Entrepreneurs Interested in Seeking Outside Investment
If you need start-up or growth capital in the range of $50,000 to $500,000 and you're ready to take on equity investors, we invite you to contact Point Positive to explore whether your venture meets our criteria and is a good fit overall. If you're not a fit for Point Positive investment, we'll still work with you to help identify the resources you need to move your idea or venture forward.
Interested entrepreneurs should first contact Point Positive Coordinator, Melinda Little, via email or phone, to arrange a time to meet, preferably in person, to give her an overview of your venture. If the opportunity seems promising, Melinda will work with you to help you move it forward, whether it's a fit for Point Positive investment or not. If it potentially is a fit for Point Positive, she'll help you develop an "investment ready" pitch presentation and will introduce you to other partners who can help with things like prototype development, market research and intellectual property issues if needed. Once you're ready, we'll have you participate in a practice pitch session with a sub-set of Point Positive members. The purpose of the practice session is to ensure that the pitch is as strong as it can possibly be. Here's a link to a pitch presentation template: Presentation_Template.pdf
Point Positive holds two pitch events each year, the first in late July or early August and the second in October. If you end up making a pitch and it's well-received, Point Positive will subsequently conduct an in-depth due diligence review of your plan, your projected use of funds, etc. If the outcome of that review is favorable, a deal will be structured and all of the Point Positive members/investors will have the chance to participate on an individual basis in the deal.
Beyond the Pitch Sessions – Other Point Positive Resources
Point Positive was originally established for the purpose of providing start-up and growth capital to promising, scalable ventures in the Greater Adirondack Region. This continues to be central to our mission, but providing coaching, mentoring and education to entrepreneurs at all levels of readiness and scale has also become critical to our work and we encourage entrepreneurs to contact us at any time for assistance.
In addition to providing such assistance, we work in partnership with the North Country Innovation Hotspot Program at the Shipley Center at Clarkson to present 2-3 workshops a year that typically include a skill building component, one-on-one coaching and the opportunity for entrepreneurs to practice their pitch presentations. Past workshops have focused on how to put together an "investment ready" pitch presentation and how to develop the germ of an idea for a business or invention into a reality. The dates, locations and topics for our 2020 workshops will be posted on the Event Section of this website once they've been set.
Point Positive also recently partnered with the Franklin County Local Development Corporation and the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce to open The Carry, an entrepreneurial business center in Saranac Lake, dedicated to helping Adirondack small businesses start, grow and succeed. It will be part incubator, part co-working space, part trade school and part maker space. It is a place where new and existing business owners meet to share ideas, build relationships, learn, laugh and experiment and entrepreneurs of the future practice a new craft and receive training and mentoring.
And for those entrepreneurs with existing businesses in St. Lawrence County, the SLC Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership program launched in early October, 2019. Designed to enhance the talents and operating abilities of practicing entrepreneurs, this peer-based, mentor-driven program empowers participants to overcome business challenges, create new opportunities and develop meaningful connections within the business community.
