124 University Avenue, 2nd Floor
Palo Alto, California 94301

Busy running your startup but wondering how the financial crisis will impact your business? How does the future for startups seeking funding? Is this a good time to launch your dream venture?

Women 2.0 will discuss the current financial crisis and its impact on the startup world and new technology at the Institute for the Future (IFTF) in Palo Alto on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Watch IFTF demo the world’s first Massively Multiplayer Forecasting Game: Superstruct before the discussion on “Staying Cool with your Startup During the Financial Meltdown” with our panel of finance experts and experienced startup executives.

Panelists:
» Shai Goldman (Director for Venture Exchange, SVB Capital)
» Rebecca Lynn (Principal, Morgenthaler Ventures)
» Prasanna Krishnan (Associate, Draper Fisher Jurvetson)
» Betty Kayton (CFO, high tech startups & early stage firms)
» Greg Schmid (Director, Managing Uncertainty Group)

Moderator:
» Jill E. Fishbein (Partner, Carr & Ferrell LLP)

Register online now for your space at this important discussion at http://staycoolstartups.eventbrite.com

Event sponsored by SVB Capital.

----

About the panelists:

Shai Goldman (Director for Venture Exchange, SVB Capital)
Shai co-manages SVB Capital’s Venture Exchange program, which serves as a platform to provide quality referrals to venture firms and assist emerging companies in raising capital through strategic introductions to the right investors for their business. His responsibilities include identifying investment opportunities for SVB Capital Partners Fund and other venture capital firms. Shai joined SVB Financial Group in December 2001. Prior to joining the Venture Exchange program in 2006, Shai worked with SVB Private Client Services, providing personal financing solutions to entrepreneurs, investors and senior executives in the technology, life science, private equity and premium wine industries. Shai holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Santa Clara University. Shai is the co-chair of SDForum’s Venture Finance SIG, a group dedicated to helping early-stage entrepreneurs prepare to meet with and attain funding from the venture capital community. Since 2004, Shai has also been a mentor for BUILD, a non-profit organization committed to motivating underserved high school students to succeed in school and go onto higher education, by helping them start and run their own businesses.

Rebecca Lynn (Principal, Morgenthaler Ventures)
Rebecca joined Morgenthaler’s Menlo Park office in 2007, and she focuses on early-stage investments in mobile, internet services, digital media and financial services. Rebecca began her career at Procter and Gamble where she worked in international new product market entry. She then spent four years at NextCard where she led product development efforts and later served as the Vice President of Marketing where she managed one of the top five largest online marketing efforts. After NextCard, she ran her own consulting business focusing on online marketing for financial services and affiliate marketing. During law school, she was a Summer Associate at Heller Ehrman/Venture Law Group and at Quinn Emanuel where she focused on intellectual property litigation. Rebecca is also an inventor on several issued patents. She was published in the Berkeley Law and Technology Journal, and she is a registered Patent Agent. During business school, Rebecca chaired the Berkeley Business Plan Competition and was a member of New Venture Fellows. Rebecca earned a JD/MBA degree from the Haas School of Business and Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri.

Prasanna Krishnan (Associate, Draper Fisher Jurvetson)
Prasanna is an Associate and Kauffman Fellow at Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Prior to joining DFJ, Prasanna worked as a Program Manager at Microsoft on WinFS - a new storage system for next generation Windows PCs. She defined the product design for storage and search capabilities, managed cross-functional teams, and worked with leading media software and document management companies to persuade them to adopt WinFS. Prasanna was selected into the Microsoft Select Fast-track Program as one of 15 employees who demonstrated potential to be future leaders at the company. She also worked at McKinsey & Company in their Philadelphia office, at Internet Capital Group and at Novell Software Development Ltd in India. Prasanna holds an MBA from the Wharton School where she graduated as a Palmer Scholar. She has an MS in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was a Siebel Scholar, and received the C.W.Gear Outstanding Graduate Student award for research and service. Prasanna holds a B.E. in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani, India where she received the University Fellowship awarded to the top 10 undergraduates each semester. She was also awarded the BITS Alumni Association’s “30 under 30″ award.

Betty Kayton (CFO, high tech startups & early stage firms)
Betty has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, as a key member of the executive team at high-growth, venture-funded start-ups. Her contribution ranges from strategic planning and fund raising to tactical challengers such as building appropriate infrastructure without stifling growth. Betty concurrently serves as CFO of several high tech companies (Wi-Fi/mesh networks, consumer products, Web 2.0, eLearning), and previously was CFO at Leapfrog (a leading manufacturer of interactive learning aids), Nominum (internet/telecom infrastructure software), MGA Entertainment (since grown to be the world’s largest privately-held toy company), and senior financial management positions at Fortune 500 companies including Fujitsu and Citicorp. Betty was certified as a CPA while working for Ernst & Young. She holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a BA from Pomona College.

Greg Schmid (Director, Managing Uncertainty Group)
Greg is a Director of the Managing Uncertainty Group and leads their Practical Futures program. This multi-client project forecasts possible shifts in key economic, social, technological and organizational drivers. It helps businesses and governments anticipate the potential impacts of these changes and make smart strategic decisions in the midst of a rapidly evolving environment. He has spent 35 years in forecasting and consulting, heading a research department at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and the Strategic Planning Group at the Institute for the Future. Greg has degrees in history and economics from Yale and Columbia.

Jill E. Fishbein (Partner, Carr & Ferrell LLP)
Jill is partner and co-chair of the Corporate Practice Group of Carr & Ferrell. Jill’s practice focuses on corporate and securities work for both public and private companies, as well as venture capital firms and other financial institutions, with particular emphasis on the representation of growth technology and life science companies. Jill has extensive experience with venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, and domestic and international joint ventures. She also is one of the firm’s attorneys focusing on the developing areas of clean technologies. Jill has represented numerous companies in the fields of Internet, e-commerce, software, multimedia and data communications. Prior to joining Carr & Ferrell, Jill worked in New York as a commercial banker in the areas of leveraged buyouts and project financings. Additionally, having practiced corporate law at leading Silicon Valley firms and served as General Counsel and Senior Vice President of several publicly traded companies, Jill’s corporate clients benefit from her extensive industry experience.

Official Website: http://www.women2.org/finance-crisis-and-your-startup/

Added by thisgirlangie on September 29, 2008