Cleveland, OH – EquityNet sponsored the 19th Annual National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF) Conference, held October 15-17, 2012, in Cleveland, Ohio. EquityNet, a strategic partner of the NASVF, also exhibited and was a featured speaker at the conference.
Over 300 leaders in venture capital, economic development, state-based venture capital organizations, civic leaders, national banks, angel investment groups, and professional service organizations participated in the Conference, which was themed "Leading America's Recovery.” Attendees represented 36 states and 3 foreign countries.
In addition to networking opportunities for attendees to exchange best strategies and tools for building and managing strategic investment programs and institutions, the Conference also provided opportunities for newly-formed organizations to receive the benefit of different viewpoints, while established organizations were able to track new approaches and resources. Participants met with professionals from outside their local networks, making one-on-one contact with specialized practitioners and discussing new methods of facilitating capital formation. Leading fund managers shared insights for raising and investing funds, and institutional investment programs shared criteria for choosing early stage funds.
Leading breakout sessions in the three-day conference offered provided opportunities to focus on topics such as: Best Strategies for Building Strategic Investment Programs; New Methods of Facilitating Capital Formation; The Early Stage Venture Landscape-Post-Presidential Election; and Best Practices for State Investing Programs.
Among the general session speakers featured were Jim Jaffe (NASVF president/CED); John R. Fernandez (Assistant Secretary of Commerce); John R. Fernandez, Economic Development Administration; Mark Muro (Brookings Institution); Cliff Kellogg (State Small Business Credit Initiative, US Department of the Treasury); Paul Ahlstrom (Author of Nail It Then Scale It); and Richard Bendis (Innovation America and author of popular blog Innovation Daily).
Judd Hollas, President/CEO of EquityNet, thanked NASVF for its historical and continuing contributions to entrepreneurship and stated “We were delighted to co-sponsor this conference and to share information on EquityNet’s unique analytical software tools, our independent research offerings, and our growing capital e-marketplace.”