Startups Pitch to Angels iBreakfast Update

August 29, 2007 by jack petrie.

CresaPartners recently cosponsored the 8/15/2007 iBreakfast’s Innovator Evening at 140 Broadway with judges naming MyHound the winning presenter. The presentations were judged by Josh Brotstein of SAS Investors, Thomas Blum of G.C. Andersen Partners, LLC and Rosalind Resnick of Double R Ventures LLC.

SAS Investors - Josh Brotstein
Founded in January 2001, SAS Investors was formed to facilitate the creation and growth of seed- and early-stage technology companies in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island). Located in New York City and backed by Canaan Partners, Rho Capital Partners, and Sevin Rosen Funds, three of the country’s largest and most prominent venture capital firms, SAS Investors is positioned as one of the region’s leading backers and builders of core technology companies.

Prior to co-founding SASI, Josh has developed and operated business units for Fortune 100’s in the media, communications, and financial services industries, specifically heading up the Internet content and commerce efforts for NBC, Citibank, Prodigy, and CNBC.

G.C. Andersen Partners, LLC - Thomas Blum
G.C. Andersen Partners, LLC is a premier, New York City based boutique merchant bank that advises and invests in emerging growth and middle market companies. The firm was founded in 1996 by G. Chris Andersen, a former Vice Chairman of PaineWebber and a former head of the Investment Banking Group at Drexel Burnham Lambert. The six partners, five of whom were senior bankers at Drexel, have an average of over 25 years of investment banking and principal investing experience and have worked together extensively over their careers. During their careers, they have consummated hundreds of transactions, representing over $100 billion in value. To date, G.C. Andersen Partners has made 18 investments totaling approximately $57 million with a realized return of $259 million (unrealized value of $7.4 million) and an IRR of 222%.

Thomas has spent 22 years as an investment banker and an investor in private equity and venture capital opportunities. Before joining G.C. Andersen Partners in 2006, Thomas ran Channel Capital LLC, a firm he founded in 2001 to provide venture capital and financial advisory services to emerging companies. While with Channel Capital, he became an active angel investor, backing eleven companies. Mr. Blum serves on the Board of Directors of Landauer Metropolitan Inc., Supertron Technologies, Inc. and Interactive Frontiers, Inc. He received a BS in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Double R Ventures LLC - Rosalind Resnick
Double R Ventures offers a broad range of advisory, consulting and private equity investing services to startups and emerging businesses. Founded by Rosalind Resnick, one of the Internet’s best-known entrepreneurs and strategists, Double R Ventures seeks to partner with a select group of dynamic companies and individuals to create value on and off the Net.

Rosalind Resnick, a former business and computer journalist who built her Internet marketing company, NetCreations, Inc., from a two-person home-based startup to a public company that generated $58 million in sales, is the Founder and CEO of Axxess Business Centers, Inc., the leader in strategic consulting, business plan development and outsourced financial and marketing services for startups and emerging businesses. She co-founded NetCreations in March 1995 and served as the company’s CEO and President until December 2001, pioneering the concept of 100% Opt-In® email marketing in 1996 and spearheading the company’s successful IPO in 1999. In 1994, Ms. Resnick co-authored The Internet Business Guide and, from 1994 to 1997, served as the editor and publisher of Interactive Publishing Alert, a semi-monthly newsletter tracking trends and developments in online publishing and advertising. Her articles about entrepreneurship and small business regularly appear in Entrepreneur.com, and Rosalind has been a guest lecturer at Harvard, NYU and Pace University business schools. Rosalind received B.A. and M.A. degrees in History from The Johns Hopkins University in 1981. She serves on the board of Do Something, Inc., a New York-based not-for-profit organization that empowers young people to change their world.

MyHound - Ardy Khazaei, President
MyHound.com is a website where users sign up for e-mail notifications of new CD and book releases, concerts, tour dates, and other events related to their favorite artists - from famous rock stars and bestselling authors to indie bands, unknown actors and niche writers. The company’s services are based on the belief that consumers are devoted to their cultural interests and eagerly anticipate news related to their favorite artists.

“MyHound.com’s strategy is to focus on the passions of its users,” said Ardy Khazaei, President of My Hound Media. “They no longer have to worry about missing a new release from a favorite artist or author - MyHound.com will alert them, giving them peace of mind and control over the information that they receive. In addition, our breadth of coverage across entertainment categories gives our users the convenience of a ‘one-stop shop,’ and keeps them coming back for more.”

MyHound.com solves two problems in the cluttered online information environment. First, consumers want relevant, accessible and accurate information about their particular favorite artists- personalized rather than generic or irrelevant. This need is particularly acute in the case of lesser known artists and performers who form the “long tail” of their industries. Second, marketers seek greater accuracy and effectiveness in reaching specific, targeted audiences.

My Hound Media was founded by Ardy Khazaei, a media industry executive with experience in traditional and digital media, as well as management consulting.

Parseon - Rosemary Polsky-Newman, CBO
Parseon Inc. reads through and parses scientific text in specific “verticals” such as life sciences, and promises results almost as good as human indexers, but at a fraction of the cost. Chief Business Officer Rosemary Polsky-Newman got a nod by being asked for her business plan. She says Parseon’s technology uses natural language processing and does things that a generalized search can’t.

ODA Consulting - Roger Dean, President
ODA Consulting is the leading provider of innovative management and technology solutions, with an emphasis on processes and procedures. Founded in 2001 to ensure the reliability and accuracy of television and radio production, integration, and distribution, ODA Consulting has expanded to become a technology solution provider serving a variety of industries, including financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and advertising.

Roger Dean is a strategist who is equally capable of developing technology in response to management visions as he is in executing detailed and complex media projects. His work has involved the design and execution of solutions in New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The most visible example is the huge, block-length LED sign on the front of 745 7th Avenue in New York City, a project that included the associated analog and digital backroom hardware and the coordination of the corporate visual message.

Day:37 LLC - Stuart Ginsberg , Producer & Partner
Stuart Ginsberg began his career in entertainment public relations, publicizing independent films, television specials and Broadway shows. His experience includes film festival strategies, branding, unit publicity and grass roots marketing. His last producing project, Followers, garnered numerous film festival awards and received national distribution by Castle Hill Productions. For the film, Ginsberg raised finishing funds, oversaw marketing and branding and arranged sales meetings. Ginsberg has also produced short films, commercials and industrial videos. Ginsberg was a founding member of the “Back East Picture Show”, a film festival in Hoboken, New Jersey, aimed at helping the independent filmmaker. Previously, he was the Director of Communications for the School of Visual Arts and earned his B.A. from American University in Washington, D.C.Also presenting were television.com, llc - Eric Illowsky/President, Design Buggy - Chris Kincade/CEO and Nonprofit Sponsorship Network - Wendell Minnick, CEO.

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