5 Qs with Sam Fratoni
Meet Sam at Central Maine Tech Night on 3/14 @ 5:00p.
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1. As an entrepreneur, how do I get money to fund my idea for a great product?
SF: The official answer is the initial money for any business comes from the founder, then friends and family investment follows. If you won’t put money in, no one else will. The secret, however, is to not spend money. Trial your concept as fast and as cheaply as you can with a mock-up of the product. Use a 3D printer to make parts, since it only has to work a few times. By "failing fast, failing cheap", you move on quickly without worrying how you are going to pay back your investors.
2. At what stage would I pitch to Maine Angels, and how would I do so?
Maine Angels are interested in businesses that can scale, meaning they can grow to substantial size and give more than a tenfold return. An application to Maine Angels is as simple as filling in the information requested at
maineangels.org
. My most common advice is to not come too soon, as we seek equity in your company so we share the risk and the upside with the you. If your business is worth $1M today and we invest $200,000, we would own about 17%. If you grew the business for another year and the value was $2M, then you would get $400,000 for 17% interest in the company. First seek out ‘free’ money from pitch contests or grants.
3. Why would an investor choose to join an angel investment group?
Eighty percent of angel investments fail - angels invest in companies which are still in the formation stages with many unknowns. Investing alone means the individual needs to identify and evaluate all the risks factors. Joining the Maine Angels makes you part of an experienced and diverse group working together to understand investment possibilities; we also have more collective influence with deal terms. Plus, it is a great group of interesting individuals from different backgrounds who are fun to be around.
4. You’ve led domestic and international business units, regions, and functions for companies such as Hewlett Packard and IDEXX Laboratories. How did you come to join Maine Angels and share your expertise with local startups?
I may be a little unique in my answer. I am not from Maine, but came to work for Dave Shaw and IDEXX Laboratories more than twenty years ago. I often worked out of state, so when it came time to retire and give more back to my community, I found I really didn’t know Maine well. But it quickly became clear that Maine’s economic development will come from the growth of its many small startups. I joined Maine Angels, Envision Maine, and the Board for the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs to see where I could share my experience with local companies to help them grow. It has given me a chance to get to know many people with different talents, in different businesses, but all who want to work together to help grow Maine's economy.
5. Your background as a chemist and your work in electronics and software are particularly relevant to the entrepreneurial scene in Waterville. What advice or resources can you recommend for tech-based entrepreneurs?
The key is a ruthless focus on the customer. How you apply technology to meet their needs is more important than the technology itself. I recently attended an event featuring Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix; he studied geology in college, but what he got most out of his experience was organization and managing field trips - not his knowledge about rocks. For me, problem solving is the application of the scientific method. I find that most business issues can be broken down into underlying models, similar to my old chemical molecular models.
Some books that may be of interest are: “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen, “The Laws of Simplicity” by John Maeda, and “Crossing the Chasm” by Geofffrey Moore.
This is what I want to focus on with my TechTalk at the March 14th Central Maine Tech Night.
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We're thrilled to announce that
People's United Bank
will be sharing their small business know-how with the CMGC Intelligence audience! Look for their first column in our April edition.
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Camden National Bank
, with local locations in downtown Waterville and Oakland, is an award-winning leader in U.S. retail banking and is recognized as a FAME Lender at Work for Maine.
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Top Stories of February 2019
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Central Maine Real Estate Spotlight
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Featured Commercial Property Location
: FirstPark Professional Office Building
25 FirstPark Drive, Oakland, ME
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Unit size:
Building Infrastructure:
- Three-phase power
- Underground utilities + data
- High-speed internet
- City water/sewer
- Lit parking lot
Context:
- Easy access to I-95 via Kennedy Memorial Drive
- Oakland-Waterville municipal line
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A family-owned business since 1914, Day's Jewelers is consistently rewarded as a Best Place to Work for creating a supportive, fun environment where staff are valued members of the family.
The company's commitment to employee development starts early. As Kristie Jandreau, Human Resources Manager for Day's, explains, "What many of our
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Danielle Horner of Day's Jewelers inspects a stone.
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'superstar' employees have in common is they 'caught the fever' early - they started young so they've developed a deep love for what we do." In fact, a current territory manager got his start cleaning Day's stores when he was 15!
To instill this early passion, Day's partners with area
JMG
(Jobs for Maine Graduates) programs to find talented high school interns. As interns, students experience every facet of Day's Jewelers' business, from retail sales and buying to customer service to IT. Judi Bouchard, Winslow High's JMG specialist, greatly appreciates the partnership opportunity, saying,"T
he Day's staff have been very helpful in assisting our students with finding their passion for their future careers."
The internship program began as a promotion for the Diamond Council of America's "Beginning Jewelry Sales" training course, which helped Kristie to craft a program structure and expand upon the training modules. "I designed specific activities that followed along the online program to give interns a 'real-world experience'. I ended up with a 'Mentors Checklist', which made it easy to scale across all of our stores," she explains.
Kristie notes that several interns have stayed with the company post-high school and continue to rise up the ranks. If your industry provides certification or educational resources, consider offering it to interns - it's a cost-effective way to train a workforce pipeline and create long-term engagement for the work you do!
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We hope you enjoy learning about local talent recruitment and retention strategies, and if your business has an innovative strategy or unique culture, please share with us!
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10a - 2p | Field house; 180 W. River Rd., Waterville
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About Workforce Training & Professional Development at KVCC
- Provides non-credit and customized training programs to individuals, businesses and organizations in the Kennebec, Somerset and Knox counties
- Designs customized business training programs to train new hires or upskill incumbent workers
- Offers flexible scheduling and on- or off-site locations
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Workforce Training & Professional Development
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Training existing employees in new skills allows employers to retain great talent already familiar with their business culture while providing new and challenging opportunities to employees.
Currently, KVCC is working with Backyard Farms in Madison on a second round of trainings under the Backyard Farms University, a training program they have instituted for their incumbent workforce. KVCC has provided OSHA 10 and First Aid CPR AED; in addition, KVCC developed and delivered courses in business writing, principles of management, conversational Spanish, MS Excel and MS Word with science-based courses slated for delivery in Spring 2019.
To learn more about how KVCC can assist with your training needs, call 207.453.5858 or visit our website.
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What does a student need to learn in the 21st century?
From both a workforce and citizenship perspective, the answer must include computer science ("CompSci"). With nearly 1,000 open computing jobs in Maine and the increasing importance of understanding cyber security and new platforms as a casual web user, CompSci skills are necessary for students' success.
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Enter Cyber Panthers, a pilot course at Waterville Senior High School, which will engage students in artificial intelligence, cyber security, virtual and augmented reality, app and game development, robotics, and visual design.
The curriculum, created by the Center for Curriculum Redesign, pairs CompSci content with social-emotional skill-building and career prep, providing a holistic learning experience individualized to students' interests.
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Health Tip: Colorectal Cancer Awareness
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March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Learn more about this highly preventable disease by clicking
here
.
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Stay connected with CMGC:
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If you are an investor in CMGC and would like to submit content to
CMGC Intelligence
, simply reply to this e-mail to speak with Elaine Theriault-Currier.
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Board of Directors:
Chris Gaunce, chair – Central Maine Motors Auto Group
Michael Heavener, vice chair – Town of Winslow
Beth Gibbs, treasurer – Thomas College
Lucille Zelenkewich, secretary – Peoples United Bank
John Dalton, past chair – Northern Light Health - Inland Hospital
Elizabeth Fortin – Kennebec Valley Community College
Paul Stein – MaineGeneral Health
Darlene Ratte – Best Western Plus
Michael Roy – City of Waterville
Gary Bowman – Town of Oakland
Michelle Flewelling – Town of Fairfield
Brian Clark – Colby College
Michael Runser – Valley Beverage
Allan Rancourt – Kennebec Federal Savings
Lisa Hallee – Bill & Joan Alfond Foundation
Donald Plourde – Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate
Tom Meucci - Huhtamaki
Ex-Officio Board Members:
Kimberly Lindlof – CMGC & Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce
Laura Cyr – Kennebec Valley Council of Governments
Christian Savage - Somerset Economic Development Corporation
James Dinkle – Kennebec Regional Dev. Authority / FirstPark
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