been sitting on this for months now, since round about February 15th.
Dan Ehrmann runs a small business that is chugging along and is growing organically.
When we spoke in February, they had six people.....
I sent Dan a copy of what I wrote so that he could check for accuracy, but he'll have to get back to me this afternoon, and I may already be leaving for my meeting with Iain Shovlin.
Dan is active in The Big Idea Forum and he's the guy who told me about the Founder institute run by Jason Jacobsohn which I wrote about recently in the Briefly noted section.
http://tinyurl.com/756ruha
There are many firms like Club Express in Chicago.
They have a niche market and grow at a slow steady pace.
Even firms that have received venture or angel money are in similar circumstances, and some of them got a lot of money. What's the exit for Threadless, or Sittercity?
A few that come to my mind are http://www.viewpoints.com/, www.ifbyphone.com, www.authentify.com, Ted Greene's firm, and of course the firm that serves as a poster child for "dead man walking," Bart Carlson's www.napersoft.com.
Don't misunderstand. These are all actual businesses. They are just not likely to have an Instagram exit, and the investors may have to wait a long time to get their money back.
A good example of that was SurePayroll which after about ten years was sold for $115MM to PayChex.
With all the start-up mania, we don't do enough deep sea drilling. Our treatment of start-ups is entirely too superficial focused primarily on funding and then acquisition.
There are big holes in the media coverage. There is too much stress on who gets funding, how much and who's been acquired. These are important things to report, of course, but we often miss the larger picture.
In observing what happens with startups, we need to drill down deep.
Not just who started the firm, and what they do, but what kind of traction they're getting, who their customers are, what their value proposition is, how it's being actualized, what established firms in Chicago they're connecting to, what their competitive strengths and weaknesses are, barriers to entry, are they casting too wide of a net, etc.?
Various people from Eric Antonow with Fresh Water Ventures to Kathryn Born have tried to catalogue start-ups and keep track of them, but no one has done it over the long haul successfully.
We need a good dynamic database which is really kept up to date.
Dan told me he runs an honest business, pays his bills and never gives anyone a reason to complain, which is why he's glad he has not graced the pages of TMR. :-)
-- Another below the radar entrepreneur with little press coverage is Venkata Majeti (630-842-0750 and venkata_majeti@yahoo.com), a founding member of TiE-Midwest.
He called me out of the blue back in February.
We had an interesting conversation, and let me take some time to write that up, so that I can be sure to insert the knife into Adarsh Arora's chest and not his back. :-)
-- In my section on Dan Ehrmann, I had a digression on the ITDA.
So, rather than interrupt the Ehrmann discussion, here's what I wrote.
Some of Club Express' customers have a paid staff like the ITDA which used ClubExpress and was contracted by my old friend Rachel Rusch.
Looking back on the whole ITDA fiasco, Rachel performed a real community service by ratting the ITDA out to me, and she would be protected under the whistle blower laws, and with the nonsense at the GSA, Rachel was doing what their whistle blowers were doing on a smaller scale.
Fred Hoch told me at our meeting on December 29th that the deal was not a good one for the ITA since they ended up with far less money (less than $300K)than they were promised ($500K or more) by Scott Glickson and Dick Reck, I might add.
Second, I had my own dealings for more than a month with the Inspector General's Office at the ONR (Office of Naval Research) back then, and the recent GSA scandals reinforce in my mind just how feckless IG offices can be.
If there were $100K to $200K in expense account fraud (which I believe there could well have been) at the ITDA, it was viewed by the ONR IG's office as too small to justify a forensic audit.
-- When I was looking for the interview that Matt Moog did with David Carman at BNC Startup, I found this: http://vimeo.com/35136307
It's ten minutes, but it does show that Matt is probably a much better father than he is a businessman.
His son, now 13, Max Kraft Moog, had his Bar Mitzvah earlier this year and Matt did a good job on the montage of his life.
Here's Part I of the Carman/Moog interview.
http://vimeo.com/40915048
Here's Part II of the Carman interview with Matt Moog.
http://vimeo.com/40915047
-- I have so much to cover from my tour of 1871 a month ago (March 30th), to the ACG tech panel, to MoMo on NFC, to Efoora, to more on Tech Cocktail, and the CCEA competition.
While I have it in mind, let me mention this. Intelligentsia is on the 12th floor at 1871.
At the ACG, Kevin Willer talked to me about why they're considering walling off Intelligentsia so that it can be used by only the people on the floor.
Believe it or not, the reason may not be to keep me from hanging out there.
The reason, Kevin indicated, is that there could be problems and objections coming from other coffee shops and eateries in the Mart, especially on the 2nd floor.
If intelligentsia is perceived as having sip\honed off business from competitors by skirting around the rules for getting a store, that could spell trouble.
You know what, I don't think Kevin is feeding me a line of bs on this one.
________________________________
Wednesday, May 23: Chicago Innovation Awards - Kick-Off Reception
Subject: Chicago Innovation Awards - Kick-Off Reception - Event Details - 1871.com
Date: 4/26/2012 11:48:31 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tatvshow@yahoo.com
To: ron@themayreport.com
CC: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Bruce Eric Montgomery
Founder, Producer & Host
Technology Access Television
200 S. Wacker Drive, 15th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606-5865
(312) 725-8601
tatvshow@yahoo.com
www.TechAccessTV.com
www.twitter.com/TechAccessTV
www.facebook.com/TechAccessTV
www.YouTube.com/TechAccessTV
Chicago Innovation Awards - Kick-Off Reception - Event Details - 1871.com
To celebrate the start of the 11th annual Chicago Innovation Awards season, we cordially invite you and a guest to attend the Chicago Innovation Awards Kick-Off Cocktail Reception. Hosted at 1871, Chicago's newest hub of innovation and entrepreneurship, this VIP gathering will be an insider’s look at all the exciting new events and activities that the Chicago Innovation Awards have planned this year to celebrate, educate and create action in our region's innovation community. The Kick-Off Cocktail Reception will be held:
Wednesday, May 23rd
5:30pm – 7:30pm
1871.com
222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza
12th floor
Chicago, IL
Join us and mingle with innovation leaders from every industry, large corporations and entrepreneurial start-ups, venture capitalists and angel investors, government and non-profit, as well as this year's Chicago Innovation Awards sponsors, board members, judges, past winners and special friends.
Your ticket to attend is complimentary and generously provided by our sponsors who invest with us in the future of Chicago innovation. Drinks and appetizers are included as well.
All Chicago Innovation Awards events sell out very quickly, so please RSVP as soon as possible if you plan to attend. See photo below from last year.
Once you register, you can see who else is going to the Chicago Innovation Awards Kick Off event and connect with your fellow innovators by signing up for Shortlist (details will be included at the bottom of your event confirmation email.)
We look forward to seeing you at the Kick-Off Cocktail Reception!
Bruce Eric Montgomery
Founder, Producer & Host
Technology Access Television
200 S. Wacker Drive, 15th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606-5865
(312) 725-8601
tatvshow@yahoo.com
www.TechAccessTV.com
www.twitter.com/TechAccessTV
www.facebook.com/TechAccessTV
www.YouTube.com/TechAccessTV
____________________________________
Meagan Lopez: Startup America Partnership, FreeUX and more! and there is some deadline today
Fwd: Startup America Partnership, FreeUX and more!
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Would love it if you could promote AKTA's free UX for startups! Only 5 days left!
Meagan Lopez | VP of Accounts/Co-founder
C 443-540-5562 | meagan@socialkaty.com
www.socialkaty.com | @meaganadele
“ "Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful." - Mark Victor Hansen ”
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Date: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Subject: Startup America Partnership, FreeUX and more!
To: meagan@socialkaty.com
What's new in the world of AKTA and how does it affect your startup? Find out.
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Happy Thursday!
Startup America Partnership announced!
We're excited to announce that we've been chosen alongside companies such as intuit, LinkedIn and FedEx to be a Startup America Partnership partner. As a UX / UI partner, we will be providing Startup America members with two deals: mentoring for companies in the startup category, and discounted rates for rampups and speedups. To learn more about the partnership, take a look at the press release! Also, check out the other amazing partners we will be working with to continue helping the growing startup communities that are abuzz in the United States. Find out how this organization can help your startup here.
It's the final countdown: 5 days left to nominate your startup for #FreeUX!!
#FreeUX isn't going to be around forever, so don't miss out! If you have an existing product that could use some UX / UI love, nominate -- it takes two minutes and you could be the lucky winner! Seventy teams have already joined and are ready to start voting once nominations close April 30th. Check out how it works on our blog, and read more in this wonderful article from our friends at tech.li. Stay tuned to hear the winner announced at this year's Techweek conference in June. Good luck :)
Digital Hope continues on its missions...
AKTA Founder John Roa, Digital Hope co-founder Ruairi Hyland and SocialCrunch co-Founder, Jock McEwan are packing their bags to continue the Digital Hope journey in Colombia this week. They will be spending time at three organizations that focus on bettering the lives of children near the town of Santa Marta. Digital Hope is a 501c3 organization that uses the power of social media to crowdfund high-impact, short-term projects for international NGOs. Learn more at digitalhope.org!
AKTA welcomes SocialCrunch to its office!
What have you always wanted to know about your friends but couldn’t ask? Do your Republican friends earn more money than your Democratic friends? Do your female friends have more sexual partners than your male friends? Well, SocialCrunch is going to help you unlock these secrets. This completely anonymous game will give you those answers all while building a behavior graph of people on the Internet. The SocialCrunch team will be residing in the AKTA offices, so feel free to come and learn more! You can also sign up for their beta, here.
Welcome Sean to the Chicago tech scene as a kick-ass designer!
Sean (@seanziolko) joined our interface design team this week! With his eyes on the pixels, he's powered by AMP and a fun team. Designing apps for the better part of a decade, his expertise will be a great addition to ours! We're excited to welcome him to the AKTA family.
WE ARE HIRING! Plus, thank you to our amazing clients.
We're excited to announce that SpotOn - a customer loyalty program for small business - has joined the awesome roster of AKTA clients. Their recent website launch is just the beginning; we'll continue to ideate and innovate their magnitude of products to help them in their endeavors to grow SpotOn as a business. If you know any merchants from small businesses who would be willing to be our use case - there are MANY benefits - , please let us know!! Learn more about SpotOn here with a note from their founders.
We are HIRING!! Please let us know if you know anyone who is looking to continue their careers in the following areas: Administrative Assistant, User Interface Designer, and User Experience Designer. We hire brilliant minds who want to be part of a fast-growing startup.
Thanks again to some of our amazing clients!
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Tuesday, May 1: BNC VC Group: NoBoss is a unique web data base of small investment income opportunities, with an array of integrated services, to help the huge universe of unemployed Americans become independent earners through self-employment; Are You a Human
http://areyouahuman.com/ creates simple, intuitive games that websites use to verify that their visitors are real people. These games, called PlayThrus, replace obnoxious text based CAPTCHA verification methods that infuriate users and decrease submission rates. PlayThru is the fun, easy, more effective way to stop spam without driving users crazy; Heat Wrangler (TM)
Subject: BNC VC Group 5/1/12 Presenters: NoBoss, Are you a human, Heat Wrangler. Hosted by Polsinelli Shughart PC
Date: 4/29/2012 2:00:19 P.M. Central Daylight Time
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Polsinelli Shughart PC is one of the top 100 law firms in the country, with more than 560 attorneys in 16 cities stretching from Washington, D.C. to Phoenix.
Whether you need legal counsel to structure your business or organization; to ensure it is compliant with industry or government regulations; or to protect it in litigation situations, Polsinelli Shughart has the broad range of experience and depth of attorneys to help you meet your legal objectives. Our attorneys think like entrepreneurs. Problems are solved, not prolonged. We mobilize with a sense of urgency. We provide clear answers but don't stop there. Meaningful perspective and counsel always follow.
We assist our start-up company clients in numerous ways, including developing intellectual property strategies, launching websites, raising capital, acquiring and selling technologies and companies, and developing strategic partnerships. In addition, we prepare and review a wide range of technologies, vendor and licensing agreements. We also protect our clients' intellectual property assets through trademarks, copyrights, patents, licensing agreements, employment agreements, privacy policies, litigation, technology development, trade secret protection and research and development issues. Thanks to our firm's entrepreneurial background, we also have represented some of the Midwest's hottest new companies with private equity offerings - including one of the fastest growing Internet security companies and a pioneer in the field of alternative energy.
If you would like more information on how we can assist you, please contact Chris Pesch at (312) 873-2968 or James Asmussen at (312) 873-3697.
Need funding to grow your business?
Looking for meaningful, exciting investments?
Concept Equity Group helps close the funding gap between entrepreneurs and investors.
We prepare entrepreneurs by:
Introducing vendors, customers, talent, and investors
Preparing investor communications
Providing strategic insight
We engage investors by:
Learning their creativity and passion
Leveraging their experience
Qualifying entrepreneurs
We match successful business people with entrepreneurs. Contact len_bland@conceptequity.com if you would like to be included in a list of recommended business people.
More about our services
Three entrepreneurs make their pitch for capital.
The BNC Venture Capital Group introduces exciting investment opportunities to professional investors (angels, early stage venture capitalists, and private equity firms seeking add-ons) and fosters the growth of entrepreneurial activity.
Len Bland, CEO of Concept Equity and Midwest Renaissance Fund, and David Carman, CEO of Business Network Chicago, lead the BNC Venture Capital Group. Each presentation lasts 10 minutes, followed by a 10 minute Q&A.
Effective presentations answer 5 questions:
·What is the product or service?
-Why will customers buy it?
·Why is this management team the best one to run the business?
-How does the company make money?
·How will the investor make money?
5:00 PM - Networking
5:30 PM - Introductions
5:45 PM - Presentations
NoBoss is a unique web data base of small investment income opportunities, with an array of integrated services, to help the huge universe of unemployed Americans become independent earners through self-employment.
Are You a Human
http://areyouahuman.com/ creates simple, intuitive games that websites use to verify that their visitors are real people. These games, called PlayThrus, replace obnoxious text based CAPTCHA verification methods that infuriate users and decrease submission rates. PlayThru is the fun, easy, more effective way to stop spam without driving users crazy.
Heat Wrangler (TM), a product designed to increase the efficiency of your water heater.
Polsinelli Shughart
161 N. Clark Street, 41st Floor
Chicago, IL 60601
Sign up at123Signup - Event cost $25 (late $30)
Evening Meeting includes hor d'oevers and beverages
Call Len Bland at 847-317-0656 or write len_bland@conceptequity.com with questions or if you have any difficulty registering. Other investors welcome.
If you have a scheduling conflict, please join us for the next meeting set for the first Tuesday of each month.
DISCLAIMER: Neither the BNC Venture Capital Group, Concept Equity Group, Inc. (together with BNC Venture Capital Group, the "Sponsor") nor the host for this event, Polsinelli Shughart PC (Polsinelli), has verified, approved or endorsed any materials or information provided (whether in writing or orally) by the presenters, audience or other participants at this event . UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL SPONSOR OR POLSINELLI BE RESPONSIBLE IN ANY MANNER FOR, AND EACH OF SPONSOR AND POSINELLI DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY WHATSOEVER IN RELATION TO, ANY MATERIALS OR INFORMATION PROVIDED BY, OR THE CONDUCT OF, THE PRESENTERS, AUDIENCE OR PARTICIPANTS AT THIS EVENT OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTIES (INCLUDING, FOR EACH OF SPONSOR AND POSINELLI, ANY MATERIALS OR INFORMATION PROVIDED BY, OR THE CONDUCT OF, THE OTHER). In addition, any written materials provided by POLSINELLI, and any presentations made generally to the participants at this event by POLSINELLI, are solely for informational purposes and are not intended to constitute legal advice or to create an attorney-client relationship.
Previous Presenters
Click Here for Information on Previous Presenters.
For More Information Contact:
Len Bland, Concept Equity Group, Inc.
Follow Len Bland and Concept Equity on twitter @conceptlen
See Len Bland's latest blog
BNC StartUp is a training ground for entrepreneurs to practice their pitch, receive high-level feedback, and make valuable business connections. Two startups pitch to an audience of entrepreneurs, senior-level executives, and investors. Presentations are followed by an interview with one of Chicago's top entrepreneurs or investors.
If you are a startup and want to pitch, contact David Carman at: 312-943-6376 or dcarman@BNChicago.com
Presenters:
Can't afford to hire a professional videographer? Want to relive the most important events of your life through the eyes of family, friends, and/or colleagues? Storymix Media (http://storymixmedia.com/) has created a cloud-based platform with a simple interface and automatic editing that makes it easy for users to crowdsource content and share videos with their friends on Facebook. The company has attracted high-profile clients such as Eventbrite, Wedding Wire, and Sparefoot. Consumer adoption has increased five-fold from the prior year.
Lygase (http://www.lygase.com/) uses innovative RFID technology to monitor and collect key data on attendees at trade shows, conventions, business conferences, etc. and provide clients with enhanced business intelligence and a measurable rate of return. The company validated its technology at the prestigious RFID Journal Trade Show in 2010. Current clients include PSAV, Experient, IMEX, Heart Failure Society of America, and the National Funeral Directors Association.
Interview:
Matt Moog is one of the most influential entrepreneurs in the City of Chicago. He is a driving force behind the largest startup incubator in Chicago (http://www.1871.com), the 5.7MM Firestarter Fund (http://firestarterfund.com/), and "Built in Chicago," the premier online site for Chicago entrepreneurs (www.builtinchicago.org). Matt is a serial entrepreneur and the founder/CEO of Viewpoints Network which has attracted more than 50 million shoppers to its social media platform (http://www.viewpointsnetwork.com/).
Details:
Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Time: 5:30 - 8 p.m.
Location: Perkins Coie, 131 S. Dearborn, Suite 1600
Admission price: $20 online, $30 at the door. (Price includes appetizers & drinks.)
Registration link: http://april2012bncstartup.eventbrite.com
(Online registration ends at noon on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. Price does not include registration fee.)
Parking: http://spothero.com/perkins-coie/bnc-startup-04-18-2012
BNC StartUp is hosted by the law firm of Perkins Coie (www.perkinscoie.com). Perkins Coie represents great companies across a wide range of industries and stages of growth from startups to Fortune 100 corporations.
For more information about BNC, visit our website at: www.BNChicago.com
To learn about the BNC Venture Capital Group, go to: www.BNChicago.com/VC
To receive invitations to BNC events, send an e-mail to: BNC_Chicago-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To join our LinkedIn Group, go to: www.BNChicago.com/BNC-group
Become one of our Fans at: www.Facebook.com/BusinessNetworkChicago
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