Boston Entrepreneurs to Meet Active Investors at FundingPost's VC and Angel Event on April 14, 2011

Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 17, 2011

On April 14, 2011, FundingPost (http://www.FundingPost.com) is hosting a panel discussion with local Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors at its "Boston VC and Angel Event," sponsored by Bingham McCutchen LLC. FundingPost has organized 180+ sold-out venture events over the past 10 years. Leading Venture Capital and Angel Investors are set to speak and coach entrepreneurs at the Boston FundingPost event on April 14, 2011. This event will allow entrepreneurs to both learn from these investors during the panel discussion and network with them during the cocktail party. To register for the FundingPost Boston event visit: http://www.FundingPost.com/breakfast/reg1.asp?event=184&refer=PR

Top Venture Firms and Angel Investors will gather at FundingPost's upcoming event to discuss trends in Early-Stage Investing, hot sectors, sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most important to them when they are considering an Investment, the best and worst things an entrepreneur can do to get their attention, additional advice for entrepreneurs, and, of course, the best ways to reach these and other Investors.

Moderator:

Matthew Cushing, Partner, Bingham McCutchen

Speakers:

Elon Boms, Founder and Managing Director, Launch Capital

Mike Kane, Manager, Kestrel Asset Management

Todd Hixon, Managing Partner, New Atlantic Ventures

Kent Bennett, Vice President, Bessemer Venture Partners

Norman Meisner, Angel Investor, Beacon Angels

John Landry, Managing Partner, Lead Dog Ventures

Bill McPhee, Angel Investor, Boston Harbor Angels

Charles M. Chesler, Angel Investor

We are excited to be returning to the Boston area, said Joe Rubin, Director, FundingPost. The economy for early-stage investing is improving. Our investor panels are excited to see the new dealflow in these early companies, and the entrepreneurs are finding the investors tips and responses helpful for improving and refining their pitches.

As with all FundingPost events, there will be pitching and plenty of networking time for the entrepreneurs to meet the investors! There is still space available, but seating is limited! The FundingPost National event calendar including the Boston event can be found here: http://www.FundingPost.com/events.asp

About FundingPost:

With over 9,500 CEOs and 650 Venture Capital Funds attending events in 20 cities nationwide; a Printed Dealflow Magazine; and a deal-exchange website with over 7,700 VC and Angel Investor members and over 133,000 companies, that has, on average, made an introduction of an Investor to an Entrepreneur every business day since its inception; FundingPost believes that it is important to reach investors in every medium possible - both online and offline. FundingPost has been responsible for Millions and Millions of dollars in Venture Capital Raised! For more information: http://www.FundingPost.com

About Bingham McCutchen:

Bingham, with approximately 1,000 lawyers in 12 offices spanning the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia, has extensive experience representing venture capital funds in organizational matters, negotiating and documenting their investments in portfolio companies, and representing clients in multiple rounds of preferred stock and other financings. Bingham's venture capital clients cover a variety of industries, including software and hardware, life sciences and healthcare, telecommunications, Internet infrastructure and e-commerce, and energy. For more information: http://www.bingham.com

Contact:

Heather Coull

FundingPost.com

800-461-5509

press(at)FundingPost(dot)com

###

OpenSesame Wins 2011 Oregon Entrepreneurs Network's Angel Oregon Investment Award

Portland, OR (PRWEB) March 17, 2011

OpenSesame (http://www.OpenSesame.com ), a Portland-based elearning startup, today announced it has been named the winner of a $ 185,000 investment prize from the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) Angel Oregon Conference.

OpenSesame was selected from a field of nearly 40 competing companies based throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington. The selection process involved due diligence, research and debate among the more than 30 angel investors who provide the majority of the competitions investment award of $ 210,000. Angel investors participating in the OEN's Angel Oregon investment prize selected the top two companies to receive investment awards -- $ 185,000 for OpenSesame, which was named the winning Launch Stage company and $ 25,000 for Soothie Suckers, the winning Concept Stage company.

Were gratified to receive industry wide recognition for the excellence we have achieved with our elearning marketplace, said Don Spear, OpenSesame Founder and CEO. Companies worldwide spend more than $ 7B a year on off-the-shelf elearning content. Were solving their problems by making it easy to find, research, select, purchase, and use elearning content in minutes instead of months.

OpenSesame is a fast-growing online marketplace for buying and selling off-the-shelf elearning content. eLearning sellers from all over the world can upload their courses to the OpenSesame marketplace, set prices and sell their courses to new customers. eLearning buyers shop in the OpenSesame marketplace to access the broadest and freshest selection of elearning content from a worldwide set of publishers.

This is a great day not only for our company, but for the Oregon tech community, said OpenSesame Founder, SVP & General Manager Josh Blank. The excellent group of 2011 Angel Oregon entrants demonstrates that Oregon entrepreneurs are working hard to develop new companies, new ideas and new investment opportunities in our state.

Each year, the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network organizes the Angel Oregon conference, one of the premier angel investment competitions in the United States, in order to foster the growth of a vibrant entrepreneurial community in Oregon. Oregon-based startup teams are invited to submit their businesses for potential funding from OEN members. Participating OEN angel investors evaluate the slate of potential investments at the concept and launch stages, culminating in a day-long presentation session, after which the investors vote on a winner in each class to receive an equity investment.

Through the investors rigorous due diligence and screening process, OpenSesame clearly emerged as a great idea being implemented by a talented and experienced management team, said OEN Executive Director Linda Weston. Theyre just one of the great businesses investing in the Oregon startup community.

Since we launched in November, weve been overwhelmed by the positive response from elearning buyers and sellers, said OpenSesame Founder and VP of Business/Community Development Tom Turnbull. They instantly understand our value proposition and how we can enable them to use elearning resources to invest in their workforce and keep their employees up to date efficiently.

OpenSesame has a strong management team with a track record of successful Oregon-based entrepreneurship, as well as 10 years of experience in the elearning industry. Among them, the OpenSesame founders have launched nine businesses, two of which have had IPOs.

About OpenSesame

Based in Portland, Oregon, OpenSesame is an open marketplace for elearning that connects elearning buyers and sellers. Buyers browse thousands of courses in a wide variety of subjects from workplace safety to business skills all compatible with any Learning Management System. For more information, visit http://www.opensesame.com or follow @OpenSesameNow on Twitter.

About Oregon Entrepreneurs Network

Founded in 1991, celebrating 20 years of service to entrepreneurs, the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) is a 501c3 non-profit corporation and the largest entrepreneur assistance organization in Oregon and Southwest Washington. OEN fosters the flow of entrepreneurial ideas, services, and capital to entrepreneurs and helps connect emerging Northwest businesses to growth-stimulating expertise and valuable resources.

OEN is a people-oriented network that helps cultivate, nurture and develop emerging businesses and entrepreneurs. Our network of members and breadth of services, offers business education, access to capital networks, support and contacts who can mentor and nurture startup companies growth and development. OEN also helps small and mid-sized companies develop and implement strategies for community involvement that jointly meet the goals of the company, the passions of the employees and the needs of the community via its program, EFNW. For more information on OEN and its programs visit http://www.oen.org.

###

City of Cape Town Nominates Five Solutions to Establish a New Venture Fund for African Entrepreneurs

Cape Town, South Africa (Vocus/PRWEB) March 23, 2011

The City of Cape Town jointly with Living Labs Global announced today the results of its first round evaluation of 245 entries from 127 cities in 30 countries, which was carried out by an international expert jury as part of the Living Labs Global Award 2011.

Shortlisted solutions are now invited to provide in-depth supporting information, leading to the announcement of a winner at the Stockholm Summit for Service Innovation in Cities on May 12, 2011. The winner will be invited to carry out a full-scale pilot in the City of Cape Town, to evaluate the impact of the solution and lead to broader implementations.

SHORTLIST

Involving business angels and mentors in Cape Town

VC4Africa, connecting entrepreneurs and investors

Energy In Common

MYC4: Eradicate Poverty Through Business

Venture Capital Cultivator Fund

Entries were received in response to a call for pilots to deliver solutions that exploit new technologies and funding systems such as crowdfunding, micro-credits, community finance, social networks and open data systems to provide entirely new ways of connecting investors and entrepreneurs that are more suitable to Africas entrepreneurs than traditional venture capital funds. Successful solutions will help African entrepreneurs become the employers of tomorrow, develop new technologies, provide real solutions to consumers and give investors healthy returns.

"New ways to supply and manage venture finance in Africa, combining some of the existing and proven best practices with new solutions that may have emerged in the developed or developing world will unlock the potential of millions of entrepreneurs to provide solutions to the continent's 1 billion people. As an example, crowdfunding, micro-lending and community fund-raising are all powered by new technologies and financial management. Where in developed countries you may have two investors, African entrepreneurs may find a hundred willing micro-investors, in their family, community or beyond," says Mansoor Mohamed, Chief Executive of Cape Towns Economic-, Social Development and Tourism Agency.

Why Cape Town?

With the well-established institutional frameworks of South-Africa and Cape Town, the city is an ideal piloting area for such new mechanisms by providing stable and proven legal institutions, committed government agencies, a high density of entrepreneurial activity and potential investors of all types.

About the Living Labs Global Award 2011

Living Labs Global, a non-profit association to promote digital service innovation in cities, announces a joint Award with the Cities of Barcelona, Cape Town, Eindhoven, Lagos, San Francisco, Sant Cugat, Stockholm, and Taipei to choose the companies and organizations that have developed solutions that add high value to users in cities around the world. The Award is organised in partnership with Oracle and Farglory, with shortlists being announced on March 22nd and the Winners presented at a Summit and Award Ceremony in Stockholm on May 12, 2011.

###

Seattle Entrepreneurs Organization Appoints Profit Mastery To Develop Mini-MBA: Finance Initiative

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 10, 2011

Seattle-Based non-profit Entrepreneurs Organization or EO has appointed Profit Mastery to develop a Mini-MBA: Finance initiative for their Members and Staff. This comprehensive program, available online and live, will require no prior knowledge from the attendees yet will rapidly train them in an enjoyable and powerful way how to understand the numbers of business and specifically, how to improve cash flow and profitability.

Entrepreneurs Organizations Education Chair Tim Riley explains why they retained Profit Mastery: Our Membership comprises many of the most sophisticated entrepreneurs in the Puget Sound area. We are constantly searching for the best tools out there to learn and grow from. A core goal of any business is to improve cash flow. However, far more people know how to build a product or sell it than actually know how the numbers work. This program will make it easy to give staff new tools to manage the numbers, which can and will have a dramatic impact on profits. Further, this type of program has been used by leading CPA firms and banking school graduate programs so the content is robust.

Steve LeFever, the profit master himself, is delighted to be working with EO. These are simply the best and brightest entrepreneurs in our region. Obviously they see the vital importance of having every staff member understanding the numbers of their business. Understanding your business financial information is simply too important to leave to the accountants. Your business needs your teams focused attention on improving financial performance.

Mr. Lefever reacts strongly to the belief that finance is boring and dull. If you make finance fun and use plain English, people love it, learn it, and use it. Mr. LeFever has developed an acclaimed and innovative way of teaching virtually anyone business finance. My goal is to make finance as simple, fun and intuitive as using an iPad. Further, an iPad is exceptionally powerful. Participants will come away from our program with a level of knowledge that competes with global senior business executives.

About the Entrepreneurs Organization: The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) - for entrepreneurs only - is a dynamic, global not-for-profit network of more than 8,000 business owners in 40 countries. Founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs, EO is the catalyst that enables entrepreneurs to learn and grow from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life. Membership in one of EOs 120 chapters is by invitation only; the average member is 41 years old with annual revenues of US$ 17.3 million. More information can be found online at: http://www.eonetwork.org

About Profit Mastery: Founded in 1983, Profit Mastery is a Seattle-based eLearning company that has trained over half a million people on how to understand and use financial information to consistently increase business cash flow and profitability. Their programs have been taught around the globe and are now available online at http://www.profitmastery.net.

Media Contact: Mr. Tim Riley, (206) 779-2021. tim(at)eoseattle(dot)org

###