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6/5/2008 
3/19/2008 11/9/2007 11/8/2007 |
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Venture Club of IndianaEvery day, the Venture Club of Indiana connects entrepreneurs and emerging companies with the resources they need to be successful. As a catalyst for business, the Venture Club creates opportunities for networking, education and information sharing. The place where investors meet viable business opportunities.  Well, if you were not at the May 1st Venture Club meeting featuring Mickey Maurer, you must have been the only one. Once again, we had a packed house with over 125 attendees. During the announcements, we heard from Gary Hentschel, the President of KeyBank Indiana, who reminded everyone of the “Companies to Watch” program which is a ranking of the 50 top Indiana second stage companies and is being sponsored by KeyBank, Katz Sapper & Miller, Barnes & Thornburg and the IEDC. The deadline for nominations is May 9, and you can go to www.companiestowatch.org to nominate your company or someone else’s. The winner will be announced on August 28, and this is expected to become an annual event. We also heard from Scott Prince of Clean Wave Ventures, an Indianapolis-based venture capital firm focusing on clean technology. The day after the meeting, Clean Wave Ventures received some terrific national press as it was the lead story in the May 2, 2008 edition of VentureWire. If you are a subscriber to VentureWire, you can view that story at www.fis.dowjones.com/products/vc.html. Our Venture Spotlight presenter was Hans Stover, the CEO of VOT Arthroscopic Solutions. VOT presented to the Venture Club two years ago and went on to secure $1.2 million in funding and has now obtained FDA approval for its revolutionary arthroscopic knee surgery procedure which is far less invasive than other current procedures and, therefore, causes much less tissue damage and bone removal. Mr. Stover indicated that VOT has seven patents that are either secured or pending with respect to this new procedure, and the company is looking for an investment to get them to break even cash flow. The keynote speaker was Mickey Maurer, one of Indiana’s most successful and well known entrepreneurs. Mr. Maurer discussed the “10 Entrepreneurial Lessons They Don’t Teach You in School,” three of which were profiled in the April issue of INBiz Magazine. Given the time allotted, Mr. Maurer was only able to touch on five of his entrepreneurial lessons which included (i) the people principal – the experience, reputation and compatibility of the people in a business is extremely valuable and cannot be underestimated, (ii) rely on your gut – advisors give advice; you, as the entrepreneur, have to make the decisions, (iii) know when to fold ‘em – if you are faced with a fundamental adverse change to the business or industry in which you are operating, it is probably time to sell, (iv) the Q (Quality of Life) Factor – recognize that every business decision affects your life and be sure to consider those impacts when making decisions, and (v) try to behave – the consequences of bad behavior become more profound the more successful you become. Have ethics and set a standard for others to follow. In conclusion, Mr. Maurer also reminded the group about Mickey’s Camp which raises $250,000 every year for charity and provides its “campers” with exposure to over 40 different activities. This year, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard will be the keynote speaker for the men’s camp and France Cordova, the President of Purdue University, will speak at the women’s camp. The men’s camp will be held August 20-22, 2008, and the women’s camp will be held August 18-20, 2008. More information is available on the website at www.mickeyscamp.com. Once again, we saw a lot of new faces and would love to see all of you again.
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