Kerry J. Cannon Jr.
CEO, iM@ Inc.

As with any startup, capital is the lifeblood of the business. After turning over a mountain of rocks and kissing more than our share of frogs, we were fortunate enough to raise our seed round earlier this year. We popped a few champagne corks, celebrated for about a half-hour, then rolled up our sleeves and got down to the business of actually doing our business. I shifted gears – and my mindset – from being CEO of a company that was looking for capital, to guiding a company that was looking for customers, partners and revenue. It felt as though our fund-raising efforts were finally in our rearview mirror. 

There is an expression the “ABCs of selling,” Always Be Closing. I propose that there be a counterpart known as the “ABCs of entrepreneurship,” Always Bring in Capital. While it’s obvious that executing on the business plan and generating revenue is critical, it’s also vital to stay in close touch with your sources of capital, constantly develop new sources, and reach back to people you have pitched to remind them of your successes. 

We recently rolled out our mobile service to our second big market, Las Vegas, and have developed a few more high-profile partnerships with customers such as American Express and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. This has created a wonderful halo effect for our business. I focused initially on leveraging those successes to generate more partnerships and clients but soon learned that keeping potential investors apprised of our success was equally important. A young startup such as iM@ must always be mindful of both sets of ABCs!

We have now developed the discipline to address these ABCs in parallel, and this has helped to keep us on the right path, with sufficient resources to meet our goals.

View comments / leave a comment

Posted under Portfolio company guest article

A recent survey conducted by the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF) in cooperation with the Temple University Fox School of Business has shown that seed-stage funding is on an upward trend this year compared with 2009. Findings from the 2010 survey of NASVF members include:

• The percentage of venture and angel funds focused on investing in seed-stage companies has increased approximately 40% this year over 2009.
• 51% of the survey respondents plan to invest in more companies in 2010 than in 2009.
• The number of funds expecting to be able to raise new money in less than one year increased approximately 40% this year over 2009.
• 33% of the survey respondents reported that their average investment was between $500,000 and 1,000,000 versus 18% in 2009.

As noted by a professor at the Fox School of Business, the survey “shows the overall pick-up in the confidence that fund managers seem to have in seed stage companies.”

This is good news for our earliest-stage portfolio companies who may be seeking co-investors.

Peter Longo
President and Executive Director

View comments / leave a comment

Posted under Message from the President

It’s exciting to see that one of Connecticut Innovations’ former portfolio companies, Proton Energy Systems, continues to contribute to the state’s technology economy. The recent news of four $100,000 undergraduate scholarships awarded to Connecticut students by Proton Energy Systems’ owner, Tom Sullivan, through the new Proton Energy Scholarship Program was uplifting, to say the least. What an extraordinary act of generosity. The students, who are from Harwinton, Old Saybrook, Southbury and Stamford, all plan to pursue studies in science and technology. We salute Mr. Sullivan for his generosity and wish the students well in their future endeavors!

Peter Longo
President and Executive Director

View comments / leave a comment

Posted under Message from the President

I’m sure that I’m not the only one on the planet who dreads the thought of undergoing surgery. I’ve never had an appendectomy or gall bladder removal…thankfully. But if I do require such surgery someday, there is a technology on the horizon that may help to ease my mind – by easing the pain!

Let me fill you in…

Only about a dozen surgeons throughout the country now use the single-incision laparoscopic method for appendectomies and gall bladder removals. That is because using this method requires a high skill level. However, if a medical device being developed by Yale spin-out NovaTract Surgical LLC (NovaTract) comes to fruition, single incision surgery could be performed more routinely – by general surgeons as well as specialists. That would be good news for patients. By reducing the number of incisions to one, there should be less pain and scarring and shorter recovery times.

Connecticut Innovations recently announced that it is supporting NovaTract with pre-seed assistance. For more details about the company and CI’s support, please review this press release. We look forward to helping cultivate this most promising venture.

Charlie Moret
Managing Director, Business Development

View comments / leave a comment

Posted under From the Deal Team