The Buzz from the ZINO Life Sciences Forum

Sarah Nowakowski

(The following blog post was reposted from an Xconomy Seattle blog post yesterday morning written by Sarah Nowakowski, who is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington and works for ZINO Society part-time as an intern.)

There was a great buzz yesterday at ZINO Life: Life Sciences Investment Forum where 14 biotech and life sciences companies pitched to a room full of eager investors. Many exciting technologies were on display, including Empowering Engineering Technologies‘ ExoWalk—the 2010 ZINO Life fund recipient—as well as Cerevast Therapeutics’ ClotBust-ER. All presenters delivered energetic and compelling presentations that demonstrated the persistent enthusiasm and innovation that continues to propel the vibrant life sciences sector of Seattle.

Chris Rivera of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association reminded the attendees that the No. 1 challenge facing entrepreneurs today is access to capital. The event was a great example of how angel investment groups, such as ZINO Society, are diligently working to bring entrepreneurs and investors together. Following dealflow presentations this afternoon, Cathi Hatch, the CEO of the ZINO Society, announced four finalists were selected by investors:

1. David Hatton of Aseptica—Aseptica’s technology prevents catheter related infections.

2. Michael Hite of Impel NeuroPharma—Impel is developing a novel drug delivery device to enable central nervous system drugs to bypass the blood-brain barrier,

3. Steve Baird of S-Ray Incorporated—S-Ray owns a unique way of using ultrasound to detect cracks and cavities in teeth, without radiation.

4. Paul Hagen of VacuPractor—VacuPractor is a revolutionary device for lower back pain.

Following due diligence, one of these companies will be awarded a $25,000 investment from the combined ZINO 2011 Annual Angel Fund.

Paul Hagen (VacuPractor) was selected by the audience for Best Presentation and he and Steve Baird (S-Ray) tied for Best Investment Opportunity.

Optimism filled the conference room at the Pan Pacific Hotel as Rivera reflected on the trends in the Seattle life sciences industry, one of the top five job sectors that have demonstrated continued growth, even in the face of the recent economic climate. Alan Smith of Fenwick & West delved further into the current financial climate for biotech in Seattle by probing the panel of prominent faces in Seattle’s life sciences sector. The group included Rivera; John Bowers, senior vice president of SonoSite; Tom Clement, the chairman & founder of Pathway Medical Technologies; and David Schubert, president and chief business officer, Accelerator Corporation.

The dynamic discussion reflected on the difficulty to get funded and the need to ‘de-risk’ investment opportunities by demonstrating more than proof of concept to investors, in addition to the importance of maintaining realistic expectations for the timeline for return on investment following investment in life sciences companies. This pragmatic advice was, however, secondary to the panels’ confidence in the community. They reiterated that Seattle is a hotbed for innovation, cool technologies, and fantastic ideas. In reference to comparing Seattle’s innovative life sciences sector to the nation and worldwide communities, Schubert emphatically stated that, “Seattle is at the top of ANY pyramid you want to put it on.”

Sarah Nowakowski is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington.

And the ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum Winners are . . .

After a full day of watching and interacting with presenting entrepreneurs and demo table entrepreneurs at ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum on Wednesday, we adjourned downstairs to the Bell Harbor Conference Center International Promenade for the "Spiels and Suds" segment of the ZZIF agenda featuring entrepreneur demo tables and beer from Pike Brewing Company and K & L Distributors followed by the Awards and Wine Reception featuring eight wineries.  Featured wineries included Woodward Canyon Winery, DeLille Cellars, Lachini Vineyards, Sparkman Cellars, San Juan Vineyards, 428 Wines, Cave B Winery and Pepper Bridge Winery.

Coaches Dave Watt, Skip Walter, Vin Ricci

At the Awards and Wine Reception, the first awards presented were to the ZZIF Coaches who worked with the entrepreneurs to ensure that their presentations would be concise and compelling.  Executive Vice President, Kristie Lanum, and I presented Coaches' Awards for "Winningest Coach" to Vin Ricci, "Special Teams Coach" to Dave Watts and Jackson Weaver (tie) and "Rookie of the Year Coach" to Skip Walter.

Craig Rominger, NanoICE for Best Investment
David Makuen for Best Presenter

The next awards presented were the ZINO Zenith Awards which were voted on by all the ZZIF attendees for Best Presentation to David Makuen of BuiltBurger and Best Investment Opportunity to Craig Rominger of NanoICE, Inc. 

ZZIF Fund Finalists Kevin Veon, Adam Stein, Keith McCall,
Ken Childress, Max Lyon, Craign Rominger

And the final ZZIF awards presented were the ZINO Zillionaire Fund Finalists Awards selected by the fund investors to Kevin Veon of Banshee Bungee, Max Lyon of FiatLux Imaging, Adam Stein of IMOS, Keith McCall of Enroute Systems, Ken Childress of Harbor Wing Technologies, and Craig Rominger of NanoIce, Inc.  The fund investors will now complete due diligence within the next month on the finalist companies with the goal of awarding the $100,000 fund split between the two best investment opportunities they select.

Strategies for Courting Angel Investors

On Tuesday this week, ZINO Society presented our second Get Funded! Winning Strategies for Courting Angel Investors event for entrepreneurs who are interested in seeking angel funding for start-up or expansion capital.  A fascinating group of entrepreneurs attended representing their companies from various business sectors.  The companies ranged from Software as a Service, marketing, a three wheel motorcycle company, consumer products and services, a winery, a medical device company as well as a number of others.  See photos of the group above.

We were hosted by ZINO Society long-term sponsor and friend, Davis Wright Tremaine, in its spectacular 22^nd floor office.  Attending on behalf of DWT were Haeryung Shin and Kate White.  Haeryung’s input and advice during the workshop from an attorney’s perspective, was very helpful.  ZINOPartner and Founder of Business Plans Northwest, Bryan Brewer, led the interactive training session which included advice on how to present more effectively in front of angel investors as well as what information is most important to include in a presentation seeking funding.  He listed the seven deadly sins to avoid when making a pitch to angel investors as obfuscation, verbosity, inaccuracy, laziness, arrogance, impatience, and delusion.  More detail about each of these deadly sins is on Bryan’s website.

What is your pet peeve when it comes to listening to an entrepreneur present his or her funding pitch?

Our Inaugural "Get Funded!" Workshop

Yesterday afternoon, ZINO Society hosted our inaugural “Get Funded!:  Winning Strategies for Courting Angel Investors” workshop in the stunning offices of our event and annual sponsor, Davis Wright Tremaine.  The four hour workshop followed by a wine and hors d’oeuvres networking reception was conducted by ZINO Society Coaching Member and principal of Business Plans Northwest, Bryan Brewer, and ZINO Society COO, Rob Brown.    

The workshop included “in the trenches” information on the angel funding process, courting angel investors, the investor pitch and angels in the Northwest.  The participants were a mix of entrepreneurs and a few angel investors who shared their passion, knowledge and challenges with one another.  The participant evaluations were very positive with requests for additional topics to be covered in the future.  When asked, which aspect of the session was most helpful, every participant had a different answer which speaks to the diversity of the entrepreneurial stages that each represented.  We did agree, however, that we would share everyone’s contact information so the dialog could be continued amongst the attendees.

I know that I look forward to working with Bryan and Rob to continue to further develop and tweak the curriculum for future sessions!

ZINO Life Seattle a Success!

Yesterday at the beautiful Pan Pacific Hotel, ZINO Society was the proud presenter of ZINO Life:  Life Sciences Investment Forum along with our partner, WBBA.  We were very pleased to have around 120 members and guests in attendance to hear 15 entrepreneurs present their companies’ needs divided into three dealflow flights:  Seed Stage, Launch Stage and Expansion Stage.  (See alphabetical list and links of the 15 presenting companies below at the bottom of this blog post.)  Each of the entrepreneurs was carefully screened and then coached to be successful in presenting their pitches succinctly and clearly in 7 minutes each with 2 minutes following for questions and answers.  Though we are usually quite time sensitive and strive to stay on the agenda schedule at all of our events, we were thoroughly impressed with the results and that we were able to stay completely on schedule for the entire afternoon with Events and Marketing Manager, McKenzie Powell’s chimes warnings and agenda timing tools.  Or maybe it was the delicious chocolate treats that brought people back to their seats so effectively that sponsor, Stoel Rives, shared as part of the coffee break they sponsored.

In addition to the entrepreneur presentations, we had the opportunity to hear insights and experiences from keynote speaker Patrick Jensen of SpaceLabs during the “Fireside Chat” portion of the afternoon (see top photo above).  However, in the spirit of full disclosure, there was NOT a fireplace in sight!  Following the keynote, the expert panel discussed some of the opportunities and the challenges facing life science companies and included David Schubert, President of Accelerator Corporation; Marty Simonetti, President of VLST Corporation; Chris Rivera, President of WBBA; Michelle Burris, COO of Trubion; facilitated by ZINO Life major sponsor Alan Smith, Partner at Fenwick & West, (see 2^nd photo above).  Alan did his usual great job of extracting and managing the plethora of information that our expert panelists were ready to share.

Patrick Jensen then joined the expert panel to participate in the Due Diligence LIVE! process to question the three entrepreneur finalists  (see 3^rd photo above) selected by the ZINO Life 2010 Investment Fund investors.  The three finalists gracefully surviving their due diligence grilling were Kevin Connolly of SRS Medical, Carole Spangler of Seattle Sensor Systems and Paul Slowey (aka “Dr. Spit”) of Oasis Diagnostics Corporation, who was also last year’s winner of the ZINO Life 2009 Investment Fund.

The ZINO Zenith Award winners were selected by all the attendees at the event via written ballot.  Winning the award for Best Presenter was Richard Lazar of DeltaPoint and for Best Investment Opportunity was Carole Spangler of Seattle Sensor Systems (see 4^th photo above).

The event concluded with fantastic passed hors d’oeuvres provided by our venue sponsor, Pan Pacific Hotel, and wine and beer courtesy of our ZINO Society Wine/Beer Professional Members, Don Wood of Icicle Ridge Winery, Joseph & John Miglino of Martedi Winery, and Charles & Rose Ann Finkel of Pike Brewing Company (see 5^th, 6^th and 7^th photos above).  Along with the excellent beer and wine selections, conversations flowed!

Next stop is ZINO Life Portland on April 29^th with a new set of sponsors, expert panelists and keynote speaker, but the same screened and coached presenting entrepreneurs.  Click here for registration info.

ZINO Life Presenting Companies:

Coherence Resources

DeltaPoint

DesignMedix Inc

Emergent Detection

Empowering Engineering Technologies

Guided Therapeutics

Impel NeuroPharma

Oasis Diagnostics Corporation

OnPoint Medical

PredictDent Corporation

Seattle Sensor Systems

SRS Medical

Sweet Spot Diabetes

ThermImage

Valant Medical Solutions, LLC

4 Entrepreneurs Featured at Recent Roundtable Meeting

This past week on Tuesday and Wednesday, ZINO Society hosted our Roundtable investment meetings at the Seattle and Bellevue Harbor Clubs respectively.  The featured dealflow presentations included iParse, Answers for Elders, Bluzinger and Smart Works.  See photo of the entrepreneurs each getting ready to answer the “burning question” that came as a result of member discussion following their presentations.  From left to right, pictured are Suzanne Perkins and Michael Carossino of Answers for Elders, Bob McCausland and Chris Beer of Bluzinger, Dan Diesso of Smart Works, and Rex Stevens of iParse.  Each company is looking for accredited investors to invest in their businesses to help them achieve their growth plans.

 iParse makes it fast, easy, and inexpensive for medium and small banks to provide mobile banking services to compete with the very large banks.

Answers for Elders is a boomers’ online community social site and portal to provide support, answers and expert resources in helping aging parents.

Bluzinger is building the first ever national location-based mobile advertising network, delivering paperless coupons to end customers.

Smart Works is bringing the “Smart Grid” inside facilities with network friendly circuit and device energy meters that improve energy intelligence.

Our “membership minute” was provided by Roundtable member, Skip Walter (top photo), and he shared tongue-in-cheek advice of 125 ways to lose money in the wine business.  Our keynote speaker was John Bookwalter, Chairman of the Washington Wine Commission and owner and Winemaker for Bookwalter Winery.  John did double duty on Tuesday evening, also pouring his wines as our featured vintner.  See photo above of John pouring wine for guest, Sandy Walsh.  He joked that we were probably expecting him to vacuum the room after the event in addition to his other two roles.  Also featured was Charles Finkel of The Pike Brewing Company pouring his excellent craft beers.

Gaming, Mortgage Banking, Online Investing & Shopping . . . Oh My!

The ZINO Society Roundtable Investment Meetings this past week showcased four excellent investment opportunities on Tuesday evening at the conference center at Davis Wright Tremaine and Wednesday at lunch at the Bellevue Harbor Club.  The brief keynote remarks were provided by Dan Greenshields of ShareBuilder.   Dan serves as President of ShareBuilder Securities Corporation and President and Chief Investment Officer of ShareBuilder Advisors LLC. Over the past 7 years, Dan has been instrumental in building ShareBuilder into the 6th largest online brokerage firm with over $2 billion in assets.  Shannon Jones of Hestia Cellars was our featured winemaker and Charles and Rose Ann Finkel, of Pike Brewing Co. were our featured beermeisters.

The four presenting entrepreneurs received a lot of investor interest following their presentations.  Pictured in the top photo above from left to right are featured entrepreneurs Stephan Roche of Kapitall, Dave Long of Exponential Entertainment, Mark Freedle of NetMore America and Ramu Ramanathan of Mobba.  

Kapitall is a new online investing platform designed to transform investing for the “Gaming Generation” with a rich application modeled on video games.

Exponential Entertainment is building HollywoodPlayer, a multi-platform online service that brings casual gaming, Hollywood content, and social networking together.

NetMore America buys the most secure and marketable mortgages in the U.S. and sells them at a profit.

Mobba is a new online marketplace that leverages social networks to form large groups of like-minded buyers.  Sellers then compete to win a big sale.

We are very happy to announce this week that our facilitated fundraising to-date has increased to $14.2 million.  I won’t be surprised to see all of these companies receive at least a portion of the angel funding they need as a result of their presentations at ZINO Society.  We take huge pride in the entrepreneurs that present through ZINO Society and hope to help each one with capital, mentoring and/or referrals.