SVASE Main Event: Getting Your Startup Up & Running February 3, 2011

SVASE Main Event: Getting Your Startup Up & Running
Start: 02/03/2011 - 6:00 pm
End: 02/03/2011- 8:30 pm

Contact: Laura Weigant
Email: [email protected]

Location: Cooley LLP
3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304

URL:-www.svase.org/events/main-event-getting-your-startup-running-0

Getting YOUR Startup Up & Running

How do you fund a startup in this new economic climate? Financial markets seem to be recovering, and for startups in Consumer Internet & Mobile, a small group of VCs along with the “Super Angels” seem to have created something of a feeding frenzy.

But what about everything else? Some trends, like the number of venture backed IPOs, seems to be positive, while others, including the continuing contraction of the venture industry, are making the glass seem half full.

We bring together an experienced group of entrepreneurs and investors and ask them to share their knowledge on what it takes to build a viable company in the current climate, and what advice they can give to startups seeking their first round of funding.

This lively panel discussion will explore current trends and panelist opinions on topics including:
• What does a “Fundable” startup look like these days?
• Where do you find the people & resources to help you 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?
• What market sectors are attractive to Angels & VCs now?
• How do I find out which VC funds actually have money to invest?

The Panel (see below for bios):
· Eph Lindenbaum, Managing Director, Advance Ventures
· Ramjith Kumaran, Founder & CTO, YouSendIt
· Ben T Smith IV, Chairman & co-Founder, MerchantCircle
· TBD

Moderator: Ed Lambert, Senior Vice President, Bridge Bank

When: Thursday, February 3
6:00 – 7:00 pm Networking and hors d’oeuvres
7:00 - 8:15 pm Panel discussion and Q&A
8:15 - 8:30 pm Additional networking

Location: Cooley LLP, 3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304

Pre-Registered Rates (All Rates Include Hors D’oeuvres):
Members - $20; Affiliates who advertise this event - $29; General Public - $49
Pre-registration closes at 9 PM the night before the event.
Walk-In Rates: Add $10.00 to the listed price

To reserve an Exhibit Table, please contact [email protected], $350 Members, $850 Non-members (Includes exhibit table, 2 tickets to the event and 1-year corporate membership).

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

This event is co-sponsored by Cooley LLP, www.cooley.com.

Speaker Bios:

Ed Lambert, Senior Vice President, Bridge Bank
Ed is a Senior Vice-President with Bridge Bank-focusing on creating and expanding relationships with Emerging Growth to Public High-Tech, Green and Life Science Companies. He began his 28 years of banking/lending experience with Bank of America and has achieved significant success wherever he has worked including Silicon Valley Bank, Imperial Bank and Comerica Bank.

Ed also began the Tech Practice for Coast Business Credit, building to $20-30MM in annual commitments. He contributes this success to being an overall "solution source" partner to clients, prospects, referral partners and colleagues - for any problem. Ed has employed this focus on providing solutions to companies from seed to public-including such well known companies as Cisco, Atmel, CNET, Biomarin, Mattson and Solar City to name a few. At Bridge, his focus is to provide a combination of “virtual” and human support to clients that will allow them to grow domestically and internationally.

Ed holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA in history from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Ed has sat on several boards, including the executive committee of the American Electronics Association, the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE), Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley, and the San Jose Downtown Business Association, where he was a founding member. He has spoken at Tech/Clean Tech events and conferences in the U.S. and Europe, and is a contributing blogger on banking and VC issues to AlwaysOn Networks.

Ranjith Kumaran, Founder & CTO, YouSendIt
Ranjith Kumaran is the founder and Chief Technology Officer for YouSendIt, the trusted global leader in digital content delivery. In this role, he manages the Customer Service, IT, and Ops teams to guarantee optimum customer service, and efficiency in the IT and Ops departments.

Prior to YouSendIt, Kumaran held marketing positions at Verisity Design, a key provider of verification process automation (VPA) solutions, where he managed product marketing for the software tools of Access Systems. Previously, he was the director of sales engineering at Celoxica, a leading provider of C-based design and behavioral synthesis tools, where he built the company's sales applications and established its engineering team.

Kumaran also was a software systems engineer at Red Hat, one of the largest and most recognized companies dedicated to open-source software and the largest distributor of the GNU/Linux operating system.

Kumaran received a bachelor of engineering degree in computer engineering from McGill University and is an active member of TiE Silicon Valley.

Eph Lindenbaum, Managing Directors, Advance Ventures

Ben T. Smith IV, Chairman & co-Founder, Merchant Circle
Ben T. Smith, IV, is the Chairman and Co-Founder of MerchantCircle, the largest social network of small business owners online today. Ben is a serial entrepreneur, investor and business advisor in the social networking space with a deep understanding and appreciation for small, family-owned businesses.

Ben is one of the pioneers of the social networking category as the co-founder and current board member of Spoke Software, where he helped architect the business, establish a patent portfolio in social networking, guide the company to its initial customers and through its establishment as the largest public database of business professionals. He has served in advisory and interim executive roles for more than 10 businesses, and serves on the board of directors for a number of early stage companies and is an investor advisor in over 25 internet companies including two recent social gaming exits, Mesmo and Tapulous to Game Show Network and Disney.

Ben began his career as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney, where he was one of the youngest partners in the firm's history, selected as one of the most influential consultants in the world in 2002 by Consulting News and helped spearhead EDS and Kearney's venture development efforts. Ben also served the Bush Administration as the Senior Advisor for Strategy and Planning to the Secretary of Transportation from 2001 to 2002. Ben was the SVP, Corporate Development at Borland Software and lead spin off and then managed the $75MM a year development tools and community spin off, CodeGear.

A native of Fairhope, Alabama, Ben spent the majority of his younger years learning the ins and outs of a number of family businesses - from his first job at Daphne Pharmacy, the locally-owned pharmacy, to learning from his family's experiences running Original Bens Jr., a famous BBQ pit founded by his grandfather that is still one of the best BBQ places in the south.

Ben holds a Master's from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business and a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Davis.

Official Website: http://www.svase.org/events/main-event-getting-your-startup-running-0