First Look Forum

March 24, 2009

NWEN has re-imagined the event formerly known as ESIF, and on March 24 we held our inaugural First Look Forum. Click here to see the presenters for the last First Look Forum.

Congratulations to all the presenters (below), our five finalists Divvy, HydroVolts, Redmond Experimental, PostureWings, and VALUVALU. And our winner HydroVolts!

We received great feedback on the event from the finalists and the attendees!

Over the course of an afternoon, we featured 12 scaleable businesses, from clean tech to Web 2.0, consumer products to robotics, who only qualified for consideration if they had not yet pitched to the membership of an organized angel group (nor to a VC partnership). Presenting companies received two rounds of coaching from our accredited investor volunteers, and were culled from a group of over 50 applicants.

The audience listened to 3-minute pitches from 12 companies, and voted to narrow the field to 5 finalists who delivered 10-minute presentations to the group. In an American Idol-inspired format, the audience selected one grand prize recipient.   Attendees were active participants in this experience, and were asked to rate the companies based upon the following five criteria:

1.    Market/Opportunity
2.    Novelty/Concept
3.    Scalability of Business Model
4.    Traction In Target Market
5.    Experience/Team
 
All presenters received in-depth coaching, gained industry insights, and made key connections.  The finalist received a prize package of startup essentials, from coaching to "HR in a Box" to office space.

• 94.4% of First Look Forum attendees said they would recommend the event to others
• 94.5% of attendees rated 10-minute pitches good/excellent
• 83.4% of attendees surveyed likely to follow-up with companies they met
• 85.7% of entrepreneurs surveyed found potential investors or advisors for their companies

For an outline from our recent Think Tank on how to prepare for the First Look Forum, please click here and download the powerpoint presentations.

Thank you to our First Look Forum Sponsors!

Date:  Tuesday, March 24, 2009 ~ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm with reception to follow
Location:  The Big Picture, Seattle  (Belltown neighborhood: http://www.thebigpicture.net/)

March 2009 Presenters

Company Name	Presenter Name	Website	Industry	Description
	Grant Bookman	www.clearsky-systems.com	Software as a Service	ClearSky has created SpeakerBox, a software platform that lets instructors record entire lectures and distribute them to students with a fraction of the time, effort and expense required by other recording methods.
	Michael Cozad	www.pincorporation.com	Consumer Hardware/Software	PIN is retreating back into stealth development mode and thanks to the NWEN staff and screechers.
	John Dietz	www.adometry.com	Business Services Software	Adometry's metrics solution provides its advertising clients with a 360-degree view of the online display advertising experience,  delivering focused insights to drive accountability and efficiency.
	Mary Fenske	www.posturewings.com	Consumer Product	Posture Wings offering is the intersection of apparel and orthopedics; proprietary materials and design of this garment relieve pain and promote comfort and mobility.
Divvy	Aaron Freed	www.divvy.com	Software as a Service	Divvy's web-based, self-serve offering enables clients to build their own online reservation and billing systems for any resource.
	Roy Leban	www.groupthink.com	Software as a Service	Groupthink's business productivity software- as-a-service is designed to help small businesses and groups work more efficiently and effectively.
Hydrovolts	Burt Hamner	www.hydrovolts.com	Clean Tech	Hydrovolts builds small water-powered turbines that generate up to 20kW of electricity in fast-flowing manmade or natural watercourses and sold to buyers of multiple units.
R3 Biofuels	Morghan Laswell & Marc Goyette	www.r3biofuels.com	Clean Energy	R3 Biofuels co-invests with companies to build and operate plants that convert their production byproducts into biodiesel fuel and other high value upgraded commodities.
	Emmanuel Marot	www.valuvalu.com	Web Services	VALU VALU automatically determines the 'perfect price' of any good, allowing businesses to systematically increase their revenue and providing the simplest and most efficient marketplace ever.
	Frank Redmond	frankred3@comcast.net	Computer, Robotic, and Electronic Kits	Construction System, essentially “LEGO for electronics”, allows electronics students, educators and hobbyists of all ages and levels of ability to experiment with working computer, robotic, and electronic circuits by simply snapping together Experimental Components that fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
	Serhii Sokolenko	www.cuesense.com	Web Services	CueSense is a newsfeed filter and trends site. CueSense filters the noise from users' news feeds, offers summaries of hot topics, and provides cues when they search, shop, or learn on the web.
	Adam Schoenfeld	www.cheddrmedia.com	Software as a Service	Cheddr Media aims to make online contests more engaging, more effective, and easier to manage for publishers and brands of all sizes.

Comments from March FLF:

Attendee survey:

• “Fast paced presentations, high caliber of talent and lots of smart, well-connected people in the audience.”
• "Presentations were crisp and to the point. Good selection of companies."
• What did you like best? “Party afterwards. And voting.”

Presenter survey:

• “ Getting that many potential investors in one place is excellent.”
• “As a start-up, it was a very good event to begin the road to seeking investors.”
• What did you like best? “Getting feedback and exposure from investors. Also really liked being able to see other people's pitches, which was a huge influence on me."

Special Thank you to all of our Sponsors!

Platinum Sponsors

• Davis Wright Tremaine
• Keiretsu Forum
• Perkins Coie
• Williams-Helde Marketing Communications

Gold Sponsors

• GrapeCity
• Moss Adams, LLP
• OVP Venture Partners
• Foster Pepper
• Townsend and Townsend and Crew

Silver Sponsors

• Silicon Valley Bank
• Stanislaw Ashbaugh