Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will virtually host six brilliant tech-driven startups from Central California in a pitch competition to win up to $130,000 in equity-backed funding at the fourth annual AngelCon on Thursday, June 10th at 4 p.m. This annual event is propelled by a dedicated group of angel investors interested in investing in early-stage startups in exchange for ownership equity or convertible debt. These investors have strong involvement in the evaluation, due diligence, and selection process of AngelCon applicants leading up to the live event. The event will take place on YouTube Live. Registered attendees will receive the event link via email, one day before the event.  Register Here!

This session will focus on all aspects of marketing for any small businesses, with a focus on hospitality — restaurant, grocery, and retail products. In particular, we’ll cover marketing in a post-COVID world — how to get your business noticed on a small business budget, what marketing tools will be critical in the next few years, and how consumer expectations are changing in 2021 and beyond. Cyndi Darlington is an entrepreneur, marketer, and teacher, with particular expertise in the retail and restaurant industries. After 20+ years in corporate marketing for established brands like Amtrak, Prudential and Islands Restaurants, she founded Darlington Marketing Co. (DMC) 11 years ago, and the company has grown to be a leader in the Southern California marketing community. Register for free here. 

In this Coffee and Conversation, Elizabeth Jennings will share how 2020 has reshaped thinking around early stage investing--and how innovative businesses can use this to their advantage. Especially pertinent to healthcare and cleantech, we'll walk through techniques for developing a resilient commercial narrative and strategy to move forward conversations with both investors and partners alike amid the relative uncertainty of 2021. You'll learn how to reframe your go-to-market strategy to align with fund theses and strategies, tactics for getting useful feedback from key players, and early steps you can take to improve your leverage. Elizabeth aims to maximize the impact of for-good startups. She speaks frequently on investment and innovation within regulated industries, serves as an advisor to several medical device, in-vitro diagnostics, and AI startups. Register at: https://ucmsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/14143

QuickBooks Intermediate is the second step in a three part workshop series. Learn how to manage and secure company files, list items, order and sell inventory and how to apply vendor discounts.  Damon Watkins, Director Of Finance And Operations at Cal Poly Corporation  Damon Watkins is the Director of Finance & Operations for Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. He is a motivated, personable business professional with a 15+ year track record in multiple aspects of financial control, management and policies/procedures. He prides himself on having strong communication skills, and is accustomed to working with sensitive and confidential records, always protecting and maintaining confidentiality. Register at: https://ucmsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/14148 

Peter & Ben Wen, of Tallyfor and winner of AngelCon 2021, will join us this month to talk about their journey after winning $145K in equity investment. Tallyfor is the first collaborative, cloud-native app in a $2.8B market: US business income tax. This cloud software helps move data from source transactions to IRS filing. Tallyfor enhances online accounting software with the ability to complete business taxes. This will be a hybrid event format, tickets available for in-person and via Zoom. COVID-19 protocols will be followed, see details below. Registration required and space is limited. Register at: https://ucmsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/14144

Damon Watkins, the Director of Finance & Operations for Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, is a motivated, personable business professional with a 15+ year track record in multiple aspects of financial control, management and policies/procedures. Learn how to create and modify financial reports, handle records, and manipulate costs, with a focus on payroll and state tax. QuickBooks Reporting lets you use your QuickBooks data to create interactive reports and gain better insight into your business. It quickly runs reports without sacrificing speed and performance for all QuickBooks users. REGISTER HERE