The E.Factor Presents - Securing Funding in an Economic Downturn
The E.Factor Presents - Securing Funding in an Economic Downturn
http://www.efactor.com/p/events/id=97
In today’s business world there are many routes to capital. But finding the finance you need for your enterprise can be like learning to play chess for the first time – you have to know the moves before you understand how to win. As with chess, the funding game can be learned.
- How do you find the fastest route to funding your business?
- How do you choose the right financing approach for your business?
- How do you make sure potential investors take note of your business plan?
- How do you retain a majority stake?
Date: Wednesday, October 21th
Time: 6:00PM - 9:00PM
Venue; Eivissa, 1531N Wells St.
Chicago, IL 60610 Fee: Free For Premium Members; $10 for Basic Members
Keynote speaker; Len Bland
Len Bland is a Capital Matchmaker™ who has founded five companies including Concept Equity Group. He specializes in preparing entrepreneurs for investment and introducing qualified entrepreneurs to Investors. He coaches these companies in refining their strategic position, building their financial model, and communicating their value on executive summaries, business plans, and investor presentations.
Len leads the Business Network Chicago Venture Capital Group. Prior to founding Concept Equity Group, Len was VP of Sales for Tesseract, a human capital management software vendor, and Napersoft, an international document management software vendor. In these roles he implemented successful sales strategies targeting the C-level executives of Global 2000 companies. Previously, Len automated operations while managing information systems at Kraft Foods and Unisys, and analyzed company financials as an auditor for Grant Thornton.
Len is a CPA, and earned his MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and his Bachelors in Accounting from the University of Illinois.
Panelist; Steve Craig
Steve has been employed at North Bank since June, 2000 as an Assistant Vice President. His primary duties include originating and closing of commercial and consumer loans, and loan portofolio servicing of existing accounts. Mr. Craig also serves as the bank’s Compliance and CRA Officer in charge of ensuring the bank’s compliance with state and federal laws. He has been in banking since 1993 and has worked at two other banks before coming to North Bank. Mr. Craig is a member of the Illinois Bar and graduated from Southern Illinois University School of Law in 1991. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign in 1987.
Moderator Thomas Gorman;
Thomas Gorman is Founder and President of Entrepreneurial Design, Inc., a software company with stage appropriate business financial planning tools for start-ups through to companies that have $10M to $20M in annual revenue. Previously, he was an independent consultant, where he developed the tools that Entrepreneurial Design is commercializing.
Prior to that, he was COO of Leverage Point Media (LPM), a subsidiary of Menasha, which launched Labeldollars, an in-store coupon program distributed through deli weigh-scales, in 1,600 Safeways (Dominick’s in Chicago) in a 6-week rollout. Before that he was co-founder of Labeldollars, and moved to Chicago with the sale to LPM. During his career, he co-founded a reverse vending recycling equipment company, Canpactor that was sold to investors. He co-founded and was VP of Marketing of a medical equipment company, Roman Labs, that produced portable oxygen concentrators and nebulizers, which was sold to Lifecare. He co-founded and was President of a television production company, Your First Choice, that produced a self-syndicated TV shows about Medicare patient choice that was aired in 32 markets in the South and Southwest, and was sold to investors.
He was VP of Business Development for PAC Enterprises, an international turnkey aluminum can manufacturing plant engineering firm, that built plants in China, Brazil, Taiwan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and New Zealand, that was Colorado Exporter of the year in 1996. And after that, he was CFO of an incubator, Arete Industries, where he managed the commercial development of developmentally disabled learning software and robotic projects. Mr. Gorman is on the board of Cathedral Shelter of Chicago, one of the oldest homeless shelters in America. He holds a BA degree in Economics from DePauw University and an MBA from the University of Colorado.