September 2021

SUNY New Paltz School of Business, home of the HV Venture Hub, is back in action, face-to-face. It is gratifying to see students and faculty interacting again in the classroom, and our student clubs gearing up for some exciting programs. We have launched our new Entrepreneurship major, and are looking forward to promoting it through our Venture Hub activities and events. 

Planning for Venture Fest Fall ‘21 is also in full swing. You can read more about it in the Leaders’ section below. Enjoy this month’s newsletter and we hope to see you in person next month at Venture Fest!

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Entrepreneurs

Masha Zabara is the founder and CEO of Thrift 2 Fight, a volunteer-run, community-centered retail shop that sells clothing through pop-up sales, rack residencies, and hosted sales. 100% of their sales are donated to organizations centered on racial, social, and climate justice activism. Thrift 2 Fight, based in Tivoli, NY, is a team of passionate individuals with diverse skill sets, but as Masha pointed out, the founding team couldn’t cover every ground, which is when they turned to HV Mentors. Masha realized that they needed professional advice and legal help, not from random specialists that come from Google searches, but from local professionals who specialize in startups. Having a community built around one common value, expanding the Hudson Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem, is a huge help in regards to vetting.

Thrift to Fight needed help thinking about trademarking their brand as they began embarking on what could be a franchise-like model. Thus, HV Mentors matched Masha with Elizabeth Barnhard, an intellectual property attorney at Leason Ellis. Elizabeth explained complex differentiations in legal needs, gave clear price ranges for what these services typically cost, laid out expectations, and provided connections to attorneys with experience working with start-ups. “Having a trusted professional who understands entrepreneurs, guiding you through the process is invaluable.” Beyond their work with Elizabeth, Masha commented on some other connections they made within the larger HV Mentors community, such as the program’s in-person coffee hour which led to finding a connection to help with website automation.

Thrift to Fight has a lot of exciting objectives this quarter. They’re raising a $300,000 seed round, launching their online store, as well as continuing to find their first store location, which they hope to complete in the next month, as well as continuing to find different places for collaboration.

All in all, Masha says that whether it was working with Elizabeth, or some of the other advisors they have met along the way, mentors have played a big role in helping them navigate decisions and strategies. Masha is always seeking a diverse group, with as many points of view as possible, so that their business can be resilient. 

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 has just announced its investment in Circuit, the affordable, sustainable way for municipalities to help “reduce congestion and its harmful effects on the environment and our quality of life.”

 

 

 

With a vision to provide last-mile transportation to and from favorite entertainment destinations, Circuit was founded on Long Island in 2011. 

 

The company’s gas-free electric shuttles provide last-mile transportation at low cost and create a unique advertising opportunity for forward-thinking marketers eager to reach the key demographic that Circuit appeals to. 

 

With this model, Circuit has shown that it can reduce pollution, ease city traffic congestion, save money for local municipalities and riders, promote corporate social responsibility, provide jobs, and turn a profit. 

 

Circuit has expanded its service to 27 locations across the country, which are served by about 130 Circuit-owned shuttle vehicles. More than 5 million rides have been provided to consumers. Current locations include 7 communities in California, 5 in New York (including New Rochelle), 6 in Florida, as well as cities in Texas, Colorado, Denver, Chicago, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. 

 

Contracts with these municipal governments average about 8 cars per municipality.  

 

Jeff Werner, managing partner of HVSF commented, "Circuit is the perfect company for the HVSF to support.  It's a prime example of our mission - economic development in the Hudson Valley.  Adding to the value, is the huge ESG component of the Circuit offering.  This is a win-win-win scenario on a multitude of levels. I'm so glad that we found this company and that they will be continuing their expansion into and throughout the Hudson Valley."

For more information about Hudson Valley Startup Fund, please contact Fund Manager for Communications, Andrew Schulkind at info@hvstartupfund.com, and visit our website at www.hvstartupfund.com.

 

 

 

Leaders

Hudson Valley Venture Hub logo

Venture Fest Program Description

Register Here

Hosted by: HV Venture Hub

Presenting Sponsor: The Pasternak Family Foundation

Annual Sponsors: David J. Dell, GCSEN Foundation, HV Startup Fund, Upstate Capital

Venture Fest Sponsors: CR Properties, Hudson Valley Current, The Field Group, HVEDC

If you are interested in being a sponsor of this Venture Fest, please contact Kris Backhaus, Dean, School of Business, SUNY New Paltz (backhauk@newpaltz.edu)

SECTION 1 (12:00 - 12:30)

Registration and Networking

  

SECTION 2: (12:30 - 1:45)

Welcome 

Kris Backhaus, Dean, School of Business, SUNY New Paltz

Keynote - Put Your Money Where Your Life Is - How to Invest Locally

Michael Shuman

Investing Locally in the HV  


  • Coop Business Model
  • Employee Ownership (Exit to Community)
  • Small Business Investment Model
  • Self-Directed IRA SME
  • Small Business Perspective
  • High Growth Startups
  

SECTION 3 (2:00 - 3:00)

Option 1 (for Entrepreneurs): Entrepreneurs Helping Entrepreneurs

Facilitator: Eliza Edge, HV Mentors Program Manager, SUNY New Paltz


2-3 entrepreneurs per group sharing expertise, passion, and opportunities to help each other succeed

Option 2 (for Investors): HV Startup Fund - Why Organized Regional Angel Investment is Critical to the HV Region

Facilitator: Johnny LeHane, Founding Member Manager, HV Startup Fund 

Brief history of the fund, the successes and lessons learned, and why HVSF is bullish on expanding the network outside the Hudson Valley in 2022 and beyond.  

Option 3 (for Services Providers): Service Providers in the HV Entrepreneur Ecosystem

Facilitator: Mike Caslin, GCSEN Foundation

New programs for services providers to effectively engage with HV entrepreneurs, including the potential for $2M+ new money to flow from entrepreneurs to HV services providers.

SECTION 4 (3:15 - 4:15)

Option 1 (for Entrepreneurs, Investors, Services Providers): Meet the Mentors

Facilitator: Eliza Edge

Connecting (speed dating format) HV  entrepreneurs with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who volunteer within the HV Mentor Program.

Collaboration Corners with Industry SMEs

Option 2 (for Educators): HV Entrepreneurs Educators Forum

Facilitator: Kris Backhaus, Dean, School of Business, SUNY New Paltz

Collaboration session for higher ed staff and professors involved in developing and teaching entrepreneurship programs across the HV. Continuing the Forums started Jan ‘20 and Jan ‘21 with 14 HV colleges represented. 

SECTION 5 (4:15 - 5:00)

MWBE Pitch Fest! This year’s Pitch Fest invites women and/or minority owned entrepreneurial businesses to pitch (three minutes) for the following awards: 

  • $2500 1st Place (best overall pitch)
  • $1500 2nd Place (second best overall pitch)
  • $1000 Social Impact Award (for the business with the most potential to make a positive and significant social impact)

Hudson Valley high growth startups and growth oriented small businesses are eligible to apply to pitch.  Apply Here by September 15. 

We’ll select up to 7 entrepreneurs to pitch. 

SECTION 6 (5:00 - 6:30)

Oktoberfest Theme Networking: meet others in the HV entrepreneur ecosystem while enjoying German food, drinks, and music.

HV Food & Beverage Showcase: meet HV entrepreneurs with innovative food & beverage products and sample their products. 

Register Here

Service Providers

Licensing Fundamentals

Licensing Intellectual Property (“IP”), patents and trademarks, offers the potential to strengthen the property as well as to generate incremental revenues and increased valuation for owners via well-conceived, well-executed and well-managed strategic programs by qualified Licensees. However, such initiatives must be strategically focused and managed to avoid dilution, or worse, denigration, of the original IP. 

A company’s Licensing Strategy may seek external IP “One Trick Ponies” to address specific business needs or a proprietary IP platform as the basis of a new business sector. Conversely, it could entail a pro-active plan to generate incremental revenues by licensing select internal IP for non-competitive external market applications. While the latter offers a viable strategy, many companies opt not to seek this option for various reasons, thereby foregoing opportunistic profits…aka “Mailbox Money”. 

A prime example of the above: Isomalt®, a proprietary sugar substitute ingredient, was licensed for producing hard candies and cough drops to LifeSavers® and Halls® respectively to avoid self-marketing, earning an upcharge on ingredient sales as well as royalty on its brand name.  

In contrast to the above, Intellectual Property can be created by independent inventors and companies dedicated to developing solutions to problems for a living, declining the opportunity to build a business around a core technology or brand name regardless of the upside. They would rather create, qualify, and file a Patent for the new proposition to seek a qualified Licensee for commercialization.  In some cases, the same IP may offer potential to create multiple revenue streams via selective creativity. 

An example of the above: the proprietary “Thermos” insulation IP historically targeted to out-of-home products found a stronghold within homes via its innovative “Coffee Butler Carafe” leveraging the same technology using decorative serving designs versus the historical utility ‘cylindrical’ format. 

While an enticing opportunity for IP owners for monetary and image enhancement, failure to properly vet and secure well-qualified Licensees with strategically sound business, non-conflicting propositions can result in unforeseen debacles with the potential to erode IP imagery and credibility as well as spawn legal entanglements.    

For more information, see https://bdrinnovate.com/, or contact Bob Oros at bob.oros@bdrinnovate.com 

Before Silicon Valley, The HV

Thomas Watson Sr. (1874-1956), Pioneer of the Digital Age

Born into a small-town farming family, with a modest lumber yard side-business, Tom Watson's future appeared limited.  But, when he declined a paid college education, his entrepreneurial journey began.  Tom’s curiosity turned his early career into an experiment to discover his strengths.  The stops on his quixotic career journey started in Campbell, NY-  teaching, bookkeeping, peddling pianos and organs to farm families, then selling sewing machines door-to-door.  This experiment ended abruptly when his horse, carriage and samples were stolen.  Next came a string of unsuccessful businesses leaving  Tom in Buffalo with no money and no job. He did, however , discover his natural-fit opportunity and future – entrepreneurship. 

Tom finds his footing

Tom Watson’s natural-fit entrepreneurial eureka idea was not IBM.  It was a cash register- the top-of-the-line NCR ‘Cashier’ model purchased for his butcher shop.  In the golden ‘Cashier,’ Tom saw a solution to a market need, innovative technology, scalability, and a business model – his future.  


Tom activated two of his super powers- opportunity awareness and selling Tom Watson.   His goal was to get hired by NCR but it was not a quick sale. Tom deployed another super-power, persistence.   Success came after multiple failed attempts. Eventually, Tom was hired in November 1896 as sales apprentice to John Range.  Mr. Range had sold Watson the golden NCR ‘Cashier’ for his butcher shop.  

On his new job, Tom was a poor salesman and his product was difficult to sell.  The first mechanical cash registers were large- 100 pounds of new, expensive technology replacing a cash drawer.  Mr. Range to the rescue.  He mentored and coached Tom to be NCR’s top salesman on the east coast.  A promotion followed to Branch Manager in Rochester, NY.  Tom had achieved a 10X increase in his income in 10 years.  And found his footing. 

Entrepreneurship meets Financial Engineering 

Tom’s sales management coupled with his builder strength lifted NCR to #1 in retail and office automation.  His management motto THINK became an iconic meme.  And his professional brand as a revenue producing sales executive did not go unnoticed.   

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, Charles Ranlett Flint was practicing the new skill and tool of financial engineering. Consolidation was rebranded in the mid-twentieth century as mergers and acquisitions. His professional brand was “Father of Trusts” (deal maker) and he was the funder and founder of IBM.

1892 was a banner year for Flint, Watson, and a future three-letter computer company.  Like building a ball team, Flint’s focus was on recruiting a bench of talent with significant upside potential.  In this case acquiring and combining the most promising entrepreneurial businesses in the new ‘computer’ category.  Mr. Flint was adept at raising capital, his go-to source was Guarantee Trust. His lineup of companies included: Bundy Manufacturing Company,  International Time Recording Company, Tabulating Machine Company, Computing Scale Company of America. 

Flint’s entrepreneurial insight was what can be measured can be managed and monetized, an idea later popularized by Peter Drucker. The shadow-side of Flint’s entrepreneurial strength was management.  His new business model was in urgent need of a talented leader in the new practice of entrepreneurship – business building. 

Tom Watson and Charles Flint were a natural fit. And Tom was available due to an anti-trust brush with the law. Tom Watson’s brand at CTR was the 1914 version of Lebron James. He was the total sales executive manager and entrepreneur. In today’s media driven business reporting; Watson’s media name would be ‘Top Line Tom’.  In four years, Tom Watson doubled top line revenue to $9 million dollars.   At the time of his death in 1956, top line revenue was $897 million. 

Inventing a smart card - Eureka 

The popular NPR podcast ‘How I built this’ chronicles entrepreneurial business building.  What makes an innovative idea work as a business?  What worked for Flint’s new portfolio of companies was that within each company was a piece of technology for his new business model puzzle. What can be measured can be managed and monetized.

As Steve Jobs liked to say, ‘there’s one more thing’. Flint and Watson discovered inside their new business model, an even richer business model; what can be measured and recorded can be managed and monetized.  

Flint and Watson were one innovation or acquisition away from the prize.  Enter Herman Hollerith, inventor. entrepreneur and founder of the Tabulating Machine Corporation.  The Hollerith punch card was the recording, storage and sorting media for data collected.  Hollerith’s process and system of data management produced a 10X increase in speed and decrease in cost. The marriage of CTR (Flint & Watson) with Hollerith’s TMC gave birth to IBM on June 16, 1911.


IBM  Anthem  (1938)

Our voices swell in admiration;

Of T. J. Watson proudly sing;

He'll ever be our inspiration,

To him our voices loudly ring;

The I.B.M. will sing the praises,

Of him who brought us world acclaim,

As the volume of our chorus raises,

Hail to his honored name.


Watch this space for: 

IBM – Tom Watson discovers The Hudson Valley coming in October.

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 Kristin Backhaus at backhauk@newpaltz.edu