Join CVG, CTNEXT and The Grid for a summer social at The Grove's new Chapel Street space in New Haven on Thursday, July 11. Check out the state-of-the-art facilities with a tour led by, Derek Koch, CTNEXT New Haven Hub Manager and successful business leader. Derek will explain in-depth the role of The Grove in CT entrepreneurial success.  Following the tour, attendees will hear a panel discussion addressing the current state of startup and seed capital in the region.  Finally, relax and network over special summer food and drink.

The Grove is a one-stop-shop for resources and programs including coaching, service providers, connections to capital, diagnostics, mentors, and modest funding to overcome innovation challenges. The Grove has partnered with CTNEXT, a network that provides startups and stage 2 companies with an access point to a community of seasoned entrepreneurs, mentors, service providers, designers, developers, scientists, dreamers and doers that know how to help entrepreneurs succeed.

Special Guests
        
Konstantine Drakonakis is the New Haven Director at Launch Capital.  He is an experienced early stage investor focused on proprietary technologies in the tri-state NY region. As an "Entrepreneurial Engineer", Konstantine gravitates to technology companies within the software, med-tech and green-tech markets.

Ned Gannon is CEO of eBrevia, a startup commercializing artificial intelligence technology developed at Columbia to analyze legal documents.  eBrevia was one of four national winners in the Startup America DEMO Competition, one of CIO.com’s top ten enterprise products at the DEMO conference, and received the CTC’s Most Promising Software Product of the Year award.  Previously, Ned practiced corporate law.  Ned holds a law degree and MPA from Harvard and a BS from Boston College.

Derek Koch is the Founder/CEO of Independent Software, a product development company whose mission is to build the tools and community programs entrepreneurs need. Derek's career spans a series of successful companies leveraging technology to improve performance, both at small startups and large corporations like GE Capital and Bottomline Technologies. He currently serves as a global facilitator for Startup Weekend, a member of the CTNext/Grid New Haven team, and a board member of CVG New Haven. Derek holds a black belt in Taekwondo, a B.A. from the University of Chicago, and an M.B.A. from Northwestern's Kellogg School.

Gregg Lallier is a Partner at Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, P.C. His practice primarily focuses within the hi-tech and venture capital industries.  Gregg has represented both mature and emerging growth companies in a variety of hi-tech enterprises, including software, e-commerce, information technology, clean technology, and health care services and equipment.  He also regularly represents angel, venture capital and other institutional investors. Gregg received his J.D. from the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia, and his B.S., magna cum laude, from Boston College.

Chris Penner is a Director of Investments at Connecticut Innovations. He is responsible for sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, structuring new investments and advising portfolio companies.  Chris has considerable experience working at, starting, managing and mentoring several startup companies, primarily in the IT sector. Chris has held executive leadership roles at Deviant Technologies, Barracuda Networks and REMOTV. He has led teams and launched products in several technology segments including security, communication, compliance, network management and architecture, digital media, and mobile applications. Most recently he served as the director of the Arrowhead Technology Incubator at New Mexico State University, assisting growing companies and evaluating intellectual property for the University and Los Alamos National Labs.

Register Now!

If you cannot attend, a refund request must be made (860-289-0878 x344 or events@cvg.org) at least 72 hours before the event. No refunds after 72 hours, but you may transfer your registration to another individual.