Innovation Sparks: How the Investment World Evaluates Ideas And Opportunities For Investment

Event Recording
 

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Description:

Learn from a panel of investment experts how they evaluate opportunities and what other support is provided to startups to in the funding journey. This panel includes experienced founders that have been successful and what they did that made a difference. We'll look at the odds, the opportunities, and the chances of success. Projects and examples will be shared and the audience will have a rare chance to ask these experts questions directly. If you are looking for funding or how the process works this session will give you an opportunity to learn.  

Who should attend?

Startups and anyone in both government and industry, from all functional areas, who want to learn how individuals and organizations evaluate investment opportunities in businesses that do and can potentially do business with the government. 
 

Speakers:
 

George Vukotich – Moderator, Visiting Faculty Member, DAU
 

George Vukotich, Ph.D. is a visiting faculty member at DAU focusing on innovation and approaches organizations can take to be more successful. In addition to his work at the Defense Acquisition University, he helps organizations and universities set up tech and innovation hubs. His prior experience includes helping the City of Chicago build 1871 which has become ranked as the #1 tech hub in the world and the University of Wisconsin add a Smart Cities and Innovation hub. His educational work includes being a faculty member, department chair, and dean of a college of business. He has spent time in Corporate America with organizations such as Accenture and IBM with a focus on creating the future and what it takes for organizations to get there. He is an author and has served in the U.S. military.  
 

Gregory Coleman, Principal at National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC)
 

Gregory Coleman is a Principal at National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC), the Defense Department program that funds dual-use hardware startups. In this role, he leads the department's investments in autonomy and energy and advises the development of strategies to identify the technology needs of the Department of Defense.

Greg has 30 years of leadership experience in the public and private sectors and is a respected leader in the startup ecosystem. He led his company, Sworkit Health from concept to a market leader in the digital health industry. Sworkit was identified as one of, "2017's 10 Most Innovative Fitness Companies" by Fast Company and has been featured in hundreds of publications and channels across health, fitness, lifestyle, and business, including ABC's Shark Tank, CNN's Tech for Good, The Wall Street Journal, and Sports Illustrated, where it was named one of the best fitness apps for 2023.
 

Roman Mueller Executive Director & Principal, RTX Ventures

Raytheon Technologies Roman Mueller is an Executive Director and Principal of RTX Ventures, Raytheon Technologies’ corporate venture capital group. As a founding member of the RTX Ventures team, Roman is responsible for leading investments in and partnerships with small, innovative companies. 

Prior to his current role, Roman spent many years in Raytheon Technologies Corporate Strategy & Development group in positions of increasing responsibility. While in Corporate Strategy & Development, Roman had the opportunity to support and lead many of the transformational activities that occurred during his time there, including the acquisition of Rockwell Collins, the spin-offs of Carrier and Otis to stand-alone public companies, and the merger between United Technologies and Raytheon. 
 

Nick Spiller, Venture Principal, Capital Factory
 

Nick leads deal flow and co-investor relationships for Capital Factory. He first got involved in Capital Factory as a student at The University of Texas at Austin where he helped start the Longhorn Entrepreneurship Agency and Genesis. Since then he has supported hundreds of founders in their fundraising efforts as well as established a deal flow network of 1000+ venture capitalists and angel investors.