San Antonio’s Flicks And Food - combines virtual and real world dining & entertainment experiences
September 8, 2009
Robert McGuire’s FlicksAndFood.com is a great site to learn about, write about and network about great places to eat and movies to. Here’s Robert at a recent TweetUp where he talks about the FicksAndFood concept, meeting local personalities in San Antonio who came to the event, and his plans for the future.
San Antonio’s Torchlight Technologies Provides IT Services and Thought Leadership in the Open Source Movement
August 25, 2009
I guess you’re never too young to start a startup.
Here’s Torchlight Technologies’ Jason Smith who started his business in high school, continued to run it while at UTSA and now getting ready to graduate from college. I guess he’s not going to have to worry about job hunting, since he is the company’s CEO. Aside from being an IT Service provider, Jason is a local though leader in the open source movement in town.
Here’s what Jason had to say…
SATAI New Venture Forum 2009 3nd Quarter Series First Session starts July 29, 2009
July 23, 2009
Entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators launching new businesses sign up today for the New Venture Forum!
The quarterly Forum is presented in 6 core sessions designed for start-up technology companies pursuing Angel equity investment and/or Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) funding. Each session will be approximately three hours in length, one session per week for six consecutive weeks.
Instructors and speakers are selected for their expert knowledge of the planned topic(s). The forum is designed as an interactive workshop with dialogue between experts and entrepreneurs. Attendees are invited to leverage their venture as a case study for group discussion. The class size may be limited to allow a hands-on forum.
Participants who meet the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) or the South Texas Angel Network (STAN) criteria will be encouraged to apply for funding consideration and will be offered complimentary guidance during their application process.
COST TO ATTEND:
New San Antonio Venture Fund - Targeted Technology Fund I, LP Announces Its First Investment
July 15, 2009
One of the greatest challenges in building a sustainable technology sector in San Antonio has been the lack of having a local venture capital fund that was actually based here in town. That’s starting to change, even amidst the economic downturn, let alone the decline in VC funding in traditional regions like Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, and Israel.
San Antonio-based Targeted Technology Fund I, LP has just announced that it has closed its first round of funding and has made its first investment in Vidacare. This is a really big deal because Targeted Technology Fund is from here, is investing here, and has its eyes and ears and key team members in Texas, Alabama, Colorado and Georgia.
The investment in Vidacare is compelling. I met founder, Dr. Larry Miller, back in 2001, just when he was getting the company going. Since then, the company has won numerous awards for a simple and ingenious patented power-driver and needle technology to provide a safe and effective method to access the intraosseous space (inside the bone).
Yesterday, Vidacare announced that it had closed a $7.6 million private equity Series D1 financing. The financing will provide capital to launch Vidacare’s hematology/oncology product, the OnControl™ Bone Marrow System, and its OnControl Bone Access System for spinal surgical procedures as well as provide support for ongoing global expansion efforts for its EZ-IO® Vascular Access System. The financing was led by Piper Jaffray, along with Tullis Health Investors, Targeted Technology Fund I which this story is about, and from the existing investor base.
The fund has also managed to attract some great institutions and local leaders who bring a great deal of credibility.
One of the significant investors in the new Fund is the Texas Research & Technology Foundation, which is comprised of multiple organizations whose work involves various stages of the very complicated drug development process. Graham Weston, Chairman of the Board of Rackspace; Bruce Barshop, a founder of Barshop Ventures LLC; and David Spencer, who is president of Texas Intrepid Ventures, a San Antonio-based investment firm, are also included in the pool of individual investors who share the Fund’s vision.
BioMed SA Chair and former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros also openly encourages the Fund’s creation, citing the industry’s strong growth potential. “San Antonio has a track record of developing lifesaving medical devices, such as the Palmaz® Stent, Titanium Rib, and Vidacare’s EZ-I0®,” said Cisneros. “The city’s four pillars of biomedical excellence – clinical care, medical education, biomedical research, and bioscience firms – provide the foundation for continued growth in this sector.”
The fund itself has an impressive management team, comprising of:
- Managing Director Alan Dean - who brings more than 25 years experience in the technology development industry with experience in venture capital and technology transfer, both in the private and non-profit sectors. Dean is the former director of the University of Texas Health Science Center’s Office of Technology Ventures, so he gets how to take IP and turn it into real businesses that create intellectual and capital wealth.
- Managing Director, Dr. Paul Castella, is a real live doc and a business person with an MBA who’s been involved in experienced in the evaluation, financing, licensing, formation and operation of biotechnology and medical technology companies, including CardioSpectra, BiO2 Medical and Aeon Bioscience. Castella is the co-founder and CEO of ViroXis which is developing an anti-viral treatment that recently completed an FDA IND phase IIb study.
- Managing Director Christopher E. Banas is a medical device industry veteran with over thirty years of extensive leadership experience in cardiovascular company start-up, financing and management. Banas has held various engineering and executive management positions at medical device companies such as W.L. Gore, Guidant/ACS and IMPRA/C.R. Bard. Banas holds 33 U.S. patents in the fields of cardiovascular medicine and nanotechnology. Intellectual property portfolios developed by Banas have, in part, resulted in deals valued in excess of $250 million, not including the value of future royalty income. Along with Dr. Julio Palmaz, the inventor of the balloon expandable stent, Banas co-founded and held the position of CEO and President in ABPS, a San Antonio based medical device company which has subsequently licensed all its technology to Cordis, a Johnson and Johnson Company (NYSE: JNJ). Banas, along with Castella, then co-founded CardioSpectra where Banas held the position of Chairman and CEO and Castella held the position of CFO and President. CardioSpectra was awarded funds from Governor Perry’s Emerging Technology
- I’ve personally known Fund Partner, Lukin T. Gilliland, Jr, for almost 20 years. He’s smart, gets business and politics and has vast experience in real estate, health care, ranching and restaurant businesses including 29 Black Eyed Pea restaurants in four states, the landmark Broadway 50-50 Bar & Grill in San Antonio and two Elway’s restaurants in Denver, CO. He’s a native San Antonian, and serves as chairman of the San Antonio Development Board of the Nature Conservancy, is a member of the Advisory Board of the Cibolo Nature Center, the Former Texas Ranger’s Association, the Board of Visitors of the McDonald Observatory and the Board of Directors of the San Antonio Library Foundation.
Congratulations to Vidacare, the amazing fund’s management team– and kudos to the first round of institutional and individual investors who are making a huge contribution in advancing our great city’s medical technology on to the national and international scene.
Shared Office Space - Ideal for San Antonio Startup
June 25, 2009
See the ad on Craig’s List
Here’s the video:
South Texas Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization Announces Call for Startup Funding Applications
June 23, 2009
The South Texas Regional Center of Innovation and Commercialization (STRCIC) today announced a call for startup funding applications for the Texas state Emerging Technology Fund www.emergingtechfund.com. South Texas based entrepreneurs, inventors and businesses seeking early-stage investment in new, technology-based, private entrepreneurial entities that collaborate with a Texas public or private institution of higher education may qualify and should immediately contact the STRCIC at (210) 458-2585 or vr@satai.us.
The applications will continue to be processed quarterly and the upcoming deadlines will be posted at http://strcic.com/etfdates.html . The next application deadline for IT, engineering and other technologies is June 25, 2009. The next application deadline for Life Science ventu res is July 28, 2009. Starting a business is a process and we urge entrepreneurs in any stage of their business to contact us today so we can provide complimentary coaching on the unique aspects of the ETF process before the application is filed.
The Texas Emerging Technology Fund is a unique financial catalyst available right now for Entrepreneurs who may be having difficulties raising capital by other sources. In addition to being the South Texas portal to the Emerging Technology Fund, the STRCIC has entrepreneurial services, industry mentors, and a vast referral network to help entrepreneurs in any industry at any stage of their business. The STRCIC also offers educational events and workshops such as the quarterly New Venture Forum. The next New Venture Forum begins July 27, 2009 and more information can be found at http://www.satai.us/enterprise/NVF_Schedule.html – space is limited, don’t miss out!
Salesby5’s Erik Darmstetter Writes….”The most important thing in your start up”
June 18, 2009
By Erik Darmstetter, Salesby5
In the movie City Slickers, a group of friends take a “vacation” at a dude ranch. Curley, played by Jack Palance, is a rough, wise old cowboy who shares the following with Mitch, played by Billy Crystal:
Curley: Do you know what the secret of life is?
Mitch: No, what?
Curley: This. (Holds up his index finger.)
Mitch: Your finger?
Curley: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean [anything].
Mitch: That’s great, but what’s the one thing?
Curley: That’s what you’ve got to figure out!
Lee J. Colan gives some insight to this classic scene, “Leaders have to figure out the One Thing that defines a meaningful purpose for their teams. The One Thing should answer the question Why are we here? You may think that finding that focus isn’t critical; but in fact, it’s essential to your success. The most important thing in business (and life) is deciding what is most important.”
Get your team together and figure out what your One Thing is. Then, that should guide all of your decisions and your actions. Focus your energy on your One Thing. It won’t happen overnight. Look at it like a habit that you want to start. For my company it is about Inspiring others, for Starbucks it is providing the 3rd place (1 and 2 being home and work).
Salesby5’s Nan Palmero Writes About Keeping Priorities - Worth Over $400,00.00
June 14, 2009
By Nan Palmero
Most people have heard this story, but it is worth repeating because the information is as relevant for startups today as it was in the early 1900’s.
Ivy Lee called on Charles Schwab offering to help him manage the Bethlehem Steel Company better. Schwab was used to offers like this and flatly responded that he wasn’t “managing as well as I know how.” He offered to pay Ivy anything he asked if he would teach him how to take action on the things he already knew he needed to do.
Ivy pulled out a 3×5 sheet and said to write down the six most important tasks he needed to do tomorrow and to number them in order of importance. The next day, Schwab was to start at the top and work his way down the list, checking it every 15 minutes to make sure he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. Ivy explained that if he didn’t complete his tasks in this fashion, he wouldn’t be able to complete them anyway. A few weeks later, Schwab sent Ivy a check for $25,000 with a note saying it was the most profitable monetary lesson he had ever learned. Using this tactic, Schwab personally made $100 million dollars and became the most recognized steel mogul of his era.
With inflation, that $25,000 in 1916 would be worth $482,057.34 at the end of 2007! With the constant connection of emails, Twitter and smartphones, Sales by 5 has modified the top 6 into the Top 3 Daily Priorities.
Have everyone at your startup begin the day with the top 3 daily priorities and don’t move to #2 until #1 is complete and so on.
You always have 3 priorities.
SATAI Selected to Join Microsoft BizSpark Program - South Texas Program Fosters the Success of Innovative Startups Utilizing Microsoft’s Platform Technologies
June 6, 2009
SATAI announced today that it has been selected to join the Microsoft BizSpark Program as a Network Partner. The BizSpark Program () is a global program designed to accelerate the success of early stage startups by connecting them to Network Partners: active members of the global software ecosystem who can provide mentorship, guidance and resources to BizSpark startups. BizSpark creates an ongoing, mutually beneficial ecosystem between Microsoft, startups and Network Partners.
Jim Poage, President and CEO of SATAI, said “We are pleased to be selected to join the Microsoft BizSpark Program as a Network Partner. Over one third of our clients have some type of software-based innovation and through this strategic relationship we will provide added value and significant savings to them through the BizSpark Program.”
To be eligible for the Microsoft BizSpark Program, startups must be actively engaged in development of a software-based product or service that is a core piece of their business model, have been in business less than three years, and have less than USD $1M in revenue. Startups may enroll for the program by obtaining sponsorship from SATAI, a designated BizSpark Network partner. To learn more contact sap@satai.us.
Startup, Redbone Guitar Boutique Thinks Big By Bringing Brian Ray of Sir Paul McCartney’s Band for VIP Guitar Clinic on Saturday, June 13
June 3, 2009
for the full 3 hour program.