I recently attended the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association’s annually sponsored event, The Capital Connection ’08 in Baltimore, Maryland. Netcordia was one of 33 companies selected from over 200 in the region to present at this annual event attended by the who’s who of venture capitalist, investment bankers, trade press, law firms and other service providers. In all over 600 people attended the two day conference.
I was given eight minutes to present our company and tell the Netcordia story to an audience of around 150 investors, with a timed clock and a buzzer at the eight minute mark. I finished with 1 second on the clock and felt like I just hit the winning shot at a NBA final.
The local exposure generated in the in the Mid-Atlantic region for the company was invaluable to elevate our profile for potential investors and trade press, as well as being a show case event to form new relationships through networking.
Investing in high tech companies is more art form than science as entrepreneurs’ and investors consider partnering to fuel acceleration of development and revenue growth to turn a new idea into the next great company. Investors are looking to match capital requirements at each stage of growth; early, expansion and late with value-added guidance to help the companies succeed in the market chosen as well as ultimately find liquidity in public markets or acquisition. Only the companies with great ideas, proven management teams or both are typically offered capital from the venture community. No life-style entrepreneurs need apply as only those seeking to create or lead a market are typically funded.
During the four years that Netcordia has shipped its award winning NetMRI , the company has a 100% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) with over 250 customers in a dozen countries. Venture capital has helped accelerate this growth, build a great team of employees, help our customers run better networks and sleep well at night knowing we’re monitoring change or fault in their network.
We appreciate the support of our customers as we continue to grow our business and invest in new innovation that is useful.
Cheers, Don