March 2021

We are only days away from the official start of Spring! And we are only days away from the next Venture Fest - Spring ‘21 online event on March 11 -- HV Mentors Live! See the Entrepreneur section below for more details.

On a more somber note, it now has been a year since we began to lock down due to COVID-19. The virus has impacted many lives on a personal level with loved ones lost, and on an economic level with small businesses closing and lost jobs. Yet, the Hudson Valley has proven to be amazingly resilient and our entrepreneur ecosystem continues to flourish as noted by many of the topics in this newsletter. Even better days are ahead!


Read full-length newsletter…

Entrepreneurs

 Venture Fest - Spring 2021 Program

Venture Fest

Venture Fest - Spring ‘21 is now underway! We completed our first in a series of four online events with the launch of HV Mentors on March 4. We heard a keynote from Dan Sommer, followed by a panel of top mentors describing how a mentor relationship was instrumental in their success. Next up HV Mentors Live! event on March 11, with the same panel of mentors group mentoring the Burbio team, a later stage HV high growth startup. 

Venture Fest will be held on Thursdays in March as online Zoom events. All the events will be held 4:00-6:00pm. 

Register Here

Hudson Valley Venture Hub logo

 

March 11: HV Mentors Live! 

HV Mentors is made possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Sommer Family Foundation to the SUNY New Paltz Foundation. The program is being realized through a collaboration with the SUNY New Paltz School of Business through its Hudson Valley Venture Hub. 

Last week you got to know some of our HV Mentors. This week, see them in action mentoring and experience the high value of mentoring.

Entrepreneur Case Study Mentor Panel

Burbio, a late seed stage startup, with co-founders Dennis & Julie Roche challenging the mentors to help them address some specific growth challenges.

Mentor Panel

  • Leon Greene: Co-founder and Director of Truveris, Managing Member of the HV Startup Fund
  • N. Damali Peterman: CEO, Breakthrough ADR & Damali Law
  • Dan Sommer: Ed-Tech Entrepreneur, Builder, Investor, Founder of Trilogy Education
  • Dan Leader: Founder at Bread Alone Bakery

Open Forum - opportunity for the audience to interact with the Mentor Panel 

Rocket Pitches - watch several SUNY New Paltz student 90 second “rocket pitches” and learn from the panel as they provide guidance to the students

March 18: HV Entrepreneur Panels 

Learn about different growth strategies from leading high growth startups and growth-oriented small businesses.

High Growth Startup Panel

Moderator: Johnny LeHane, Founding Managing Member, HV Startup Fund

HV Women in Business (Growth Oriented Small Business) Panel 

Moderator: Lauree Ostrofsky, Founder, HV Women in Business 

March 25: HV Entrepreneur Pitch Fest 

Learn how to pitch your business to investors and the community. Each category of pitches (High Growth Startups and HV Food & Beverage Small Business) will compete with 3 minute pitches with awards for 1st Place ($1000), 2nd Place ($750), 3rd Place ($500). Investors keep an eye out for these companies -- two of the companies that pitched during Venture Fest - Fall 2019 subsequently pitched to the HV Startup Fund and secured significant investments. 

High Growth Startup Pitches

  • Eliot Wilson, Founder and CEO, Allison Clements, COO: FUTUR, LLC
  • Scott Sclar, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer: 1o.io
  • Nick Naclerio, CEO: Mmmly  
  • Nicole Hartwig, Founder & CEO, Capri for girls
  • Gregg Zuman, Founder, Sales Manager, Revolution Rickshaws

HV Food & Beverage Small Business Pitches

Serendipity Networking 

Blind networking, get dropped into multiple Zoom breakout rooms with people you don’t know well, to get to know each other and to find at least one way to help each other to succeed.

Register Here

For more information, please contact Tony DiMarcoHub (dimarcoa@newpaltz.edu)

 

Thank you HV Venture Hub Annual Sponsors!



Venture Fest Spring 2021 Presenting Sponsor

 We want to recognize and thank our presenting sponsor, Kenneth Pasternak and the Pasternak Family Foundation. A SUNY New Paltz alumnus, Kenny Pasternak has been a devoted friend to the SUNY New Paltz School of Business, providing us with a gift to start the Kenneth Pasternak Trading Room in van den Berg Hall, and most recently providing another gift to support Venture Hub programming to advance entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Hudson Valley. To learn more about Ken, check out this alumni profile: New Paltz | Alumni Magazine - Ken Pasternak '77. 

Investors 

 

Hudson Valley Startup Fund recently invested in Equity Multiple, Inc., the online platform built to enable investors to participate in pre-vetted, professionally managed, commercial real estate opportunities.

Equity Multiple makes these investments available to investors interested in lower dollar investments than is typically possible. Equity Multiple pools investor funds and provides the infrastructure for real estate fund investing, direct project investing and tax-deferred real estate investing.

Founders Charles Clinton, who serves as CEO, and Marious Sjulsen, Equity Multiple’s Chief Investment Officer, have deep experience in real estate law and private equity management. The two focus on strategy and the sponsor side of the business. Surrounding is a management team that includes professionals with backgrounds in real estate investing, marketing, and technology. 

HVSF was attracted to the opportunity to invest in Equity Multiple by the strength and experience of their management team, the platform’s ease of use, the range of revenue

streams available to the firm, and the strength of its deal pipeline. 

“We feel very strongly about the Equity Multiple business model and the deep experience of the team. This, along with the active support of SUNY New Paltz graduate and supporter Kenny Pasternak, we recognize Equity Multiple as a winning opportunity.” explained HVSF Managing Member, Jeffrey Werner

 


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

 

Ossining Innovates! + WEDC Inclusive Entrepreneurship Accelerator is launching our third virtual Cohort this Spring. For more information and application, click here. Participation is free for those accepted. One-year program begins with a 16 session, 3 hour per week, intensive instructional phase which includes recognized expert speakers. Entrepreneurs are paired for one year with 1-3 mentors and meet monthly after the instructional phase. Additional programming is provided for the balance of the year.

Although originally conceived as a bricks and mortar Accelerator to be sited in the Village of Ossining, in Northern Westchester, this Inclusive Entrepreneurship Accelerator launched its first Cohort with 12 entrepreneurs in April 2020 as a collaboration between the founding partners of Ossining Innovates! and WEDC, the Women’s Enterprise Development Center.  Adjusting to the realities on the ground, the Accelerator pivoted to deliver our programming online, and has remained an online program since its launch. Today, the Accelerator, the first Inclusive Entrepreneurship Accelerator in New York State, has just completed the pedagogical phase of its second Cohort and is preparing to launch the third cohort in the Spring. Information and applications may be accessed on the Ossining Innovates! website.

What makes this Inclusive Entrepreneurship Accelerator unique is that the program is designed to eliminate many of the barriers that prevent working people and many from under resourced communities to access entrepreneurship skills and training. Those entrepreneurs who are accepted to the program pay no fees, tuition, equity or otherwise, for their one year participation in the Accelerator. Each participant is paired with a minimum of one mentor and a goal of three mentors, who have committed to work with their mentees for a full year from the launch date. Books, including Steve Blank’s The Startup Owner’s Manual and Eric Reiss’ The Lean Startup, and others are provided to each participant free. 

The program makes generous use of outside experts, who provide their expertise and “on the ground” experience to our participants and the opportunity to extend their networks by developing relationships. The first two Cohorts have included Chairs of Entrepreneurship Programs at two of the SUNY Colleges, Venture Capitalists, successful serial entrepreneurs, lawyers expert in Startup organization and Intellectual Property strategy, and founders of a number of regional businesses, who have delighted participants by sharing their stories. Entrepreneurs spanning the region, from Brooklyn to the Capital Region, from west of the Hudson to the tip of Long Island have participated in our virtual programs and added to the diversity and inclusivity of the program.

Service Providers

PKF O’Connor Davies, LLP is a full-service certified public accounting and advisory firm with a long history of serving clients both domestically and internationally. With roots tracing to 1891, fourteen offices in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island, and more than 900 professionals, the Firm provides a complete range of accounting, auditing, tax and management advisory services. PKF O’Connor Davies is ranked 27th on Accounting Today’s 2020 “Top 100 Firms” list.

At PKF O’Connor Davies, our commitment to developing long-lasting relationships is especially evident in our work with entrepreneurs and small businesses. Understanding that our clients are all unique in their approach to creating and achieving their goals, we redefine traditional service parameters to help fulfill our clients’ specific objectives.

Today’s business owners operate in a challenging environment; so now more than ever, clients require insightful accounting, tax and business advice. Our professionals understand the objectives and concerns of those striving to stay afloat and ensure sustainability during the pandemic. We tailor specific solutions designed to help clients operate efficiently, compete effectively and perform profitably while navigating the convergence of the current economic environment and their long-term business goals.

Communication is frequent and proactive. Top notch record keeping ensures that business owners are informed about their company, helping them manage cash flow effectively and control commitments. We regularly reach out to clients with planning ideas, compliance reporting in the areas of tax and accounting, cybersecurity, and current trends within their industry. Know PKF O’Connor Davies – know greater value.

 

If you have any questions on the topics discussed in this article as they pertain to the entrepreneurial and small business industries, please reach out to Tracy L. Badgley, CPA, Partner at tbadgley@pkfod.com. Please visit our webpage for more information. 

Before Silicon Valley, The HV

The First People to Farm the Hudson River

The Lenape Indian people lived a rich and sustainable life. Labor was divided equally between men and women, which extended into domestic life. They built single and communal homes called wigwams. 


The core of their economy was community agriculture. In the Esopus area, they managed and maintained 100-acre farms using only their hands. The ‘three sisters’ lead the crop: corn, beans and squash, followed by a pantry list of fresh and preserved vegetables. They looked to the river and woods for their protein.

 

Source: The Hudson, from the wilderness to the sea (1866)

The river people were “meat eaters”. The Lenape people “invented” harvesting the Hudson River. In their time (pre 1609), 200 fish species formed a diverse and sustainable ecosystem. Mirroring the ‘three sisters’: sturgeon, striped bass and shad dominated the river food chain. 

SHAD proved to be both easy to harvest and quite tasty, especially the roe, and as a bonus, a fertilizer soil on the farm. In the spring, shad were the most abundant species. Harvesting shad was easy and cheap. Put two poles in the water, attach a net and wait for the tide to change. Shad were so abundant and desirable, they became the ‘trade’ fish in early Manhattan, second only to oysters. At its peak, 3.4 million pounds of shad were harvested from the Hudson. Shad fishing in the Hudson ended in 2010. 

STRIPED BASS was prized for its flavor and being a darn attractive fish. ‘Stripers’ make a spring to early-summer appearance to spawn, then out to ocean waters to mature. The Lenape fishermen were very adept at reading the movement of these fish and the water conditions they favored. Striped bass are attracted to mid-seventy-degree water temperature and slightly salty water. Likewise, the fisherman put their harvesting experience into creating complex woven traps, large nets and harpoons. 

Sturgeon was prized for its bulk. One mature sturgeon could deliver 800 pounds of protein. Imagine coming off a long Hudson Valley winter, ‘the starving time’, to a roasted sturgeon. In addition, females carried eggs, which were later called caviar, and smoked sturgeon brought out its sweetness, becoming a delicacy. 

BONUS: Ice Farming the Hudson

 

The mid-Hudson section of the river became the ‘capital’ of commercial ice farming in the early 1800’s. Hudson Valley estates had a long history of harvesting river ice for their private use, along with ice yachting. In 1806, Fredrick Tudor, dubbed the “Ice King'' hit on the idea of exporting ice to the Caribbean. It was an immediate hit. Mr. Tudor not only tapped into a limitless supply of high-quality winter ice, there was a ready supply of farm labor and horses, and ice boxes to fill in NYC.

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

 

© Donald J. Delaney 2020

Events

Comments? Email Tony DiMarco at dimarcoa@newpaltz.edu