Grants & Non-dilutive Funding
Entrepreneurs’ Network
Location: CIC, One Broadway, Cambridge, MA
Online Participation: Zoom links will be sent to all registrants after registration.
Attendees will have the option to join us in-person at the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA or online via Zoom.
Are you trying to launch or grow a startup business?
Do you need money but just can’t find it?
Not ready for angels or VC investors? Or already turned down?
Need to build your company and need money to do it – but how to do that?
This panel will address these questions and help you understand:
- How to build your company from nothing to something.
- How to do it without VC or angel money.
- How to get non-investor first funding and further cash equivalents
- What are SBIR grants? How they can help …how to get them?
- Other sources of non-dilutive funding
This panel will focus on getting initial money from non-traditional sources when VCs and angels will not help, and friends and family are tapped out. A key advantage of this funding for the founder is that unlike VC or angel funding, you don’t give away any of your stock – there is no dilution of your founder’s stock position. The panelists will speak from experience to show you non-dilutive sources of finding including SBIRs and governmental grants, strategic partnering and customer-funded development, and venture debt.
Another key advantage of this non-dilutive funding is that it may make it easier to later get a seed or A-round of VC or angel funding. Investors want to see something before they invest. Validation that comes from an SBIR grant or money already invested from non-dilutive sources is a pleasing thing for investors to see.
Yet it takes money to make your company into something to interest investors. It is a catch-22. This panel offers techniques to show you how to break out of that conundrum – to take your company from nothing to something, and to do so without VC or angel funding, using grants and non-dilutive funding.
Venue Sponsor
CIC believes in the entrepreneur. We recognize that invention propels innovation, density spurs collaboration, and a shared purpose drives a thriving community. CIC provides a home from which to work, allowing innovators to easily access resources and create substantive, positive global impact. Request to chat with a workspace expert about CIC’s flexible workspace offering, or try out a complimentary, one-time day of coworking.
Agenda:
7:00 PM – Introduction, ENET Chairperson’s announcements
7:10 PM – eMinute Pitch, up to 3 Startup pitches
7:25 PM – Expert Panel, 4 expert speakers on the night’s topic
8:10 PM – Moderator and Audience Q & A with the speakers
8:30 PM – Networking – Panelists will be available afterward for responses to individual questions
Raj Aggarwal
GM Sales Enablement Platform @ AWS | Founding CEO of Localytics
A serial and successful entrepreneur, Raj was Cofounder &CEO @ Demand Sage , a Sales Enablement platform that brought enterprise-grade revenue intelligence to small and medium sized businesses. (acquired by Snap, Inc.) 2019 – 2021. Prior to Demand Sage, he served as Founding CEO @· Localytic, 2009 – 2017, where, Raj succeeded in creating the leading mobile engagement platform that is used by many of the world’s top brands. Prior to Localytics, Raj spent 12 years building a variety of technology companies. He was a management consultant focused on mobile with Bain & Company and Adventis. At Adventis, Raj worked alongside Steve Jobs at Apple to develop the business framework for the iPhone and led the formation of the multi-billion dollar Disney Mobile venture in Japan. Previously, Raj held sales and marketing leadership positions at Proco Machinery and Requisite Technology. Raj completed his MBA with Honors from the Ivey School of Business and London Business School.
Laura M. Hales
Ph.D. is a cofounder and Chief Business Officer of Extend Biosciences, Inc.
Extend Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical stage biotechnology company that is developing a novel drug delivery platform technology that improves the pharmacokinetic properties of peptides and proteins.
At Extend Biosciences, Dr. Hales manages all of the outsourcing, operational, business development and clinical activities for the company. She has also been instrumental in obtaining the $14M+ in SBIR grants and other non-dilutive funding the company has received from multiple state and federal agencies.
Dr. Hales is also the Founder and Principal at The Isis Group, where her primary focus is to assist life science entrepreneurs in new business formation and non-dilutive funding efforts. Dr. Hales received her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. She worked in the biotech industry for 9 years before co-founding Extend Biosciences.
John Toomey, Business Advisor/Coach/Fractional Management @ JEToomey.com
John is a Factional Senior Executive or Advisor at various Technology Based and Healthcare Provider Companies. He works with senior management teams in financial and operational areas. He has supported several Seed Round fundings over the past two years. Having been a CEO, COO and CFO John can fill in the gaps on most any management team. John is also a Business and Management Coach and currently works with senior executives and key managers at companies like LinkedIn, Gilead Sciences, Inc, Altira, Delta-v Capital and others. He focuses on company strategy and career growth. He brings fresh eyes to companies and helps ensure their success.
Moderator & Organizer
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, effective 1/1/2020. 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 thirty 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.