Follow the Money: From Venture Investment to Enterprise Value
Presented By: Smart Business Dealmakers
What happens after the venture capital check clears? This session follows the money from investment through growth, value creation and ultimately the next transaction. Hear from investors and operators about why companies choose venture capital, how that capital gets deployed to accelerate growth, what founders give up in exchange, and what companies must prove to attract additional investment. We’ll also explore how venture-backed growth can position a business for acquisition, a secondary transaction or another liquidity event—and what investors are seeing in today’s market.
Moderator:
Chief Content Officer
Smart Business
Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 50 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. A trained investigative politics reporter and former digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as an editor at several daily newspapers.
Panelists:
Managing Partner
SmartMoney Ventures
Jeff (J.D.) Davids is a seasoned startup executive and founder with over 25 years of experience building companies in California. He has raised over $100M in venture capital and corporate investments and has closed over $1 Billion in exit transactions. He is a speaker, teacher & advocate for entrepreneurs and veterans and is a Marine Corps veteran himself.
Founder & CEO
Acculon Energy
Andrew Thomas is an accomplished executive in the energy storage and battery technology sector, currently serving as Co-Founder and CEO of Acculon Energy. Based in Columbus, Ohio, he brings over 15 years of industry experience, with a career spanning roles in business development, sales, and product development. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University and executive education at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
Principal
Ohio Innovation Fund
Faith Voinovich is a Principal at Ohio Innovation Fund where she serves as a key member of the investment team. Since joining the team in 2018, Faith has led investments spun out of top research institutions, helped facilitate numerous follow on equity (and non-dilutive) rounds across the portfolio, assisted on several M&A exit transactions (value exceeding $500 million), and served in a variety of board roles including at Invirsa, Clarametyx, Genetesis, DatAnchor, Complion (merged with Realtime CTMS), and Stirling Ultracold (merged with BioLife Solutions, NASDAQ: BLFS).