Business Plan Forums

“The VC conference at Big Sky helped me a lot in the fact that I could learn what it takes to get funding at any level."

In its third year as a contestent, Vector Surgical, an Oconomowoc business that is developing new medical instruments to improve breast cancer surgery, is the winner of the 2007 Governor’s Business Plan Contest.

We are in the process of recruiting sponsors and presenting companies for what is lining up to be the best venture conference in the region.

The entrepreneurs know they have a lot at stake. A business they’ve dedicated a couple of years of their lives to will live or die on funding.

But they can be overconfident with their pitches.

This is a must attend for any company in the Inland Northwest seeking venture funding.

Crabtree’s smooth investment pitch — more polished than some from those twice his age at the conference — won him converts.

"And the sales pitch is half the battle. It forces you to articulate it in the way the common public can understand it. Even if you’ve got the best business model or idea, if you can’t articulate it to the constituency of people you need, then what good is the idea?"

Most importantly, he said, the valley does not want to be exporting solutions as much as it wants to help find and nurture homegrown solutions.

Investors looking for the region’s hottest companies as well as entrepreneurs looking for insights into how to present to investor audiences should attend the Midwest Venture Summit on November 1, 2006

The 2006 Bend Venture Conference is proud to announce the finalists who will be presenting at this year’s event. Six companies from around the region have been chosen to showcase their business to a panel of angel investors.