Fireside Chat: George Dawson ’08, Techstars Fund Controller

Dawson is based at Techstars headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, where he leads the organization’s fund and investment finance team which oversees 50+ venture capital funds and internal investment vehicles and a portfolio of approximately 4,000+ investments.  Dawson is responsible for all aspects of portfolio company valuations, accounting, investor reporting, operations and fund structuring, and plays a critical role in Techstars capital formation efforts.

Prior to Techstars, Dawson was the assistant controller at JLL Partners, a mid-market private equity firm in New York. Earlier in his career, he worked at EY and KPMG, where he served large private equity, venture capital, hedge fund, mutual fund and fund-of-fund clients. He is a licensed CPA in New York and graduated in 2008 from Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management with a dual major in accounting and finance and a minor in economics.

At the Fireside Chat, Dawson will discuss startup finance topics of interest such as valuation, incorporation, term sheet economics, cap tables, convertible notes and other investment structures. He will also share best practices for startups and common pitfalls.  He will be talking about gearing up for investment and how startups can approach financing their ventures through the capital continuum.

Techstars, a worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, has invested in several Syracuse University startups including SparkCharge (Techstars Boston), PowerSpike (Techstars Atlanta), and CLLCTVE (Techstars Los Angeles).  Techstars consists of both an investment management business with $500+ million in assets under management, as well as an operating business that is rapidly approaching $100+ million in annual revenue. Techstars investment activity includes global accelerator programs in cities around the world, deploying $80 million+ into nearly 500 startups on an annual basis. The Techstars portfolio of 2,200 companies currently attracts an annual $2 billion+ in downstream investment from the venture capital industry.

Click the Zoom link below to join.