July 26, 2001 The TIA (www.tiaonlone.org) hosted "Ventures 2001" on July 19 at the McLean Hilton in Tysons Corner, VA. More than 100 people attended the forum, which brought together 20 venture capital firms and 15 presenting companies to facilitate capital acquisition and entrepreneur networking.
"We were thrilled to provide this unique opportunity as we host our second and very successful venture capital event. With some quality emerging companies seeking funding, coupled with VCs that already are managing billions of dollars in investments in the current economy, we were able to use this venue to successfully serve as a catalyst for future ventures," said Walter Wilowatyj, principal of Wood Walters, LLC and chairman of TIA's Ventures programs.
Siding with Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan's recent comments that the end of the economic slowdown is in sight, attending venture capitalists assured participants of the continued availability of capital for communications companies that have solid business plans and can offer value-added services. In his luncheon keynote, Steve Walker, president of Steve Walker & Associates, noted, "Even though things are damper now than they were a year ago, nothing is pointing to a huge recession. There are so many opportunities for entrepreneurs now and there's capital to help them, too."
