In early June of 2009 my partner George and I spent a day in the TechStars bunker, meeting with all the founder teams who were embarking on the 12-week gauntlet that would be the 2009 Boulder TechStars class. It was one a hell of a group of entrepreneurs (as evidenced by their continued success – nine of ten of those seed stage companies are still in business 2 1/2 years later and they’ve collectively raised close to $50 million in financing among them). Important companies like Next Big Sound, Graphic.ly, Everlater and more were part of that tremendous class.

When George and I left that evening, I remember sitting over a beer with him and discussing the great teams we met that day. While we were genuinely impressed with so many of the founders (we issued 3 terms sheets to graduates from that class and also invested in Everlater), we were both very moved that day by our meeting with SendGrid, particularly the vision of a young man that I’ve grown very fond of, Isaac Saldana. At that time, there were many pundits (and still are) saying that because of its limitations and inefficiencies, email would be usurped as our primary communications platform. Isaac was resolute that email was not only here to stay, but that it was going to become an even bigger part of our lives. He articulated a vision to us of how to make that a better experience for everyone.

Isaac Saldana

We met with Isaac and his co-founders Tim and Jose a number of times that summer and were impressed with the product advancement and early-customer adoption. We issued a term-sheet to the team shortly after Demo Day in August and led a $750,000 seed round of financing which included  a number of prominent angel investors, most notably David Cohen, co-founder and CEO of TechStars.

My memory of the early days at Sendgrid is filled with lots of conversations between Isaac, David and I (the only board members at the time). I look back on it as one of the most gratifying chapters in my career as an investor. The three of us talked often about the myriad challenges that all startups faced. Isaac was a sponge and did a fantastic job of handling difficult situations that he had never encountered before. David and I were candid with Isaac about our feeling that at some point it probably made sense to recruit an experienced CEO so Isaac could focus all of his energy on the product and his vision. Isaac agreed with us but felt strongly that he needed to lead the company until he felt it was right time. David and I would regularly check in with Isaac to see how he was handling the mounting workload and he was honest with his feedback. Looking back, it was perhaps the healthiest ongoing dialogue I’ve been involved in surrounding such a sensitive subject.

Unless you’re involved in very early-stage startups, you don’t know that behind the scenes every day is a flying fire-drill and SendGrid was no exception. One thing was never affected though and that was sales. From the day we invested until today, SendGrid has grown at a double-digit pace, every single month. With massive growth like that comes huge pressure on a small team; customer support, engineering and product advancement, contracts, office space, corporate partner & investor interest and a hundred other things. All of that ultimately falls on the shoulders of the CEO and by late 2010 Isaac acknowledged that he was ready to bring in help. After we turned down an early acquisition offer and brought on a fantastic investment partner in Foundry Group (when Ryan McIntyre joined our board), we ran a very thorough process and were lucky enough to land someone as amazing as Jim Franklin as our CEO.

The rest as they say, is history. SendGrid continues its meteoric rise and Jim & Isaac spend their time leading the company towards Isaac’s vision. They have the best CEO-Founder relationship I’ve ever seen and the company’s fantastic culture is a direct result of that very healthy relationship. After being pursued by the most notable venture firms in the country , we choose Bessemer Venture Partners as our growth capital partner and are excited to have Byron Deeter join our board. While SendGrid is now a large and very important company, this week’s news has spurred me to reflect fondly on its humble beginnings and give credit to Isaac Saldana for leading us all to this point.

Over the next week or so, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the government took over Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and panic set in as the Dow plummeted. Just a few short weeks after we toasted the good times, Balihoo was faced with being “toast.” Multi-million dollar deals? Gone. Term Sheets? Vanished. Remember Sequoia’s “RIP Good Times?” Pete and his management team were left looking into a “start-up abyss.”

When we invested in the Company two years earlier, Balihoo’s focus was on becoming the standard platform for the buying and selling of media for advertising agencies and property owners across all mediums. At the same time, the company’s talented engineering group (led by Paul Price, Balihoo’s brilliant Chief Architect) had been working behind the scenes on a platform designed specifically for local affiliates of national brands. This platform allows affiliates to customize their marketing efforts for local markets while ensuring the national franchise’s brand integrity.

Shortly after the nuclear meltdown and a few weeks of some serious late night strategy sessions, Pete and his management team decided to completely change the direction of the company. They realized that market conditions wouldn’t allow them to succeed for far too long a time for a startup. They emerged convinced that their local marketing automation platform solved an enormous pain point for customers and built a thoughtful go-to-market plan on how to attack it. Less than one quarter after the the bombs dropped, the company completely abandoned their product suite and bet their future on Local Marketing Automation.

Today, Balihoo is the premier provider of local marketing automation technology and services for national brands with local marketing needs. Their software enables enterprise-class marketing at the local level and gives brands full visibility into all their local marketing activities and results. Balihoo allows brands to dramatically reduce their marketing expenses and immediately increase local sales revenue. For local affiliates, Balihoo takes the complexity out of local marketing—making it easy to quickly implement an expert, integrated marketing strategy that is consistent with the national brand.

Yesterday, Balihoo announced a $5 million dollar financing to help fuel their tremendous (triple digit) growth over the last couple of years. For me, the announcement was less about the capital than a confirmation of the successful completion of a 180 degree turnaround for the company. The Balihoo we invested in doesn’t exist anymore. Thanks to Pete’s courage and foresight, the Balihoo that’s emerged is one with a more reliable business model and a far greater market opportunity. Having a terrific investment partner in Openview Venture Partners and their unique Labs has given the company the capital and support to become a very important software company.

I’m incredibly proud of everyone at Balihoo. Shane, Andrew, Matt, Paul, Ron, Frank and especially Pete comprise one of the most dedicated and hard-working management teams I’ve ever had the privilege to work with and I’m excited to see the future unfold for them. Seeing this company grow and thrive right here in Boise makes it all the sweeter.

Click on the links to read the complete articles.

	DECEMBER 21, 2011 | EVDO INFO CradlePoint helps North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
	DECEMBER 26, 2011 | IDAHO PRESS TRIBUNE Eat, drink and be merry: Idaho’s agritourism industry takes off thanks to services like Everlater.
	DECEMBER 14, 2011 | RISMEDIA How Goomzee’s mobile tech platform is generating interest among today’s buyers.
	DECEMBER 8, 2011 | WALL STREET JOURNAL Lendio becomes an integral partner with Startup America and the White House. DECEMBER 13, 2011 | PRWEB Lendio joins Startup America Partnership; estimates $54M in savings for startups.
	DECEMBER 5, 2011 | PRWEB Lijit’s new advertiser insights help publishers better monetize their website. DECEMBER 6, 2011 | SOURCEWIRE WorePress.com launches new advertising by partnering with Federated Media
	DECEMBER 8, 2011 | MARKET WATCH OpenLogic CloudSwing leverages new relic to monitor application performance across applications, stacks and clouds. DECEMBER 28, 2011 | TALKIN CLOUD Rackspace Cloud adds OpenLogic CloudSwing PaaS to lineup.
	DECEMBER 2, 2011 | DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL Sphero rolling out as orders for robotic ball tumble in. DECEMBER 9, 2011 | ENGADGET Sphero experiences high demand. DECEMBER 19, 2011 | ENGADGET Orbotix Sphero full review. DECEMBER 19, 2011 | WIRED.COM The Shape of things to come: Sphero from Orbotix. DECEMBER 21, 2011 | NEW YORK TIMES A bundle of potential in a ball called Sphero.
	DECEMBER 5, 2011 | MARKET WATCH Rebit PC software components help protect Carbonite users.
	DECEMBER 8, 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE Forbes names SynCardia one of “America’s most promising companies.” DECEMBER 15, 2011 | MARKETWIRE SynCardia Total Artificial Heart recipient heads home for the holidays with new donor heart and kidney. DECEMBER 20, 2011 | CHRON.COM SynCardia Total Artificial Heart patient looking ahead to the future. DECEMBER 29, 2011 | FAST COMPANY SynCardia featured in Fast Company.

Click on the links to read the complete articles.

	NOVEMBER 20, 2011 | WOODWORKING Masco Cabinetry becomes one of first to add localized web app.
	NOVEMBER 10, 2011 | COURIER-JOURNAL.COM Backing up your internet service with CradlePoint.
	NOVEMBER 3, 2011 | PRWEB Lendio adds 40 banks, offers local business loans to 70% of the U.S. NOVEMBER 8, 2011 | WALL STREET JOURNAL Lendio makes business loans matching service free. NOVEMBER 8, 2011 | MSNBC Lendio makes business loan matching service free. NOVEMBER 10, 2011 | FINOVATE CNNMoney highlights Lendio. NOVEMBER 10, 2011 | CNNMoney Meet the small business loan matchmaker, Lendio. NOVEMBER 16, 2011 | TECHROCKIES Lendio offers scholarships to students.
	NOVEMBER 16, 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE Federated Media Publishing becomes the 24th most visited web property in November 2011. NOVEMBER 22, 2011 | WALL STREET JOURNAL Federated Media independent publishers share their insight on trends for the holidays. NOVEMBER 29, 2011 | BUSINESSWIRE Federated Media Publishing introduces DailyBuzz Tech and DailyBuzz.com. NOVEMBER 29, 2011 | CNET WordPress.com to let bloggers earn money through ads. NOVEMBER 30, 2011 | SEARCH ENGINE WATCH WordPress launches WordAds, powered by Federated Media’s recent acquisition of Lijit.
	NOVEMBER 9, 2011 | MILITARYAEROSPACE.COM Max-Viz donation lets Kansas State avionics students learn latest technology.
	NOVEMBER 10, 2011 | WALL STREET JOURNAL OpenLogic survey shows 73% of Android developers uncertain about open source license compliance.
	NOVEMBER 2011 | BUSINESS INSIDER Orbotix named one of the 20 best new startups of 2011. NOVEMBER 12, 2011 | CNET Sphero lets you have a ball with your smart phone. NOVEMBER 22, 2011 | DIGITAL TRENDS Sphero robo-ball: the smart ball you control with your smartphone. NOVEMBER 2011 | DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL Sphero rolling out as order for robotic ball tumble in.
	NOVEMBER 17, 2011 | WEBWIRE Rebit 5 PC backup/recovery enhances Kaspersky Internet Security 2012 Booster Edition.
	NOVEMBER 14, 2011 | READ WRITE WEB ReadWriteWeb names SendGrid as one of 10 cloud services you should be using. NOVEMBER 16, 2011 | MASHABLE Mashable ranks SendGrid among the top 6 tools for profit and non-profits. NOVEMBER 17, 2011 | BOULDER REPORT SendGrid passes 20 billion emails sent.
	NOVEMBER 9, 2011 | LA TIMES SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart offers a real chance. NOVEMBER 10, 2011 | PRWEB First findings on exercise performance with SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart featured as cover article in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation. NOVEMBER 16, 2011 | WALL STREET JOURNAL USC discharges 1st Total Artificial Heart patient on the West Coast using SynCardia Freedom Portable Driver. NOVEMBER 30, 2011 | MARKETWATCH SynCardia forms European entity to address growing demand for world’s only approved Total Artificial Heart.
	NOVEMBER 2, 2011 | YAHOO! TechMediaNetwork content featured on Livestand from Yahoo! app for iPad.

Click on the links to read the complete articles.

	OCTOBER 4, 2011 | PRWEB Pearle Vision selects Balihoo for Local Marketing Automation. OCTOBER 24, 2011 | OPENVIEW PARTNERS Is Your Sales Team Distracted by Shiny Objects?
	OCTOBER 26, 2011 | YAHOO! Daz3D ships Victoria 5 – the First Genesis Figure.
	OCTOBER 6, 2011 | RISMEDIA 15,000 Realtors go mobile with Goomzee.
	OCTOBER 26, 2011 | CMI Win at content marketing by building your influencer community.
	OCTOBER 5, 2011 | PROSPER Lendio and Prosper.com bring personal loans, affordable capital to small businesses. OCTOBER 6, 2011 | NY ENTERPRISE REPORT How to find the right financing for your business. OCTOBER 7, 2011 | PRWEB Lendio named the fastest growing company in Utah. OCTOBER 12, 2011 | PRWEB Lendio reveals state of business financing in new infographic. OCTOBER 26, 2011 | NY TIMES When should a small business hire a finance chief?
	OCTOBER 19, 2011 | ADWEEK.COM Federated expands long tail ad empire to WordPress – 24M bloggers can opt-in to ad network. OCTOBER 25, 2011 | YAHOO! Lijit continues to see explosive growth in its publisher network.
	OCTOBER 2011 | ROTOR.COM Max-Viz launches new website and video.
	OCTOBER 26, 2011 | OSTATIC.COM On Governing open source, and staying on the right side of the law. OCTOBER 27, 2011 | PCWORLD OpenLogic’s PaaS to support many languages. OCTOBER 31, 2011 | SERVERWATCH.COM OpenLogic CloudSwing PaaS track costs.
	OCTOBER 27, 2011 | MACLEANS.CA Robot balls: you don’t need them, but you know you want them. OCTOBER 2011 | SINGULARITY HUB Sphero, the $130 robot ball that’s also a video game, rolls out in December. OCTOBER 2011 | YAHOO! Sphero opens pre-orders to ship in December.
	OCTOBER 3, 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE PC Magazine names Rebit 5 Editors’ Choice.
	OCTOBER 25, 2011 | MARKETING SHERPA Word-of-mouth: email tactics power referral program with 111% ROI.
	OCTOBER 18, 2011 | MARKETWATCH AZBio names SynCardia “Arizona Bioscience Company of the Year.” OCTOBER 27, 2011 | PRWEB SynCardia Total Artifical Heart patient marks 1 year of life at home with Freedom Portable Driver. OCTOBER 29, 2011 | GUARDIAN First man with a SynCardia Total Artificial Heart in the UK. OCTOBER 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE A heart for Jordan Merecka: Texas Children’s Hospital’s first Total Artificial Heart patient receives gift of a donor heart.
	OCTOBER 18, 2011 | MARKETWATCH TechMediaNetwork appoints NextG Exec Randy Bambrough as new CFO. OCTOBER 22, 2011 | STANDARD-EXAMINER TechMediaNetwork CEO says the publisher is planning to double workforce in Ogden, Utah.
	OCTOBER 12, 2011 | MARKET WIRE Hartela standardizes on VICO Software for virtual construction.

There is no ideal company growth rate, each venture is unique

First, let me state the obvious: there is no universal answer. If you’re still incubating an idea or struggling to gain user growth, bootstrapping might be the healthiest solution—allowing you time to validate your product and business model before attempting to scale. I find the pros and cons of both old school bootstrapping and raising modest angel money to be strikingly similar. As such, I should clarify that I’m loosely using the term “bootstrapping” to not only encompass taking capital from friends and family, but to also include raising modest angel money (such that you retain 75% ownership or more let’s say). On the other hand, if you have a compelling idea that attacks a nascent and exploding market, venture dollars may give you the required edge to win. In an effort to be forthright, I must admit I’m a huge advocate for bootstrapping and ideally never raising outside capital unless you’ve truly reached the “add water and mix stage.”

Why Bootstrap?

Ron Gruner founded venture-backed Alliant Computer Systems in the 1980s with a focus on designing and manufacturing parallel computing systems. In Founders At Work (phenomenal read by the way), he mentions how highly he thought of his investors at Aliant, but that he found his mind slightly diverging from the investor syndicate regarding what the company’s future strategy should be. He later founded Shareholder.com in 1992 which was one of the first solutions to allow public companies to electronically share data with shareholders. Although he was reluctant to go without the benefits of private equity, he decided to bootstrap Shareholder.com for three specific reasons:

1. Product Validation. Ron wanted to spend more time validating his product before really trying to scale. He figured gradual, organic growth would grant him the time required to rapidly iterate and arrive at a functioning product that didn’t just satisfy customers, but literally elated them.
2. Control. Although Ron thought well of his past investors, he plainly mentions that he wanted to make sure and maintain complete control of the company’s strategic direction, and worried that without the right investor balance this might not be possible.
3. Time Requirements. He also cited the significant time commitment required to raise capital, and in general having investors he occasionally felt he just wasn’t spending enough time with customers. In fact, he mentions that he literally wanted to spend 98% of his time with his customers.

Shareholder.com went on to realize a very healthy exit when they were acquired by NASDAQ in 2006. Interestingly, although they never raised venture capital, Ron mentions if he could go back he would strongly consider raising outside capital to really expedite their growth, but only after he had figured out the business model puzzle and customers had overwhelmingly validated the product’s value with their checkbooks.

To be sure, the above may not apply to every situation, but I think the points still hold some relevant insights.

Why Raise Venture Capital?

On the opposing spectrum, attacking a nascent and exploding market can be next to impossible without significant outside capital to fuel the required growth. I’ve interacted with numerous CEOs on both coasts that resoundingly praise their investor relationships as integral to their company’s success. Given how consistent each of their comments were, I’ll simply portray their recurring themes about what the right investor can add:

1. Red Flag Awareness (and pattern matching). Regardless of industry, startups share similar critical decision points: which executive hire to make, how to attract additional capital, morphing a bleeding business model, etc. Assuming you’ve vetted that the given investor has significant experience, a good track record and references well, there is a good chance he’s previously encountered a problem similar to those your company might face. If not, he’ll almost certainly have access to other resources (investors or entrepreneurs) that have themselves faced such problems. In other words, just because an investor may not have previously blazed the exact same trail you’re trying to forge doesn’t necessarily mean he hasn’t faced the same crossroads on another trip through that same jungle.
2. Talent Bin & Network. Although certainly not a failsafe, institutional investors typically have a very large network that often permits unique access to recruiting talent. They are also generally able to make valuable business introductions that can allow startups to circumvent the typical circus show required to get to a decision maker in a given organization.
3. Ability to Scale (current and future). If the model has been validated on a small scale and the tinder ignited, outside capital can provide the much needed jet fuel to cause eruptive growth. In addition, if more gasoline is eventually needed, a fund’s relationships can facilitate expanding the investor syndicate.

I’ve glossed over both bootstrapping and raising capital, but wanted to try and create a level playing field by identifying a few of the many merits present in each approach. In subsequent posts I’ll provide a few additional examples and dissect one of the chief startup trouble spots we see: founding teams losing their “bootstrapper urgency,” particularly when the bank account is flush.

“Beers with Brad” will be chill. We’ll have a few kegs of beer and plenty of pizza for everyone . Brad will start off with a short talk and then we’ll spend the rest of the evening in a relaxed Q&A on whatever topics the crowd wants to engage in.

Cost to attend is $10 at the door. Proceeds will go to Create Common Good, an amazing and important local non-profit organization dedicated to helping local refugees acquire skills and employment in an effort to help them assimilate into the community.

This transaction was a huge win for many constituents including the town of Boulder, Colorado & the Rocky Mountain region on so many levels. First & foremost, Founder & CEO Todd Vernon, COO Walter Knapp and the rest of management and the employees have worked their assess off for a very long time to make Lijit what it is today and deserve all of the accolades they’ve worked so long and hard to earn. As board member Seth Levine stated in his blog post yesterday, “While ultimately the exit will be measured by the outcome of the combined Lijit/Federated business, based just on this deal’s value alone this ranks as one of the larger transactions for a Denver or Boulder based business in the last decade.”

Everyone who read about the transaction yesterday also knows that this represents yet another big win for Boulder-based Foundry Group and that Seth Levine will be joining the board of Federated Media as a result of the merger and deservedly so. I’m lucky to count Seth and his partners as very close friends and from my perspective they’ve created the blueprint of how to build a successful venture firm. Not only are they incredibly smart and hard-working, they’re equally grounded.

However, lost amid the hoopla yesterday was the fact that Colorado-based firms High Country Venture and Boulder Ventures have been investors in the Company since the beginning and like Foundry, participated in all of the multiple rounds of financing along the way.

Like the vast majority of startups, Lijit wasn’t “up and to the right” from the get-go. There were lean years where the company struggled to figure out its business model, despite their constantly growing network of publishers (as a result of their maniacal focus on creating value for their customers). Through their trials and tribulations, the syndicate of High Country, Boulder Ventures & Foundry Group never gave up on the company and continued to finance it as they figured it out.

We all know that it’s better to be lucky than good, and here at Highway 12, we were damn lucky to be investors in Lijit. Earlier this year, the board at Lijit determined that they had finally figured out a repeatable business model and were approaching the “add water & mix” stage of company growth. They decided to raise a growth round of capital and when presented with the opportunity, we recognized that the company was close to a serious inflexion point and moved quickly to raise our hands before others to be part of the last round of financing (which included all of the existing investors). We caught the beginning of the hockey stick and the return for our investors will be very handsome if the combined entity can execute on the opportunity in front of them.

So I’d like to congratulate Chris Marks of High Country Venture and Peter Roshko of Boulder Ventures (and their partners), two classy guys who supported the company from the outset. Every entrepreneur who thinks about raising money in Colorado should know that these firms stuck with the company through the lean years and are a big reason that there’s so much to celebrate today at Lijit.

Click on the links to read the complete articles.

	SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE Alliance Health Networks and Joslin Diabetes Center join forces on Diabetic Connect social network.
	SEPTEMBER 13, 2011 | IDAHO STATESMAN Balihoo jumps on the Inc. 500 again. SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 | YAHOO! Balihoo appears on Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies List for second consecutive year.
	SEPTEMBER 13, 2011 | PRWEB CradlePoint expands suite of solutions with introduction of COR: Integrated Mobile Broadband Routers. SEPTEMBER 30, 2011 | Yahoo! Highway 12 Ventures partner, George Mulhurn, joins CradlePoint as CEO.
	SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 | PRWEB Daz3D ships DAZ Studio 4 Advanced and Pro versions.
	SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 | DAILY CAMERA Boulder TechStars firm Everlater raises additional funds.
	SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 | RISMEDIA WestUSA Realty provides Goomzee Mobile Tools to over 1,000 Arizona agents. SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 | AZ CENTRAL Goomzee selected as one of 14 firms to present at Invest Southwest Capital Conference.
	SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 | YAHOO! GutCheck Mobile – marketing and ad pros can nab insights from anywhere. SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 | RESEARCH-LIVE GutCheck interviewing service goes mobile.
	SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 | BTOB ONLINE Kapost seeking to become a “Salesforce.com” for editorial staffs.
	SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 | FOX 13 Lendio gets involved in the college football rivalry between BYU and Utah. SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 | YAHOO! After acquisition, Zinch co-founder takes his talents to Lendio. SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 | PRWEB Author uncovers “Success DNA” in Lendio’s Entrepreneur Addiction Podcast. SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 | TECH JOURNAL Small Business Administration guaranteed loans hit record highs.
	OCTOBER 2011 | PEHUB Federated Media acquires Lijit. OCTOBER 2011 | VATOR NEWS Lijit sold to Federated Media Publishing.
	SEPTEMBER 27, 2011 | SKIES MAGAZINE Max-Viz and Brant Aero announces EVS-600 installation on Found Expedition 350.
	SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 | TECH ROCKIES OpenLogic spins open source code tool.
	SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE Sphero debuts final product design at Pepcom Holiday Spectacular. SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 | TECHCRUNCH Sphero sports new body, rolls closer to official release. SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 | TECHCRUNCH Orbotix wants Sphero beta testers before the holidays hit. SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 | POPSCI Hands-on with the Sphero Robotic Ball. SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 | SINGULARITY HUB Sphero, the robot ball you control with your phone, is getting ready to roll into your home. SEPTEMBER 27, 2011 | WIRED.COM Augmented Realit: Sphero by Orbotix is the ideal cat toy.
	SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 | MARKETWATCH Rebit 5 PC Software now available in Western Europe through Avanquest.
	SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 | MARKETWATCH SynCardia selected as finalist for 2011 World Technology Award. SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart rescues LVAD patient with right ventricular failure. SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 | PR NEWSWIRE SynCardia Total Artificial Heart patient enjoys spotlight as “The only man in Turkey who lives without a heart.”
	SEPTEMBER 26, 2011 | TECHCRUNCH Technology media publisher TechMediaNetwork raises $33 million.

The notion of having regional VC’s in an “unplugged” setting is to remove all the constraints which exist at more traditional events. There will be no agenda. The audience is in control. The entire panel will be a Q & A with the VCs. I’ll be moderating and come prepared with some tough questions sure to spark some controversial answers but it’s really up to the audience. The rules are: there’s no rules. No topic is off-limits and no question too tough.

This is a great chance for local entrepreneurs to get to know the venture capitalists who are investing in our region. There’s no cost to attend but RSVP is required. You can register to attend here. I know Boise’s entrepreneurial community will really enjoy this. Please spread the word.