Friday, September 19, 2008

eCoast loses one of its own; R.I.P. Jeff Beauregard

Sad news to report today. Jeff Beauregard, a Portsmouth technology sales executive and well-known face around town, took his own life Tuesday night. The obituary ran in today's paper. He was most recently with GreenPages; here's Jeff's LinkedIn profile. Condolences are pouring in on his MySpace and Facebook pages, as well as his online guestbook. He was just 28 years old.

I knew Jeff through my girlfriend when she worked with him at DesktopStandard, a Portsmouth shop that was bought by Microsoft a couple years ago. I didn't know him very well, but we hung out a few times after work at the local watering holes. I'll never forget how he had my back in a near altercation at Poco's one night. He was just a real, solid, stand-up kind of guy... Very outgoing, gregarious, funny... Which makes this so hard to understand.

I won't be able to attend his event tomorrow at RedHook so this is my memorial to him. R.I.P. Jeff. I hope you found the peace you were missing in life.

Meanwhile, I was reminded that I had just seen this in the paper a few days ago:

Thursday, September 11, 2008
PORTSMOUTH — Support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention by participating in the Portsmouth Out of the Darkness Community Walk on September 27th in Portsmouth's Peirce Island. Proceeds will benefit local and national suicide prevention and awareness programs. Registration will be held at Peirce Island near the Portsmouth Outdoor Pool at 9:00 am The walk will begin promptly at 10:00 am. To register, donate or to learn more, please log on to www.outofthedarkness.org.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Deal Flow? Deal Slow.

Flipping through the new issue of Mass High Tech, my eye is always grabbed by any reference to New Hampshire, because, let's face it, it's an infrequent occurrence. This week, MHT correspondent Christopher Calnan covers the dismal state of business investment overall, and focusses on some initiatives here in the Granite State hoping to ameliorate the situation.

In his piece, "N.H. Angels Respond as Deals Slow," you can learn about the growing number of angel investment groups in NH. I find it interesting to see that the SBDC is getting more involved in funding -- good idea, as they have first-hand knowledge of and access to the best small startup opportunities.

Note: eCoast Angels were not quoted in the story but are mentioned in the sidebar of the dead-tree version. And somehow, inexplicably, old pal Jeff Sohl was not quoted, although his Center for Venture Research was mentioned.

In a related editorial "NH, Maine Get Lost in Hub's Glare," the MHT editors opine: Perhaps the time has come for state funding agencies — and the angel investors working behind the scenes — to come together across state borders for the regional good. You mean, like this? At the very least, that network might be a good place to start the conversation.