My report on this event is posted here. An excerpt of the Q&A is shared below.

Question: How do you protect Angel investors from later round Venture Capitalists?
Paddison: Angels, friends, and family need to keep expectations in control if VC round(s) are likely to follow.
Karleski: Keep it simple. DON’T follow multiple paths or opportunities. Pick one and focus.

Question: How do VCs evaluate 8(a) status?
Karleski: 8(a) doesn’t enter in much. The evaluation is the same.

Question: What are the conditions for startups getting early stage VC funding?
Gutch: We need to see technology results. We need to be VERY confident that these results will
actually get to the clinics.
Crawford: You need to show capital efficiency. You need to show that after the early stage funding, it is unlikely that you will need any new capital.
Paddison: Where are your competitors? What is your differentiation?
Paiva: We look for demonstrations of intellectual honesty. Do you have a good handle on your competitors and show your competitiveness? How are you going to create a new market or make life difficult for incumbents? Show some disruption.
Karleski: Most of our first round deals have already achieved $1M to $5M in revenue, but are not
necessarily making money yet, and show a clear path to a substantial market position.

Question: Do Venture Capitalists compete?
Karleski: In general, no. We seldom meet each other as competitors. We do cooperate a lot.

Question: Where is Medicare cutting costs?
Karleski: Ambulatory care. Look for radiology clinics and other nonhospital abulatory services to go back to hospitals. A “dirty little secret” is that such outpatient ambulatory care are huge profit centers for many doctors. Look for Medicare to no longer reimburse outpatient ambulatory care.

Question: Are there regional entrepreneurial opportunities in North Texas?
Lalande: North Texas is tops in R&D and Technology. What’s been lacking is entrepreneurial activities. Look for strong entrepreneurial growth in North Texas. Note that North Texas is still lacking one key thing. There are still no large biotech employers to absorb entrepreneurs during an entrepreneurial down cycle, a place for entrepreneurs to go back into during down cycles, then pop back out in up cycles. But
the situation is changing.