SVASE Event: 'MAIN EVENT: Funding 2.0 – Building Your Startup Fast And Cheap' February 1, 2007

Event: 'MAIN EVENT: Funding 2.0 – Building Your Startup Fast And Cheap'

Date: Thursday, February 01, 2007 At 06:00
Duration: 2 Hours 30 Minutes
Contact Info:
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR Campus), 950 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304 Laura Weigant Email: [email protected]
URL:svase.org/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=149&extmode=view&extid=748

While Google raised $25M from Sequoia and KPCB back in ’99, and even now a fabless (is there any other kind?) semiconductor and many Life Science startups will probably need north of $50 to get to break even, a new breed of entrepreneur is leveraging Web 2.0 technology and the ever flattening world to create viable, global businesses for less than a million bucks! What does this mean for Venture Capital investment patterns and the returns they are looking for, and maybe more importantly, what can you do to build your startup fast with little, or maybe no, venture capital?

Looking for the dollars & growth?
This lively panel discussion will explore current trends and panelist opinions on topics including:
• Can any fundable startup really get to breakeven on less than $1M venture capital?
• What does a “Capital Efficient” startup look like?
• Where do you find the people & resources for next to nothing?
• How can you generate revenue straight out of the gate?
• If I can generate revenue, and I have minimal expense, why do I need Venture Capital?
• If $1M “hardly moves the needle,” what returns are VCs now looking for?

The Panel:
• Jonathan Abrams, Founder & CEO, Socializr
• Eric Byunn, Principal, FT Ventures
• James Hong, Co-Founder & CEO, Hot or Not
• Vish Mishra, Senior Venture Partner, Clearstone Venture Partners
• George Zachary, Partner, Charles River Ventures

Moderator: Ed Lambert, Senior Vice President, Bridge Bank

WHEN: Thursday, February 1
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

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

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

Speaker Bios
Jonathan Abrams, Founder and CEO, Socializr
Jonathan Abrams is the founder, CEO, and Junior Computer Programmer at Socializr, an online service for sharing event and party information with your friends. Jonathan is an award-winning serial entrepreneur who created the pioneering social networking service Friendster in 2002. Jonathan is the inventor of a United States Patent for a "System, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks."

Previously, Jonathan was the founder & CEO of bookmarking community HotLinks, and worked as a software engineer at companies such as Netscape and Nortel. Jonathan holds an Honors B.Sc. in Computer Science from McMaster University, which he received after flunking out of engineering school.

Jonathan was named a "Breakout star of 2003" by Entertainment Weekly, and as one of Advertising Age Magazine’s "Entertainment Marketers of the year." Jonathan has also been honored as one of the world’s top young innovators by the MIT Technology Review, and nominated in the software designer category for the 2004 Wired Rave Awards.

Jonathan is a member of the advisory board of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs, and has been extensively involved in the silicon valley entrepreneurial community, including past roles such as co-chair of the SDForum Venture Finance SIG, and a judge for the Stanford Entrepreneur's Challenge business plan contest, the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, and the Stanford-Berkeley Innovators' Challenge.

Eric Byunn, Principal, FT Ventures
Eric joined FTVentures in 2002 and is currently a Principal with investment responsibilities in software. Prior to joining FTVentures, Eric was Director of Online Services at myCFO, a start-up wealth management firm. He joined myCFO from America Online, where he held several roles including management of Netscape's Personal Finance Channel. Prior to the acquisition of Netscape by AOL, Eric led product management for the Netscape Navigator browser. He has also worked at Microsoft and at McKinsey & Company, where he primarily worked with telecommunications clients. Eric received an AB summa cum laude from Harvard University, where he focused on economics and computer science, and an MBA from Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Eric currently serves on the boards of the following FTVentures portfolio companies:
Cloudmark
Coremetrics
GMI
Intrepid Lea
ProfitLine

James Hong, Co-Founder & CEO, Hot or Not
James Hong is best known as the cofounder of the website HOTorNOT.com, where real people submit their photo for others to rate on a scale of 1 to 10. It is also the largest paid dating site focusing on the 25 and under demographic. He also cofounded SaveMyAss.com (a flower delivery service) and 10over100.org, an initiative to increase charitable giving. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where he earned a BS Electrical Engineering degree and

Vish Mishra, Senior Venture Partner, Clearstone Venture Partners
Vish joined Clearstone in March 2002 with over 30 years of leadership and management experience in the high tech industry including software, Internet, networking and telecommunications. He is a founder and served as a board member of Telera, a cutting edge voice web infrastructure company funded by Accel and Sequoia, which was sold to Alcatel for $140 million in 2002. Vish was also co-founder of Excelan (1983), which was funded with $7.3 million in venture capital, went public in 1987, sold for $225 million in 1989 and went on to contribute $1 billion to Novell’s revenue in subsequent years.

Vish prides himself in being a mentor capitalist who sits or has sat on boards of many venture-backed companies such as Abeama, Cofix, Onjibe, PostMedia Group, Quantros, Ramp Networks (sold to Nokia), SloMedia, Verano, and Xalted IP Networks. His prior experience includes founding VP of Operations of Excelan and VP Novell and EVP of iPlanet (a unit of Sun Microsystems and AOL), and CEO of four start-ups: Info-Objects, Mindworks, IntelliMatch and Ace Software.

Vish holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Institute of Technology at Benares Hindu University, an MS in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University and MBA work from the University of Minnesota. He is a very active Director and Charter Member of TiE who has dedicated himself to the growth of the organization since its inception.

Vish's focus at Clearstone is deal flow, syndicate networking, portfolio company support and executive coaching. His vast network in Silicon Valley, extended globally through TiE, is an invaluable asset to entrepreneurs and to us. Vish serves on the board of Novariant (formerly IntegriNautics).

George Zachary, Partner, Charles River Ventures
George Zachary joined Charles River Ventures in 2004. He brings more than 17 years of operating and investing experience in computing and consumer technology. George's focus is on building great services and software technology companies. George led CRV's investments in Skyrider and GoTV, and is on both company's board of directors.

Previously, he was a general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV). His directorships included: Accrue Software (Nasdaq:ACRU), Andale, Critical Path (Nasdaq: CPTH), Ovation Entertainment, Sandcastle (acquired by Adobe, Nasdaq:ADBE), Securify (acquired by Kroll-O'Gara, Nasdaq: KROG), Shutterfly, Supertracks (acquired by Centerspan) and Telebot (acquired by Z-Tel, Nasdaq: ZTEL).

Prior to MDV, George led the Nintendo 64 development business at Silicon Graphics, managed sales and marketing for virtual reality pioneer VPL Research, and served as a product marketeer at CATS Software. He is a board advisor at the MIT Sloan School of Business and Stanford BASES. He is also an advisor to X PRIZE. George earned a joint BS from MIT and MIT Sloan School of Business. Visit George's Blog.

Official Website: http://svase.org/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=149&extmode=view&extid=748