SEAS Hosts the CET2C Kick-off Event

Sixty-five local alumni, investors, and others turned out on September 7, 2006, for the GW Angels and CET2C workshop and reception, the kick-off event to mark the official announcement of CET2C, the Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer and Commercialization.

SEAS established the Council to help foster the School's entrepreneurial environment and to build opportunities for our alumni to create and fund area start-ups based on SEAS and federal lab technologies. At the kick-off event, the School hosted a workshop on venture capital and angel investing, led by regional experts and members of CET2C, to teach alumni about the basics of angel investing and the important role that angel investors play in helping start-up companies succeed.

A number of local and regional investors and others were invited speakers at the workshop. "We are committed to the angel industry," said David S. Rose, chairman of New York Angels and a speaker at the event, "and the whole industry works better as more people enter it. I'm happy to see that GW is launching an angel group, and all of us really hope to see the group develop."

"We're very impressed with the efforts of SEAS to increase the flow of capital into the region," said Toby Moskovits, the managing director at Cammeby's Capital Group and a speaker at the workshop. "SEAS is positioning itself as a key player in this eco-system of entrepreneurship, angel investing, and commercialization in the Mid-Atlantic region, and we look forward to working with Dean Tong and Tony Stanco [the CET2C director] in these efforts."

Participants at the workshop included venture capitalists and angel investors, entrepreneurs and heads of start-up companies, and representatives from federal laboratories and economic growth agencies. Alumnus John O'Brien (MEA '78) said that he attended to gain a better understanding about the motives and objectives of angel investors. "The workshop had four different types of entrepreneurial participants: First Dollar Financiers, represented by governmental agencies who wish to stimulate business within state borders; angel investors; super angels investors; and venture capitalists. It was enlightening to see these panel members discuss how they approach financing startups," said O'Brien.

After receiving feed back on the reception, Dean Timothy Tong stated, "I'm very pleased with the success of our workshop and reception. We created CET2C both to build a SEAS-based entrepreneurial community that can generate start-ups, and to provide opportunities for alumni to engage as advisors, entrepreneurs, and investors in our efforts here at SEAS. I think this event helped put us on the path toward these goals."