There were four startup companies who presented at the NEF May Forum. Leann Abad of Vicinity told us about is his idea of a platform that connects travelers to local tour guides for on-demand tours. Similar in concept to Uber, the tours are a creative way to experience destination cities. Blake Osecki of Modular Home & Garden explained how his DIY garden box product is modular and can be as large or as small as the customer desires. The garden boxes are affordable and easy to install. Gail Brown of Platters Chocolatier, explained how her chocolates create a pleasant customer experience for luxury hotels. She makes gourmet custom molded chocolates for corporate branding and promotions. Kiley Judge of Quirk described the health benefits of her drinking fruit vinegars. The fruit flavoring of the vinegar makes them delicious and refreshing. Each of the four companies had interesting products and gave great presentations. As you know, there can be only one overall winner. The $202 prize went to Blake Osecki of Modular Home & Garden.
Advaita Bioinformatics is a spin-off from Wayne State University. As Dr Draghici, Founder & CEO explained, thousands of drugs fail during Phase III clinical trials. Why is this happening? "The problem is that no two patients are the same. Drugs fail because one cannot currently distinguish between patients who will respond and patients who will not respond or have adverse effects." A technology that could distinguish between people who respond favorably those who will not would allow drugs to be FDA approved much sooner, and save the pharmaceutical industry over $900 million dollars. What is Advaita's solution? Their technology is able to: improve the success of clinical trials by discerning between respondents and non-respondents; design optimal treatments by distinguishing between more and less aggressive types of diseases; re-purpose drugs; and predict side effects. Their product is available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution and their primary customers are small biotech firms, pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs). Visit them at 
At the April forum meeting, the panel of experts provided valuable insights into the importance of financials in presenting a venture to investors. So, what should entrepreneurs be aware of when talking with investors?
The room was packed to see who would win the bragging rights to the NEF March Pitch Pit. But first, a bit about the companies the judges had to choose from.
