2011 Pre-Seed Workshop
Seven Teams Seek to Convert High-Tech Ideas into Start-ups
6/22/2011 - BUFFALO, NY --"Every business starts with an idea, but it’s a long way from the moment of inspiration to becoming a Google or a General Motors.
Prospective entrepreneurs have enough questions about how to get started, find customers and — especially — win over investors to fill a technology research park.
Over three recent days, inventors and would-be business founders received a wealth of coaching and feedback from a roster of industry experts at a pre-seed workshop on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
'This is an early-stage filtering process to determine if these businesses can move forward and—if so —what are the key issues and challenges they need to address,' said Marnie LaVigne, director of the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, which hosted the event.
Tuesday, seven teams that hope to translate a high-tech idea into a start-up company made presentations to panels of business leaders who offered blunt critiques and suggestions.
It was the last day of the three-day workshop, part of a program that started six years ago in Rochester and now is held across the state.
This is the 41st such workshop in New York — the fourth in Buffalo — and 246 business-concept teams have gone through the program, LaVigne said..." [Read On...]