M&A and Successful Exits
Entrepreneurs’ Network
Location: Webinar
(Please note capacity is limited so pre-registration is necessary)
You are one of them…a dedicated entrepreneur, who has poured her heart and sweat into the venture. Does this single-minded dedication to launch and grow the business have to exclude thoughts of potential future exits? On the contrary, an exit strategy is an important element of the overall business strategy that describes the vision of how you will eventually capitalize on your investment. This is important because the decisions about how you structure and operate the business can have huge implications down the road.
Let us hear from three deeply experienced panelists, all of who founders and entrepreneurs and two of whom are active early-stage investors, and all have participated in successful exits that have come in various sizes and forms. They will talk about exit strategy planning and, just as important, what exits look and feel like in real life to an entrepreneur, the founder CEO or CSO, and the investor.
Agenda:
7:00 – 7:10 PM – ENET Chairperson’s announcements
7:10 – 7:25 PM – eMinute Pitch – Up to 3 Startup companies’ presentations
7:25 – 8:10 PM – 3 expert speakers on the night’s topic
8:10 – 8:45 PM – Moderator and Audience Q & A with the speakers
(all times are USA Eastern Daylight time)
A question and answer session will follow the panel discussion, and panelists will be available afterward for responses to individual questions. As with every ENET meeting, you will also get the chance to network with the panelists and other meeting attendees, both before the start of the meeting and afterward.
Speakers:
Chad Jones, Serial Entrepreneur & Investor; Chief Strategy Officer & Board Adviser, Orb Health; CEO, Velox Medical; CEO, Plesso Ventures, WW Agent of Change, TEDx
As a socially conscious “agent of change”, Chad Jones utilizes his skills as an entrepreneur, thought leader and venture investor to take unique ideas from inception through execution for startups and F50 companies alike. Guiding effective and profitable outcomes – including six exits to companies such as Microsoft, VMware and Intel – Chad continues to pursue his vision of achieving a better world through non-intuitive technology use and entrepreneurship. Chad splits his time as a board member, operational executive and mentor across a wide spectrum of companies. Before his current position of CEO at Plesso Ventures, Inc., he held positions of Chief Strategy Officer at Deep Information Systems, VP of Internet of Things Strategy at LogMeIn, Strategy and PM for DynamicOps (acquired by VMWare) and VP Product Management with Neocleus (acquired by Intel). Additionally, he was co-creator of Softricity app virtualization, acquired by Microsoft, which grew to revenues topping $6 billion. As an investor, Chad Jones has chosen passions that are both close to his heart and that create better outcomes for the plan (effective alternative energy, wireless electricity, etc.). He also enjoys helping the next generation look differently at the world through guest lectures at Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, MIT and Carnegie Mellon. In his free time, he enjoys writing screenplays, playing beach volleyball, heli-skiing, playing guitar, collecting wine and, of course, finding the next great idea that will transform businesses and lives.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadericjones/
Jean Hammond, Angel Investor; General Partner @ LearnLaunch Accelerator,
LearnLaunch Accelerator provides the most promising edtech startups worldwide with seed funding, an unmatched team of mentors, intensive coaching and all the tools needed to grow a successful edtech startup. an Institute, Accelerator and Campus that together support the growth of greater Boston’s edtech cluster. www.learnlauch.com Jean is an active angel investor focusing on early stage high tech start-ups. She was honored with the highest award for angels in the US, the Hans Severiens Award in 2014. She was a founder of the Boston branch of Golden Seeds (focused on investing in women-managed businesses) and a member of Launchpad Venture Group and Hub Angels. She is also the founder of JPH Associates and a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience in the high-tech industry. Her entrepreneurial activities include co-founding and managing Quarry Technologies and AXON Networks and, following 3Com’s acquisition of AXON, focusing 3Com’s WAN strategy. She has played an active board level role with a number of her Boston area investments including Crimson Hexagon, Hire Reach, Home Portfolio, Instream Media, iTeam, Peach Underneath, Pixibility, Playrific, Ten Marks, ZipCar, and a number of others. Her activities with nonprofits include being a member of board of trustees of MIT, a board member of The Technology Capital Network and Mentor at MassChallenge and TechStars. She earned a M.S. from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS in Biology from Boston University.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-hammond-77b44b/
Juswinder Singh Ph.D., Scientist and Entrepreneur; Founder and Chief Scientific Officer @ Ankaa Therapeutics
Dr. Singh is a pioneer in the development of a new class of drugs called Targeted Covalent Inhibitors that have revolutionized the treatment of lung cancer and leukemia. His current company, Ankaa Therapeutics. Is a start-up company focused on the development of drugs to treat drug resistance. He was the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Avila Therapeutics, a venture-backed company which in five years (2007-2012) went from startup (in his basement) to a world-class organization with collaborations with Novartis, Sanofi, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Clovis Oncology to advance multiple drugs into clinical development. In 2012 Avila Therapeutics was acquired by Celgene. In 2013 his company Avila received the New England Venture Capital award for Exit of the Year. He was awarded the 2016 American Chemical Society George and Christine Sosnovsky award for outstanding contributions to cancer research. In 2016 he was awarded the Excellence in Innovation Award by the Chinese-American Biomedical Association. He has been a board member and advisor to Trek Therapeutics, Care4ward and TIE Boston.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bmhron/
Co-Organizer and Moderator
Mai Zymaris, Associate @ Foley Hoag LLP and ENET volunteer
Mai is a Boston-based corporate and IP transactional attorney, represents life sciences and high-tech companies at every step of their business: incorporation, licensing, collaboration & strategic agreements, exit strategies, and IPO. Mai received her JD from Boston College Law School and her LLM from Harvard Law School. Born and raised in Vietnam, Mai possesses local knowledge and market savviness in Asia. She has also built an extensive network there. In 2015, She founded VietChallenge, the most prestigious and largest startup competition for Vietnamese entrepreneurs as well as non-Vietnamese entrepreneurs with plans to expand into the Vietnamese market. Over the past five years, VietChallenge has helped elevate more than 800 startups, startups who have now raised more than $8 million from investors.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mai-zymaris-70625530/
Co-Organizers
Robert A. Adelson, Principal, Business and Tax attorney, Adelson & Associates, LLC. Chair Emeritus, Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network (ENET).
Rob has been an attorney for over 30 years specialized in business, tax, stock and options, employment, contracts, financing, trademarks and intellectual property. Rob began as an associate at major New York City law firms before returning home to Boston in 1985 where he has since been a partner in small and medium sized firms before joining Engel & Schultz LLP where he was a partner from 2004 to 2019. When the senior partners retired, he moved his law practice to his own firm. Rob represents entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies, independent contractors and employees and executives. Rob is a frequent speaker on business law topics and author of numerous articles published in Boston Business Journal, Mass High Tech and other publications, plus more than twenty articles since 2016 on executive employment topics published by CEOWorld magazine. He has been named among the “Top 20 Boston Startup Lawyers” by ChubbyBrain.com, a website that provides tools for entrepreneurs. Rob has been on the ENET Board since 2002, was Vice Chair 2005-2009, and ENET Chairman 2009-2019. He was also a Co-Founder and Board member of the 128 Innovation Capital Group (2004 -2015). In 2016, he received the IEEE USA Professional Achievement award for “extreme dedication to the entrepreneurship community.” He holds degrees from Boston University, B.A., summa cum laude, Northwestern University (Chicago), J.D., Law Review, and New York University, LL.M. in Taxation.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adelson-b8a1557/
Anthony Corsino
Merill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith
eMinute PITCH Presentations will be given at the start of each meeting. These 90-second elevator-style presentations enable early-stage startup entrepreneurs to gain experience in presenting a summary of their business plans to expert panels and audiences.