First LAUNCH Ashland PubTalk Blows the Doors Out!

Our first LAUNCH Ashland PubTalk, held at the Standing Stone Brewing Company on Tuesday, October 18, gathered a crowd of over 55 members of Ashland’s entrepreneurial community. Start-ups, potential investors and other interested parties gathered to hear local Angel Investors give their thoughts and answer questions about what they are looking for when they consider investing in a new company.

SOREDI’s Communication Manager, Codi Spodnik says, “Wow! Ashland really turned it out tonight! We thought we’d be lucky to half this many people. I’m so excited to see how motivated Ashlanders are about supporting new businesses!”

Spodnik continues, “The Standing Stone was so thoughtful and patient in working with this great turn out. They had not originally planned on letting us go out onto the back porch, but they let us do that, rather than turning anyone away. I’m sorry that we had to cut our program a little but, it did get cold and dark out there eventually. I really appreciate that our guests were flexible with us. Since this first one was a bit of an experiment, we really learned what kind of venue we are going to need to find in order to continue. It’s our hope that we can find more than one possibility so that we can move these around and keep it feeling fun like this!”

The next LAUNCH Ashland PubTalk will be held on Tuesday, November 15, 2016. The program will consist of experienced entrepreneurs sharing their stories, with time for attendees to speak about their companies for a few minutes each. The location will be determined shortly, as it is evident that it will need to be a larger space than the Standing Stone had available last Tuesday. Any companies, restaurants, or pubs that would like to offer their space for this event should contact Codi Spodnik at SOREDI by e-mailing codi@soredi.org.

SOREDI Venture Catalyst, Tim Root and Steve Vincent of Avista Utilities work together to hold regular Angel Investor meetings so that Angels can learn about new companies. Any start-up company that is seeking Angel Investment or anyone interesting in learning more about becoming an Angel Investor, should contact Tim Root by e-mailing tim@soredi.org.

About LAUNCH Ashland: LAUNCH Ashland is an initiative of SOREDI, made possible with funds from the City of Ashland and the Oregon Community Foundation and partnership with Southern Oregon University and the Small Business Development Center in order to focus resources on growing new scalable enterprises in the Ashland area from concept to first revenue, with the ultimate goal of creating new, sustainable employment opportunities locally.

About SOREDI: SOREDI is a private, membership-based, non-profit organization, governed by a board of directors. Its seven-person staff is charged with local business expansion and new business recruitment efforts, financial assistance to start-up companies through its business loan fund, and management of Enterprise Zones in Jackson and Josephine Counties. The agency was formed as a regional economic development agency in 1987. Learn more at https://soredi.org.