STARs 2009 Technology Innovation Conference
Post Conference Story
SATAI STARs Conference Focused on Needs of Technology and Bio-Health Entrepreneurs
By Analisa Nazareno
Matt Atwood had 90 seconds to sell 300 of his peers on his products and ideas during the elevator pitch contest at the SATAI STARs Technology Innovation Conference last month. He may have won them over in the first 10 seconds.
“The year 2007 offered a new survey that said 54.6 percent of the U.S. population has allergies. How many of that would include you people here?” Atwood asked. “A lot – especially here in San Antonio, which is ranked No. 2 behind Austin, just beyond our Hill Country.”
Atwood was offering relief from allergies. And the audience of South and Central Texas technology advocates was buying it. Atwood bested 20 other fast pitchers seeking more than $12,000 in prizes geared toward entrepreneurs in the start-up phase of their business. Those prizes included a 50 percent discount on a year of office rental at Brooks City-Base, corporate formation documentation from the law firm Jackson Walker L.L.P., consultation with the strategic marketing and business growth consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, a gift card from Frost Bank, a subscription to Fast Company, $500 from SATAI, and a private meeting with a venture capitalist firm.
“Every single one of these things, I can use,” Atwood said. “We’re actually getting ready to move right now and I didn’t know where I was going to move to. And now I know I’m moving to Brooks City Base.”
Atwood said he was in the process of shifting his business, IMedical Concepts, from a limited liability company, to a corporation and could use the legal services from Jackson Walker, as well as the strategic advice of Frost & Sullivan.
“And Fast Company, that’s the cover of the magazine that I want to be on within two years,” Atwood said.
“All this stuff is going to be beneficial,” Atwood said. “It’s perfect. This is great timing.”
And while the prizes offered him a bit of a financial boost, he said it also gives him much-needed encouragement as he nurtures his fledgling business.
Like many entrepreneurs, Atwood has faith in his ideas and his products – in his case, immunotherapy allergy treatment through daily drops underneath the tongue versus conventional shots at the allergist’s office.
But also like others struggling to keep their startups afloat, his faith has been tested daily as he and his partners continue to invest several thousands of dollars into the business and his family has had to forgo income he once brought home through employment.
“It’s funny, because two months ago, I was ready to quit,” he said. “It’s been almost a year that we’ve been without my paycheck and my wife has had to withstand the majority of the financial responsibility.”
Getting past the first few years – when a business operates in debt and requires a substantial investment of time and money – is most often a great challenge for many entrepreneurs.
“For somebody that may be not seeing a lot of their efforts turning into success, it’s persistence,” said Steve Lutz, a marketing executive director with AT&T and SATAI’s board chairman. “And maybe through his ability to persevere, he’ll start to see some light at the end of the tunnel.”
While SATAI has organized seminars to help technology entrepreneurs learn about commercialization, marketing, regulations, patenting, and doing presentations for venture capitalists, this was the first year that the organization designed an all-day technology innovation conference with sessions on all these topics.
It was done to help entrepreneurs like Atwood get past those first few years and bring their ideas and inventions to the market. This was the second year that SATAI organized the elevator pitch contest, intended to help entrepreneurs learn to focus on how they market their products and ideas.
“Even the folks who did the elevator pitch and did not win should be encouraged by this because they get exposure,” Lutz said. “It’s the perfect forum for people to get their ideas out and to network. And so, I would say even they came out winners today, too.”
More than 300 entrepreneurs, inventors, investors, students, and professors attended the STARs conference, held at the Sky Room at the University of Incarnate Word on October 27.
“I would like to think that those who are entrepreneurs and inventors, maybe students who are looking to have one of their great ideas come to fruition, I was hoping that maybe this would teach them the process,” Lutz said. “In addition, I was hoping that the angel investors and venture capitalists would get reenergized to the fact that there is a lot of opportunity out there.”
At the STARs conference, Rackspace co-founder Pat Condon and CEO A. Lanham Napier talked about how they nurtured the company from a three-person startup a dozen years ago into a publicly traded, global IT hosting corporation that generates $579 million in annual revenue.
Astronaut John Blaha talked about his five missions as a NASA pilot, commander, and scientist during the lunch keynote. He also discussed what he knew about the future of NASA space flight and funding. Blaha said that NASA needed $3 billion more a year in order to continue adequately operating its space flight program.
Additionally, experts from the Food and Drug Administration, the AT&T technical staff, law firms, and venture capitalist firms spoke on different topics, including regulation, innovation, patenting, and the current climate for investing.
Jim Graham, a senior associate at Santé Ventures – a venture capitalist firm specializing in early-stage life science and healthcare companies – spoke during one of the break-out sessions. He told his audience that when he evaluates a firm, the three main issues he’s examining are capital efficiency, the expertise of the team, and whether there is substantial market demand for the products a startup is offering.
“In health science and health care, it’s easy to spend $60 million and have nothing to show for it,” Graham said. “We want to know that you can take our $15 to $20 million and have a product in a year or two.”
Tanay Sengar attended the STARs conference after his banker recommended registering for the conference. Sengar is in the earliest stages of launching a workforce management company called Talget.
“SATAI has been a good place to come to see what’s happening from the venture and angel (investor) standpoint,” Sengar said. “To see some real time ventures talk about these issues has definitely been helpful.”
At the conference, SATAI also honored individuals and companies that have contributed significantly to the advancement of the technology sector in San Antonio. This year’s honorees were:
AT&T STARs Technology Hero: J. Dan Bates, the president for Southwest Research Institute;
Science and Technology Hall of Fame winners:
Michael A. Fischer, founder and president of CHILD Systems, Inc.,
Nancy and Frank Kudla, co-founders of dNovus RDI, Inc.,
Dr. Larry J. Miller, founder and chairman of Vidacare, Corp.;
and Technology Super Stars: GlobalSCAPE, NewTek, and P3S Corporation.
