June 2021

Happy Un-Official Summer! While business often slows down during the summer, that’s really not true for entrepreneurs, who move at “entrepreneur speed” all times of the year. And we are even starting to see entrepreneurship events happening face to face again. One of the first is Startup Weekend Hudson Valley happening the weekend of July 9. Check it out -- great experience, great lineup of speakers, coaches, and mentors. 

And while moving at entrepreneur speed, summer is a great time to reflect, rethink, redesign or to push through some obstacle. Think about participating in HV Mentors, and get matched with an awesome mentor. The Entrepreneurship newsletter article each month, authored by Eliza Edge, HV Mentors Program Manager, will highlight a recent mentor project. This month describes an entrepreneur mentoring another entrepreneur. If you are an entrepreneur and want to give back by helping another entrepreneur, you can apply to be a mentor at HV Mentors.

 

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Entrepreneurs

Geoffrey is a serial entrepreneur, running two companies and juggling a million things, but his primary focus these days is growing his latest business, NuOp, a tool for business professionals to track and exchange business opportunities with speed and ease. Based out of Orange county, Geoffrey came to the HV Mentors program for targeted marketing and sales guidance. As Geoffrey sees it, NuOp has great potential to scale, and could target a range of professions - but how can the company segment its message to cater to a range of targets and value propositions?

With this in mind, HV Mentors paired Geoffrey with Michael Smith, whose experience as COO and CO-Founder of Volum8 Creative and Pulley Support make him not only an expert in marketing, but a seasoned business executive. However, this project was far from just marketing, in fact Geoffrey was challenged to put segmentation to the side and really spend time on the future and strategic direction of the company.

“Mike is a really special person that I didn’t see coming”, Geoffrey remarked. “Upon applying for mentorship, I was expecting to get some generic marketing ideas and a brainstorm session, but what I received was an exercise and series of questions for how to think about the future of my company”. The two clicked instantly, and Mike naturally stepped in as a calm sounding board, a relationship that is rare to come by as a CEO who spends all day being a sounding board to others. 

After pulling out the future vision of NuOp, Mike encouraged Geoffrey to first focus on his employees and the structure of how things get done. Though difficult to take time out of a busy schedule to focus on the restructuring of senior management, Geoffrey says it’s now his primary focus. He’s taking time to build out his team and support in order to scale the company properly in the future.

Although Geoffrey and Mike have taken a step back from the original mentorship topic of marketing, Geoffrey is looking forward to finishing up the engagement with marketing in mind. Sometimes you have to tear everything apart to build it back with resilience and that “north star” vision for the future.




HV Mentors pairs Hudson Valley based, growth-oriented entrepreneurs of all sizes with professional mentors. They accept small businesses to hockey-stick start-ups. Mentor or be mentored .

 

 

Investors 

Hudson Valley Startup Fund Celebrates 5 Years

On June 30, 2016 the Hudson Valley Startup Fund closed on its first fund. With 44 investors and over $1,000,000 of capital ready to deploy to support high-growth businesses in the region, that first fund hit the ground running! 

Hudson Valley-Focused Investment Mission

Along the way the HVSF has also worked hard to expand and strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Hudson Valley. This has included building connections and relationships amongst business owners, incubators and strategic partners, suppliers, educational institutions, government agencies, and NGOs. 

Fund I has deployed essentially all its capital and has already booked its first exit. Simplecast was acquired by SiriusXM in the second quarter of 2020. In addition to its initial investment in the firm, Fund I made a subsequent investment in Simplecast’s Series A raise, and a number of HVSF members made sidecar investments.

Fund II Launches in 2019

HVSF continued its member-managed model with the launch of Fund II in 2019. Once again, investors are mostly local business and community leaders who invest time and resources to help grow the region's entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Fund’s monthly meetings, where entrepreneurs make their pitches, are collegial and friendly, and HVSF members frequently help the entrepreneurs prepare for the meeting and improve their presentations. 

 There are 65 investors across the two funds and those investors continue to be the strength of HVSF. Areas of professional expertise include fashion & apparel; banking & finance; construction, engineering & real estate; insurance, law, marketing, medicine, technology and other fields. 

Future Plans

As Fund II nears full deployment of its capital, HVSF managers are preparing for Fund III. Though the structure of the new fund has not been finalized, it will continue to bring together area leaders passionate about the Hudson Valley region and eager to contribute to the area’s economic engine. 

HVSF Highlights To Date

  • 64 members
  • $2,175,000 raised
  • $3,200,000 invested (including sidecars)
  • 13 companies invested in

For more information, Contact Us.

Entrepreneurs and investors seeking more information on the HV Startup Fund can contact Andrew Schulkind, Managing Member, at info@hvstartupfund.com. 

For more information about HVSF, please visit our website at www.hvstartupfund.com.  

Leaders

Hudson Valley Venture Hub logo

The HV Venture Hub held a follow-on to the Book Club discussing The Startup Community Way, by Brad Feld. Special thanks to Wayne Miller, HV Startup Fund Member, who sparked a great brainstorming session on how to encourage, spark and support entrepreneur to entrepreneur gatherings/collaboration. Next Book Club (August 19, 4-5pm) is fun and easy: watch the Oscar Award winning documentary movie, My Octopus Teacher (on Netflix). Then join the “Book” Club on Thursday, August 5 (4-5pm) for a discussion on how the movie has insights for entrepreneurship. Register Here. 

For those who missed our first Book Club: see Book Club Recording and enter Passcode = &8Pv5e#h

A few of the key insights are highlighted below:

A Startup Community has some of the following key attributes:

  • Has a singular, almost maniacal, goal of helping entrepreneurs to succeed
  • Must be led by entrepreneurs 
  • Comprised of entrepreneurs (founders and startup employees) and those with a sole focus of supporting entrepreneurs (e.g., accelerators, incubators)
  • Therefore has strong alignment and shared identity and value and sense of purpose 
  • Must have a long term vision and commitment (e.g., 20 years)
  • Is inclusive of all those who want to participate
  • Are human social systems that require relationships built on trust, reciprocity, love of place. They often require a transformation for how people think and behave - which is often a difficult challenge.

An Entrepreneurial Ecosystem has some of the following key attributes:

  • Is more general in terms of structure
  • It includes and depends on the Startup Community (as its source of energy)
  • Participants have multiple goals, typically the goals of their organizations, and one goal is helping entrepreneurs, and may not align in other ways

We have more to do to help nurture the Startup Community by convening entrepreneurs to stimulate the self-organization of entrepreneurs taking the lead. Any entrepreneurs reading this who are game, please contact Tony DiMarco, dimarcoa@newpaltz.edu to discuss how the HV Venture Hub might support your efforts -- since this must be led by entrepreneurs.

Service Providers

FALA Technologies Inc located in Kingston, NY, works with customers to invent and build new technologies and first-generation production equipment needed to manufacture products developed from these inventions. Fala is positioned to help HV entrepreneurs with physical products to move from early prototype stage to a manufactured prototype, ready to pilot.  Fala specializes in manufacturing innovation, a significant value for entrepreneurs. 

Fala is currently hiring and training new staff through the innovative STEPs Pre-Apprenticeship Program run at FALA. See one minute STEPS Video. 




Fala services also include custom product and equipment designing, including electro-mechanical and software control systems, managed by FALA using a variety of contract engineering firms, or FALA can work directly with a customer’s engineering group to ensure design manufacturability.  

Once designed, FALA offers a complete in-house manufacturing service, including a fully equipped high precision, R&D fabrication shop, electrical/electronic assembly build and test, electro-mechanical-controls system integration and 3rd party testing. Industries served are Semiconductor, Military, Transportation, Advanced Energy and Industrial Equipment sectors.  Fala also manufactures and sells its own line of Cleanroom Robotic Bearings products to global semiconductor fabs.

For a complete profile of Fala Technologies including photos and shop floor video, see Make Works - Fala Technologies. 

Visit us at: 430 Old Neighborhood Road, Kingston, NY 12401

Contact us at: 845-336-4000, info@falatech.com

Before Silicon Valley, The HV

Water, Water Everywhere…

Never overlook the obvious. Never bury the lead. 

For 400 years, water in the Hudson played a supporting role in the Hudson Valley entrepreneurial story. What if WATER H20 in the Hudson, its tributaries, and watersheds assumed a leading role in local entrepreneurship? What if the Hudson River Valley were to become the Silicon Valley for water? Let's dive in.

Academia and Wall Street have identified water as the next big thing surpassing carbon energy. Water supply, quality, and efficiency top the list for attention, opportunity, and investment. Unnoticed, the Hudson River watershed offers a full range of aqua-ecosystems. Beginning in Lake Tear of the Clouds and flowing 315 miles into Manhattan Bay, the waters of the Hudson are a water library of conditions, usage, and quality.

The main driver of this new attention and interest is scarcity; there is no substitute for water. Agriculture (70%), industry (20%), and individual consumption (10%) drive demand. Again, the Hudson River Valley's conditions of water usage align with investigation and innovation.

The Hudson River Valley is beckoning for:

  • Researchers - water scientists, engineers, and technologists
  • Educators - STEM and environmental
  • Entrepreneurs - innovators, monetizers, business builders

An impactful history in water, the Hudson Valley is home to the NYC water reservoir system. 

HV Water players to watch - SUNY New Paltz STEM, Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, Bard College Center for the Study of Land, Air and Water, Schmidt Futures, Scenic Hudson, Riverkeeper, Sustainable Hudson Valley, GCSEN Evergreen Water Solutions Accelerator,and for water fun -- SplashDown Water Park.

This Before the Silicon Valley, the Hudson Valley blog offers a 400-year narrative journey honoring the icons of entrepreneurship and their impact on invention, innovation, and commercialization in the Hudson Valley.

Don Delaney

Contact welcome: Donald J. Delaney, HV Entrepreneurship Historian & Blog Writer for the HV Venture Hub at SUNY New Paltz. You can reach Don at don@dondelaney.com, 845-264-1505

© Donald J. Delaney 2021

Events

Comments? Email Tony DiMarco at dimarcoa@newpaltz.edu