Final seminar in CAN BE series a success
February 7, 2008
For more information contact Precision Design, 570-455-3533
CAN BE’s seminar series concluded Wednesday with “The Final Steps to a Successful Start-Up.” Pictured, front row, from left: Steve Weckesser and Lew Dryfoos III of Dryfoos Insurance, presenters; Jan McDonald of American Outsourcing, who made a presentation to investors; and Jack St. Pierre, executive director of CAN BE. Back row: Lawrence P. Zale of Zale Patent Law, presenter; Dr. John Madden, chairman of the CAN BE advisory board; Suzanne Dennemeyer of Arizona Angels Venture Group, presenter; and Gerald Ephault of Ben Franklin Technology Partners, presenter.
HAZLETON - More than 40 people filled a room at Penn State Hazleton on February 6th to hear the final seminar in CAN BE’s “Start Your Own Business Seminar Series.”
CAN BE, the Community Association for New Business Entrepreneurship, hosted six programs in the series, which began in May 2006.
The last program in ithe series, “The Final Steps to a Successful Start-Up,” focused on giving entrepreneurs even more tips to launch their businesses. Attendees learned about protecting ideas, safeguarding assets, finding out what their business ideas are worth before they’re launched and making a pitch to investors. Three new companies made actual presentations to a panel of real investors.
While the event was part of a series, several newcomers attended. “Some of those people told me, ‘When you start the series over again, I’m coming to the first one,’” said Jack St. Pierre, executive director of CAN BE.
“After finishing the series, I think the whole concept of these seminars has been very successful in bringing out potential entrepreneurs from the Greater Hazleton community who weren’t identified before. That tells me there are more people waiting to come out,” St. Pierre said. He said he expects to start the series again in four to six months unless CAN BE gets several requests to begin it earlier.
Featured speakers were attorney Lawrence P. Zale, founder of Zale Patent Law in Scranton; Lew Dryfoos III and Steve Weckesser of the Dryfoos Insurance Agency in Hazleton; Gerald Ephault, regional manager of Ben Franklin Technology Partners; and Suzanne Dennemeyer, MBA, new business mentor and strategic advisor, Arizona Angels Venture Group.
After each presentation, seminar participants were able to ask questions; they also enjoyed refreshments during a break.
Zale, a premier copyright and patent attorney in northeastern Pennsylvania, served as in-house counsel for General Electric at its main research facility in Niskayuna, N.Y., then handled all aspects of intellectual property for 10 businesses owned by Tyco Healthcare Group LP in Mansfield, Mass.
Dryfoos, president of Dryfoos Insurance, has 16 years of experience in the insurance field and has earned his Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation. Weckesser, vice president of Dryfoos Insurance, is a commercial insurance broker with 35 years of experience. He has been with Dryfoos Insurance for 22 years and previously held several management positions with Liberty Mutual.
Ephault heads up Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ Pocono Northeast Region, which encompasses Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties.
Dennemeyer, a venture strategy consultant, has more than 13 years of experience in international product development, marketing, brand development, intellectual asset management, private equity and venture capital.
“I thought it was probably the best seminar in terms of overall content and participation, not only from the speakers but from the audience and the companies presenting as well,” St. Pierre said.
The seminar was sponsored in part by PPL and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The previous sessions in the series were a Start Your Own Business overview, Effective Business Plans, Marketing Your New Business, Financials, and Why Small Businesses Succeed.
CAN BE is a nonprofit, wholly owned subsidiary of CAN DO Inc. and operates the area’s business incubator, the Greater Hazleton Business Innovation Center in the Valmont Industrial Park in West Hazleton.
A report from the National Business Incubation Association found that four out of five new businesses fail within the first five years, but four out of five new businesses started in a business incubator succeed within that same amount of time.
The CAN BE incubator program helps establish new business and industry for the area, giving local entrepreneurs the keys to turn their ideas into ventures that will become successful firms able to function on their own. Companies that “graduate” from an incubator program have the potential to create new jobs, commercialize new technologies and strengthen the local economy.
CAN BE is funded in part by grants from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania and PPL Electric Utilities. Penn State Hazleton is an educational partner.
For more information on the incubator program, call CAN BE at (570) 455-8334 or visit online at www.canbe.biz.
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