If you are looking for funding, be prepared
1116_ 11/28/11 - For those of you who don't know Russ Farmer, he is a national expert on SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and that's both grants as well as contracts. He also works with universities and that's STTR, a similar program. Russ is also the founder and president of PBC, Inc. and he's helped many companies get started. With the economic challenges we've been face with over the recent past we've asked Russ to shed some light on raising money, the right way. Russ likes to refer to it as a game that they play. He views all business as a very exciting, complex game and learning more about the game always makes you a better player. "In conjunction with that", Russ said, "we've observed the company out seeking funds will present to a number of companies/investors and typically will come down to a single investor. They get very friendly, talk back and forth, and the investor leads the company to believe that very quickly they're going to issue a term sheet. Once they've established a position of being the only investor - they continue to lead the company on." The company diminishes their cash to the point where they become very desperate for money. The more desperate the company becomes the less value they have and the portion of that company the investor will get becomes greater. From a small business or entrepreneur's standpoint, whose out raising money, there is a valuable less here that you can learn... Number one, you need to start very early on in the process, six to nine months of looking for an investor is not nearly long enough. You're not going to be able to get the kind of attraction, or be able to develop the relationships you need to have to get multiple people involved. What you really want to play to is having two investors independently... Russ offers more valuable advice to help you maximize your opportunity to create good value for the founding share holders and keep the game on an even keel...listen, there's more detail...
Related Links: PBC, Inc || SBIR Link || ADA Technologies || SBIR - Getting Prepared || Commercialization Channel || Keywords: Russ Farmer, Commercialization, SBIR, STTR, PBC, Government Regulations, Funding, Investors, Small Business, Entrepreneur, Grants, Contracts - bytes=6466145
LISTEN TO:Russ Farmer - Seeking Funds-Be Prepared

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790_ 2/15/10 Funding for innovative research
Russ Farmer is the founder and president of PBC, Inc. They are leading national experts in the SBIR program. Russ gives us an update about the state of the SBIR program. "SBIR stands for 'Small Business Innovation Research', it is a federally funded program that provides for over $2 billion funding for early stage, high risk research for small businesses. And companies in Colorado have historically received $80 - $100 Million, in any given year, from this program to develop products and to grow their companies." Larry asked, "With all of the economic churning that we've been going through how does SBIR come into the picture?" "There's a general perception that funding for small business is drying up. Fortunately, the R&D being funded by the federal government has not dried up at all, and as a matter of fact continues to be very strong. The legislative mandate from Congress is that 2.5% of all of that government funded research should be set aside for the SBIR program and that equates to about $2 Billion and that continues to be very strong. Originally the program funded innovative research, which was the name of the program. Congress got concerned that there's not commercialization going on with all of this technology. What's happening now? We are seeing a couple of things; One is recent legislation (2000) Congress mandated that commercialization of the technology being a valuation criteria for the award of this money. So they started using commercialization in terms of..." Listen for more as Russ shares additional details.
Related Links: PBC Home Page || SBIR Sources of Information || Commercialization Channel || Mastering Change || Keywords: Russ Farmer, PBC, SBIR, Small Business Innovation Research, Federal Grants, Innovation, Early Stage, Commercialization > bytes: 8946466 Chnl: Commercialization - 2/15/10 LISTEN to Russ Farmer, Founder and President, PBC, Inc. and National SBIR Expert

The Relay Race of Commercializing Technology with SBIR $$

428_ Maturing of the SBIR Program Means Big Changes: $2.2 Billion at Stake

The good news is that successful commercialization from those receiving SBIR funds (non dilutive to the receiver and are grants that don't need to be paid back) are working. The challenge is the rules have changed over the past 25 years and for the better, at least for those who adopt to the way 'the game' is now played. Russ Farmer, Executive Director of SBIR Colorado and President and Founder of PBC, Inc. explains these new innovative strategies and shares some of the local SBIR funded success stories. They include Coherent Technologies, Myogen, and Powercycle. Russ shares the some innovative ideas that are revolutionizing the entire SBIR and commercialization process. It's Powerful, Proven and People Oriented. After all, who doesn't want a piece of the $2.2 Billion available to small companies and inventors for their great ideas? 1/21/08 Related Links: PBC, Inc. || Looking for Money || Source of Info || Podcast Directory |||   Keywords: Russ Farmer, PBC, SBIR, STTR, Financial Cluster, Small Business Innovative Research, Grants > Bytes: 22348594

818_ 4/5/10 - Federal grants lead to a multi-million company
In this addition to the SBIR program series, Russ Farmer has brought to us, another success story as he introduces Mark Seglem, CEO of Advanced Distributed Sensor Systems (ADSS). Mark said, "ADSS was started in 1999 as an SBIR project with a $100K grant from the government. From that we developed a technology for remote distributed, expendable, portable environmental sensor system. We basically set up pods that measure all of the elements of weather, temperature, wind, barometric pressure, at an aviation grade, which is important to military operations, as well as measure cloud height, current visibility and current weather. We integrate that information together and beam it up through the 'radiant star satellite constellation' and back down to a command center. It provides special specific information to our operating forces throughout the world. We work primarily with the DOD, but in addition to that we've worked with the National Forest Service, NOAA, so we serve primarily government, right now. But from a $100,000 SBIR project in 1999, the company actually put product on the street in about 2005, and then spun out from what we refer to as the mother ship, ADA Technologies, in late 2007. We've grown from an SBIR project to a company with revenues between $5 and 10 Million a year." Listen and you will learn the “down-stream” value of the SBIR program and that companies can still be launched without venture capital or private equity investments. Also learn there are tremendous opportunities for new high-tech products in the military marketplace. There's much more...
Related Links: Distributed Sensors || ADA Technologies || PBC (SBIR Support Services) || SBIR Info || Keywords: Mark Seglem, Distributed Sensors, ADSS, Russ Farmer, Cliff Brown, SBIR, ADA Technologies, PBC, Grants, Commercialization, Colorado, Early Stage Research, 4/5/10 bytes: 6202203 Chnl: Commercialization LISTEN to Mark Seglem, CEO, ADSS

760_ Government funding and having fun growing the business
Larry corralled Russ Farmer for an interview for Profile of a Leader Series here on w3w3® Media Network. Corralled is an appropriate word as Russ grew up on a farm and owns a farm with his wife Karen. In addition, he is an extremely successful business person and he has helped numerous companies rise to financial success. Larry probed into his past to find out what helped make him who he is. Larry asked, "Who was someone who influenced you in your early life?" Russ had a very interesting answer, "When I was at Arthur Anderson they had a 'big brother', mentor program. My big brother was also my manager on an audit I was working. The guy intimidated and abused me as a staff member to the point where he totally destroyed me for a period of time. What came out of that, over time, was a reflection on who I was, my life goals, and I concluded that was neither how I wanted to be treated nor how I wanted to treat other people. To this day I reflect on that as a major turning point in my professional growth. It had a very substantial influence on who I am and what I do." Larry also wanted to know what influenced his values and beliefs. "Undoubtedly it was as an individual, as a youth growing up on a farm. We had a good size family, and we started working in the field from the time when we were old enough to walk and be productive - I pulled weeds in the field when at six years old and as you got older, at ten you were driving tractors out in the field and working a good day's work. By the time you were 13-14, you were driving a truck to the beet dump. The work ethic we created and the attitude towards people, the way farmers treated each other and worked together, was just a marvelous, very positive experience, that I carry with me today." There's more...
Bytes: 11458448 - 12/21/09 LISTEN to Russ Farmer

766_ Being happy, enjoying life and making money - Part 2 of 2 Profile of a Leader
PBC began in 1988 and continues to grow. In 2010 PBC will be merging with Grow LLC. This is part 2 of 2 of a Profile of a Leader interview with Russ Farmer, founder of PBC. The merger will allow Russ to spend more time with ADA Technologies (PBC's first client). Russ describes himself as a bootstrapper and that's what ADA does. Russ attended a program at DU put on by the Positive Life Foundation. So many people Russ met were unhappy and complaining, he felt somewhat out of step because he was happy and enjoyed life. Regardless of the work he was doing, he was happy with his life. When he went to this program with Art Linkletter, and other top notch speakers, he learned that he wasn't strange, it was those folks who couldn't be happy. From that moment on he became more comfortable being positive and happy. He still meets people who say 'you can't always be happy'. Russ's advice to a young person, "Do what you love to do and you can almost always figure out a way to do it successfully. If you're not having fun - change it. Life is too short and sweet not to really enjoy life. People that don't enjoy their job spend 5/7ths of their life in misery - that's a crazy way to live! You can always find something that you enjoy doing. Learn to play the game. Life is a beautiful and fantastic game."
Related Links: PBC, Inc Home || Grow, LLC || ADA Technologies || SBIR Info || Looking for Money Channel || Commercialization || Profile of a Leader || Keywords: Russ Farmer, PBC, Inc, SBIR, ADA Technologies, Entrepreneurs, Funding, Grow Your Business, Amended Silicates, Meeting the Challenge > Channel: Profiles 9499391 bytes - 1/4/10 LISTEN to Russ Farmer, SBIR Expert

462_ Commercialization of Innovative Ideas - Far Reaching and Profitable
Eltron Research & Development is one of the largest SBIR companies in the country. Paul Grimmer came out of big business; he worked for Conoco and Conoco Phillips for almost 30 years, and never dealt with SBIR, because it’s for small businesses. About 2 ½ years ago Paul and his wife bought Eltron Research. “Eltron had developed over 100 technologies that we thought had commercial value”, Paul said. But the focus was, ‘let’s get the next project’, not taking the one you finished and going to the market place with it. The big challenge is, there are very few projects ready to go to market after completing a phase two SBIR program ($850K). Some of them may require ½ million, a million, some may require a hundred million dollars, but the key is, there’s no more money from the feds. You’re too early for the VCs, less for the angels who generally don’t understand a lot of the technologies. So, how do we get all this, or at least a significant fraction of these technologies to market? This is really what the SBIR program is all about, to help the small businesses get a jump start in getting their innovations to the market. Classically most SBIR companies are focused on science and maybe to a lesser degree engineering. So, we’ve added engineers, business developers, and of course all this costs money outside of SBIR. So that’s a challenge, just getting the right skill sets in there to help analyze and develop things, and so forth. So how do you bridge that gap? Well, we’ve elected to go down two routes, one (longer term) is to find larger companies in the industry that have deeper pockets that might be interested in forming a new product line or enhancing a product that they’ve got. You work a deal with them and in return for them funding additional development they retain the rights to your technology. Some of that can take a long time. The other thing we’ve done, since I’m not interested in giving away huge chunks of our technology, at least until we get them into the market place, has been to do some things so that we can continue the development ourselves.
Related Links: Eltron Research & Development || SBIR Sources of Info || Looking for Money || w3w3® Blog || Keywords: Paul Grimmer, Eltron, Research, Development, SBIR, Research, Commercialization, Innovative, Grants 3/24/08 - Bytes: 25745766

812_ 3/22/10 - Grants leading to commercialization in Colorado
SBIR is a federally mandated program to fund small businesses doing leading edge, high risk research and development. It provides about $2.4 Billion every year to small businesses. Colorado is in a very prestigious position in that Colorado receives in excess of $80 Million every year from this program, and that goes out to about 150 different companies here in the state. Russ Farmer is the founder and president of PBC, Inc, a very important company to all of us in this community, as they are leading national experts in the SBIR program. Larry and Russ had a discussion with Cliff Brown, President, CEO and principal owner of ADA Technologies a recipient of numerous SBIR grants totaling millions of dollars. Remember, SBIR grants and contracts do not have to be repaid and equity isn't given. Cliff explained, "ADA Technologies is a research and development company that has experienced great success in developing innovative technologies that have become commercially viable products. SBIR funding has provided the foundation for our R&D program. Our business model supports the advancement of innovative technologies through various stages and ultimately to commercialization. Yes, SBIR funding has provided critical funding for ADA’s R&D program. SBIR grants have enabled us to perform the early stage research that is the basis for ADA’s commercial successes. We’ve enjoyed great success from this program in bringing new technologies to market and creating new jobs and economic development to the local area. In 2008, we spun off our distributed sensor business to form a new company, ADSS, which boasts a patented miniaturized WeatherPod® Network." There's much more...listen now...
Related Links: ADA Technologies || PBC (SBIR Support Services) || Distributed Sensors || SBIR Info || Keywords: Russ Farmer, Cliff Brown, SBIR, ADA Technologies, PBC, Grants, Commercialization, Colorado, Early Stage Research - bytes: 6012241 Chnl: Commercialization 3/22/10 LISTEN to Russ Farmer & Cliff Brown

813_ 3/29/10 - Colorado companies receive in excess of $80 Million
Colorado receives in excess of $80 Million every year from this program, and that goes out to about 150 different companies here in the state. Russ Farmer and Larry continue their discussion with Cliff Brown, President, CEO and principal owner of ADA Technologies a recipient of numerous SBIR grants totaling millions of dollars. Russ Farmer is the founder and president of PBC, Inc, a very important company to all of us in this community, as they are leading national experts in the SBIR program. Probing into the future of ADA, Cliff replied, "Right now if you look inside ADA there's basically two groups of activities there. One of them is later stage technologies that will be coming out in the next one to three years. The other group is much more nascent technology, early stage technology that we're working on, that will probably come out over the next three to ten years. So we have a long run ahead of us in terms of creating value for our shareholders. Russ and Cliff continued their dialog, "The neat thing about the SBIR program is there are 12 agencies that participate, and they range from the Department of Defense to the National Institutes for Health and Science Foundation on down to the Department of Education. So if you have a technology you want to develop and you understand how the program works, there's usually a way to get funding to do the early stage research. There are a lot of resources out there, on the web as well as visiting the agencies. I think the first step is to do a fair bit of research to understand how the program works. In addition to that there are resources that you can tap into - kind of pay as you go, that will help you identify topics, write proposals, basically help you network and interface with the agencies." Get more details...listen now...
Related Links: ADA Technologies || PBC (SBIR Support Services) || Distributed Sensors || SBIR Info || PodCast Directory || Keywords: Russ Farmer, Cliff Brown, SBIR, ADA Technologies, PBC, Grants, Commercialization, Colorado, Early Stage Research - 3/29/10 bytes: 5123242 Chnl: Commercialization LISTEN to Part 2, Russ Farmer & Clfif Brown

522_ Federal Funding Available for Small Businesses with Innovative Ideas
Many entrepreneurs with innovative high-tech ideas get their start through the federally funded Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. If their "innovative idea" looks like it has possibilities, that entrepreneur can submit a proposal for Phase 2 and Phase 3 SBIR funds for substantial amounts of money. Larry was introduced to Greg Baxes, President and CTO of TerraMetrics by Russ Farmer, President of PBC and Colorado SBIR expert. TerraMetrics took a very different approach that also works. Greg pointed out that they went commercial first and then as new innovative ideas came up, they submitted technical proposals for Phase 1 SBIR funding and then successfully received a number of Phase 2 project funds. Carefully choosing from a selection of SBIR research topics with an emphasis on collaborating with larger companies has paid off for TerraMetrics. Greg explains how they have collaborated with some of the largest companies to further enhance their growth. We have seen TerraMetrics’ imagery used on Google Earth and many news broadcasts. Listen to Greg as he gives us a glimpse into future applications of aviation synthetic vision and earth visualization tools, as well as providing tips for small businesses interested in exploring SBIR opportunities.
Related Links: TerraMetrics || TruEarth® Global Imagery || PBC, Inc. || Commercialization || Keywords: Greg Baxes, TerraMetrics, TruEarth®, Global Imagery, Google Maps, Boeing, SBIR, Russ Farmer, PBC, Synthetic Vision, Google Earth > Bytes: 11004345 - 7/14/08