Archive for November, 2011

Monday, December 5, 2011
1:00 pm to 5:30pm
Networking reception to follow
Dogpatch Labs, Cambridge, MA

 The New England regional member groups of the Angel Capital Association (ACA) host the ACA and Angel Resource Institute (ARI) educational workshops focused on the specific needs of angel groups in New England and purposed to help existing and prospective angel investors improve their investment knowledge and expertise — and add value to their role as business angels — as members of an angel group or as individual investors. 

On Monday, December 5^th, we will hold an Angel Education Series workshop at Dogpatch Labs in Cambridge, MA, providing attendees the opportunity to also see some of the areas most promising startups in action.  The workshop will have three educational sessions followed by an evening networking reception.  As part of the workshop, we are scheduling a half-hour segment for select Dogpatch Labs startups to deliver elevator pitches about their companies to workshop attendees.  For additional information click here.

Agenda
1:00pm – Check-In
1:10pm –Investment Process & Due Diligence
2:25pm – Break
2:30pm – Valuing an Early Stage Company
3:40pm – Break
3:45pm – Startup Elevator Pitches
4:15pm – Guiding Growth: Counseling Startups as a Coach, member of the Board of Advisors, or member of the Board of Directors
5:30pm – Networking Reception

The VBSR Fall Conference is on Wednesday, November 16th at Mount Snow in West Dover, VT. This year’s conference, “Resiliency in Uncertain Times: Socially Responsible Businesses Working Collaboratively”, will feature sessions including ”Creating Vermont’s Post-Oil Future”, “ Getting to Zero Waste”, “Health Insurance Exchanges and Your Business”, and “Navigating the Complexities of Socially Responsible HR”.

Ken Merritt, Managing Partner at Merritt & Merritt & Moulton,  will be on the panel for the session entitled “Saving the Soul of Your Business” moderated by Jon Crystal from the Vermont Employee Ownership Center.

Full session details:

Saving the Soul of Your Business
Jack Davidson, Trust Company of Vermont
Hilary Hoffman, Bien Fait Specialty Cakes
Ken Merritt, Merritt & Merritt & Moulton, Attorneys at Law
David Ritchie, Green Mountain Spinnery
moderator: Jon Crystal, Vermont Employee Ownership Center
One of the greatest and most enduring challenges for a values-based business is that of preserving the original priorities and perspectives over time. Whether facing the exit of an owner, or another major business decision that threatens the commitment to multiple bottom line principles, businesses are looking for options to protect and ingrain those principles into the essence of the company. In this session, attendees will be encouraged to share their experiences, and the panel will subsequently provide four different perspectives on how the mission of a business can be structurally supported.

Entrepreneur Benjy Adler graduated from Middlebury College in 2003 and almost immediately co-founded the Skinny Pancake, serving creative crepes featuring locally grown ingredients from a pushcart on Church Street.

Today, Benjy’s growing empire includes two highly successful  Skinny Pancake restaurants, the Chubby Muffin restaurant plus a catering business.  Benjy says, “We strive to add to the vibrancy and variety of our already-beautiful state and surroundings with unique and local food that is delicious, hearty, and affordable”.

November 15th, 7:00 p.m.
Perry Hall
Champlain College

Ken Merritt was the recipient of the Leaping Frog award at the Investors’ Circle Fall conference recently held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The annual award is made to a member of Investors’ Circle in recognition of exemplary service in furthering Investors’ Circle’s purpose of facilitating investment in enterprises addressing social and environmental problems. Ken is a long-standing member of Investors’ Circle and served on the Board until this past July when he was appointed to the Advisory Board. Investors’ Circle is a nationwide network of angel investors and institutional investors focused on impact investments.