Founder Roundtables are an opportunity for founders across the state to connect, share, and learn from each other as they work to advance their businesses. This virtual session will focus on taking on (or not taking on) startup investment, including the challenges, opportunities, and decision points a founder should consider.
This session will feature serial entrepreneur, advisor, mentor, and investor David Corcoran to help guide the conversation, answer questions, and share experiences.
This program is open to founders and investors across Michigan. This session is highly interactive and conversation-driven so founders should come with questions, challenges, success stories, and insights on the topic of startup funding. An overview of the agenda includes:
- Welcome and small group introductions
- Featured founder discussion and topic overview
- Group discussion with featured founder and peers
- Debrief & close
By the end of the program, we hope participants feel:
- More confident in choosing the right investors and funding opportunities that align with personal goals for the company;
- More connected to and supported by the startup ecosystem;
- Value in the state’s founder network.
More about David Corcoran:
David is a pledged member of the Michigan Founders Fund and a true builder and leader in the Midwest startup ecosystem. In the late 90s, David developed an open-source software stack for using cryptographic smart cards in embedded environments, which led him to several consulting opportunities from Apple to the US government. He built a cybersecurity company called TrustBearer Labs, which sold to Verisign and Symantec in 2010, was a founding investor and board member of remote K-12 education platform PearDeck which sold to GoGuardian in 2020, and in 2017 co-founded Censys, a cybersecurity SaaS company based in Ann Arbor. Currently, David serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Purdue DIAL Ventures helping launch a venture studio around sustainable food and agriculture.
