Champions of Innovation

What venture capitalists are looking for is often different from what entrepreneurs think they are looking for.

This is the core lesson that Tim Danford, entrepreneur, product manager, and former venture capitalist, brought to campus in an exclusive event for young leaders. On April 20 and 21, the workshop, “Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists: An Insider’s View,“ explored the venture business model, in order to help entrepreneurs bridge gaps in in their knowledge of funding. According to Danford, growing a company and securing funding take differing skillsets that entrepreneurs often lack, which puts them at a disadvantage when it’s time to take their company to the next level.

Tim has been an investor and entrepreneur for more than 15 years; his first startup was based on the early Alex Hills’ project, Andrew Wi-Fi. He was on the Corporate Development team at Cisco Systems and started a few venture-backed companies as a co-founder and incubation/seed investor. He had fiduciary responsibility for multiple funds as a managing director and partner, and is currently the New Product Deployment Lead for the Facebook Connectivity Lab.

Danford summarizes his experience with ETIM executive director Jimmy Williams in an interview.