The press release elaborates further:

GoodCompany Ventures, a team of social finance investors and start-up experts, today announced the launch of a business incubator targeting entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to unmet social needs. The program will provide facilities, mentoring and access to a network of capital sources to qualified entrepreneurs whose business models offer investors an attractive mix of financial return and social impact. The program will culminate in a venture fair where companies will pitch their ideas to investors.

Applicants will be recruited nationally via venture capital, social finance, and academic networks. A pool of eight to twelve candidates will be selected to participate in the 2009 incubator program that begins in June.

It’s exciting to see a new accelerator program focused on promoting socially-conscious ventures and even moreso that this program will be based in Philadelphia.

Applications are being accepted until April 20.

AlphaLab is now accepting applications for its Summer/Fall 2009 session that officially starts on June 15th, 2009!  Here are some important changes to note for this new application cycle:

• We are introducing an Early Action portion to the application period where applicants can be apply and be accepted early for the AlphaLab program.
• Early Action applicants will be invited to a meet-n-greet event with AlphaLab staff where they can interact and ask questions.
• Early Action candidates that are accepted to AlphaLab will be able to get an early start on working on their companies and have early access to AlphaLab resources.
• If an applicant is not accepted as part of AlphaLab Early Action, they will still be considered as part of the general application period.
• The Early Access deadline is April 17th, 2009.

The general application deadline is May 15th, 2009.

For more information about the application process (including Early Action) and to access the AlphaLab application, visit: www.alphalab.org .

(AlphaLab is a catalyst for launching the next generation of software, entertainment technology and Internet-related companies. Created by Innovation Works, one of the nation’s most active seed-stage investors, AlphaLab provides funding, free office space, expert business advisors and services through an intensive program in Pittsburgh. AlphaLab helps companies rapidly develop their technology, gain user feedback from early product releases, develop go-to-market strategies, and move toward successful commercial launch.)

Still, how do you make “equitable decisions” on this topic? :) Some quick research presented this article from OnStartups.com that essentially states what was already discussed - the simple, equal division, is rarely the correct answer. Still, it doesn’t provide many suggestions about making the right decisions.

However, one of the comments is more helpful and provides a link to a page written by Frank Demmler, Associate Teaching Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Frank was previously in senior positions with multiple investment/venture funds in the Pittsburgh area, including general partner of the Pittsburgh Seed Fund, so he clearly has some experience in this space.

Frank promotes the idea of developing a matrix with the key elements of the business (idea, business plan) along with who’s bringing what to the table (risk, responsibilities, domain expertise), along with each of the founders. The key elements should be weighted and then values assigned in each category for the founders. The article just shows screenshots and doesn’t provide an actual Excel model that you can use, so I created my own version of the model in Excel - please see attached Equity Model Spreadsheet. This certainly seems to be a more empirical and quantifiable means of answering the question “How much equity?”

Here’s the email from PSNE president Emmanuel Akintayo with further details:

Dear Psner’s,

We shall be having our annual networking dinner on the 7th of April at the Atherton Hotel. The event will begin at 6’oclock. The dress attire is business casual. This dinner like our last one will provide an informal setting were students will be able to socialize with Entrepreneurship driven individuals within our community. The guest list will include VC’s, Angels, and Small business owners, bankers and E-ship Professors. I strongly recommend any student interested in venturing into a start up to attend the event as it will provide you an opportunity to expand your already growing network. The itinerary of the event includes a 15 minute prelude, followed by dinner, and then a presentation by Paul. Domanico- Founder and Managing Partner of Innovalyst. The dinner will cost about 10 dollars per students and is going to be limited to 50 students. Reservations begins today and will based on a first come basis … Through out the week I shall be posting some more information about the event and … Alright take care.

Contact Emmanuel Akintayo (oea101 at psu dot edu) for further details.

And, the Lion Launch Pad got a nice mention, along with myself, Rob Shedd, & fellow co-founders Robert Macy and Liz Kisenwether!

The article, which is not available online, has been scanned and is available in the attached PDF.

The company recently released an updated version of its flagship product - the plugin for Outlook is now out of beta and features substantial performance enhancements.

Xobni also announced that the Blackberry Partners Fund has joined its Series B round of funding, increasing the total raised to $10 million. (Xobni had previously announced $7 million in funding in the Series B round led by Cisco.)

Certainly, the company is growing rapidly, as is the team. Rick Segal, a partner with the Blackberry Partners Fund, had glowing comments about the company.

Congrats Matt & team! For those of you who want to follow Matt’s progress, he recently setup a new Twitter account.

Certainly, as student driven entrepreneurship continues to increase and universities seek ways to enable this trend, it makes sense for colleges to follow the “early leaders”, offering students this avenue of funding (not to mention the real world experience of working through the VC deal lifecycle).

Fortunately, for Penn State entrepreneurs, the Smeal College of Business is a leader in this space, with its MBA student-managed Garber Venture Capital Fund.

From the Smeal web site:

The fund, established in 1999 thanks to a $5 million commitment from Penn State Alumnus Dr. John Garber, and his wife Bette, brings reality to the teaching of entrepreneurism and venture capital by enabling MBA students to become actively involved in the process of equity investment and new ventures. Students examine current investment opportunities and decide whether to invest from the fund in a particular transaction. Interaction with external private-equity groups provides an opportunity for students to experience the complexities and pressures of the volatile private equity sector.

This is also great news for a Penn State entrepreneur — The business strategist on the Vuzit team is Penn State MBA student Dave Noreen (class of 2009)! Dave is currently VP of Sales & Marketing for Vuzit.

Phillypreneurs has a nice interview with the Vuzit team.

• TechStars in Boulder, CO is accepting applications through March 21 — I recently visited TechStars in Boulder, CO - watch for an upcoming post on my visit
• LaunchBox Digital in Washington, DC is accepting applications through March 16 (early admissions deadline of February 27)
• AlphaLabs in Pittsburgh, PA is accepting applications through April/May 2009 will be soon accepting applications
• EDIT: Capital Factory in Austin, TX, is also now accepting applications through March 30

(Y Combinator’s summer round is not yet open for applications)

And in the Philadelphia area, DreamIt Ventures is now taking applications as well and also offers an early admissions process (see press release below). [This post makes the point that the startup seed round is now moving closer to the college admissions model with early admissions - what will follow?...] The 2009 DreamIt program is accepting applications for three separate tracks: Innovators (have an idea), Strategists (business talent - will be paired with a venture), and Hackers (technical talent - will be paired with a venture). This is a novel approach to encouraging those who are interested in ventures, but don’t have a specific concept, to apply and get involved with a venture. From speaking with Steve Welch, one of the DreamIt partners, for both the Strategist and Hacker tracks, there will also be an equity structure for these roles. It’ll be interesting to observe the results.

DreamIt’s new web site has launched and will be on-campus in State College on February 19-20 for informational presentations. Further details will be forthcoming.

DreamIt’s press release is reproduced below:

DreamIt will provide pre-seed funding and guidance to aspiring technology entrepreneurs.

January 21, 2009, Philadelphia, PA — DreamIt Ventures, a Philadelphia pre-seed venture firm, officially launched its 2009 program; opening applications for Innovators, Strategists and Hackers.

The 2009 program will mirror the success of its 2008 program; funding another 10-15 companies and offering selected startup companies pre-seed funding; guidance from a team of hand-selected mentors, counsel and services from leading legal and accounting firms; and a roster of nationally recognized speakers to provide insight into launching great companies. The culmination of the program is a Demo Day which is attended by strategic partners, angel investors and venture capitalists. The program will continue to focus on a strong collaborative atmosphere. “Working alongside 12 different startups last year in the open, communal atmosphere was one of the greatest features of the program,” stated Peter Groverman, Founder and CEO of TapInko, a DreamIt 2008 company.

Applications are being accepted from entrepreneurs with big ideas that are committed to turning their ideas into a business. Applications are also being accepted for Strategists (highly skilled business executives) and Hackers (uber-developers), interested in partnering with startups over the summer. “Entrepreneurs provide the vision and the idea, and if they need help Hackers can provide the expertise to build it and Strategists can provide the market and operations knowledge to help the business succeed. These three disciplines come together to build strong companies,” adds co-founder David Bookspan.

Applications for DreamIt 09 summer session are currently being accepted online at www.dreamitventures.com . Early acceptances will be offered to select teams in 2009, so applicants are encouraged to apply early.

For more information about DreamIt Ventures, visit www.dreamitventures.com or email info@dreamitventures.com

From the web site: “The conference theme is bridging the gap between venture capitalists, angel investors, and academia by bringing various perspectives for collaboration between these three communities.”

Based on the agenda listed on the site, presently there are four panel sessions scheduled:

• Panel 1: The Current State of Early-Stage Venture Capital: Investing in technology of the future
• Panel 2: Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists: How to make the relationship work
• Panel 3: Micro-Equity Funds: New models for early-stage investing
• Panel 4: Academia as an Early-Stage Collaborator: A resource-based view of how academia can add value to early-stage venture investing

The conference organizing team reports that thus far, they have received commitments from 14 panelists “representing active institutional and corporate venture capital, independent angel groups, technology incubators, and academic experts to discuss critical issues facing early-stage venture investing.”

The event will be held on March 20, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at The Penn Stater Conference Center and Hotel, University Park, PA.