SUPPORTING ARTICLES
Conference plays matchmaker between area entrepreneurs, investors Jason Gertzen, BioBiz, The Kansas City Star, September 9, 2008
WICHITA | Kansas entrepreneurs touted potential blockbuster drugs, revolutionary advances and other big ideas as they sought help last week to advance their companies.
"Our technology has the capability of changing the way HIV is treated," said Jim Laufenberg, president and chief executive officer of ImmunoGenetix Therapeutics, a Lenexa biotechnology company.
Laufenberg was among 11 leaders of fledgling businesses from the region who made pitches to investors at the fifth annual Great Plains Capital Conference in Wichita.
Rarely does an entrepreneur at these events conclude his 12-minute spiel and then walk immediately into the audience to collect a check.
That’s just not how it works.
Follow-up conversations, however, with wealthy individuals known as angel investors or venture capitalists could prove to be lucrative based on the success of past presenters at this investment conference.
More than two dozen companies have raised some $70 million in recent years, said Trish Brasted, president and chief executive officer of Wichita Technology Corp.
"We are trying to match up those who have the money with those who need it," Brasted said.
The cash being sought this year by such companies as ImmunoGenetix, Professional Engineering Corp. of Lenexa, AthletixNation of Olathe, NeuroVision of Lawrence and TalentSecure of Overland Park is critically important.
It is the money that will determine whether the companies are able to refine technology, develop new products, pursue additional markets, expand sales efforts and bring on additional experienced executives.
In Wichita, many of the companies were seeking a few hundred thousand dollars or maybe a million dollars or two. In the world of high-tech ventures, that’s not necessarily a towering mound of cash.
But it is highly meaningful money.
The entrepreneurs who obtain the financial backing — and use it well — can move their companies ahead. They must prove to other investors that they have the innovative ideas and the ability to create a thriving business.
Then venture capitalists, who pump in $5 million, $10 million or more, can transform a venture that starts in someone’s basement or a local business incubator’s back office into a high-impact contributor to the regional economy.
Brasted has spent years shepherding companies through this transformation. In addition to the business-assistance group she leads, she has helped organize regional angel investors and regularly mentors entrepreneurs.
She has a stake in whether the technology economy thrives in this region. Brasted makes the case, though, that so does every resident of this region, even if their most frequent brush with high technology involves little more than booting up a home computer to check e-mail.
The types of companies that present at this capital conference, InvestMidwest and similar forums offer some of the greatest promise for producing fast growth and high-paying jobs in the future.
"I’m a Kansan, and I want Kansas to be a place where my teenaged daughters want to stay to live and work," Brasted said.
The Wichita event is doing more than serving as matchmaker for entrepreneurs and investors.
Members of the Kansas Legislature, officials with KansasBio, the Kansas Bioscience Authority, the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. and other business leaders gathered at the event
This year’s participants in the enterprise corporation’s Pipeline entrepreneurial fellowship program and several members of the 2007 group also attended.
It is helpful to bring everyone in the region under one roof, providing a chance to showcase emerging companies, assistance initiatives and other efforts intended to advance the economy, said Joni Cobb, president of the Pipeline program.
"We have a lot of new innovative programs," Cobb said. "We want to make it clear what is available and how you can fit in."
Clint Everton is a technology entrepreneur who started his first company in Wichita. In the 1990s the former Wichita State University student created Knowledge Communications, a company specializing in computer-based corporate training.
Everton eventually sold the business and now lives in Arizona, where he has started a new technology venture.
The region has come a long way in recent yeas, Everton said. Activity among angel investors, entrepreneurial development programs and other efforts are encouraging signs.
More entrepreneurs should find it easier to succeed with a startup and then sell it to a larger company or take other actions to reward their initial investors. Then the idea is for the entrepreneurs to start new businesses or assist others.
"I think you finally have the infrastructure to take a deal from concept to exit," Everton said.
