As much as I hate sending along informative blogs, I admit there is a time and place for everything. I realize that we still have 3 or 4 weeks before the proposal deadline for the AUTM Venture Pitch competition, but we are asking for your help in promoting participation among your start up companies. We need your help for this important AUTM program event to be successful.
The event has been very well received, has been enriching and helpful to past participants, and is getting better each and every year. We have received high levels of participation each of the past 2 years, but everybody waiting for the deadline has caused a great deal of hair loss (actually, the hair wasn't lost, it just migrated down my back, thankfully). I
am happy to talk with any companies looking to participate, and can send along a brochure for start up participants to learn a bit about the competition.
As a reminder, here are the requirements:
1. The startup must be a legally existing company and have a license or option-to-license with a research institution(university, research hospital, research institute, government laboratory), and the obligated technology must comprise an integral part of the startup's business focus. Note: There is no territorial limitation on the company's location.
2. The startup does not need to have received prior professional investment but must be actively seeking funding. Note: Startups that have already received (i) a Series A round, (ii) in excess of $2 million in private investments, or (iii) significant sales revenue in 2012 or before are too advanced and not eligible for this competition.
3. A manager/executive must present the venture pitch, not an inventor/scientist.
The key deadlines are:
Monday, November 12, 2012: Deadline for Executive Summary submission at http://autmventure2013.istart.org/
Friday, December 7, 2012: Semi-finalists announced:
Friday, December 14, 2012: Semi-finalist business plans due
Wednesday, January 16, 2013: Finalists announced
Friday, March 1, 2013: Venture Pitch Competition
The deadline is a pretty hard deadline this year to give us sufficient time to review each plan and coordinate next steps with the finalists - so we are not anticipating an extension of the deadline at this time.
Please help get the word out for another successful event!
Thanks,
Alan