The 2009 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium was held on Nov. 10-11 at Monona Terrace in Madison, WI.
Download the Agenda
Sponsor the 2009 Early Stage Symposium!
Download Early Stage Symposium presentation application instructions here.
For more than 20 years, this conference and its predecessors have helped fuel Wisconsin's high-growth economy by matching investors, companies and entrepreneurs.
An exciting feature of this year’s conference is that it will be held in concert with the MidAmerica Healthcare Venture Forum, one of the largest showcase platforms for healthcare start-ups and emerging growth companies in a 14-state region. A local host committee is reaching out to potential sponsors and presenting companies.
The producers of the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium are looking for cutting-edge companies from Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest to present at both conferences at the Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center in Madison, Wis.
On behalf of the Wisconsin Technology Council, the Wisconsin Angel Network, the Wisconsin Innovation Network and its partners, we invite you to apply OR nominate companies that will be a good match with the private investors who will attend this productive and informative event. At the 2008 symposium, 53 angel or venture capitalists from five states attended.
The 2009 Early Stage Symposium is open to early stage companies representing an array of industries: biotechnology, biofuels and products, “cleantech,” advanced manufacturing, information technology, nanotechnology and business services.
There are two separate presentation levels at the ESS:
About 20 early stage companies seeking capital in the range of $500,000 and up will be selected to make seven-minute presentations to investors in the Wisconsin Angel Network track.
About 15 entrepreneurs will be selected for the Elevator Pitch Olympics. In past years, these have been companies seeking a smaller investment round (less than $500,000) or planning to do so within the next year. Past Elevator Pitch Olympics winners have won the Governor's Business Plan Contest.
Download Early Stage Symposium application instructions here.
Application deadline for both conferences is Sept. 18.
The 2009 symposium will also feature nationally known speakers, “First Look Forum” for pre-commercial, campus-based discoveries, nationally known speakers and panelists and a dinner honoring Wisconsin’s winners of SBIR and STTR grants.
...............................................................................
Read below for a recap of the 2008 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium.
Click here to view a copy of the 2008 conference agenda.
Click here to view on-demand video of select panel discussions and keynote speakers
The 2008 conference resulted in a record number of attendees and investors!
Read below for a recap of conference features.
Keynote speaker Eric Apfelbach, president and CEO, Virent Energy Systems spoke during the Nov. 5 dinner which honored the winners of SBIR and STTR grants.
Keynote speaker Commerce Secretary Dick Leinenkugel spoke the morning of Nov. 6
The annual “Elevator Pitch Olympics” for very early-stage companies (see below for more information)
Investor-oriented track for angel-ready companies and beyond, i.e., seeking $500,000 and up in equity financing (see below for more information)
An Entrepreneur workshop where entrepreneurs were able to learn and practice their pitches.
A “First Look Forum” for presenting selected pre-commercial, campus-based discoveries.
A retrospective on University Research Park after 25 years, featuring some principals from the time.
An update on Wisconsin investor tax credits: What are the next steps?
An invitation-only event for investors hosted by the Wisconsin Angel Network.
...........................................................
2008 WAN Track presenters were selected to present in one of two tracks. Please see the presenters below.
Information Technology, Advanced Manufacturing and “Cleantech” Track:
BioInoix – James Tretheway
Composite Rebar Technologies – Robert Gibson
CRS Medical Diagnostics – Christopher Burton
Earth Mimic – Brian Hans
Innovative Sports Strategies – Brian Cole
MicroBlade – Thanh Nguyen
My Payment Network – David Dunaway
NxtMile, LLC – Mike Miller
Dew and Ken Group, Inc. – James Sun
Project-Based Learning Systems – Shane Krukowski
TrackCost Corporation – Jeff Clark
Biotechnology, Medical Device and Health Care Track:
BioSentinel – Ben Lap
Dossette, LLC – Joe Trygar
NeurogenomeX, Inc. – Thomas Sutula
Perscitus Biosciences, LLC – James Thomas
Platypus Technologies, LLC – Jeffrey Williams
Prism Clinical Imaging – Paul Schmelzer
StrataTech – Lynn Allen-Hoffmann
Swallow Solutions – Nicolas Cindric
Sword Diagnostics – Dave Dingott
VitalMedix – Jeffrey Williams
VibeTech, Inc. – Jeff Leismer
Read below for a recap of the 2007 Early Stage Symposium.
The
2007 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium was held Nov. 14-15 at Madison's Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center. .
Click here to view the 2007 agenda.
Scroll down to see the following 2007 ESS highlights:--
Press coverage of the 2007 Early Stage Symposium and "Elevator Pitch Olympics" [
more]
--
Presentations to investors by selected companies seeking $500,000 to $5 million [
more]
--
The "Elevator Pitch Olympics," in which early-stage companies had a (very) brief opportunity to make their case to a panel of investors, who scored their presentations and provided valuable feedback. A returning hit from 2006! [
more]
--
The VentureQuest educational seminar was another returning hit! Entrepreneurs learnd how to prepare their companies to look for investors. This "venture readiness” workshop was led by the founders of VentureQuest Ltd., a Denver-based firm with a national reputation for getting companies ready to compete for private-equity investment dollars. [
more]
--
Nationally known speakers such as
Jeff Wacker, director of strategy and futurist, EDS, and
Mark Lee, four-time space shuttle astronaut and managing engineer for Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. [
more]
--
SBIR/STTR awards dinner for grant recipients [
more]
--
The First Look Forum, hosted by the UW-Madison Office of Corporate Relations, which provided a sneak peek at new technologies under development on campus. [
see agenda]
--
Panel discussions on finding investors, lessons from entrepreneurs, tapping Wisconsin resources and more! [
see agenda]
To learn more about the this and previous year's Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, follow the links below:
