NEXT STEPS FOR PSW ALUMNI
For our PSW Alumni, particularly university spin-outs, we always recommend that your first stop to discuss next steps should be your on-campus Technology Transfer Office. Also, your on-campus business school professors and librarians can be a great source for assistance. You might have NYS Centers of Excellence (CoEs) and Centers for Advanced Technology (CATs) associated with your university. They generally have Directors of Business Development who are knowledgable about start-ups. Please tap into these valuable resources.
Beyond your local campus, we recommend the following ….
Investor Forums for Seed and Early Stage Companies
For PSW Alumni that plan to press forward with their business concepts, we highly recommend participating in venture forums where emerging companies have 10 minutes to pitch their ideas to VCs and Angels.
- UNYTECH / Smart Start Venture Forum
- Young Start-up Ventures
- Long Island Capital Alliance – LI / NY Metro Capital Forum
Business Plan Competitions
Another excellent next step is to participate in business plan competitions. Every community has at least one annual event. They generally all occur in the April – May timeframe:
- Panasci Business Plan Competition -- Buffalo
- Rochester Regional Business Plan Competition - Rochester
- Johnson School Idea Competition - Ithaca
- $100,000 Emerging Business Competition, sponsored by the MDA in Syracuse
- Tech Valley Business Plan Competition -Albany
- Tech Valley Collegiate Business Plan Competition – sponsored by RPI
- DARE Business Plan Competition - Stony Brook, Long Island
Industry Cluster Organizations & Conferences
Getting involved in various clusters organizations and attending their annual conferences is a great way to network and stay up-to-date with your industry.
Angel Funding
There are several Angel Investor Networks across New York State, which invest in seed and early stage companies:
- Western NY Venture Association
- Rochester Angel Network
- Seed Capital Fund of Central New York
- Tech Valley Angels
- New York Angels
- Tri-State Private Investors
- Long Island Angel Network
SBIR Assistance
Small Business Innovation Research Grants from the Federal government are an excellent way to help fund pre-seed, seed, and early stage companies. Every community has experts who can assist you with the application process:
- Jack McGowan, Insyte Consulting - Buffalo
- Rami Katz, HTR - Rochester
- Susi Varvayanis, CLSE – Ithaca
- Marcie Sonneborn, TDO – Syracuse
- Peter Pritchard, CEG – Albany
- Frank Madison, ITAC - NYC
- Anil Dhundale, LIHTI - Long Island
Other Sources of Seed Capital
- NYSERDA – for energy companies
- Excell Partners
- NYSeed
- Western NY Business Development Fund (BDF)
- MDA Grants for Growth
- UB CAT in Bioinformatics
- Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA)
Incubators
- UB Technology Incubator - Buffalo
- Lennox Tech Center – Rochester
- The Tech Garden – Syracuse
- Watervliet Innovation Center - Albany
- Union College U-Start - Schenectady
- East River Science Park – NYC
- Brooklyn BioBAT - NYC
- Long Island High Tech Incubator (LIHTI) – Stony Brook
- General information, Business Incubator Association of New York State (BIANYS)
Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)
- For centers in your regions, click here.
Regional Technology Development Centers
- Insyte Consulting – Buffalo
- High Tech of Rochester (HTR) - Rochester
- Technology Development Organization (TDO) - Syracuse
- Alliance for Manufacturing and Technology (AM&T) – Binghamton
- Center for Economic Growth (CEG) – Albany
- Industrial and Technology Assistance Corporation (ITAC) – NYC
- Long Island Technology Forum (LIFT)
Economic Development Organizations:
- Buffalo Niagara Enterprise (BNE) - Buffalo
- Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE) - Rochester
- Metropolitan Development Agency (MDA) – Syracuse
- Center for Economic Growth (CEG) – Albany
- Stony Brook Office of Economic Development – Long Island
- Suffolk County Economic Development – Long Island
Helpful Handbooks
- The LMWF and BNE Field Guide for Starting and Growing a Life Science Business in Buffalo Niagara
- Legal Handbook for Early Stage Business, Albany Law School, Center for Law and Innovation (available shortly)
White Papers
- Before the Negotiations: What Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Seed and Early Stage Venture Capital
- The Start-Up Company Map: Understanding the Language of Entrepreneurship and the Path Forward
- Do You Have an Investable Business Case?: Your Story Versus What VCs Really Want to Hear
- Papers on venture and seed funding in NYS can be downloaded at www.seedny.org