Entrepreneurs will flood Davis: UCD Conference promotes startups

In today's Davis Enterprise ... great encapsulation of Venture Communities and the New California 100 event.

Entrepreneurs will flood Davis: UCD Conference promotes startups

By Claire St. John | Enterprise staff writer | June 12, 2008 12:06

Business is booming in Yolo County.

Next week, two events will bring Yolo County to the attention of Central Valley investors and entrepreneurs, creating a synergy here that could lead to more investment, more local industry and more money pumped into local governments, service providers and community ventures.

Davis, which has long been interested in keeping more UC Davis spin-off companies and entrepreneurs within city limits, has spent the past few years focused on economic development. To that end, it created the Business and Economic Development Commission and invested in an Angel Investor Fund, designed to bring investors and entrepreneurs together. Several other Yolo cities and the county also invested.

On Monday, the effort goes public with the launch of the Yolo Venture Community Web site and a workshop for entrepreneurs and business owners.

On Tuesday, UC Davis' Mondavi Center will host the New California 100 Conference, at which 100 Central Valley companies - including nine Yolo County businesses - will be honored, and seven individuals will be inducted into the New California Hall of Fame.

Together, the 100 companies generate more than $50 billion in revenue and employ 250,000 people.

'There are 65 to 70 angel investors and venture capitalists coming to the event, so it's the largest number of investors to convene in the Central Valley at one event,' said Chris Soderquist, a native Davisite and a general partner at Golden Capital Venture Funds.

'There should be between 400 and 600 people at the event, primarily principal executives at the top companies, entrepreneurs and other civic and economic leaders.'

The city of Davis - along with Woodland, Winters, West Sacramento and Yolo County - invested matching funds in Golden Capital Venture Funds to create an Angel Investment Fund, connecting high net-worth investors with budding companies in the region.

The collaboration also allows investors to have confidence in their investments, as Golden Capital Venture Funds vets all start-ups and ensures they have access not just to money, but to intellectual and social resources.

Those local investors and businesses will come together on Monday at the Veterans' Memorial Center, 203 E. 14th St. in Davis. The day will begin at 1:30 p.m. with a business seminar, featuring faculty from UC Davis, University of the Pacific and Sacramento State. Topics will focus on entrepreneurship and the economy, new technologies and the next big thing, business planning, financial planning for startups and pitching a business to Angel and venture capital investors.

At 4 p.m., hosted wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served, followed by a panel of local business founders, including Anthony Costello, consultant for Bazu Media; John Argo of Bloo Solar; Kerry Sachs of Puroast; Cameron Lewis, CEO of VuStik; and Julie Morris, CEO of Marrone Innovation Organics. The panel will be moderated by Meg Arnold, director of business development and entrepreneurship with UC Davis InnovationAccess.

'The future of a healthy economy in Davis is in large part due to us being able to develop these small start-up companies,' said Costello, who is also vice chairman of the city's Business and Economic Development Commission. 'Davis is a great place to start up a business, with a great base of employees, an affluent community, great downtown office space and the university. It's becoming a premier institution in the world for development research ideas.'

Soderquist will introduce the launch of Yolo Venture Community, an online social network and education platform that will enable entrepreneurs, investors and professional service providers in Yolo County to connect with each other and leverage the financial, intellectual and human resources of the greater California Venture Communities network.

'We're trying to organize capital to better support local business,' Soderquist said. 'To me, what's refreshing and rewarding is it's kind of stunting the rhetoric, or shelving the rhetoric, and really moving toward pragmatic ways we can encourage and support entrepreneurs and innovation.

'There's been so much talk about it, and instead of talking, we're actually doing it, we're finding out from the entrepreneurs what do they need, how can we support them, and connecting them with the financial and intellectual resources they need to grow their company.'

There is still time to register for any of the events Monday and Tuesday. Visit http://venturecommunities.com/go/yolokickoff and http://www.thenewcalifornia100.com for more information or to register.

Details
What: Business seminar and Yolo Venture Community kickoff
When: Free seminar from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Monday; Yolo Venture Community kickoff from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Veterans' Memorial Center, 203 E. 14th St.
Admission: Free
Info: http://venturecommunities.com/go/yolokickoff

Learn more
What: New California 100 Conference and California Hall of Fame inductee dinner
When: 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis
Cost: $195 for conference, $300 for conference and Hall of Fame dinner
Info: Call (530) 893-8828 or visit http://www.thenewcalifornia100.com