Opening Doors, Closing Windows. Closing Doors, Opening Windows.

Today we closed up the selection process for the presenting companies. Though there are a couple of loose ends to tie up, we know who's going to present and who's not. We are exited! There are some great companies in this mix!!

We've begun to contact those companies that were selected to present via phone & email. Their next step is to connect with their presentation coaches, get together to review their business plan and presentation and to start working on making them better. We've also set up a few companies on the 'bench', just in case one of the 40 organizations that will be presenting can't make it.

So I spent a long time today looking at the list of companies that were not selected. There are many good companies on this list, and thus a lot of tough calls. Some of them we did a favor for. They're tightly focused on a niche market and we didn't think we could generate investor support for them. No sense in getting their expectations up when we didn't think we could meet them.

These are companies needing 'smart money', ideally, from folks resident in the market they're selling into. Good luck to them! I expect many of them will find a way to get this done. Many of these companies really get the 'good money, bad money, dumb money, smart money' reference in their Benchmark Survey results.

And some companies we did the investors a favor by not having them present. There were a small handful that appeared to be in the business of raising money just so that they could raise more money. Some had deal structures that were not reality based. And some seemingly had very little structure at all.

For these companies we hope the ACS experience was a learning experience. If you think you're in this mix read your Benchmark Survey results closely and take the comments made by the ACS Exec. Committee members in your application file to heart. There are no real shortcuts to success. You've got to earn the right.

However, on the good news front there are several opportunities in development for both the companies selected and those that were not - and also for the rest of us. This 'meta conversation' the Rockies Venture Club, the host of the ACS, has been having with the larger market has prompted a number of interesting and useful opportunities for entrepreneurs. We'll be covering them in future blog posts and likely also kicking out press releases and email.

So happy Friday! We'll be filling up your email boxes and the blogsphere with new news soon.

Cheers,
Kevin