New Council members brush off Chamber of Commerce - Columbia ...

POWER LUNCH | AnGEL InvESTInG
From left: David Schaller, CI member, former project manager, Trabue, Hansen & Hinshaw; Shelly Simon, architect, planner and
executive director of Greater Mo. Leadership Foundation; Jake Halliday, president & CEO, Missouri Innovation Center
From left: Brent Beshore, Founder of Pure, League of Innovators; Xandra Sifuentes, CEO, Adroit Motion; Lu Alleruzzo, vice
president-operations, Immunophotonics. Adroit Motion, a medical device maker, and Immunophotonics, a bioscience company
developing a cancer drug, are startups that received CI funding and are located at the MU incubator.
investments are generally more than $100,000
and target established companies; venture
capital investments are usually greater than
$750,000 and typically run in the low millions.
Incubator CEO Jake Halliday, who coordinates
the screening of applicants seeking CI
investments, said they’re getting “slammed”
with 15 to 20 solicitations a week.
Beverley said now that CI has answered the
initial questions about the flow of prospective
deals and investments, “there are a different
set of issues,” such as the management of the
companies and the marketing of products and
services.
And now that CI is filling startup needs at
the angel investment level, its members and
other advocates for entrepreneurs are developing
ways to fill other holes in the system
for bringing ideas to market. They’ve helped
develop a student angel investment network
at MU, started a series of educational seminars
and put together an entrepreneurial summit
two months ago that drew 250 participants.
Brent Beshore, a CI member who founded
Pure Partners and the League of Innovators,
said entrepreneurs often don’t have the support
network or personal funds to meet their
seed capital needs.
“Right now in Columbia, that gap has not
been filled,” Beshore said during the forum.
Beshore is organizing a seed capital funding
process that will target entrepreneurs involved
in emerging media and communications technology.
They’ve put together $400,000 and
brought in a managing director for the “accelerator”
that’s modeled after LaunchBox Digital
in North Carolina.
LaunchBox Digital describes itself as a seedstage
investment program helping entrepre-
neurs maximize their chance of success through
hands-on mentorship. Once a year, LaunchBox
selects seven to 10 teams out of hundreds of
applications to receive $20,000 in seed funding,
three months of mentorship and the opportunity
to pitch to more than 100 venture capitalists
and angel investors at the conclusion of the
program.
“The model has proven to be very effective,”
Beshore said. v
CBT’S Power LuNCh SPoNSored By
SUNRISE
BUSINESS SERIES
May 17th, 2011 • 7:30 – 9:00 am
“A No Compromise
Approach to Sales Recruiting”
Join Chris Stark, President of The CAS Group, LLC
Finding the right fit involves understanding the
process, the behaviors, competencies and alignment
issues that are critical to the selection of that A-Player
candidate. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn
information that could drastically change the success
of your company.
Register for this event at:
www.savant.sandler.com or
call (573) 445-7694 for more information.
Cost is $39 and includes breakfast.
All events are held at Sandler Training,
1905 Cherry Hill Dr., Columbia, MO 65203
Catherine Atkins | Savant Business Development Systems
(573) 445-7694 | www.savant.sandler.com
11 April 16, 2011 Columbia Business Times | ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com