Welcome to DigitalBridges2.0

Welcome to the DigitalBridges2.0 blog. Here you can keep up with everything DigitalBridges. This is an open community and we hope that as a member of our online world, you will be an active participant. Come back often and tell us what you think.

The Millennials Looking Forward: A Town Meeting

by

Jim Laughlin, Adrian Talbott, Brian Schmidt ’97, and Chris Charron,

Final Overview: Here Come the Millennials!

by

Andrew Weisman and James Kerrigan


I. BRONCHOBATS – PETER BINGHAM

BronchoBats possesses a rare combination for a Vermont-based business. It appears high growth potential and social responsibility need not be mutually exclusive. The growth aspect is fairly obvious: expanding this product beyond the initial customer of people who suffer from cystic fibrosis and to the general gamer can reduce the critique against video games that they simply waste time and distract kids of all ages. Addressing this problem increases the long-term market greatly and makes the product generally more attractive. BronchoBats is socially responsible because it targets a group that typically suffers from social isolation and because it gives back to this community by donating some of its profits to research. Moreover, this social responsibility can also help attract a different kind of investor that may be helpful in launching the product.

Peter is undoubtedly comfortable in his delivery and confident in his product which radiates during the entire presentation. Venture capitalists invest in not just a product or a business idea, but also the people involved. Even with all this in mind, I do have some questions and comments. How do you integrate this new breathing technology into the current games? Is the breathing regulator the same for every game? Can you just plug and play? Creating a new market space – more risky or profitable? A brief explanation of how the product works would be helpful. Also, a real world example of how this integrates into a specific game could enhance the understanding of the product. Revenue seems conservative enough, but I anticipate higher costs, not only for initial research and development, but also for continuous growth. Are you looking for investment dollars, or just a business-minded person to help? If so, with fairly low growth projections, BronchoBats may attract a socially conscious investor. Can the market expand beyond the current customer base and into just a consumer culture? This really could expand growth numbers.


DigitalBridges2.0 Entrepreneur's Forum

Saturday December 9, 2006 -- If you've never been to a DigitalBridges Entrepreneur's Forum then you are missing out on one of the most exciting annual events at Middlebury. The event seems to be perennially under-advertised but every year the program director, MariAnn Osborne, manages to wrangle a crowd of interested spectators. This was my fourth time attending the event and the crowd was the largest to date that I can remember so kudos to MariAnn.

Michael Claudon opened the morning by welcoming the audience and sharing some very impressive statistics about the DigitalBridges program. The Middlebury Solutions Group has consulted for 31 start-ups and of those, 23 are still operating. Considering the high rate of failure for start-up companies, that is a remarkable testament to Michael and the DigitalBridges program. A table in Bicentennial Hall's Great Hall featured the products of just a few of the past DigitalBridges clients.