Five Questions With: Annette Reynolds

ANNETTE REYNOLDS / COURTESY ANNETTE REYNOLDS
ANNETTE REYNOLDS / COURTESY ANNETTE REYNOLDS

Modeled after the “Shark Tank” television program, the third annual Piranha Pond Pitch Party on the South Coast will be held Sept. 10 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth Library. Annette Reynolds, executive director of the 128 Innovation Capital Group, oversees the competition and talked to Providence Business News in advance of the event.
She described the Piranha Pond program as a partnership between the Southern New England Entrepreneurs Forum and 128 Innovation Capital Group. Entrepreneurs seeking funding have a five-minute opportunity to convince an investor panel to give them the money for their start-up, which must have either revenue or a working prototype. The event is open to the public; admission is $35. Investors from groups including Inex Advisors, Golden Seeds and Cherrystone Angels are expected to attend.

PBN: How do you market the pitch party?
REYNOLDS:
[Through the] use of my database and social media including entrepreneurial listservers, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. [There is also] marketing by co-participant organizations such as SNEEF [Southern New England Entrepreneurs Forum].

PBN: How many entrepreneurs do you usually attract who want to make pitches? Who will be presenting?
REYNOLDS:
There are eight presentation slots available. [We] usually have between 15 and 40 applicants.
PBN: Can you name a company that went through this process and has had success?
REYNOLDS:
Jacqueline Thong, from Ubiqi Health, which is a mobile personal delivery platform that helps those with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and migraine headaches, and Kimberly Jung, Rumi Spice, which provides access to premium quality, fairly traded and sourced saffron directly from Afghan farmers.

PBN: Tell me about how you try and match entrepreneurs to investors.
REYNOLDS:
Investors have specific requirements for companies they consider. The overriding consideration is the ability to multiply their investment significantly within a few years. Every investor usually has a specific industry or business focus they invest in (e.g., Mass Medical Angels focuses on medical/bio/pharma/ med device type companies. Golden Angels requires a female owner or senior manager). Companies they fit into an investor’s area of expertise are more likely to be selected to present.

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PBN: Where do you see this event in five years?
REYNOLDS:
The current event format works well. If there were greater interest, they would occur more frequently – perhaps monthly. There would also be more programming focused on the basic skills needed to attract institutional investment. This past spring I ran a full day Investment Boot Camp in conjunction with the Enterprise Center at Salem State University, with another one planned in Fall River early next year (in conjunction with the MA Small Business Development Center). We’ve also had programs on Perfecting Your Pitch.

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