Today I attended the Wayne Brown Institute's Investors Choice venture capital conference, which is sponsored by Thorpe Capital Group. I served on the selection committee for the event so I have had as many as three exposures to all of the presenting companies.
The conference featured presentations from 25 startup companies in a variety of industries. I'd like to highlight three of my favorites:
ClearPlay: Bill Aho, CEO of ClearPlay, presented for his company. ClearPlay provides technology to allow consumers to view movies without material they find objectionable. The technology is patented and is protected by specific Federal legislation that defines the technology in a way that means it is uniquely legal, unlike the plethora of other companies that that have been forced out of business for violating copyright law.
EXpresso: George Langan of eXpresso explained the differences between eXpresso's on-line collaborative spreadsheet and Google's: auditability that complies with Sarbanes Oxley. There is a huge need for tools to help public companies deal with the overwhelming requirements of SOX.
Know More Media: Hal Halladay, CEO of Know More Media, the publisher of this blog, presented the latest plans from KMM to help businesses create "on-line density.". The plan builds on the blog network and extends far beyond.
Here is a complete list of presenting companies.
The conference was successful, in part, because it featured great attendence from venture capitalists, including the following:
- Spencer Tall, Allegis Capital
- Corley Phillips, American River Ventures
- John Diekman, 5AM Ventures
- Ron Heinz, Canopy Ventures
- Elliot Parks, Hamilton Bio Ventures
- Phil Reed, Highway 12 Ventures
- Larry Griffin, Hunter Capital Group
- Damon Kirchmeier, InnoVentures
- Steve Grizzell, UTFC
- Debra Guerin Beresini, International Venture Fund/Invencor
- Ian Blasch, Micron Ventures
- Kevin Barber, Nothwest Venture Associates
- Jeremy Neilson, Utah Fund of Funds
- Jim Dreyfous, UV Partners
- Todd Stevens, Wasatch Venture Fund
Comment Preview