Startups Share Successful Acquisition Stories at Virtual Event

Orange County Celebrates Entrepreneurs Executive Committee hosted a two-day, virtual event this year that featured inspiring startups from across the region who shared stories centered on five segments of a business — startup, survival, growth, development and sale of a business.

“The OCCE Executive Committee … is joined by our common goal of making Orange County a globally recognized leader in innovation and entrepreneurship as well as being a catalyst for moving the Orange County culture forward towards greater prosperity,” said Cathleen Greiner, regional director of business and entrepreneurship for Orange County and California Community Colleges.

The second day of the event featured UCI startup Laser Associated Sciences (LAS), a former Cove @ UCI tenant, that developed a noninvasive medical device for multiple applications such as measuring blood flow to help monitor conditions such as peripheral artery disease. Sean White, Ph.D., co-founder and former CEO of LAS, discussed how he and his team positioned the company for acquisition by Medtronic, an international medical device company with Matt Hanson, UCI Beall Applied Innovation director of New Ventures.

“From the get-go, we always had the intention that we wanted to build Laser Associated Sciences for an acquisition and the reason behind that was the co-founders of the business are all scientists and engineers by training and I think what that meant was we knew what our strengths were and we wanted to play to those strengths,” said White.

The now director of research and tech at Medtronic also discussed the importance of developing a proof of principal and working prototypes of their technology to ultimately create a story for prospective acquirers.

“I think Medtronic was really a frontrunner for us because their alignment from both a strategy perspective and from a product portfolio really fit with what we were doing,” said White.

The event also featured Lori Torres, former founder and CEO of Parcel Pending, a smart locker management solution for packages, and Applied Innovation board member, who discussed her startup’s successful acquisition. Torres’ goal with her startup was to be acquired within seven years.

“I knew this wasn’t a long-term, family lifestyle business; it was start the business, grow the business, sell the business and realistically I thought it would happen in about 7 years,” said Torres.

Torres emphasizes that startups should have a plan before moving the company forward as one of the most important pieces of advice she shared.

“Have a plan, focus on the plan, execute on the plan,” said Torres. “For me, I would say that was the best advice I got. If I had another company, [I would] have a plan in place. I did not spend one dollar, I didn’t even name the company until I had written a full three-year plan.”

Learn more about New Ventures at Applied Innovation.

Main Image: Kate Wokowsky

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