FountainBlue’s Funding Road Trip: Your Value Proposition March 6, 2009

FountainBlue’s Funding Road Trip: Your Value Proposition
Date and Time: Friday, March 6, 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Location: Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP
3175 Hanover Street in Palo Alto.
Audience: Early-Stage, Funding-Bound Clean Energy, High Tech and Life Science Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs
Cost for 2 Entrepreneurs: $80 for FountainBlue members, $85 for Partners, $90 General, $100 On-Site
Registration: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162535 by Wednesday, March 4 at noon

FountainBlue is pleased to launch its spring Funding Road Trip Series event, the first of a three-month series serving high tech, clean energy and life science entrepreneurs within Silicon Valley. Our workshop series is designed to help entrepreneurs think through their company’s offerings as well as the market opportunity, and then communicate that opportunity succinctly and compellingly to strategic investors.

This first workshop of the series focuses on ‘Your Positioning’, with modules on top ten mistakes in business plans, positioning and Do It Yourself Customer Research. Our April 3 follow-up workshop will focus on the pitch to investors and our May 1 workshop will feature presentations to actual investors.

Agenda for the ‘Your Positioning’ Workshop:
8:30 Networking and Registration
9:00 Welcomes, Thank Yous and Introductions
9:15 Top Ten Mistakes in Business Plans
Your business plan is the most important document you'll write as an entrepreneur. It can be the ticket to funding, and interest from potential clients and partners. Learn what NOT to do so you can develop a hard-hitting, compelling business case for your company.
10:00 Break
10:15 The Positioning
Before you can pitch your company to raise funds or attract strategic partners and alliances, you've got to perfect your positioning. This session will provide you with a systematic approach to help you better determine your all important market definition and value propositions. This program features a hard-copy, walk-away tool that helps define these for a technology based start-up company. Participants will be taught how to use this tool which is based on a case-study example of a real startup
11:45 Lunch Break and Networking
12:15 Do It Yourself Customer Research, featuring Dave Kaplow, The FactPoint Group.
Walk away with five powerful and practical techniques from market research pros to validate your customers’ real pain points and the value of your painkiller.
12:45 Workshop Debrief Session, with Feedback Given and Homework Assigned
1:00 Adjourn and Networking

About the Funding Road Trip Series:
• For more information about FountainBlue’s Funding Road Trip Series including testimonials and speaker bios, please visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html.
• These events are for Silicon Valley-based high tech, life science and clean energy entrepreneurs from the FountainBlue community and beyond.
• The interactive and collaborative nature of this initial workshop requires two representatives from each start-up company to attend.
• Additional representatives from the same company may attend for a nominal additional fee.
• Each session will start at 8:30 a.m. and end between noon and 1 p.m.
• Space is limited so we strongly suggest early pre-registration.
• No service providers are allowed, unless they are invited speakers or current sponsors.
• You are cordially invited to join FountainBlue’s community online by visiting http://www.bigtent.com/hosted/fountainblue/invitation?hosted_key=7c64713f1bb5ca6734f2cbe8830e7f0a. Membership dues are $30 annually, prorated, and membership benefits are highlighted at http://www.fountainblue.biz/aboutus/membership.html.

Official Website: http://www.fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html