About The Event:

2010 ended and now we all look forward to see what could happen in 2011. With a world economy as fragile as it is today: looming problems creeping in from the Euro-Zone, a potential lame-duck US Congress, and China tapping the brakes on its growth, what might we expect in the short and medium-term future? Will 2011 be the year that we finally get some resolution to burning issues? With the trend in mobile computing, and cloud computing coming into sharper focus, which companies will thrive and which will flounder?

The direction of smart start-up money has tended to be a leading indicator of where we will see growth and success. CSPA is proud to kick off 2011 by continuing our tradition of gathering the best and brightest VC's and other industry wizards to share with us their outlook for 2011. Questions that might reveal where to be best positioned for success in the year to come include: Where are Venture Capital firms looking to deploy money? What are the sectors to be focused on? Who are the budding entrepreneurs that may catalyze an industry to exponential growth?

The evening will begin with a presentation from PricewaterhouseCoopers and their well-established MoneyTree™ Report. Come and be part of an informative and insightful evening as we discuss 2011 and its many exciting possibilities.

The MoneyTree Survey is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United States, conducted as a collaboration between PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.

Moderator

• Kathleen Borie, Director, Emerging Company Services Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Speakers

• Don Butler, Managing Director, Thomvest Ventures
• Mark Gorenberg, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
• Jeff Richards, Partner, GGV Capital
• Bill Reichert, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures
• Gus Tai, Partner, Trinity Ventures
• Robert Walker, Partner, Sierra Ventures

Date
Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Schedule

6:00pm - 7:00pm: Registration and Networking

7:00pm - 7:05pm: Introduction

7:05pm - 7:20pm:  MoneyTree Survey Presentation

7:20pm - 8:30pm: Panel Discussion

8:30pm - 8:45pm: Q &A Session

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Speaker Biographies

Kathleen Borie, Director, Emerging Company Services Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Before joining PwC, Kathleen had 15 years of experience in marketing and business development roles at companies focused on providing finance and accounting solutions to emerging growth companies in the Bay Area and Southern California. Most recently, she was the Director of Business Development at Accretive Solutions, a national consulting firm. Prior to that she held sales leadership positions at Capital Advisors Group (an investment management firm) and Silicon Valley Bank (a lender to technology/life sciences companies).

Kathleen has a BA/MA in Finance from Tufts University.

Don Butler, Managing Director, Thomvest Ventures

Don Butler is a Managing Director with Thomvest Ventures, where he focuses on companies in the software, networking, and mobile application areas. Don’s career has included a variety of roles with emerging growth technology companies. Don began his career doing investment banking at Lehman Brothers, where he worked on equity financings as well as mergers and acquisitions for various tech companies. Don then did business development for start-ups in the software and networking industries as a consultant with Asia Pacific Ventures. Don’s investments at Thomvest have included Okena (Cisco), Parakey (Facebook), and GuardianEdge (Symantec). Don is currently on the board of directors for Axcient, Milyoni, NetBase, and YottaMark.

Don has a B.A. in Chinese from UCLA and M.A.s in both East Asian Studies and Political Science from Stanford.

Mark Gorenberg, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Mark Gorenberg is a Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Mark joined co-founders Ann Winblad and John Hummer as Hummer Winblad Venture Partners began investing our first fund in 1990. Prior to Hummer Winblad Venture Partners Mark was at Sun Microsystems where he managed emerging new media areas and was a member of the original SparcStation team.

Over the last 20 years Mark has served as a board member for numerous successful Hummer Winblad start-ups, including Omniture (IPO and acquired by Adobe), AdForce (IPO and acquired by CMGI), NetDynamics (acquired by Sun Microsystems) and Scopus Technologies (IPO and acquired by Siebel). Currently, he serves as a Director of Aria Systems, Cenzic, Crowd Factory, ontheFRONTIER, Replay Solutions and Signal Demand.

Mark received a BSEE from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MSEE from the University of Minnesota, and an MS in Engineering Management from Stanford University. Mark is also a member of the Board of Trustees for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation, the Steering Committee of the Deshpande Center at MIT and The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and The Environment.

Jeff Richards, Partner, GGV Capital

Jeff Richards joined GGV Capital as a Partner in the Menlo Park office in 2008. Jeff’s primary areas of focus are on Internet, Applications Software, Mobile and Enterprise Infrastructure technologies. Jeff led GGV’s investment and serves on the Board of Appirio and BlueKai, and is actively involved in GGV’s investments in Qunar, hiSoft (NASDAQ: HSFT), MediaV, Focus and 21ViaNet.

Prior to GGV, Jeff was the Vice President of Digital Content Services at VeriSign, where he oversaw the company’s efforts in the Broadband Content space. Prior to VeriSign, Jeff was a co-founder and CEO of R4GS, a software and services provider acquired by VeriSign. Prior to R4GS, Jeff was a Co-Founder of Quantum Shift, a telecommunications software firm. Earlier in his career, Jeff was a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he led technology, banking and consumer products engagements in the U.S. and Asia Pacific.

Jeff graduated from Dartmouth College with an A.B. degree. In addition to his efforts with GGV, Jeff serves on the Board of the First Tee of the Tri Valley, Advisory Board of the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Foundation, and is active with several other nonprofits in the greater Bay Area.

You can read Jeff's blog at http://13hourstothink.com.

Bill Reichert, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures

Bill Reichert has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and an operating executive. Since joining Garage in 1998, Bill has focused on early-stage information technology and materials science companies. He sits on the Boards of CaseStack, WhiteHat, ClearFuels, cFares, and ThermoCeramix. Prior to Garage, Bill was a co-founder or senior executive in several venture-backed technology startups, including Trademark Software, The Learning Company, and Academic Systems. Earlier in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Company, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and the World Bank. Bill earned a B.A. at Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He was a founding board member and a Chairman of the Churchill Club, and a Charter Member of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs. Currently he is the Chairman of the Small Fund Roundtable of the VC Taskforce and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Gus Tai, Partner, Trinity Ventures

Gus is a General Partner at Trinity Ventures and Trinity X, LP. He joined the firm in 1996 and focuses on software, consumer enabling technologies, and consumer services and maintains an interest in enterprise software. Gus also specializes in funding early stage companies pioneering new market categories. He particularly enjoys getting involved at the time of company formation, working with founders to help build the team and refine the business model. Gus has worked on developing, assessing, and investing in new product concepts and businesses since the late 1980's.

Prior to joining the firm in 1996, he worked at Bain and Company as a Consultant to technology firms on new product development and business strategy. Gus began his operational career in engineering management at Digital Equipment Corporation. He worked at its Alpha Microprocessor Division, where he was a Engineering and Business Development Manager.

Gus started his career at Goldman Sachs. He currently serves as a Director of Amalfi Semiconductor, MaxPoint Interactive, Inc., ScanR Inc, Blue Nile, WiredCapital, Aventail, Photobucket, Modulus Video, Inc., MSpot, Cymerc Exchange, FitLinxx, iMotors, PlayFirst, BillShrink Inc., and TrueSpectra and serves as a Member of Venture Council of Industry Ventures.

Gus is on the Board of Directors of the MIT Club of Northern California and Chinese Software Professionals Association. He is a Fellow of MIT Leaders for Manufacturing. He holds an M.B.A. from MIT's Sloan School of Management, an M.S. in Material Science and Engineering from MIT, and an A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.

Robert Walker, Partner, Sierra Ventures

Dr. Robert C. Walker is a Partner at Sierra Ventures, a private venture capital firm that manages nine venture capital partnerships which together have more than $1.5 billion of committed capital. Current investments include companies based in the United States, Canada, China and India. Dr. Walker focuses on investments in solid state lighting, displays, clean technology, solar energy and semiconductors.

Prior to Sierra he was CEO of BridgeLux, a high power LED lighting company, from 2005-2007, and served on its Board of Directors from 2004. In 2003 Dr. Walker founded YEBY Associates, a Silicon Valley-based consultancy specializing in the Solid State Lighting industry, and continues to serve as a Principal there. From 2001-2004 he was Managing Director-USA of Vincera Ventures, a US$150M venture capital fund based in Taiwan with several investments in the areas of LEDs and compound semiconductors.

During his 8 years at EMCORE Corporation, a leading provider of MOCVD equipment to the compound semiconductor industry, he held a variety of sales and marketing positions, including General Manager, Pacific Rim.

Prior to joining the compound semiconductor industry, Dr. Walker spent 10 years conducting high energy physics research, including several years living in Japan. He is an author of the paper announcing the discovery of the “Top” quark, one of the fundamental particles of nature. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech in 1989 and a triple major in math, physics and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1984. He has traveled extensively throughout the Pacific Rim region, and has been involved with the HB LED industry in Taiwan, Korea and China since its inception.