NDAs and Essential Contracts for Early Stage Companies

Entrepreneurs’ Network

PRE-MEETING DINNER at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham.

Are contracts, and the lawyers who draft them, expensive time sinks, or are they essential tools for early stage companies? Boston ENET will endeavor to make the case that contracts, from Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to Employee Agreements to Acquisition Agreements, really are essential tools for all companies, including early stage ones.

Contracts set the stage for expectations and behaviors – defining who will do what, how and when.
Join us for a lively discussion with panelists who have ‘been there and done that’ who will share their insights on contracts as invaluable tools for charting the path to success from the seed of an idea for a startup to successful, high growth corporation.

Speaker: Janice Bourque, Managing Director, Life Sciences, Hercules Technology Growth Capital

Janice Bourque is Managing Director of Life Sciences for Hercules Capital, a premier specialty finance company providing debt and equity to venture capital and private equity backed, and small cap public life science companies at all stages of development with $5.9 billion committed to over 350 life science, technology and renewable energy companies. Deals include BIND Bioscience, Brickell, Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Concert Pharmaceutical, Cranford Pharmaceuticals, Dance Pharmaceuticals, deCode Genetics, Gamma Medica, Glori Energy, Medrobotics, Metuchen Pharmaceuticals, Ninepoint Medical and Pulmatrix.

Previously, Ms. Bourque provided strategic corporate investor fundraising for Commons Capital and Oxford Bioscience Partners for innovative healthcare investments for emerging and developing countries and was Senior Vice President, Group Head-Life Sciences for Comerica Bank. While at Comerica, notable deals included deals that led to several M&A exits including Hypnion/Eli Lilly; Adnexus/Bristol Meyers Squibb; and Morphotek/Eisai Pharmaceuticals.

Ms. Bourque was President/CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC) which was at the forefront of the biotechnology revolution as the first biotechnology association in the world. Ms Bourque held senior managerial positions at Cambridge Medical Technology Corporation and Coopers & Lybrand Emerging Technology Group.

Ms. Bourque is on several boards: Poxel Inc, The Village Bank, Commodore Builders, Forsyth Institute, Emeritus Director of the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research Springboard Enterprises Life Science Council and is a member of Women on Corporate Boards and the Women’s Forum. She is also active in Newton and serves as co-president of the Crystal Lake Conservancy and Board member of The Hyde Community Center. Ms. Bourque is a trustee for a privately developed community home for differently-abled young working women and men. She was named one of Boston Magazine’s 100 most influential women and Newton Living Magazine’s 10 most influential women. Ms. Bourque received her MBA degree in finance and accounting and her BS degree in veterinary science from the University of New Hampshire.

Speaker: John Grayson, Founder, President, Genuine

John Grayson, President of Genuine, helps leading brands drive innovation and growth in today’s digital economy. Since 2005, John has driven the agency’s growth from a small startup into one of the nation’s top emerging digital agencies. In 2014, Genuine was acquired by IPG, one of the world’s largest groups of advertising agencies and marketing services companies.

Prior to Genuine, John spent two decades as an entrepreneur in roles focused on business growth and emerging technologies. Most recently, he was co-founder of Realinterface Expert Systems, a Maryland based start-up which served the Pharmaceutical and First Responder markets with a patented, dynamic decision tool. Realinterface was acquired in 2005 in a successful exit for its investors. Throughout his career, John has established a strong track record of producing results, driving growth and developing new markets. John received his MBA from Babson College and a B.S. in John Grayson, President of Genuine, helps leading brands drive innovation and growth in today’s digital economy. Since 2005, John has driven the agency’s growth from a small startup into one of the nation’s top emerging digital agencies. In 2014, Genuine was acquired by IPG, one of the world’s largest groups of advertising agencies and marketing services companies.

Prior to Genuine, John spent two decades as an entrepreneur in roles focused on business growth and emerging technologies. Most recently, he was co-founder of Realinterface Expert Systems, a Maryland based start-up which served the Pharmaceutical and First Responder markets with a patented, dynamic decision tool. Realinterface was acquired in 2005 in a successful exit for its investors. Throughout his career, John has established a strong track record of producing results, driving growth and developing new markets. John received his MBA from Babson College and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Speaker: Monique Yoakim-Turk, Partner, Technology development Fund, Boston Children’s Hospital

Monique joined the Technology Innovation and Development Office of Boston Children’s Hospital in 2000. In 2009, Monique launched the BCH Technology Development Fund (TDF)-an academic investment fund -and has since led the fund through eight funding cycles. For TDF, she designed and implemented evaluation processes, formed an advisory board of industry leaders in product development, and established and managed collaborations with development partners and CROs. Since 2009, BCH has committed $7.8M to TDF generating $26M of follow-on funding, 7 startups which collectively raised $80M in seed funding and 10 licenses.

In her previous role as Director of Pediatric Initiatives, she led development of tools and processes to advance clinical and research innovations for the pediatric market. Prior to that and as Senior Licensing Manager, Monique handled technologies in the therapeutic, diagnostic, and medical device arenas, closed significant deals in licensing and sponsored research, and established creative collaborations with industry partners.

Prior to Boston Children’s, Monique was a post-doctoral fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the laboratory of Dr. Benjamin Neel, where she studied the regulation of cytokine receptors by the tyrosine phosphatase SHP1. She holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Tufts University, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. In the laboratory of Dr. Brian Schaffhausen, her doctoral thesis focused on the regulation of the PI3-Kinase by Polyomavirus middle T antigen and the proto-oncogene c-src. Monique has authored and co-authored 9 peer reviewed publications. She also holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Biology from the University of Massachusetts.

Speaker: Ryan Dietz, Senior Licensing Manager, Technology and Innovation Development Office, Boston Children’s Hospital

Ryan has more than 15 years of experience in multiple facets of technology development, collaboration building and company formation. Ryan joined Technology & Innovation Development Office at Boston Children’s in 2012 and is responsible for managing the intellectual property and agreement transactions for the Programs in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Vascular Biology Program. Prior to joining TIDO, Ryan was the Director of the Office of Technology Development for the Immune Disease Institute, Inc., which became the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine through a merger with Boston Children’s Hospital.

While at IDI, Ryan oversaw all aspects of technology management and licensing within a productive and highly regarded research organization. He established a five year discovery alliance with a multi-national pharma partner serving as architect, negotiator and alliance manager. Ryan has also supported several start-up company formations by producing business models and supporting the founders of several well-known start-up companies.

Ryan has a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School and was a founder and managing editor of the Journal of High Technology Law.

Moderator: Roger Frechette, Co-Founder and Principal of New England PharmAssociates

Roger Frechette is Co-Founder and Principal of New England PharmAssociates, a consultancy offering on-demand executive and business advisory services to life sciences enterprises. Dr. Frechette has been a volunteer with Boston ENET since 2014, and supports area start-ups as a mentor for MassBio’s MassCONNECT Program and the MTTC’s Platform Program. His consulting work has led to roles as the US East Coast Ambassador for Medicon Valley Alliance, a life sciences cluster organization based in Copenhagen, and as a Co-Founder of Frontiera Therapeutics, a startup developing therapeutics for vascular leaks. New England PharmAssociates was an early sponsor for the North Shore InnoVentures biotech incubator, where Dr Frechette served as a mentor and advisor to the Incubator management team. Previously, Dr. Frechette was Co-Founder of MaxThera, an antibacterial drug discovery company. MaxThera was sold in 2010 to Biota Holdings Limited, a Melbourne Australia anti-infectives company. Prior to starting MaxThera, Dr. Frechette was a drug discovery and life-sciences consultant following his role as Project Director at Paratek Pharmaceuticals (Boston). At Paratek he led the team that discovered PTK0796 (currently in Phase III clinical trials) with strategic partner Glaxo-Wellcome, and the pre-clinical development program that was carried out with a multinational team of consultants and contractors. Previously, he was Associate Director of Chemistry at RiboGene (Hayward, CA), where he built the chemistry department and managed two drug discovery programs in collaboration with strategic partner Dainippon Pharmaceuticals. He began his career as a medicinal chemist at the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute (J&J, Raritan, NJ). In his spare time, he serves of steering committees for well-regarded Boston area conferences, including the annual Massachusetts Life Sciences Innovation Day and MassBio’s Signature event the Annual CRO/CMO Symposium. Dr. Frechette was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Yale University, earned his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Wesleyan University and his BA in Chemistry from College of the Holy Cross.

Meeting Location: Constant Contact, Inc., Reservoir Place, 3rd Floor Great Room, 1601 Trapelo Rd., Waltham, MA (Exit 28B, I-95/Route 128)
Pre-meeting Dinner at 5:15 PM (sharp) at Bertucci’s, Waltham, (Exit 27B, Route 128)

Check for Updates: Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network Website at (http://www.boston-enet.org )

Directions: http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/office-location-waltham.jsp

Reservations: ENET Constant Contact meetings are free to ENET members and $20 for non-members. No reservations are needed for the dinner. To expedite sign-in for the meeting, we ask that everyone — members as well as non-members — pre-register for the meeting online. Pre-registration is available until midnight the day before the meeting. If you cannot pre-register, you are welcome to register at the door.