Succeeding in Business…With Someone Else’s Money: 10 Rules for Successful Early Stage Investing

Right now, entrepreneurship in general, startups specifically and the investment world of venture capital are super-hot everywhere and especially in “The Startup Capital of America”, right here in Boston.  In this just maybe overheated summer and fall of high valuations, electric scooter deals and pet food home delivery apps, we thought that it would be best to take a step back and think through the basics of early stage investing from both sides of the table. 

• A few slides just to keep focused
• Real life time experiences to share around “The 10 Rules”
• An opportunity to actively engage in answering the questions you always wanted to ask.

Agenda:

6:00-7:00 PM – Registration & networking

7:00-7:10 PM – ENET Chairman’s announcements

7:10-7:25 PM – E Minute – Up to 3 Startup companies’ presentations

7:25-8:15 PM – Two expert speakers on the night’s topic

8:15- 8:30 PM – Audience / Speakers Q & A

8:30 – 9:00 PM – Final networking includes meeting presenting speakers

A  question and answer session follows the presentation, and panelists will be available afterwards for responses to individual questions.  As with every ENET meeting you will also get the chance to network with the panelists and other meeting attendees, both before the start of the meeting and afterwards.

Speakers:

Jennifer Jordan is an investor and builder. She believes in founders committed to a strong inclusive culture. Her investments leverage the power of data and automation to transform industries. Most recently she served as VP at MassVentures, an early stage VC focused on Massachusetts high technology companies. Jennifer led the firm’s investments in: Ginkgo Bioworks, ClearGov, Spiro.ai, MachineMetrics, and Curoverse (acquired by Veritas Genetics).

Jennifer served on the Board of Directors for ClearGov, Spiro.ai, MachineMetrics, and Board on Track. She currently serves on the Boards of the MIT Enterprise Forum – Cambridge, and Amazing.Community, which helps women re-enter, pivot, or remain in the workforce.

She was a member of the Golden Seeds angel investor network, led Entrepreneurship for the MIT Accelerating Information Technology Innovation program sponsored by Google in Colombia, and is an active a mentor at MIT, Harvard iLab, TechStars, FinTech Sandbox, and MassChallenge.

Jennifer was Corporate VP of Investor Relations at Cadence Design Systems and before that SVP and Sr. Equity Research Analyst growing Black & Company into a mid-tier investment bank acquired by Wells Fargo Securities. She holds the title Goeroe in the Indonesian Martial Art Poekoelan Tjimindie Tulen, an MBA from MIT Sloan, and a Bachelors from Reed College.

Jack Derby, Director, Tufts Entrepreneurship Center
Cummings Family Professor of Entrepreneurship

(Jack is both speaker and moderator for this meeting)

Jack is responsible for the Tufts University Entrepreneurship Center where he teaches two courses and manages a highly engaged and active center of professors and students constituting the largest minor on campus. The Center hosts 20+ entrepreneurship events each year culminating in the $100K New Ventures Competition ranked by Forbes as one of the leading university competitions in the U.S.  

Jack is passionate about Tufts and its students and has received the Henry and Madeline Fisher Award voted by the students as the most highly ranked teacher on campus.

Prior to forming a management consulting firm, Jack served as CEO of Mayer Electronics, President of CB Sports, President of Litton Industries Medical Systems, CEO of Datamedix and President of Becton Dickinson Medical Systems.  For his work as an entrepreneur, co-founding nine companies, Jack was named to Mass High Tech’s All-Star Team. He received the Pro Bono Publico award from the Smaller Business Association of New England, the Meritorious Service Award from the Association for Corporate Growth, and the Vincent Fulmer Distinguished Service Award from the MIT Enterprise Forum where he served as Chairman.

He’s an active board member in a number of companies and with a long investing history as an early stage investor as General Partner at Kestrel Ventures, Chairman of Common Angels and a General Partner at Converge Ventures.