Keiretsu Forum Focuses on Marketplace Opportunities

If Steve Murchie, co-founder of the Keiretsu Forum, had just one salient bit of counsel to give to entrepreneurs it would be this: “Opportunities should be presented to angels and to VCs as marketplace opportunities, not as inventions or in a way that focuses on their ‘coolness.’

“The success of a new business is being able [...]

Townsend’s rocket scientists know their IP law

With a slight wink, and a hint of seriousness, Brian Colucci describes the law firm of Townsend and Townsend and Crew as “a bunch of rocket scientists who also happen to be very good lawyers.”
For 150 years Townsend has taken pride in its well-earned reputation as one of the world’s leading Intellectual Property law firms. [...]

8C Chamber Profile: Planehook Aviation Services

Posted on June 11, 2009 by the 8C Project
When most people think of space, they don’t often think of corporate espionage. But since 2004, Dave Hook, founder and President of Planehook Aviation Services, has not only been thinking about it but has built his business around doing something about it.
“People working in the commercial space [...]

Space 2.0 the focus at Rockies Venture Club June 9

The Rockies Venture Club will devote its June 9 dinner meeting to “Space 2.0: The Entrepreneurial Frontier.”
Appearing to discuss how space technology translates to entrepreneurial ventures will be Burke Fort, director of the 8th Continent Project; Gene Branch,  partner at  Townsend and Townsend and Crew’s Denver office; Steve Murchie, director of the Keiretsu Forum’s Denver [...]

Using the mystique of space to sell Vuitton luggage

The News: The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Louis Vuitton will launch the newest ad in its series of “Journeys” campaigns, featuring celebrity portraits by Annie Leibovitz. Perched on an ancient pickup parked in the desert, windswept, dressed for the road, astronauts Sally Ride, Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell gaze at the [...]

PharmaSat tests meds in space, small-sat concept

The News: Launching this evening, a 10-pound NASA satellite will test how well antifungal drugs perform in a weightless environment.

The Space 2.0 Connection: PharmaSat and other nanosatellites are proving the small-sat concept. Small enough to piggyback on other launches, these small orbiters allow scientists and businesses to test ideas in space at a fraction [...]

NASA touts “greatest hits for the home planet”

The News: NASA is inviting everyone to vote for the agency’s “Greatest Hits for the Home Planet” at www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/earthday/greatest_hits.html . As part of its observation of Earth Day, the agency wants to remind Americans that its mission includes not only looking outward toward the cosmos, but inward to help us better understand our own planet.
The [...]

Next Round of Tech Transfer Ventures Announced by NASA Ames

The News: NASA  announced the Phase 2 recipients of Small Business Technology Transfer grants.

The Space 2.0 Connection: The STTR is an important way for Space 2.0 technology to move into terrestrial applications alongside their development for NASA projects.
Sixteen high-tech firms partnered with research universities will receive more than $9 million in NASA funding to move [...]

Angel investor: We want to invest in Space 2.0 companies

Funding will flow toward Space 2.0 companies  if they have a decent product with customers and a plan, investor and Keiretsu Forum director Steve Murchie said  at the DaVinci Institute’s “Night With a Futurist” presentation about Space 2.0 Monday evening.
“Most investors, institutional investors, venture capital investors or angels are looking for business opportunities that have [...]

From the NSS: Space industry grows as economy shrinks

The News: Plenty of interesting stuff  is coming out of the National Space Symposium, held this week in Colorado Springs.
The Space 2.0 Connection: As promoters of entrepreneurship – and connectors of start-ups to risk capital – we at 8th Continent most appreciate this exchange, reported by Debra Werner in Space News:

“There is never enough money [...]