Lydia Micheaux Mashall: Versura

Experience is the key ingredient that sets Lydia Micheaux Marshall's company, Versura, apart in the online business-to-business market. Marshall, a former executive vice president with Sallie Mae, an education-financing corporation that provides funding for millions of student loans, launched Versura with another Sallie Mae executive. Their proven experience combined with a great idea and assistance from the Springboard: New England 2000 program helped Marshall secure $5 million in venture capital.

"We were facing the challenge of attracting investors as they were becoming more and more scarce for start-ups," said Marshall. "I heard about Springboard and was thrilled when they selected me as one of their presenters in the fall of 2000."

With her experience as a senior executive and corporate board member in financial services and private equity for 25 years, Marshall assumed she would not need much assistance when it came to her presentation. She was assigned two coaches: Ginger Lew of Telecommunications Development Fund and Patty Abramson of Women's Growth Capital Fund.

"After watching my initial presentation, my coaches said that I should approach it from the venture capitalist's view," said Marshall. "They explained how venture capitalists see the world and how I should speak to their interests. This was a major leap forward for me because it was my first step in understanding the fund raising process. They helped me see what to emphasize, which was, in our case, our level of experience."

As a result of her Springboard presentation, Marshall met with a dozen venture capital firms with a serious interest in her company. By August 2001, Versura closed on $5 million in investment funding. The round was led by Palisade Private Partnership II. The company plans to use the new capital to expand sales and marketing activities as well as for technology investments.

"We were very pleased to be able to complete this funding in difficult capital market conditions," said Marshall. In addition to the funding, Versura announced another major milestone this summer: over $1 billion worth of student loan exchanges have been conducted through Versura, with over fifty institutions registered to use Versura's service.

"Springboard was an incredibly positive experience for me," said Marshall. "They helped me hone my presentations, showed me effective approaches for targeting venture capitalists, and told me who to contact. I don't know of any other place where a woman can get that expertise and depth of commitment."