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Stahura says financially supporting entrepreneurs has changed over the years.
“Some startups don’t require as much capital
as they used to,” he says. “Even a small amount
of capital helps some of these founders get a little bit of traction in their industry. They can start
small and then grow.”
Stahura acknowledges that there is no definitive answer as to what impels an investor to provide funds to a company.
“There is no set of criteria for me,” he says.
“Generally, you know a good investment when
you see it. Yes, I take into consideration how
much they are asking for, how big their market
can be, if their product is very niche, or if they
can expand. But no one really knows exactly
what makes a company more ready for investment than another.”
THE PHILANTHROPISTS
WANT TO GET
INVOLVED?
8
PU R DU E A LUM N US
—STEVE MARTIN
C O UR T E SY OF M I N E RVA YE U N G
Visit purduefoundry.com
for more information on
how you can support
Purdue-related startups.
Minerva Yeung (ECE’92) is an entrepreneur
and investor. Boon-Lock Yeo (ECE’92) is a vice
president of engineering at Google. They back
Purdue entrepreneurs and startups financially
by supporting Purdue
Foundry’s Boost programming through
a new philanthropic
initiative that allows
charitable donations
to Purdue to be used
to fund Purdue startups. Companies that
suc c e s sfull y c omplete Boost receive a
$25,000 investment
once early-stage
investors deem them
ready, and they are
eligible for follow-on investment as their businesses achieve milestones.
Yeo says funding from a first investor impacts
companies in several ways.
“It provides the initial capital to fund activities
needed to prove out the business or technology opportunities,” he says. “These could range
from building out a prototype to validating and
refining ideas with potential customers to scoping out a business and execution plan. These
activities pave the way for building out a clearer
plan for the startup and for attracting a larger
investment later.”
Yeo and Yeung also mentor entrepreneurs,
who mainly ask for advice or feedback on business models, technology readiness, pitch decks,
and whom to hire.
Yeung says there are around 7,000 Purdue
alumni in Silicon Valley with diverse expertise
and experiences.
“They can benefit young alumni or students
who are driving the next generations of startups by contributing time as mentors—which
can be as simple as quarterly lunch meetings
with a founder,” Yeung says. “The mentors benefit as well by connecting with startup talents to
broaden their networks and getting to know the
next generation of promising technology and
business trends. We’ve learned a lot from working with startup entrepreneurs. We are also constantly inspired by entrepreneurs’ passion, grit,
and commitment to what they do.”
