SVASE Major Event: What to do when an 800 pound Gorilla competes with YOUR startup
Event on 2011-10-06 18:00:00
SVASE Primary Event: What to do when an 800 pound Gorilla competes
with YOUR startup
Begin: 10/06/2011 – 6:00 pm
End: 10/06/2011- 8:30 pm
“So, what ARE you going to do when
Google/Facebook/eBay/Twitter/Visa comes out with a competing
item?”
URL:-
www.svase.org/events/major-event-what-do-when-800-pound-gorilla-competes-your-startup
You've almost certainly all heard that Facebook is coming out with a
photo sharing app that market authorities are saying will cause the
death of Instagram, PicPlz, Color, and just about every single other
awesome photo app that you can believe of. “How can these firms
possibly compete?”
You’re in the middle of your pitch for your initial, or possibly your
next, round of funding. Points are going properly – they smiled when
they met you, have been nodding their heads sagely so far – when
suddenly, this question comes out of left field. And it shouldn’t
have been a surprise to you, as there’s plenty of examples of
dominant businesses coming out with their own versions of hot new
goods:
- Each new item released by Google wipes years of effort off
of the traffic numbers of affected companies……
- Twitter launches its own photo-sharing app integrated into
their product……
- Microsoft launches its version of social networking…….
- Twitter announces its own version of URL shortening…..
- Apple & Google Each announce their own Television versions….
- Apple launches iMessage……
So how have DropBox, Box.net, DocStoc, Scribd, SlideShare,
Foursquare, StubHub, Zappos, Instagram and several other people thrived?
Is it genuinely harmful playing in the same sandbox as the Massive
Boys?…….. or is there actually plent of room at the zoo?
And just how DO you respond to this question? Do you blanche,
hope the ground will open up & swallow you? Or do you turn with a
smile and say…. Properly, what DO you say?
Our opinionated panel of entrepreneurs and investors, who have
been there when the Big Boys started to flex their muscles, will
help you discover your answer to this prospective show stopper.
The Panel: (see below for bios)
• Rich Skrenta, CEO, blekko
• Jonathon Linner, co-Founder, Brightkite
• Saad Khan, Partner, CMEA Ventures
• Jeff Clavier, Managing Director, SoftTechVC
Moderator: Greg Clark, Cooley LLP
When: Thursday, Oct 6
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
Exactly where: Cooley LLP, 3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Registration: Pre-Registered Rates (All Rates Include Hors
D’oeuvres):
Members – Affiliates who advertise this event – General
Public –
Pre-registration closes at 9 PM the night just before the event.
Walk-In Rates: Add .00 to the listed cost
To reserve an Exhibit Table, please contact Information@svase.org,
Members, Non-members (Includes exhibit table, two tickets to
the event and 1-year corporate membership).
Seating is limited, so early registration is suggested to steer clear of
disappointment on the day.
This event is co-sponsored by Cooley LLP, www.cooley.com
Panelist Bios
Rich Skrenta, CEO, blekko
Wealthy is a seasoned technologies executive with practically two decades
of business expertise. He is currently CEO of blekko, a net
search startup based in Redwood City, California. Previously he
was founder and CEO of Topix, the leading online news community.
Prior to Topix, Wealthy headed up engineering for a assortment of
items inside AOL, including AOL Shopping, AOL Music and
Netscape Search. Prior to AOL, Rich was the co-founder and CEO of
NewHoo, which was acquired by Netscape and renamed the Open
Directory Project. The ODP is the world's largest human edited
directory of the net and utilized by Google, Yahoo, AOL and a lot of
other businesses. Wealthy was an engineering manager at Sun
Microsystems prior to NewHoo and has also had development roles
at Unix Systems Labs and the Amiga UNIX Group at Commodore
Enterprise Machines. Rich holds a patent in network security, and
has authored numerous properly-recognized pioneering software program efforts,
including some early multi-user on the web games. Rich graduated from
Northwestern University with a degree in Laptop or computer Science.
Jonathon Linner, co-Founder, Brightkite
Saad Khan, Partner, CMEA Ventures
Joined CMEA: 2007
Years Encounter Building Organizations: 12
Education: BS, Symbolic Systems BA Economics with Honors in
Science, Technologies and Society from Stanford University where he
was a President’s Scholar
Board Seats: Blekko , Evolution Robotics, Inc. (Observer),
Jobvite, Pixazza, Inc.
Deal Starters: Massive suggestions, World Changing Entrepreneurs
Non-starters: The Status Quo
Outside Activities: Film Investing, Social Entrepreneurship
Saad has spent his career innovating. From R&D to
entrepreneurship, from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, Saad has
often sought the bleeding edge of technologies and creativity.
“I’m happiest when I am surrounded by whiteboards and thought
provoking folks.”
His pursuit of innovation often takes him to unexpected locations.
Saad grew up between Pakistan and the Bay Location, and attended an
American high school in Karachi where his soccer tournaments and
theater performances were usually played out in locations including
Kathmandu, Delhi, and Islamabad.
Right after moving back to the Bay Region, Saad launched his first
Internet Startup while still a student at Stanford. Those early
lessons were subsequently put to use at the Walt Disney Business,
where Saad helped launch their Net Technique across their
media properties, and then at IBM alphaWorks, one of the initial
corporate crowd-sourcing initiatives for IBM investigation.
Saad then spent years constructing organizations, advising entrepreneurs,
and investing in Silicon Valley startups at Garage Technology
Ventures where he worked closely with early stage entrepreneurs
across the Garage portfolio including Pandora, cFares, and
TripleHop (ORCL). Saad led Garage’s software program and media
investments, and spun-out (and subsequently sold) the Garage
advisory organization.
“Whenever I’m contemplating an investment, I ask ‘Would I want to
work on that team?’ If the answer is yes, then I know I’m on the
right path.”
In addition to his activities at CMEA, Saad also co-founded the
Film Angels, an angel network for indie film exactly where recent
presenters have included Carlos Santana, Steve Wozniak, and a lot of
Academy award winning actors, directors and producers. Saad is an
advisor to peer-to-peer net lending platform Lending Club
and is a Charter member of TIE.
Jeff Clavier, Managing Director, SoftTech VC
Based in Palo Alto, California, Jean-Francois “Jeff” Clavier is
the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, one of the most
active seed stage investors in Web two. startups. Since 2004, Jeff
has invested in close to 100 consumer net startups (Fund I,
Fund II, Fund III) in places like social media, monetization,
search, gaming or B2B/B2C internet services. These investments are
normally situated in Silicon Valley, New-York and Boulder. With
more than 20 years of operational, entrepreneurial and venture capital
experience, Jeff is able to add relevant perspective and value to
his firms as they grow from inception to maturity, and
hopefully, good results.
In 2007, Jeff was recognized as one of the 13 “Web two. King
Makers” by (late) Enterprise two.. BusinessWeek named him one of
"The 25 Most Influential Folks on the Internet" in 2008, and 1 of
the "Top 25 Angels in Tech" in 2010. He was also nominated in the
"Best Angel" category at the Crunchies in 2009 and 2010. He is
typically noted for his investments in categories such as
“passion-centric communities” or on the web gaming, or for having
sold a number of his Web 2. startups to the likes of Yahoo, AOL,
Intuit or far more lately Twitter and Groupon.
In September 2007, soon after successfully investing as a company
angel, Jeff announced the formation of SoftTech VC II, L.P. – a
M seed fund backed by a mix of institutional and private
investors to invest in 60+ consumer Web firms over three years.
Some of Jeff's representative investments incorporate Mint (Intuit),
Brightroll, Truveo (AOL), Userplane (AOL), Rapleaf, Ustream, Milo
(eBay), Blekko, Eventbrite, Tapulous (Disney), DNANexus,
FanBridge, BillFloat,…
A common speaker and moderator, Jeff appears at dozens of
market events per year. Ranging from local Silicon Valley
keynotes or panel discussions to international conferences, he
shares his passion for building Web startups, angel and VC
investing, innovation and entrepreneurship. Jeff has produced a
number of technologies conferences and was a founding co-chair of
the SDForum Search Unique Interest Group.
Believing that you have to practice what you invest in, and
vice-versa, Jeff started Software program Only in 2004, one of the early
venture capital blogs exactly where he primarily covered social media,
search, online communities and investing. Right after a couple of years of
active posting, Jeff switched to micro-blogging, and a less time
consuming production, mostly through @jeff on Twitter.
Prior to founding SoftTech VC, Jeff spent more than 16 years in
the enterprise software world as an entrepreneur, senior
executive and venture capitalist. All through his career, he was
exposed to global markets leading development teams in Europe and
on Wall Street, designing products sold internationally and
investing in software infrastructure startups across the U.S. and
Europe.
In 2000, Jeff became President of RVC Capital, the firm managing
the Reuters Greenhouse Fund with 0M invested in 82 companies,
such as Yahoo!, Verisign, Telephone.com and Infoseek. He joined the
venture arm of Reuters from the company’s product development
division, exactly where he was leading a 250+ staff in Paris, London and
New York, and was responsible for the Risk Management and Desktop
products. Jeff joined Reuters via the acquisition of Effix
Systems, a Paris-based startup organization he helped create in 1989
even though still in school.
Jeff was born, raised and educated in France, earning a MS in
Personal computer Science and a study degree in Distributed Computing.
He has been happily living in Silicon Valley because 2000 with his
wife @Bernadette and their two children. When he is not busy
operating, Jeff likes to devote time with his loved ones and friends,
cook, collect wine and wander about Northrend on his hunter. He
also skis, hikes, dives and plays golf so poorly it is not even
funny.
at Cooley Godward LLP – Hanover St. Campus
3175 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, United States
Recent Comments