Archive for the 'Merritt Newsletter' Category

Per Vermontbiz.com, the Small Business Administration announced the 2013 Vermont small business award winners April 15.The premier accolade, 2013 Vermont Small Business Person of the Year, is awarded to Pete Johnson, Pete’s Greens owner. Johnson was selected as the SBPY for his outstanding leadership related to his company’s staying power, employee growth, sales increase, innovative ingenuity and contributions to the community.

VT EPSCoR is pleased to provide 2 funding opportunities with awards of up to $15,000 to Vermont based businesses.

SBIR Phase (0) provides the opportunity to compete for up to $15,000
- Deadline: May 1, 2013
- Important Note: Follow-up SBIR funding requirements revised from initial release
- To see full submission guidelines, please visit http://www.uvm.edu/~epscor/redir/sbir

Use of Facilities for Private Sector provides the opportunity to compete for up to $5,000
- Rolling Deadline – you may submit a proposal at any time
- To see full submission guidelines, please visit:
http://www.uvm.edu/~epscor/redir/use

Questions?
Please email epscor@uvm.edu
Or, phone(802) 656-7931
Visit us on the web at www.uvm.edu/EPSCoR

You are invited to attend the Women-Owned Small Business Contracting Program in Newport, Vermont on February 22, 2013. The event is free and will be held from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in the Northeastern Vermont Development Association Office (79 Coventry St., Ste 4C, Newport, VT).  Please contact Brenda Plastridge, the Procurement Counselor, at 802-885-3061.

MassChallenge 2013 Launches

Application Deadlines: 

Early Bird: March 6

Regular: April 3

 High-Impact Entrepreneurs: Now’s your time! 

Apply to MassChallenge 2013 for a four-month start-up accelerator that includes access to world-class mentorship and training, a driven community of fellow entrepreneurs, over $10 million in in-kind deals and over $1 million in grants with no strings attached.

MassChallenge Supporters: Send us top startups!

Send top entrepreneurs to www.MassChallenge.org for accelerator benefits, application information and registration! Any early-stage start-up in any industry from anywhere in the world is eligible.

VBSR announced it’s free Networking Get Together on February 19, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. – 10516 Rt. 116, Hinesburg, VT

Join fellow VBSR members and colleagues at the redeveloped Saputo Cheese Plant in Hinesburg.

 Now the new home to Vermont Smoke and Cure, the Hinesburg Public House restaurant, and other locally owned businesses, the successful redevelopment of the Saputo Plant demonstrates one Vermont town’s commitment to keeping a key manufacturing asset rooted in local agriculture and business!

 Learn more about socially responsible

businesses and business practices in the redeveloped space!

Light fare generously prepared and provided by our hosts.

REGISTER TODAY!

Save the Date!

Vermont Technology Council announced that the 2013 Invention 2 Venture Conference will be April 4th from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. at the UVM Davis Center.

There will be a roundtable discussion on

• IP Protection
• FDA Regulated: Process to Market
• Unregulated: Proof to Concept
• Finding the Money: VT Financial Resources
• Corporate Structure
• SBIR/STTR/Phase O Grants
• Lessons Learned: From a CEO
• The Pitch: Getting to Yes
• How to Build a Business Team
• Industry Collaboration: UVM Faculty member shares experience with the private sector

Green Drinks is kicking off HUGE in 2013!
Tuesday January, 29 | 6-8pm
60 Lake St. Burlington, VT
RSVP Here: http://www.facebook.com/events/142400362584136/

GREEN DRINKERS…ITS BEEN A WHILE!!! We are so excited to invite y’all back for the first Green Drinks of 2013! Please note…we’ve relocated (just a tad): we are now on the second floor of the same building in Main Street Landing’s Art Gallery. Don’t fret…everything else is the same: always 6-8pm on the last Tuesday of the month, always a different sponsor of the month & a host of great sustaining sponsors, always 125 pints of tasty Wolavers beer bought & paid for by the sponsors along with free scooby-snacks from Have Your Cake Catering…so it costs you nothing!

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY

with

 The Professional Collaborative (TPC)

Join TPC for a fun evening of networking and meeting other Vermont professionals. 

Learn from your peers how professional development helped them in their careers.  

Grow friendships or plant the seeds for future opportunities.

When: Thursday, January 31, 2013

5:30 pm – Registration

6:00 pm – Networking, appetizers, guest speaker, games

8:00 pm – Lots of prize drawings!

 Where: Doubletree Hotel, 117 Williston Road, So Burlington, VT

 Cost:

$20 – TPC members and their guests

$25 – non-members

$15 – students

 Registration (Please pre-register):

1. Email your name and the name(s) of your guests, your company, and TPC organization (that would be VCN for us) to: ChamplainValleyAPICS@gmail.com

 2. Pay at the door with cash or a check payable to Champlain Valley APICS,

3. Prepay with a credit card via PayPal: PayPal Option

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FUTURE VCN MEETING DATES: 

February 14

March 14

April 11

May 9

Future topics:

* Contract Negotiations & Details

* Technology Updates

 If you have a topic you think might be of interest to your fellow consultants, or would like to be a presenter, please contact Vijay Desai at 802-363-9260 or vdesai@pmforstrategy.com      

Introduction to Entrepreneurship Mini Course

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

January 8 – March 5, 2013

 The Tuck School of Business and the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN) are again pleased to offer members of the Dartmouth community an evening mini-course, “Introduction to Entrepreneurship,” designed to provide basic education in commercialization of technology,  the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship, and the starting of new business ventures. This course  will be offered during winter term 2013.

WHERE

Georgiopoulos Classroom, Raether Hall, Tuck School

 WHEN

Tuesday evenings, starting January 8th and concluding March 5th

4:45 – 6:45 pm

WHO’S ELIGIBLE TO AUDIT

Anyone with a dartmouth.edu, hitchcock.org or dartmouth.alum.org email address, thereby

including any student, faculty or staff member of the College, DHMC, the Mary Hitchcock

Hospital, or any alumni of the schools.

TUITION

There is no tuition charge, this is a free course, but a commitment to attend 8 out of 9 class

sessions is required.

 PROFESSOR

Gregg Fairbrothers D’76, Adjunct Professor, Tuck School

Director, Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN)

Chair, Dartmouth Regional Technology Center, Dartmouth College

 COURSE CONTENT

This course will address fundamentals in major areas of conceptualizing and launching a

successful new business, including:

 - Concept development

- Business plan development

- The need and the market

- Team building

- Business models and execution

- Financing strategies

 For more information and how to apply please follow this link.

Informational sessions to learn more about the Working Lands Enterprise Fund grant application process will be held on December 4th and December 6th from 4:30pm to 6:00pm. Interested applicants can join from any computer or attend one of the site locations listed below. The sessions will cover:

1. Background and Purpose of the Working Lands initiative
2. The 3 investment areas of the initiative (Overview of Request for Proposals)
3. Tips on filling out the application (Goals, Performance Measures, and Outcomes)
4. Dates, deadlines, and key contacts
5. Q & A

Informational Session Locations:

Tuesday, December 4th , 4:30pm-6:00pm

• Agency of Agriculture
  116 State Street, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Montpelier, VT 05620
• Brattleboro Development Credit Corp
  76 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT 05301
• Northwest Regional Planning Commission
  155 Lake Street, St. Albans, VT 05478

Thursday, December 6th , 4:30-6:00pm

• Agency of Agriculture
  116 State Street, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Montpelier, VT 05620
• Northeastern Vermont Development Association
  36 Eastern Ave, Suite 1, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
• Rutland Regional Planning Commission
  67 Merchants Row – Opera House, Rutland, VT 05701

Paul Costello, Executive Director
Vermont Council on Rural Development
PO Box 1384, Montpelier VT  05601-1304
802-223-6091
vtworkinglands.org

P.S. LIKE them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/VtWLP