CougsFirst! Power Lunch
Date & Time
Friday May 9, 2025
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Location
Conference Room 407
Meydenbauer Center
11100 NE 6th St
Bellevue, WA 98004
Get Directions
Presented In Partnership With
May 9, 2025
Attend the CougsFirst! Show & Career Expo to connect with Coug businesses that are showcasing their products and services and hiring!
6 Reasons Why To Attend a Career Expo
Capital for Cougs: Navigating Funding Options for Your Business
Join us for a Power Lunch, as CougsFirst! and the Carson College of Business at Washington State University team up to discuss different types of capital investments and what investors look for in businesses. Enjoy a plated lunch, networking with other business leaders, and learning from industry experts.
Choose between an individual seat, or a full table for your business, colleagues, or friends. Register today to join us!
Power Lunch Moderator
Marie Mayes, Academic Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship
Washington State University Carson College of Business
Marie is the Academic Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and an Associate Professor (Career Track) at the Carson College of Business at Washington State University. In her role as Academic Director, she fosters entrepreneurial engagement, scholarship, and dialogue across the university. Marie teaches courses in Launching New Ventures, New Venture Planning, and Innovation. Beyond her work at WSU, she maintains a consulting business and participates as an angel investor. She holds both a BA in Political Science and an MBA from Washington State University.
Power Lunch Panelists
Daniel Hatch, Director of Commercial Banking
BECU
Daniel has been in the commercial banking and credit union industry since 2007. He started his career as a commercial underwriter for business lending at both regional and national institutions. He has led multiple commercial lending sales teams over the last decade and currently manages the business and commercial real estate lending sales division at BECU. Daniel has financed a wide range of businesses including those in the startup phase all the way to multinational enterprises. He graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in Finance and Economics and is a Certified Public Accountant. Daniel has held this designation since 2011.
Austin Guyette, Partner
Voyager Capital
Austin joined Voyager in 2018 after working on enterprise technology investments at M12, Microsoft’s venture fund. At Voyager, Austin plays a key role in identifying new investments and supporting the growth of Voyager’s portfolio across the Pacific Northwest. Austin is a board member for Voyager Fund V portfolio company, Averlon. He is also responsbile for Voyager's pre-Seed investments in Brevy, OverlandAI, and Pictory.
Prior to Voyager, Austin was in M12’s Seattle office focused on early-stage investments across artificial intelligence, application software, and security. He started his career as a consultant for Fortune 500 financial services and healthcare clients before working at an early-stage analytic software startup that has raised over $200M to improve the cost and quality of the US healthcare system.
Austin holds a B.S. in Physics with concentrations in Applied Mathematics and Chemistry from Bates College and an MBA from the University of Washington. In his spare time, you can find him with his dog in the Cascade Mountains skiing, climbing, and mountain biking.
