With Covid-19 causing job loss and uncertainty in the market, Southern Methodist University sees its role as an institution not just for degrees but for entrepreneurial education and networking, especially during this current crisis.
And while the University hosts multiple Southwest Venture Forum events throughout the year, it sees its upcoming May 21 event as an even more significant resource for the community during the pandemic. In addition, with the event going virtual this month, the organization hopes this is a chance to get the Dallas startup ecosystem in front of national or even global audience.
“The intent was and still is to provide a platform, to provide a venue, to provide an event where people from the Dallas area can come and see how real entrepreneurs pitch real ideas and also get some education on what’s going on in the world of venture financing,” Simon Mak, executive director of the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Cox School of Business, told NTX Inno.
SMU took over hosting the forum through its Caruth Institute in 1990. Since then, it has been hosting five events per year, each focusing on a different type of investing or an emerging technology.
The upcoming event will be the first virtual presentation of the forum for the university. It will focus on family office investing strategies with a panel made up of Andy Swartz, CIO at J. Cleo Thompson Family Office; David Ward, managing director of investment firms affiliated with the Ward O’Hara Family Office; and Matt Ogle, CEO and founding partner at Legacy Knight Multi-Family Office. John Terry of Churchill Terry will moderate the panel.
While family offices aren't the first place startups turn to, Mak said they have curated the event to focus on offices that do invest in tech, early-stage and growth-focused companies. He added that during this time, many family offices may be going into “preservation mode,” others may be looking to expand their portfolios. In addition, he said that it is likely that as younger generations take over family offices, they will likely start to invest more in companies that were often considered high-risk, like startups and emerging tech.
“What’s interesting from a Dallas perspective is that Dallas is very, very well known for private equity and family offices, and so we wanted this opportunity to introduce our audience to what’s going on from a family office perspective,” Mak said. “If you’re an entrepreneur, typically you would not be able to gain money from a family office… but there is this money here and there’s these three here that are interested.”
Since the university is hosting the forum for the first time virtually and because Mak said they are aware many in the community are struggling financially due to the virus, SMU has opted to use a pay-as-you-can model for ticket sales. However, Mak said so far they have noticed most people still paying full-price for digital tickets.
And people paying the ticket price is good news for Mak. SMU is planning on donating all of its ticket sale proceeds from the forum to the Texas-based Prisoner Entrepreneurship Program, an organization Mak has volunteered for that focuses on prisoner education and job training, as well as helping them grow businesses after release from prison. Mak said they chose this program due to the fact that returning to the workforce as an ex-convict was already difficult, now with the pandemic and regulations stating ex-prisoners cannot receive PPP, those released are facing an even more difficult reality.
“Under normal conditions its already hard enough to be an ex-convict and you’re trying to start a business and build your business, and then you hit them with coronavirus… I would say that puts them at the worst of the worst of the worst [positions],” Mak said. “There are a lot of people hurting right now, but I said, ‘Wow, this group really, really needs [support].’”
Editor's note: The original version of this story had the wrong date for the event. It has been updated.
