Monday, April 14, 2008

Nobody's baby put in the corner at VC's summer camp

By Christopher Calnan

For the second consecutive year, Highland Capital Partners plans to operate a summer program for budding entrepreneurs.

Highland, a Lexington-based venture capital firm, is requesting applications from college students for its Summer@Highland program, which the firm launched last year to help entrepreneurs develop their business ideas.

Highland plans to provide entrepreneurs with work space and stipends of $7,500 each for the 10-week program that includes forums and advice from the firm's investment team. This year, the firm is expanding the program to include Highland's Menlo Park, Calif., office, senior vice president Michael Gaiss said.

Each business plan is allowed to be backed by a team of one to four entrepreneurs.

Last year, eight teams participated in the summer program. Highland subsequently invested in two of the companies: online video company Affine Systems and online custom jewelry business Paragon Lake Inc., Gaiss said.

Paragon Lake co-founder and CEO Matt Lauzon, 23, said he started the business in 2006 while a student at Babson College. The business was already generating revenue before entering the Highland program, but the advice Lauzon received during the summer program helped him build out the company, which now employs 10 workers, he said.

"We were surrounded by world-class people we could tap into," Lauzon said.

This year, Highland is planning to accept four or five teams, depending on the quality of the business plans and any other changes Highland makes while it continues to adjust the program's structure, Gaiss said.

"We're viewing it as a multiyear experiment," he said.

The program, which is open to undergraduate and graduate students, including those scheduled to graduate this year, received 140 team applications in 2007, Gaiss said. The summer program's schedule is flexible, but operates generally from June through September.

In exchange, Highland requires team members to grant the firm an option to invest up to 50 percent of any funding round which companies subsequently complete during the six months after the program.