Venture Catalyst Consulting ASU SkySong is excited to announce the launching of VCC (Venture Catalyst Consulting), the new international management consulting branch of Arizona State University’s Venture Catalyst organization. VCC specializes in Commercialization, Enterprise and Licensing consulting. VCC provides customized consulting services, and hands-on coaching, for colleges, universities and businesses that are engaged in:
Commercialization of research
Management of Intellectual property, including identification and protection
Creating an entrepreneurial culture
Supporting startup activity and new venture creation
Development and promotion of ‘intrapreneurship’ within their organization
Licensing of technology
Business Plan Competition development
Incubator and Accelerator creation and development
High tech cluster development
The Venture Catalyst Consulting is delivered by the ASU Venture Catalyst team, which has over 100 years of experience in startup companies, technology licensing, venture capital, corporate finance, technology sales and marketing. This consulting group is also supported by Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), the exclusive intellectual property management and technology transfer organization of Arizona State University. Arizona State has spun-out over fifty startup companies in the last seven years, with a current value of over $200 million. Eight of these companies have been acquired during this time, with an additional two companies having had an initial public offering (IPO).
The ASU Venture Catalyst is the next step in Arizona State University's (ASU) evolution of helping ventures locate the resources critical for success. ASU aspires to make a positive global impact, and transform global society, through integrating use-inspired research, education and entrepreneurship to leverage the unique personality and substantial assets of America’s biggest university. Because of its strength as a global portal, ASU SkySong – the home of the Venture Catalyst – attracts a variety of established ventures from Ireland, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, Turkey, India, Germany and a growing list of places from around the globe.
1 | P a g e Venture Catalyst Consulting International Service Offerings Venture Catalyst consulting can leverage significant experience in areas such as: - Student Startup Acceleration: the ASU Edson program, a privately funded startup accelerator for ASU students which has been running for seven years. In 2011 twenty six new student startup companies, from clothing manufactures to medical devices to cleantech, have been accelerated. - Intellectual Property – Identification, management and exploitation. - Rapid Startup School: Aimed at junior faculty, alumni, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, this innovative program aims to give participants the core skills needed to create a new venture. As opposed to standard academic modules and programs, this part-time program uses a very ‘pracademic’ approach to developing an entrepreneurial mindset and real new venture creation. - Interim Management, Team Development: The iC program, run by the ASU Venture Catalyst at SkySong, helps early stage startup and growth oriented companies find seasoned executives and talented technologists to fill a range of positions on an interim basis. - Mentoring Program: How to build and manage a successful mentoring system. - Startup Support Services: We help answer the following questions - What kinds of services do your startups need? What are the key skill sets that need to be nurtured? How can universities and colleges support such entrepreneurs? - Economic Development: how to define and build industry clusters. ASU’s Venture Catalyst serves diverse ventures from ASU, Arizona and around the globe through its state-of- the-art venture services platform. The Venture Catalyst combines the best programs available into an integrated innovation system that helps each venture take the appropriate next steps, while continually linking it to ASU. The Catalyst uses its own personnel, as well as collaborators from its extensive network, to provide a full range of acceleration services.
2 | P a g e Venture Catalyst Consulting Principal Consultants
Gordon McConnell Executive Director of the Venture Acceleration in ASU Gordon McConnell is the Executive Director for Venture Acceleration at Arizona State University. Gordon was Deputy CEO of the Dublin City University (DCU) Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship in Ireland from 2009 until May 2011, funded by the Ryan family (Ryanair, Tiger Airlines). As part of his role at DCU Ryan Academy, he co- founded, and was the first director of the $1.5 million Propeller Venture Accelerator in Dublin and a charter member of the Techstars Network. Gordon worked for DCU over eight years, including the previous position of Head of Strategy and Administration in the DCU President's Office from 2005 until 2009. Gordon has also taught graduate courses, including entrepreneurship, in a number of higher education institutions. Prior to working at DCU, Gordon worked in industry, venture capital and was a senior consultant in the Andersen Consulting (Accenture) strategy practice in Europe. Gordon has also been part of the founding group of two funded start-up companies in the late 1990’s. He has managed his own management consulting practice whose clients included universities and government research agencies. He has consulted for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in central Asia. He also serves as an advisor to a number of startup ventures in Ireland including Fantom, GreenEgg Technologies and Associate Mobile. Gordon has produced research in a number of areas including the development of high technology clusters, innovation in social entrepreneurship and the digital media sector. Charlie Lewis Vice President of Venture Development, Arizona Technology Enterprises In addition to directing the Catalyst, Charlie Lewis manages the creation and growth of new Arizona State University (ASU) spin-out companies for Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), ASU's technology transfer organization. Charlie brings 20 years of entrepreneurial and private equity experience to AzTE. Prior to joining AzTE, he served as general partner for two Arizona venture capital funds, Arris Ventures and Paradise ’94. He directed the investment committee responsible for analyzing due diligence findings and appropriating more than $25 million in private capital with an emphasis on early-stage technology companies. Prior to his venture fund experiences, Charlie was vice president of sales and marketing for Tritium Technologies and also served as International Director of Distribution for ANVT, Inc. He was a founding partner of Midas Computers after graduating from Arizona State University. The company designed software tools for small retail businesses and was acquired by POS Systems in 1993.
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