Have an idea for a new venture, or need help growing your existing venture? Want to learn more about equity financing and the options available in Oregon? Join Laura Kubisiak and Ana Chaud for an interactive session on resources available to entrepreneurs looking to start a new business, as well as existing ventures looking for higher growth.

Laura Kubisiak is the Venture Catalyst for Washington County and will talk about the services and resources for early-stage entrepreneurs, as well discuss equity financing to raise capital. She will be joined by Ana Chaud, founder of Garden Bar. Ana successfully sold the business in 2019 and is now giving back to the entrepreneurial community in a variety of ways, including as a TiE Oregon angel investor and an Executive Partner in Elevate Capital. She’ll share her experience as an entrepreneur, as well as her thoughts on working with angel investors and venture capital firms.

Topics to be discussed:
• The Venture Catalyst (VC) Network
• The VC Services in Washington County
• Equity Financing as part of the Funding Ladder
• Types of Equity Investors
• Local Venture Funds
• Straight Scoop from Ana on being an Entrepreneur and an Investor

The focus is on traded sector, but all business are welcome!
There will be plenty of time for questions.

Speaker Backgrounds:

Laura Kubisiak serves as the Venture Catalyst for Washington County. She is an “on the ground” resource for helping traded-sector companies start-up and scale-up. She meets one-on-one with entrepreneurs, assesses their business needs, and then connects them to people, programs and financial capital to help fuel their growth. Laura also leads programming to educate entrepreneurs and give them an opportunity to network with others in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Prior to this role, Laura served as a senior executive in marketing, sales and business development at companies ranging from start-up to Fortune 500.

Ana Chaud started her career as a financial and business manager in the San Francisco Bay Area. In January 2014, Ana co-founded Garden Bar, the first fast casual, salad concept restaurant in the NW. In five years, Garden Bar grew ~600% in revenue and expanded from 9 to 120 employees. In 2019, Garden Bar was acquired by Evergreens, which provided Ana with a full circle experience – from concept to exit. Ana recently joined the Board at TiE Oregon and will share her insights on being an entrepreneur, as well as investing in new ventures through TiE Angels and Elevate Capital.