Wednesday, January 13, 2010

So far, Kermit the Frog is Wrong!

As I mentioned in my recent blog postings, we are very pleased to present our inaugural ZINO Green Portland on February 24, 2010 in Portland.  Since my last blog posting, ZINO Society VP of Business Development, Mary Holmes, and I travelled to Portland and met with the ZINO Green Portland Advisory Committee to ask for input and advice on what our next steps should be.  I am very appreciative of the advice and counsel we received from the ZINO Green Portland Advisory Committee including Douglas Bouland and Cindy Tortorici, Co-Chairs, and members Don Krahmer, Chris Fenner, Nicole Vogel, Dennis Powers, Brian Rice, Bruce Ramseyer, Nancy Frisch, Deneen King, Rob Wiltbank, Marcia Stillwell, Brenda Meltebeke, Selby Key and Socrates Jimenez.  Pictured above from left to right are Marcia Stillwell, Chris Fenner, Cindy Tortorici, Cathi Hatch and Douglas Bouland.
As a result of the advice, a big decision we made was to move ZINO Green Portland from the Oregon Technology Business Center in Beaverton to the conference center in the offices of Venue and Major Sponsor, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in downtown Portland.  The ZINO Green Portland Advisory Committee felt that it was important that our first targeted investment forum event in the Portland market should be located conveniently in downtown Portland.  We are so pleased with Schwabe’s generous sponsorship and look forward to working with them to make the investment forum a success!  The ZINO team is currently working to fill out our expert panel and keynote speakers and I will be able to share more about this soon.  As we continue to look for additional Supporting Sponsors for ZINO Green Portland, I am also very pleased to announce that a sponsorship agreement with Oracle was also agreed upon today and we look forward to working with them as well.
ZINO Green Portland will be a half-day event from 1-6 p.m. featuring 12-15 companies in the areas of clean tech, energy efficiency and sustainable products or services, presenting their businesses to angel investors and business leaders.  This year, the selected ZINO Green entrepreneurs will make their pitches in both Portland and Seattle locations. Companies that would like to be considered to present at ZINO Green need to submit an online application and upload an executive summary by the January 29th, 2010 deadline.  Here is the link to apply to present:  http://www.zinosociety.com/entrepreneurs/applytopresent/zino-green/
An investment fund of $50,000 will be awarded to the company selected by the ZINO Green 2010 fund investors  as the best investment opportunity.  If you are an accredited investor and interested in being a part of the investment fund, the unit size is $5,250 including the administrative fee and I would be happy to tell you more if you will contact me.
We are also planning a pre-event cocktail party the evening prior to ZINO Green Portland on February 23, 2010 to introduce entrepreneurs, angel investors, sponsors and selected invited guests to one another in advance of the half-day investment forum.  Location is still to be determined.
I know that Kermit the Frog always opined that “It isn’t easy being green!”, but so far, we are very happy and pleased with the status of ZINO Green 2010 in both Portland and Seattle!




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