It’s always fun when more people decide to join, so if you’re an entrepreneur, shoot us an email, we’d love to meet you.

                          

Boardman Law Firm is one of the largest firms here in town and we’re really happy to be able to add them to our list of sponsors.  From their site:

Boardman, Suhr, Curry & Field LLP, also known as Boardman Law Firm, is one of the largest and most highly regarded law firms headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. We offer a wide range of legal services, providing full service to both businesses and individuals.

Our roots date back to 1881. Our founders believed that the practice of law is a noble profession, and that belief still informs everything we do today.

While we respect our history, we have also evolved with the times. Today, we offer legal services that are completely up-to-date, in keeping with our complex and ever-changing legal environment.

                          

Most people associate Wisconsin with cheese and beer, but you should think about adding startups to that list. Led by a tidal wave of mostly young entrepreneurs, Madison, Wisconsin is staking a claim as the startup capital of the Midwest. Madison was recently ranked as the 7th most innovative city in the country by Forbes magazine – just above perennial powerhouse Boston, MA.

Several key organizations are driving the growing startup community. Capital Entrepreneurs is a group of over 56 companies that meet on a regular basis to help founders network and develop connections. MERLIN Mentors provides free mentoring services to new startups. Applicants are assigned a team of experienced entrepreneurs who help founders navigate many of the challenges facing a new company. These groups, along with the University of Wisconsin, are fostering a great culture for new startups.

                          

Entrustet, PerBlue, GoBuzz, GeoHuddle, Door-6, Student Spill, Y-Innovation, Sector 67, Hardin Design and Development and Badger Trips were among the companies in attendance representing Capital Entrepreneurs.

                          

To jump start our 2nd year, we’re starting the Capital Entrepreneurs Angel List.  The CE Angel List is based off of Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi’s extremely successful Venture Hacks Angel List.  The VH Angel List pairs startups looking for capital with angel investors who are looking for cool startups to fund.

The CE list works like this:

1. Capital Entrepreneur member companies that want to raise money submit 1 page summaries that include information about the business, management team, how much money they are seeking, valuation and basic financial models.
2. Nathan Lustig and other CE members read over the pitches, suggest edits and vet them for content and readability.
3. CE sends an email out to the accredited investors in the CE Angel List with the CE member’s pitch.
4. Angel investors read over the pitches and if they are interested in more information or pursuing investment, they email CE and CE makes the introduction.
5. The startup founder and the potential angel investor take it from there.

We believe that the Angel List has the potential to bridge the gap between interested investors and startups that are seeking Wisconsin capital.  If you are interested in being on the Angel List and you are an accredited investor, please contact us via our form and we will put you on the list.

                          

An Energy Seal is a sticker made from recycled aluminium that represents a carbon offset for a computer. Each Energy Seal symbolizes that renewable energy sources have produced an equal amount of energy used by a single computer over the course of its lifetime. The Energy Seal is then placed on the outside of a computer to show support for clean energy.

Powered Green is an environmental start-up based in Madison, WI, founded by two recent UW – Madison graduates. Their efforts support the development of new wind projects across the country through the sale of Powered Green gear. Each product stands as a way to generate awareness and support for renewable energy on an individual basis. Their efforts in less than a year have already stopped over 1,000 tons of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere.

                          

According to the US Census Bureau and the Kauffman Foundation, start-ups and businesses less than five years old created all of the net new jobs over the last 25 years. Over that time, angel investors were responsible for up to 90 percent of the funding these businesses received. This angel funding allowed these firms to grow and create jobs. In 2008, angels invested $19.2 billion in over 55,000 companies.

Now what exactly are angel investors? These are high net worth individuals who invest their own money in start-ups and small businesses. Angels provide the necessary investments many small businesses need. These are not investments in trading risky derivatives (which do not provide a value add to anything), but rather they contribute directly to innovation and job growth. By the current definition, an accredited angel investor must have a net worth of at least $1 million. The RAFSA2010 bill would raise the net worth requirement to $2.3 million. This would eliminate at least 2/3 of all current angel investors.

In addition to greatly shrinking the number of angel investors, the RAFSA2010 bill would make it more difficult for the remaining angel investors to invest by introducing new regulations and barriers. These barriers will complicate and delay investments by requiring a 120 day waiting period for investments to potentially be reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as make it difficult to raise money from angels in different states.

This will greatly hamper the creation of new businesses, and ultimately reduce the creation of new jobs by potentially 60%. In addition to making it more difficult to start a business, current entrepreneurs would also have a more difficult time finding new sources of funding, resulting in more possible business and job losses. These businesses need this capital to grow and create jobs, and without it, many will fail.

I wrote a post following up on my personal blog as well called Brilliant Idea: Make It Harder For Startups To Raise Money.  Capital Entrepreneurs is against this portion of the bill.  It will be disastrous for CE members and the economy as a whole.

                          

Gregory Lynch of Michael Best and Friedrich is one of the top entrepreneurship lawyers in Madison and is Capital Entrepreneurs main point of contact.  Lynch and other Michael Best attorneys have a strong history of helping startups with legal advice and business services.  Check out their website here.

There are still 10 more sponsorship opportunities left for 2010, so if other Madison service providers are interested, please contact us.