SVASE Startup-U SFO: Start-Up Pitch: Co-Sponsored by HBS Angels with Tom Cervantez, Sajjad Masud, Jean Kovacs and Sterling Mace May 12, 2011

SVASE Startup-U SFO: Start-Up Pitch: Co-Sponsored by HBS Angels with Tom Cervantez, Sajjad Masud, Jean Kovacs and Sterling Mace

Start: 05/12/2011 - 11:45 am
End: 05/12/2011- 1:30 pm

Phone: 415-722-2962

Contact: Dan Grosh
Email: [email protected]

Location: DLA Piper, 555 Mission Street, Suite 2400, San Francisco, 94105

This event is Co-Sponsored by The Harvard Business School Angels

www.hbsanc.org/article.html?aid=328

UTL:-www.svase.org/events/startup-u-sfo-start-pitch-co-sponsored-hbs-angels-tom-cervantez-sajjad-masud-jean-kovacs-and-

Without an understanding of how potential investors evaluate deals, what to include in a pitch, what to leave out, & how to deliver it, plus a lot of practice, most first time entrepreneurs struggles to develop & deliver a crisp elevator pitch.

This hands on, practical workshop with members of Harvard Business School Angels, is designed to help you craft & deliver a killer 2 minute elevator pitch, & will over topics including:

What is the purpose of a 2 minute elevator pitch?
Why this should not actually be a "pitch!"
What NOT to include in a 2 minute elevator pitch
The basics of a good elevator pitch & what should you spend more time on
- the solution you have, or the problem you're looking to solve?
- features or benefits?
- the cool technology, or the types of customers?
- a riveting story, or "just the facts Ma'am"?

The Panel: - see below for Bios
Tom Cervantez, co-founder, Business Counsel Law Group
Jean Kovacs, President/CEO, Comergent Technologies
Sterling Mace, COO, the Albertini Group
Sajjad Masud, co-Chair, Harvard Business School Angels

Attendees wishing to get feedback on their elevator pitches at the event can send send brief overviews of their companies or products to Sajjad Masud at [email protected]

Registration:
A $5 (member) or $15 (affiliate/non-member) registration fee, plus a $1.50 credit card processing fee, includes event and lunch, available through advanced online registration. A $10 (SVASE Member)or $20 (non-Member) fee is collected at the door. On-Line Registration is open till 9am the day of the event.

When: Thursday, May 12
11:45-12:00 Registration, Networking and Food
12:00-12:15 SVASE/Startup-U Overview, Introductions, Speaker Intro
12:15-1:15 Speaker Presentation & Interactive Q&A
1:15-1:30 Networking with the presenters!

Where: DLA Piper, 555 Mission Street, Suite 2400, San Francisco, CA 94105

Tom Cervantez - Founder and Co-President, HBS/Harvard Angels & Partner, Bizlaw
Tom Cervantez is an active angel investor in the computer, communications and networking sectors and a co-founder of the HBS/Harvard Angels and the Golden Gate Angels investor group in San Francisco. Tom is also a founder of the Business Counsel Law Group in San Francisco (www.bizlaw.com), working as corporate lawyer/advisor to CEO's and investors in corporate and contract matters. He advises clients in matters involving securities, capital structure planning, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, venture financing and licensing transactions. He also advises domestic companies expanding into foreign markets, and international companies seeking investment or product distribution in the United States. Tom holds a Bachelor's in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University, a JD from Harvard Law School and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jean Kovacs has over 30 years experience directing technology companies and a track record of using her strategic business skills and background to deliver exceptional results with growing enterprises. Most recently, she was CEO and co-founder of Comergent Technologies, a leader in the enterprise software space. In this role, Ms. Kovacs spearheaded Comergent’s overall solutions and services strategy, and oversaw the company’s daily operations including product development, sales, marketing, and operations along with her executive team. Comergent became a world-class organization, committed to providing real-world business solutions to global enterprises. In late 2006, Comergent was sold to Sterling Commerce (a division of AT&T) and Ms. Kovacs stayed on as SVP, Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances.

Prior to Comergent, Kovacs co-founded Qualix Group, a developer of reliability software in distributed computing environments. As co-founder and Executive Vice President, Kovacs was responsible for managing and directing the engineering, marketing, services, and telesales departments, and was closely involved in the Company’s IPO. Kovacs has also held positions in sales, marketing, and support at Frame Technology, Sun Microsystems, and Compugraphic Corporation.

Kovacs has been profiled by influential publications such as Fortune Magazine, The Financial Times, Computerworld, Internet World and InfoWorld. She was also named to the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Business Journal’s list of Most Influential Women in Business in 2008.

Ms. Kovacs holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Northeastern University and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University. Jean is also Board Chair of BUILD, a non-profit organization that works with high-school students in under-resourced communities, helping them learn business skills, start companies and ultimately get into college.

Sterling Mace is COO of the Albertini Group with over fourteen years of operational experience in technology companies. She has founded three start-ups, grown teams within large organizations and advised companies in sell-side transactions. Her unique perspective to organization-building comes from having first-hand experience of the cultural and execution requirements of companies at all stages of their life cycle.

Most recently, Sterling was VP Operations at venture-backed mobile video company where she grew the core team to 36-people and spear-headed execution that led the company to 52 million users world-wide. Prior to that, Sterling ran the OEM division of Synchronous, Inc. where she steered the organization through an acquisition by Motorola BCS. Before joining Synchronous, Sterling ran a 40-person international electronic payments company that she started in 1999. Earlier in her career, Sterling worked in Digital Home at Yahoo! and was part of the founding team of Andersen’s Corporate Finance and M&A practice.

Sterling studied finance and history at the University of Virginia where she graduated with honors. She pursued her MLA at Stanford University, and earned her MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Sajjad Masud - Founder and Co-President of Harvard Business School Angels (HBS Angels)
Sajjad's areas of interest include mobile & consumer internet, social gaming, software and cloud applications/infrastructure. Sajjad is a technology & management executive with deep operational experience and interests covering software engineering, product managment, marketing and business development. He has been in founder and entrepreneur roles many times and has a passion for working with entrepreneurial minds and people looking to make a change. Sajjad has deep experience in the development, marketing and distribution of innovative products and solutions at Fortune 500 companies as well as many early-stage ventures. In addition to investing and helping start-ups in various leadership scenarios, Sajjad takes deep interest in building and growing a business via operational involvement covering product, design, marketing strategy and sales/distribution. Sajjad holds an MSE in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Official Website: http://www.svase.org/events/startup-u-sfo-start-pitch-co-sponsored-hbs-angels-tom-cervantez-sajjad-masud-jean-kovacs-and-