Doing A Deal: Both Sides

Images thanks to coinpage.com
Registration Open NOW:

“5 Star Forum: How to Value a Company, Do a Deal, and Fit a Company into a VC or Angel’s Portfolio"

(Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors together and almost equally fund almost $50 Billion a year in new companies; with company-friendly Angel investors funding 3x as many companies at earlier stages.)

Whether you are thinking of becoming an Angel Investor, or want to know how to value your company, make it attractive to investors, and complete the deal, this seminar is for you.

Your Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, in association with the TacomaAngel Network (TAN) is pleased to be able bring our members, as an extra benefit of your Chamber membership, this all-day, incredible Deal-doing seminar from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Angel Capital Education Foundation (at a special Chamber member price): Doing the Deal: Term Sheets AND Valuation & Portfolio Strategies; led by fabled Angel Investor and Expert Instructor, Bill Payne.

Included with the course are a full set of expert materials, guide books and cases, to be worked through during the training and also to be taken away with you.

All Tacoma-Pierce Co. Chamber members will receive special pricing. Use this special promotion code and receive special Chamber members’ early-bird pricing of $250 until October 1st. Promotion Code: 2273

But, Seating will be limited, and following October 1st early bird pricing ends, so please book your reservation early at http://www.tacomaangelnetwork.com/ or just follow the links below.

We believe you will find this seminar one of the best you have ever attended.

Click here to view a description of the course.

Click here to register now!

The seminar will be held at the Tacoma Club at 1201 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma WA 98402. Directions and contacts of the facilities and hotels are on the site. The Official Hotel for the seminar is the nearby, new Hotel Murano "with a different glass artist featured on every floor" at a Corporate Rate, as of November 19, of $189, single occupancy (if 10 or more register, the price will drop to $149).

But remember, seating will be limited.

WA Grants for R & D

More than 300 companies have benefited from the RTD grant program. You could be next.

Washington Technology Center awards hundreds of thousands of $s in funding to Washington-based research teams in an effort to help transition great ideas out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.

If you are a Washington technology business looking to partner with an academic or non-profit researcher on a collaborative research endeavor, you may be eligible for a funding award through Washington Technology Center's Research & Technology Development (RTD) grants program. These awards help Washington companies grow faster, create jobs and attract investors by providing the critical funding needed to advance scientific research and product development.

RTD awards pay up to 80% of the cost of research projects -- allowing you to channel your capital to other business growth needs or continue working on breakthrough scientific discoveries. Project teams are eligible to receive up to $100,000 for initial proof-of-concept projects and up to $300,000 total for multi-phase projects.

Washington Technology Center allocates $1 million annually for these grants, which are awarded on a competitive basis to collaborative research teams working on innovative technology projects with strong commercial potential. Washington Technology Center is now accepting proposals for its next round of grants which will be awarded in December, 2008. Projects begin January 1, 2009. But hurry, application deadlines are drawing near. Notice of Intent deadline is September 18 and applications are due October 23.

Free informational meetings will be held throughout Washington state in 2008.

For more information about the RTD Grants Program, visit here. There you will find everything from Fast Facts to Eligibility Criteria to Downloadable Proposal Materials. Or, for additional information, please contact Russell Paez, 206.616.3102.

Economic Impact of Tech Industries

The Technology Alliance has put the finishing touches on its comprehensive report looking at the important contributions of Washington’s tech sector to our state economy.

You may recall TA previewed some of the key findings during their State of Technology Luncheon in May. The final report is rich in data and analysis from Bill Beyers of UW, who has conducted all of TA's economic impact studies since 1997. The report is available as a PDF on their web site.

Greg Huang of the new online innovation news site Xconomy Seattle wrote an article about the report – you can view that here.

International Regions Benchmarking

Susannah Malarkey, reporting about the Technology Alliance's International Regions Benchmarking Consortium offers kudos to their partners, Puget Sound Regional Council and the Trade Development Alliance, and lead sponsors Boeing and Microsoft for their contributions to a very successful inaugural conference in June.

There was an action-packed three days of presentations, panel discussions, site visits and information sharing among the members of our new international learning community: Barcelona; Daejeon; Dublin; Fukuoka; Helsinki; Melbourne; Munich; and Stockholm. Also joining were observers from Scotland, Singapore, and Vancouver, B.C.

Malarkey congratulated Lee Huntsman and Lane Rawlins for providing stellar leadership as conference co-chairs, keeping focused on the goal of forging greater regional understanding and cooperation. Brad Smith addressed the importance of benchmarking as a tool to set goals, measure progress, and identify best practices, while Bill Gates, Sr. joined Malarkey for a keynote conversation about the development of the Puget Sound region over the past several decades into a dynamic, innovation-based economy. Marty Smith served as the official TA delegate; and helping envision the consortium's future.

TA board member Randy Hassler hosted a conversation about location-based strategies to foster innovation at SBRI, and Mark Emmert for participating on a panel regarding the role of universities in promoting innovation. Tom Alberg and Rob Arnold did a wonderful job providing the investor and entrepreneur perspectives during a panel discussion ably moderated by David Tang.

Vaho Rebassoo and Rich White organized a visit to Boeing culminating in a tour of the 787 plant.

The delegates agreed to move forward with the development of benchmarks to help identify best practices and provide tools to measure progress, and Barcelona agreed to host the next conference in 2009. You can read more about the consortium and view conference photos and speaker presentations online.

A Wing and'a Software

Army Times today reported on a miniature F/A-18 fighter that successfully flew in a test of computer control compensation for catastrophic wing failure/damage.

The real story is not that a model fighter jet made a successful flight AND LANDING after having a substantial part on one wing discarded during flight.

But it's heartening that the software technology developed has applications in all aspects of general, commercial and military aviation. This is another DARPA project that has application in the general economy.

FTC to Host Town Hall Meeting to Explore Contactless Payment

The Federal Trade Commission and the Technology Law and Public Policy clinic at the University of Washington Law School will host a one-day Town Hall meeting to explore emerging uses of contactless payment devices and their implications for consumer protection policy.

The Town Hall, entitled “Pay on the Go: Consumers and Contactless Payment, ” follows up on the FTC’s November 2006 forum, “Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-ade,” which examined the key technological and business developments that will shape consumers’ experiences in the coming decade. The Town Hall, which is free and open to the public, will be held July 24, 2008, in Room 133 of the University of Washington School of Law William H. Gates Hall, located at 15th Avenue NE & NE 43rd Street, in Seattle, WA. Directions are available.

Contactless payment devices, which use radio frequency identification (“RFID”) technology to allow consumers to make low dollar-value purchases by holding an RFID-enabled device (such as a smart card, key fob, or mobile phone) in proximity to a reader, are increasingly available in the U.S. The Town Hall will explore the extent to which contactless devices and readers are being deployed domestically and around the world, along with potential benefits and risks to consumers of their use.

The Town Hall will explore consumer protection issues arising from the use of contactless devices and readers in both retail and public transit payment. Topics will include:

An overview of various contactless payment devices;

Consumers’ understanding of contactless payment capabilities and potential risks, and the need for further consumer education;

Security and privacy threats and proposed solutions;

Emerging practices and technologies that may shape the contactless payment marketplace over the coming years.

The Commission staff invites interested parties to submit requests to be panelists and to recommend other topics for discussion. The requests should be submitted electronically to by June 6, 2008. Interested parties should include a statement detailing their expertise on the issues to be addressed at the Town Hall and complete contact information. The Commission will select panelists based on expertise and the need to represent a range of views.

Interested parties may also submit written comments or original research until June 20, 2008. Comments should refer to “Pay on the Go – Comment, Project No. P059106.” To file electronically, follow the instructions and fill out the form. Paper comments should include this reference both in the text and on the envelope, and should be mailed or delivered to the following address:

Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the Secretary, Room H-135 (Annex T),
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, DC 20580.

Comments containing confidential material, however, must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled “Confidential,” and must comply with Commission Rule 4.9(c). The FTC is requesting that any paper comments be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because postal mail to the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions.

There is no pre-registration. Members of the public and press who wish to participate but who cannot attend can view a live Webcast on the FTC’s Web site.

New Alternative Fuel Blend From 1920s

Tacoma, as represented by McChord AFB, made national news with the transcontinental flight of a C-17 Globemaster III from Tacoma via New York to New Jersey.

The flight, on December 17, 2007, marked the 104th anniversary of powered flight. The C-17 became the third airframe to successfully complete test flights on a 50/50 blend of traditional JP-8 jet fuel and synthetic fuel.

The Air Force is the single largest user of aviation fuel in the federal government, using an estimated 3 billion gallons per year. For every $10 increase of a barrel of oil, it costs the Air Force (surrogates for taxpayers) an additional $610 million for fuel. JP-8 is also commonly used on the battlefield by the Army's and Marines' tactical vehicles and generators as well as respective aircraft.

German chemists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch developed the method for converting carbon-based materials into synthetic fuels at the Kaiser Wilhem Institute during the 1920s. By using a number of chemicals and catalysts, they were able to do in a lab what takes the earth millions of years to do with organic matter. The Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process costs an estimated $35-$50 less per barrel than its petroleum counterpart. It also has the potential to burn cleaner than JP-8, reducing combustion-related emissions and particulates in the air.

The next step is to have its entire C-17 fleet certified to use the F-T fuel blend, and all USAF aircraft within the next five years. The C-17 uses the Pratt and Whitney F117-100 engine — is expected to fully covert in early 2008. The F117-100 engine is also widely used by the commercial airline industry on aircraft such as the Boeing 757.