The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse will host George Dawson ’08, Techstars Fund Controller, for a “Fireside Chat” on Friday, November 6 at 3 p.m. at http://bit.ly/launchpad-fall-fireside-chat Dawson will join us via Zoom from Techstar’s headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, where he leads the organization’s fund and investment finance team. The team oversees 50+ venture capital funds and internal investment vehicles and a portfolio of approximately 4,000+ investments. He will be talking about gearing up for investment and how startups can approach financing their ventures through the capital continuum.
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.
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. Techstars also invests in global emerging startup communities by operating approximately 1,000+ annual Techstars Startup Weekend events in 600+ cities across 120 countries to help surface and support future high growth companies.
The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars is Syracuse University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire University’s resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation and taking ideas from concept to commercialization.