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 Our feature story today is with David Monkman, President and CEO, the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA). I had the opportunity to briefly interview David at the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) annual conference in New Orleans after his testimony on Wednesday to the US House of Representatives Committee on Small Business. Recently, NASVF and NBIA developed a number of new strategic initiatives and our current 2 for 1 Membership program has shown positive results in attracting new members for both organizations. Jim Jaffe, President and CEO of NASVF, is also board member of NBIA. Mr. Monkman and I discussed the importance of this new strategic relationship and his testimony on Wednesday. His testimony is included in this edition of NetNews.
--Richard A. Miller, Publisher of NetNews
"NASVF is an important link to the success of NBIA for several reasons. In part because the best performing incubators in the US tend to have stronger than average relationships with the investment community. I want to strengthen these linkages with our members. NASVF holds this promise. I think successful collaborations like this adopt client centered approaches with a greater ecological awareness. It's not enough to grow companies. It's also necessary to look out for the stages following incubation. An ecological approach takes the next stage into account. While not all graduates will meet the requirement of the investment community, some will, and the progressive manager anticipates this and designs their programs and selection processes with this in mind." "In our experience, best practice incubators have exceptional linkages with local and regional private equity communities. NBIA is interested in demonstrating the effects of these programs and helping form these linkages. We believe exit strategies are as important to our members and their clients as exit strategies are to private investors," stated Monkman. Monkman recommended in his testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, to consider new legislation that could help solidify linkages between investors and incubators for improved entrepreneur performance. This recommendation would include, for example, government providing new federal tax credits to investors who invest in incubated companies. Policies like this would recognize that publicly funded incubators improve growth prospects of high growth startups. Investors should be encouraged to talk to these entrepreneurs.
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Members Highlight
 EquityNet (www.equitynet.com) provides innovative software solutions and services to entrepreneurs, investors, government programs, and business consultants. EquityNet offers a patented web-based system where entrepreneurs create, optimize, and share a customized business plan with capital providers, business supporters, and other members who in turn, screen and analyze those businesses with the most advanced system available for evaluating and comparing privately-held businesses.”
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Open Positions
Angel and Venture Capital
US veteran "angel" investor Bill Payne has put US$1.5 million (NZ$2m) into about 50 technology start-ups during the past 30 years and reckons he has achieved an average annualised return of 20 per cent to 25 per cent, thanks mainly to "four really nice exits".
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A start-up can be built anywhere - even at the back of a bus, near the bathroom.
A group of 25 entrepreneurs took a bus last week from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, with a zany plan – to break up into groups and build start-ups in 48 hours to pitch to investors at South By Southwest, the tech and music showcase.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Experts in venture capital and early stage investing say Ohio's 2010 venture capital success is dependent on the combination of public programs such as Ohio Third Frontier, coupled with private venture capital investments throughout the state.
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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Private-equity and venture-capital funds appear to have largely escaped the regulatory net closing in on many other types of financial institutions in the revised financial-reform bill unveiled Monday by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D., Conn.).
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DURHAM — State Treasurer Janet Cowell has named Credit Suisse to manage a new $230 million investment for the state’s pension fund in businesses with significant operations in North Carolina.
The money will be invested over three to five years and will target high-growth industries such as life sciences, technology, and clean energy. The fund could invest in start-up companies and existing firms.
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Public Venture Capital
AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) today announced a significant expansion of its focus on local content that will complement its hyper-local offerings with the relaunch of City’s Best to major U.S. metro areas.
AOL’s 2010 plan to digitize towns across America includes an aggressive expansion of Patch, the growing hyper-local news and information platform already available in nearly 40 communities. The company also intends to relaunch its City’s Best properties in 25 cities later this year and add high-quality, city-specific content to its “best of” entertainment options for each of these metro audiences.
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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- After some lean times, venture capital is trickling back into Canada from the U.S., and that pace could quicken thanks to a new piece of tax reform proposed in Canada's annual budget.
Over the last two years, U.S. venture capital in Canadian companies dropped 42%, to $254.1 million in 2009 from $440.9 million in 2007, according to data from Dow Jones VentureSource.
While this decline tracked a broader trend in venture capital over the same period, experts say the problem for Canadian firms was exacerbated by tax regulations that punish foreign investors who later want to sell their shares in those companies.
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The United States and its higher education systems are on the verge of a "new paradigm" in defining the roles of colleges and universities in promoting state and regional economic development says a report being issued today.
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Federal Agency and Laboratory News
Calendar of Events
View the NASVF Calendar Online
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