SLP: Investor Event and Startup Showcase/Advice Session

April 7 was a very interesting event with a chance for our panel to provide useful advice to 20 TLP startups and a few selected guests in a mentoring environment, and then follow-up with a broader panel session. A remarkable room full of energy and excitement thanks to a panel of Boston's most prolific early-stage investors, and people extremely well connected to the startup scene here.

Speakers/Panelists/Advisors
Shawn Broderick, Managing Director, Techstars Boston (Moderator)
Todd Hixon, Managing Director, New Atlantic Ventures
Jonathan Lim, Principal, Polaris Ventures & In-charge, Dogpatch Boston
Elon Boms, Director, Launch Capital
Eric Paley, Managing Director, Founders Collective
Chris Sheehan, Managing Director, CommonAngels
Josh Tolkoff, Ironwood Equity

Shawn Broderick, Techstars
A successful entrepreneur, Shawn has spent over a dozen years building Internet companies focused on community, security, and privacy. In 2005 he recognized the need for a company to create a reputation layer for the Internet and founded TrustPlus . Shawn has over 20 years experience in technology firms and cut his teeth hacking on TRS-80s in the early 1980s. In 1996, he founded Genetic Anomalies, the first company to commercialize virtual property on the Internet which went on to sell tens of millions of pieces of virtual property. He has also held positions at THQ Inc., international strategy consultancy Monitor Company, and Feld Technologies. Shawn is an early-stage angel investor in various tech startups, and currently serves as an advisor or director to Speranza Systems, Arcadios, xLr8d Brands, RideOnTime, and TradeVine. He has previously served as advisor or director to Red 5 Studios, CoreStreet, iFactory, DigitalShares, Voxx, Govedo, and Troba. He received his BA in Computer Science from Brandeis University.

Elon S. Boms, Managing Director of LaunchCapital LLC, has led LaunchCapital in making 25 investments across a broad range of industries.  Since co-founding the company in 2008, Elon has developed LaunchCapital’s presence across the US, opening 3 offices located in Boston, New Haven, and San Francisco.Elon joins the Venture Capital community with significant experience in structuring biotech, consumer products and technology deals.  Prior to establishing LaunchCapital, Elon was a Management Consultant at Fidelity Investments where his work focused on strategy initiatives for investments in emerging markets. Elon also worked in Corporate Finance for Citigroup.  He began his career as a brand manager at Georgia Pacific Company’s Dixie Foodservice division.  In this role, Elon assumed responsibility for a $125M business, orchestrated $25M in capital investments and engineered a complete profit turnaround for the paper cup business. Elon earned his M.B.A from the Yale School of Management where he graduated with distinction in Venture Capital and a concentration in Finance and Strategy. Elon completed his B.A. in Economics from George Washington University. Elon is an avid golfer, skier, and gourmet chef. He lives in Boston with his wife Stephanie and dog Bogey.

Todd Hixon, New Atlantic Ventures
Todd invests broadly in information technology businesses, with emphasis on companies that use “deep” technology to create commercial value.  Currently Todd serves on the Board of Directors of GateRocket, MPowerPlayer, Ember, Velox Semiconductor, and EveryScape. Before co-founding New Atlantic Ventures in 2006, Todd was a managing partner of DFJ New England Fund from 2000 to 2006, and previously a Senior Vice President with The Boston Consulting Group, where he managed two venture portfolios, built the Technology and Communications Practice to $100 million of revenue, and managed the firm’s information technology and knowledge management functions. He earned his BA in Physics from Princeton University (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and he holds his MBA from HBS, where he was a Baker Scholar. Todd is married to Pam and has two children and two grand-children.  Favorite non-work activities include summers in Maine, boating, skiing, travel, photography, cooking, and playing with digital toys.

Jonathan Lim, Polaris Ventures & Dogpatch Boston
Jon Lim is a Principal based in our Boston office.  He joined Polaris in 2007 and focuses on early and expansion stage investment opportunities in technology and healthcare. Prior to business school, Jon was an associate with Summit Partners where he was responsible for sourcing and executing various growth equity investments across industries.  Jon worked previously at Medtronic in their cardiac rhythm and disease management business.  Jon also has prior experience conducting research and co-authoring several published materials at Harvard Business School. Jon was part of the investment teams responsible for Polaris’ investments in Egnyte, KISSmetrics, Ocular Therapeutix, Phytel, SustainX, and 1366 Technologies.  Jon is also an active member of the Dogpatch Labs community. Jon is an observer on the boards of Egnyte, Phytel and Ocular Therapeutix. Jon received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his AB, magna cum laude, in East Asian Studies from Harvard College.

Eric Paley, Founders Collective
Eric Paley is a Partner at Founder Collective, an early stage fund started by a team of entrepreneurs that launched companies and led them through successful exits. These founders are focused on helping the next generation of great entrepreneurs build important and lasting businesses.Previously, Eric was the CEO and a co-founder of Brontes, which was acquired in 2006 by 3M Company. Investors in Brontes included David Frankel (Founder Collective), Bain Capital Ventures, Charles River Ventures and Flybridge. Eric is an angel investor in a number of companies including Magazine Radar, Positive Energy, TrialPay and Link Medicine and also served as a senior advisor to Flybridge.Eric was also co-founder and CEO of Abstract Edge, a web application and marketing company in New York. Eric holds degrees from Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School.

Chris Sheehan, CommonAngels
Chris is a managing director of CommonAngels, joining the group in 2005, and is currently either a board member or observer at Carbonite, Outside the Classroom, Most Effective Media, Xconomy and GateRocket. Within CommonAngels, Chris manages deal flow, due diligence and the investment process. He also guides the group's strategic direction and works closely with portfolio companies. He is also a managing director of the group’s two $10M venture funds.Previously, Chris founded Newburyport Partners, a consulting firm that works with investors and their portfolio companies. Chris also served as a venture partner at Industry Ventures where he was actively involved in the acquisition and management of secondary venture investment portfolios. Prior to starting Newburyport Partners, Chris was a Director of Corporate Development for BEA Systems, a leading enterprise software company with over $1B in sales. At BEA, he was a key member of the corporate team responsible for all venture capital investing and M&A activity. He was also part of the executive team for one of the company's product divisions. Prior to BEA, Chris led the private equity practice for the Cambridge based research firm, Stax Inc. Chris also spent six years with the top ranked investment bank in Australia. He started his career as an equity analyst focusing on the oil and gas sector. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Josh Tolkoff, Ironwood Equity
Josh has thirty-five years of in-depth management experience in research, development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and general management of medical device companies.  He is a member of the equity fund investment committee. Josh started his career as the Vice President of Research and Development for Medi-Tech, which became Boston Scientific, and helped grow that company from 20 to 500 employees. Josh then went on to start two of his own companies. From 2000 to 2003, he served as a partner of Seedling Enterprises, a medical device incubator that developed early stage device concepts to the point of commercialization. Josh is a graduate of Harvard College and holds an M.S. in Biomechanics from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.