SVASE EBS: Raising the First Round February 10, 2010

Start: 02/10/2010 - 6:00pm
End: 02/10/2010 - 8:00pm

Contact Info: Dana Shultz
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 510 326-2123

Location: Crow Canyon Country Club
711 Silver Lake Drive
Danville, CA 94526

URL:www.svase.org/?q=node/3807

East Bay Series - Real-life Stories of Entrepreneurial Success
Raising the First Round

Whether it comes from VCs, angels, or friends and family, that first round of funding often is the toughest one to raise.

Listen to experienced investors as they explain what they are looking for in early-stage companies and to successful entrepreneurs as they describe what work’s and what doesn’t. Learn how to identify the right early-stage investors, where to find them, and ways to structure the first round so you don’t make it difficult to raise the next one!

The panel:

Nicolas El Baze, Partner, Partech International
Randy Hawks, Managing Director, Claremont Creek Ventures
Rock Clapper, Deal Screening Committee Member, Band of Angels
Lara Druyan, General Partner, Allegis Capital
Cindy Padnos, Founding Managing Director, Illuminate Ventures
Moderator: TBD

When: Wednesday, February 10
6-6:30 pm: Networking and Buffet Dinner
6:30-8 pm: Panel discussion and Q/A

Pre-registration closes 9 AM the day of the event.

Cost: (Includes buffet dinner, coffee and tea; cash bar available)
Members - $25, Affiliates who advertise this event - $25
General Public - $35
Walk-Ins: Add $10 to rates above

Locations: Crow Canyon Country Club, 711 Silver Lake Drive, Danville, CA 94526.

Directions: Exit I-680 at Crow Canyon Road. Take Crow Canyon east approximately one mile. Turn left at El Capitan, then take the first right to the guard gate. After checking in at the gate, take the third left turn (just past the tennis courts) into the clubhouse parking lot.

DRESS: Business casual or business attire, please - no jeans or shorts allowed.

Randy Hawks, Managing Director, Claremont Creek Ventures (www.claremontvc.com)
Randy is a Managing Director at Claremont Creek Ventures, bringing more than 25 years of technology industry experience as a senior general manager and venture investor to the group. Randy invests in Information Technology and has a special interest in Sensor Networks and Security. In the years prior to co-founding Claremont Creek Ventures, Randy was a General Partner at Novus Ventures and a Venture Partner at Horizon Ventures. Before his venture capital career, Randy had startup experience as CEO at Captiva Software and as COO at Identix (from its founding through IPO and life on NASDAQ). He served as Senior Vice President at AT&T Paradyne and as a Vice President of Marketing and Division General Manager at ITT Information Systems (Qume). Early in his career, Randy served in a variety of roles in the minicomputer business at Texas Instruments and began work as a computer research engineer at Cornell Aeronautical Lab. Prior investments include Inapac, Invivodata, Identix, Flytecomm, View Central and Be Here. Randy holds a BSEE from University of Arkansas and has completed the Stanford University Executive Management Program. He serves as a Committee Chair for Keiretsu Forum and is a member of the US Secret Service Electronics Crime Taskforce.

Nicolas El Baze, Partner, Partech International (www.partechvc.com)
Nicolas joined Partech International in 2000. Prior to Partech, Nicolas spent 15 years as an entrepreneur and was a co-founder of several Partech-funded companies: Softway International (acq. by ITway), Softway Systems (acq. by Microsoft), and ISDnet (acq. by Cable & Wireless). Nicolas also led the Softway Venture Development activity which resulted in the incubation of several successful start-ups in the U.S. and Europe including: RightPoint (acq. by E.piphany), MultiMania (IPO - acq. by Lycos Europe), and LibertySurf (IPO - acq. by Tiscali). Nicolas also served on the boards of Meiosys (IBM), Akimbi (VMware), Pantero (Progress Software), ClearApp (Oracle), and Q-Layer (Sun Microsystems). Nicolas received an MBA from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, France and attended the International Management Program at both UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and Universität zu Köln, Germany.

Rock Clapper, Deal Screening Committee Member, Band of Angels (www.bandangels.com)
Rock Clapper left his professorship at Brown Univ. and came to Silicon Valley in 1994. Basically, this coincided with his first look at an Internet application called a browser. He knew that his doctorate in applied social psychology was a perfect background for creating web-based consumer and business environments. At the time, Rock had done years of research and published many papers on persuasive communication, and was a sought after speaker in the U.S. and internationally. Rock holds a BS in Psychology from Arizona State Univ., a Masters and Doctorate in Applied Social Psychology from the Univ. of Houston, as well as an alumnus of the Graduate School of Business Executive Education Program at Stanford University. Rock has been the CEO of several successful Internet and software companies in Silicon Valley. He is a veteran of company acquisitions, having negotiated such for each company he led, as well as having led a company to the position of a public offering.

Lara Druyan, General Partner, Allegis Capital (www.allegiscapital.com)
Prior to joining Allegis Capital, Lara Druyan had responsibility for Silicon Graphics' desktop software business. She identified market opportunities, developed and evangelized business strategy, and oversaw the successful development, execution and deployment of the SGI NetMeeting collaborative software suite into Fortune 500 companies. As a product manager, Ms. Druyan was also part of the team that launched the O2 and Octane desktop machines worldwide. Previously, Ms. Druyan worked at Merrill Lynch as an investment banker where she advised global media and telecommunications companies on corporate finance and merger and acquisition strategies. Notable transactions on which she worked include: E. W. Scripps' $1.6B sale of its cable systems to Comcast and a high-yield debt offering by Videotron Canada. In 1991, she was a key member of the team that identified and engineered the use of auction technology for stock trading which culminated in the establishment of AZX, Inc. Ms. Druyan is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Apprion and Rosum Corporation. She represents Allegis on the Board of Directors of Packet Design. Ms. Druyan serves on the Board of Advisors to the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, an organization that supports and encourages the development of women-run businesses and she sits on the Board of Advisors for Dealmaker Media. She is also a member of the Chicago Science Group, which helps promote University of Chicago science and research capabilities to the venture community. In 2009, she was named by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal as one of the "2009 Women of Influence in Silicon Valley". She holds a bachelor's degree with Honors in Economics from the University of Chicago and a Masters of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Cindy Padnos, Founding Managing Director, Illuminate Ventures (www.illuminate.com)
Cindy Padnos is the founding Managing Director of Illuminate Ventures, focusing primarily on Internet, SaaS/cloud computing, digital media, technology-enabled services and mobile communications investments. Cindy currently serves as a director of privately held companies BrightEdge, CalmSea, Wild Pockets and Xactly Corporation. Prior to founding Illuminate, Cindy was a Director of Outlook Ventures where she was one of three investment professionals responsible for committing the firm’s $140M fund. Immediately before joining Outlook, Cindy’s long-standing relationships within the VC ecosystem allowed her to “apprentice” in the industry as a venture consultant, working with several top-tier venture capital firms and their portfolios. Her work ranged from interim CEO assignments to new investment due diligence. Before entering the venture capital community Cindy gained almost 20 years of operational experience culminating in her role as founder and CEO of Vivant, an innovative SaaS company, where she successfully led this venture-backed company to its acquisition (EVLV). Prior positions include roles as President and CEO of Acumen (M&A), founding vice president of marketing at Scopus Technology (IPO) and management positions at IDE, Ingres and AT&T. Earlier in her career Cindy also served as a management consultant with Arthur D. Little and Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Cindy earned her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, at the University of Michigan and her MBA/MSIA with honors from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Tepper School and for Astia. Cindy is a member of SpringBoard Enterprises, FWE&E, Women 2.0 and is active in a number of other organizations that support entrepreneurship.

This event is co-sponsored by Claremont Creek Ventures, www.claremontvc.com, and Sonnenschein Venture Technology Group, www.sonnenschein.com.

Official Website: http://www.svase.org/?q=node/3807