Entrepreneurs Showcase Connects Tech Company Founders with Venture Capital Experts

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Venture capital experts who have helped some high-profile companies succeed will offer their insights to area startup executives at Velocity Venture Capital’s Entrepreneurs Showcase on Sept. 25.

“We want to give entrepreneurs every opportunity to develop their ideas and build great companies”

Entrepreneurs wanting to learn more about funding their companies and technology ideas are encouraged to attend the third annual Entrepreneurs Showcase at University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law, 3200 5^th Ave. in Sacramento.

The free event is part of a comprehensive seven-month program to help and identify tech companies in search of capital in the often-overlooked Sacramento/Northern California region.

“We will walk them through every step of the way,” said Jack Crawford Jr., general partner with Velocity Venture Capital in Folsom and organizer of the Entrepreneurs Showcase. “We will tell companies how they can go from an idea to exit.”

The Entrepreneurs Showcase is 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 25. The showcase is free, but seating is limited to the first 150 people. Please send an email to [e-mail] to RSVP. For more information on the program, visit www.velocityvc.com.

The National Venture Capital Association and the Kauffman Fellows Program – a nonprofit dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and training leaders from the venture capital industry in capital formation – are also collaborating with Velocity Venture Capital on the Entrepreneurs Showcase, along with the University of the Pacific.

Dell Inc., Oracle Corp. and Samsung are supporting partners of the showcase.

“The hardest part for many entrepreneurs is not developing the idea, but figuring out how to turn that idea into a money-making business,” said Yanev Suissa, an investor at New Enterprise Associates. “Our goal is to find entrepreneurs with a great concept, and help them develop viable companies.”

Executives with the Central Texas Angel Network, New Enterprise Associates, Silicon Valley Bank and The McClatchy Company will detail how to attract attention and dollars during the showcase:

• Gerald Brady, a managing director with Silicon Valley Bank’s Venture Capital Group, leads the bank’s Entrepreneur Services Group as it works with corporate venture and corporate development groups.
• Jeff Harbach, executive director of the Central Texas Angel Network. Austin-based CTAN is one of the most active angel networks in the United States. Harbach engages and mentors entrepreneurs through the fundraising process, recruits professional investors with industry experience and supports the growth of entrepreneurship.
• Christian Hendricks, vice president of interactive media for The McClatchy Company. He evaluates new media investments, partnerships and alliances for the Sacramento-based company, the nation’s third-largest newspaper publisher.
• Yanev Suissa, investor at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a $13 billion early-stage venture fund, the largest in the world. Suissa focuses on earlier-stage investments in technology and energy.

“If you’re an entrepreneur, you could conceivably get some capital from all of these companies at some point,” said Mr. Crawford, whose firm invests in early-stage companies in Northern California. “We want to give entrepreneurs the keys to success, and help drive the economic engine in the region.”

The Entrepreneurs Showcase is a three-part program.

Ignite – basically educating entrepreneurs about capital and possible sources – and Accelerate, which will assist entrepreneurs to advance their product ideas and turn them into company pitches, are the first two programs. The Accelerate Program will give entrepreneurs the skills they need for success.

Capitalize is the final part of the program, combining an angel investor training event with a startup business competition.

As part of the Capitalize Program, angel investors will receive professional development on due diligence, role of board members, investment terms and exit strategies during a seminar provided by Kauffman Foundation’s Angel Capital Association. And the showcase part of the Capital Program allows five to eight startups selected by Velocity Venture Capital to make formal presentations to the 200-member audience in December, including CEOs, angel investors, venture firms and corporate investors.

“We want to give entrepreneurs every opportunity to develop their ideas and build great companies,” Mr. Crawford said. “We’ve had some excellent companies participate during the first two years of the program, and we’re looking forward to more this year.”

About Velocity Venture Capital

Velocity Venture Capital is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests in information technology companies as they converge with key market sectors such as Security, Medical, Energy and Education. Velocity works to identify and partner with smart, persistent and bold entrepreneurs to build world-class companies in the U.S. with a concentration on Sacramento/Northern California. The firm is headquartered in the Sacramento region, just east of the Silicon Valley. For more information, please visit, www.velocityvc.com.