Inaugural Blog

So, at long last, I'm blogging.



As you'll see from my profile, I'm a venture capital fund manager focused on secondary New England cities; a secondary cities--such as Hartford, Providence, Burlington--see far less capital, yet have real growth opportunities, as I expect to show by the performance of the fund I currently manage. Since 2001, I've been managing a venture capital fund that operates one of only six New Markets Venture Capital funds, an SBA initiative designed to drive capital into underserved communities; that fund--now fully invested--targeted early stage growth opportunities in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. My new fund-in-formation (Clear Venture Partners) is setting out to raise $50--75M to focus on early stage growth opportunities (initially in three sectors: clean tech, health and IT/web/new media) targeting all six New England states.



I've been remiss in not blogging earlier in large part because I spend a lot of time writing regular columns for traditional papers (Mainebiz, New Hampshire Business Review, Providence Business News, Business West, Mass High Tech) and less frequently contributing to other business newspapers and magazines (Worcester Business Journal, Vermont Business Magazine, Business New Haven and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Communities & Banking Magazine.) If you want to see all articles I've written, check out my web site (http://www.clearvcs.com/News/by_team.php.) where I've got the articles organized by theme. I also do a lot of live financing seminars (www.clearvcs.com/events) throughout New England.



In the interest of brevity, I'll highlight some things that interest me, both professionally and personally



- Industry clusters: As you'll see if you check out some of my more recent articles and seminars, I'm a believer in industry cluster theory as a basis for regional economic development. I was inspired to attend to this theory and practice by Karen Mills, who has been part of my fund's board for the past two years and has more recently been nominated is expected to be to confirmed by the Senate Committee on Small Business to head as Director the Small Business Administration. Karen was very active in Maine developing both cluster research and implementation throughout the state; my fund organized a specialty food cluster event, coordinating with Karen (who keynoted the event,) to catalyze a new cluster for this sector. I'm working to promote industry clusters throughout New England's secondary cities (check out the first of my cluster-financing events in Vermont this past February.)

- Mega Regions: I've recently gotten charged on the notion of looking at multi-state economic blocks that can enable many states, working cooperatively, to increase competitiveness of the region. Mega regional focus complements a state's own efforts to grow the economy within its borders.

- Early stage, value-added venture capital: As must be evident from my work, I'm a believer in the early stage venture capital, both to catalyze nascent ventures and to create opportunities for outstanding return for fund investors, not to mention the recipients and the states in which early stage companies reside. But, it's not just about the capital. Early stage venture investment, particularly in secondary cities, requires an active investor engagement. In the fund I've been managing since 2001, my partner and I have been incredibly active investors in a variety of ways: strategy development, business planning, financing strategy and syndication, board and management development, and marketing/branding and positioning for growth and capital access.

That's enough for this first post, so far as professional stuff goes.

Personally, here are a couple of things I care about:
- My family (wife and four, yes four, kids)
- Waldorf Education
- Healthy Living: natural and organic products
- Local living economies especially community supported agriculture
- Music: uptempo jazz, bluegrass, and folk
- Sports: little league baseball and basketball (my sons' interest); old guy basketball (so long as my knees hold up)