Purdue workshop to aid entrepreneurs looking to take funding step
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue faculty, staff, students and others can learn about what's needed to launch a company at the university's fourth annual Company Fund Raising Boot Camp on Oct. 12 in Discovery Park.
Keynote speaker is Christopher Clapp, a 1982 Purdue industrial engineering graduate who has guided ANGEL Learning's dynamic growth since assuming company leadership as president and chief executive officer in 2001. The workshop, which is free and open to the public, will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Room 121.
Seating is limited, however, and preference will be given to Purdue faculty and staff, said event organizer Julie Goonewardene, director of business development for the Purdue Research Foundation. To register, go online to https://www.purdue.edu/dp/bdm/bootcamp/
Bootcamp topics include success stories from a faculty entrepreneur, how to write a business plan, learning about pitfalls of university startups, and fundraising 101 - including how to prepare a proposal for the state's 21st Century Science and Technology Fund, Goonewardene said.
Randy Woodson, Purdue's executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, will provide opening remarks. Michael Ladisch, Purdue distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering and chief technology officer at Mascoma Corp., will discuss what he has learned from successfully raising venture capital to commercialize his cellulosic ethanol research.
Participants also can work with coaches to refine a 15-minute presentation that will be reviewed by an outside panel at the end of January. Winners can earn a trip, sponsored by Lonergan Partners, where if selected, they will present to Silicon Valley investors in May 2010.
Clapp joined ANGEL Learning after serving as president and CEO of an e-business subsidiary of Made2Manage Systems and company vice president of marketing. He helped lead Made2Manage from a small, private company to a publicly traded business.
Event sponsors are Lonergan Partners, Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship and Purdue Research Foundation.
The late Burton D. Morgan is a Purdue alumnus who started 50 companies. The Burton D. Morgan Foundation funded the $7 million, 31,000-square-foot Center for Entrepreneurship. The center also leads Purdue's Kauffman Campuses Initiative, which is focused on making entrepreneurship education available across the university's main and regional campuses, enabling any student, regardless of field of study, access to entrepreneurial training.
Writers: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu
Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494 4192, casequin@prf.org
Source: Julie Goonewardene, (765) 494-8645, jkgoonewardene@prf.org