SVASE Event: 'MAIN EVENT: Alternative Exits For Technology Startups' December 7, 2006

Event: 'MAIN EVENT: Alternative Exits For Technology Startups'

Date: Thursday, December 07, 2006 At 06:00
Duration: 2 Hours 30 Minutes
Contact Info:
Location: Wison Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati 950 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304 Contact: Laura Weigant Email: [email protected]
URL:www.svase.org/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=149&extmode=view&extid=590

In the good old days, the exit of choice was the IPO on Nasdaq or an M&A. With a lackluster public market in the USA, plus the added cost to a company of complying with SOX ($2M & counting) are other exit options looking more attractive?

Creative Exits – What are the answers?
Option 1 - Get bought by Google/Yahoo/AOL/eBay or some other megastar.
Option 2 - Head to Canada, Europe, India or Hong Kong & launch an IPO there.
Option 3 - Take the company public through the reverse takeover of an "over the counter" shell company.
Option 4 - Accept major funding from a hedge fund, which promises to take the company public within 6 months.
Option 5 - Buyout by partner in business.
Option 6 - Franchise the business.
Option 7 - Position for acquisition by an industry leader.

• What are the megastars really looking for, how much are they paying and what really are your chances?
• Are foreign IPOs viable, what are the costs & risks involved, what types of companies are doing this today?
• Is a reverse takeover a smart thing to do, what are the costs and risks involved?
• Acquisitions are by far the most common exit, what is the feeling about this now?

The Panel:
• Peter Rip, Managing Director, Leapfrog Ventures
• Robert Simon, Director, Alta Partners
• Ungad Chadda, Director, Listings, TSX Venture Exchange
• Neil Weintraut, Partner, Palo Alto Venture Partners

Moderator: Stephane Dupont, Executive Vice President, National Venture Capital Association

Thursday, Dec 7
6.00-7.00 pm: Networking and Hors D’oeuvres
7.00-8:30 pm: Panel discussion and Q/A

Location:
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR Campus), 950 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304

PRE-REGISTERED RATES (All Rates Include Hors D’oeuvres)
Members - $20; Affiliates who advertise this event - $29; General Public - $49

WALK-IN RATES: Add $10.00 to the listed price

Seating is limited, so early registration is recommended to avoid disappointment on the day.

To reserve an Exhibit Table
Contact [email protected], $500 Members, $1,000 Non-members.

Speaker Bios:

Stephane Dupont, National Venture Capital Association
Stephane joined the NVCA in May 2006. His primary responsibilities include senior representation and member services on the West Coast, coordination of regional outreach initiatives, industry focus initiatives, international and LP liaison.

Prior to the NVCA, Stephane was Managing Director with the Private Equity Group at Silicon Valley Bank. At SVB, Stephane created and ran the Venture Exchange program, which helped early stage VC source deals from the Bank’s portfolio of client companies. Over a two year period, Stephane sourced and helped close 24 early stage transactions totaling more than $100M. Prior to joining SVB, Stephane was director of the Venture Capital Advisory Group for Ernst & Young in Palo Alto, California. During his five years with E&Y, Stephane coordinated the calling activities of Ernst & Young on Sand Hill Road. As such, he led a number of sales and business initiatives that increased E&Y’s portfolio market share of the most promising and best-funded venturebacked companies.

Stephane earned a bachelor’s degree in administration from the HEC - University of Montreal in 1990 and an MBA from the University of British Colombia in 1991. Stephane is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Robert Simon, Alta Partners
Robert joined Alta in 2000. Robert has 17 years experience working with and founding software development and Internet companies. Prior to joining Alta, Robert was a Venture Partner with Sierra Ventures, investing in data storage and enterprise software companies.

In 1999, he founded and was President of DotBank.com, which was acquired by Yahoo! in February 2000. Before joining Sierra, Robert was co-founder and Executive Vice President of Navitel Communications. Prior to Navitel, Robert was the founder and President of Virgil Corporation, which developed and marketed software for retrieving financial information from the Internet and online services.

From 1989 to 1992, Robert was a Director for Lotus Development Corporation at their Lotus West offices. Prior to that, he was the President and Founder of PS Publishing. Robert started his career in 1983 as General Manager and co-founder of T/Maker Graphics.

Robert holds Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Ungad Chadda, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Group Inc.
Ungad Chadda is responsible for managing and growing TSX Venture Exchange’s listings
business. Ungad is responsible for building and maintaining an ecosystem of stakeholder relationships in the Public Venture Capital arena. These stakeholders include the Toronto Stock Exchange, listed companies of TSX Venture and Toronto Stock Exchange, prospective customers, investment banks, angels, venture capital, corporate finance professionals, individual investors and applicable securities commissions.

Ungad regularly conducts speaking engagements on behalf of the Exchange to promote the Public Venture Capital market and ensure that potential customers understand how to effectively structure "going public" transactions on the Exchange and are aware of the Capital Pool Company program to take small and medium size companies public.

Ungad also sits on the Small Business Advisory Committee of the Ontario Securities Commission in order to provide input on behalf on TSX Venture Exchange, its stakeholders and Public Venture Capital in general.

A Chartered Accountant, Ungad previously worked with Ernst and Young in their Entrepreneurial Services Group before joining TSX Venture Exchange.

Neil Weintraut, Palo Alto Venture Partners
Neil has worked in the information technology industry since 1983. Prior to co-founding Palo Alto Venture Partners in 1996, Neil created and led the Enterprise Software Practice and the Internet Practice at technology investment bank, Hambrecht & Quist starting in 1987. Prior to H&Q, Neil worked as a design engineer at Daisy Systems (a venture-backed startup) and IBM. Neil is currently on the board of directors of Nextance, an enterprise contract management software company, and has served on the board of both publicly-traded companies and private companies, including AdForce, CareerBuilder, and More.com.

Neil is on the advisory board of the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab, and has been a judge at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard business plan competitions.

Neil holds an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a BSEE from Drexel University.

Official Website: http://www.svase.org/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=149&extmode=view&extid=590