Hartford Business Journal

22 Hartford Business Journal • September 26, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK Hartford's Pratt St. makeover nearly done The sight of construction and work crews along Pratt Street in downtown Hartford since April has been frustrating for merchants, landlords, motorists and pedestrians. But the city says the approximately $1 million resurfacing of the one-way thoroughfare linking Main and Trumbull streets is on schedule and nearly finished. City Hall spokeswoman Diana Tomezsko said via email Sept. 20 that the remaining work involves replacing some of the remaining granite pavers with bricks within the next two weeks. "This is within the timeframe origi- nally negotiated between the city and its contractor,'' Tomezsko said. Pratt Street's upgrades included more than just new pavers, she said. While the street was torn up, Comcast laid a high- speed, fiber-optic cable beneath it, infra- structure valued at $250,000, Tomezsko said. In addition, Aetna contributed $400,000 toward the work bill. City officials, including the Public Works Department, met Sept. 15 with a few dozen Pratt merchants and landlords, to update them about the streetscape work and hear their concerns. Attendee Gerry Grate, owner of The Tobacco Shop, 89 Pratt St., said his is one of a number of Pratt Street businesses that have lost foot traffic and sales during the makeover. They insisted on meeting with the city, Grate said, because "there has been no transparency, no communication'' with them about the streetwork and a timetable for completion. "We got answers to some of our ques- tions,'' said Grate, past president of Business for Downtown Hartford, an advocacy group. Meanwhile, Pratt merchants' pitch to the city about closing the street to vehicular traffic on weekends, so they can set up mer- chandise curbside to cater to pedestrians, is being reviewed by the city, Tomezsko said. "We will continue to work with mer- chants and property owners to reflect their feedback in our final decision,'' she said. "Our first priority is to complete the construction. – Gregory Seay and get exposure to potential investors. Some pitch events are specifically tar- geted to certain industries or niches, such as Hartford-based reSET's Impact Challenge, which for the past five years has awarded cash prizes to social-enterprise startups. And next month, Connecticut Innovations (CI), the state's quasi-public venture arm, will host a $5 million pitch competition — likely the largest ever in Connecticut, and among the largest in the country. "I would say that in the last three years, there's a lot more pitch events and a lot more organizations doing it," said Mary Anne Rooke, CVG's executive director since early 2015 and an angel investor in Connecticut since 2005. She's also a mentor for the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, which supports and seeds Yale student- and faculty-led ventures, and has coached entrepreneurs involved in the MassChallenge, a nonprofit startup accel- erator in Boston. Bruce Carlson, CEO of the Connecticut Technology Council, which has hosted pitch events in the past, said they are aimed at the adage "practice makes perfect." "Originally these events were really about giving an entrepreneur an opportunity to practice his or her pitch prior to going to pitch an investor," Carlson said. "Over time, they have become more formalized" like at CVG and CI events, he said. Not 'Shark Tank' When entrepreneurs pitch to investors, it's inevitable someone will make a comparison to the popular ABC show "Shark Tank," during which celebrity investors review pitches and compete — sometimes bitterly — to invest in companies they like. Pitchees have been brought to tears more than once. The show, which launched in 2009, has undoubtedly played a role in the growth of entrepreneurial culture, but Rooke said her association's monthly events, which often fea- ture 10 pitches from different companies are far from the same thing. "That's all for TV," Rooke said. "We say we're the total opposite because we angel investors really look to nurture and mentor the entrepreneurs." Another key difference: CVG doesn't make investments itself. Its goal is to con- nect promising startups and companies to potential investors. "Wherever [entrepreneurs'] networks are, they're going to stay," Rooke said, so one of the goals of pitch events is to keep more promising and often young entrepreneurs in Connecticut. Rooke offers pitch coaching to many of the companies that present at CVG events. She has also started offering one-on-one meetings between investors and entrepreneurs prior to the public portions of the events. She said those changes have led to more attendance by inves- tors and better quality pitches and companies. CI's cash competitions One major player in the state's entrepre- neurial scene has been CTNext's Entrepre- neurial Innovation Awards, launched in 2013, which as of earlier this month had granted $510,000 to 49 companies and entrepreneurs, mostly in $10,000 increments. CTNext, a startup-focused program over- seen by CI, also offers pitch coaching through its group of "entrepreneurs in residence," said Jessica Dodge, a CI senior associate who oversees the awards. Pitches aren't spe- cifically scored, but Dodge said they are part of the overall impression entrepreneurs make on judges, as well as the crowd, which votes on a favorite at each event. "It factors into the gut impression," Dodge said. On Sept. 15, CTNext distributed its lastest round of awards — $64,000 to six Connecti- cut companies. Among the winners were Lucca Ventures Inc. of Southington, which has created a device that improves voice communication for patients with respirato- ry illnesses and New Britain-based Eureeka, which pitched its decision-making software for logistics professionals. Dodge said groups like CVG and the Angel Investor Forum are helpful in honing young companies' pitch skills. "We're all working toward the same goal," she said. "I think it's really positive that companies have taken advantage of a lot of opportunities." And she has noticed that competitors seem to be more polished these days. "It's becoming incredibly good," she said. "The companies being invited to pitch have stepped up their game." Even for those who pitch and don't win, expo- sure to the investors who are often in the crowd can be just as valuable, she added. Meantime, VentureClash – CI's inaugu- ral $5 million pitch competition – received nearly 170 applications from companies in Connecticut, other states and other countries, Dodge said. More than 30 semifinalists have been selected, the majority from outside Con- necticut, and CI expects to announce as early as this week the approximately 10 finalists who will compete in the event, to be hosted at Yale's School of Management in New Haven. The companies must be generating revenue or at least have a customer testing their product. WillowWorx's next hurdles Pitching can be intimidating to entrepre- neurs, but Zanyk said it doesn't overwhelm her. She describes herself as fearless, having bun- gee jumped in the Australian rain forest, swam with sharks and delivered an hour-long Ph.D. dissertation. "I just know I have that skill," she said. Now she is hoping for her first outside capi- tal infusion. She thinks the product can have applications in hospitals and other healthcare settings, and recently submitted WillowWorx for review to the shopping network QVC. She also recently applied for grants and loans from the Department of Community and Economic Development, HEDCO and the Small Business Administration. She's also hoping for private funds to raise just shy of $2 million, which will allow her to ramp-up production — hopefully in Connect- icut — and generate more sales. She said she has sold a modest number of WillowWORX devices so far. They retail for $699. "It takes time to acquire an investor; it's a tough thing to do," said Zanyk, who has been self-funding product development as well as paying her small executive team, including Chief Marketing Officer Joe Grace, who co-founded Suzanne Somers' ThighMaster in the 1990s. Though many investors nibble but eventu- ally decline to bite, attending various entrepre- neur networking and pitch events in Connecti- cut and in nearby states over the past year has boosted Zanyk's outlook on her prospects. "I'm on the fringe of investments, I can feel it," she said. In fact, she said a CI official called her after the Farmington event to talk about setting up a possible meeting. Zanyk marvels at the seemingly random interactions that have led her to new connec- tions, furthering her product's development and her contacts in her industry niche. "I keep saying that I need a consumer products wellness expert and then 'boom,' minutes later I'm meeting them," she said. "There seems to be this magical energy." Now she just needs to translate it into investments. n from page 1 CT preps for $5M pitch event Annabelle Rodriguez- Oquendo, founder of startup Lipid Genomics, pitched her company at a recent event in Farmington. Viewed from Trumbull Street westward to Main, work on Pratt Street was still underway on Sept. 21. H B J P H O T O | M A T T P I L O N H B J P H O T O | G R E G O R Y S E A Y Zanyk's company, W2Designs LLC, is selling WillowWORX as an alternative to heavier, pricier exercise equipment. P H O T O | C O N T R I B U T E D

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