to hear from and pitch to the software team at top Silicon
Valley venture firm Sequoia Capital.
Three experienced venture capitalists from this prestigious
firm will join us to present their take on the software
market opportunities for emerging companies as well as their
current areas of interest, including storage and security
software.
A small number of lucky pre-selected entrepreneurs will have
ten minutes to pitch their business and get feedback on
their presentations from Sequoia Capital’s Software Team.
Panel:
- Roelof Botha, Sequoia Capital
- Sameer Gandhi, Sequoia Capital
- Mark Kvamme, Sequoia Capital
Moderator:
Jonathan Abrams, Founder & CEO, Friendster, Inc.
Want to Pitch?
Submit business plans to sdforumplans@sequoiacap.com
Presentations will be accepted in the following areas:
- Storage software
- Security software
If you are interested in presenting, provide a 2-3 page executive
summary or brief description of your startup or startup
concept. Please include founder(s) bio and relevant
team/advisor information. Early submissions are preferred.
Panelist Bios:
Roelof Botha, Sequoia Capital
Roelof focuses on services and software investments. Prior
to joining Sequoia Capital, Roelof served as the Chief
Financial Officer of PayPal, an online payments company
which eBay acquired in October 2002. Earlier, he worked as a
management consultant for McKinsey & Company. Roelof is a
certified actuary (Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries), and
has a B.S. in Actuarial Science, Economics, and Statistics
from the University of Cape Town and an M.B.A. from the
Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Sameer Gandhi, Sequoia Capital
Sameer Gandhi focuses on services and software investments.
He is currently a Director of Aceva Technologies, Gracenote,
Internet Wire, RIVA Commerce and Trados. He is responsible
for Sequoia Capital’s investments in Vividence and
WorldChain, and also works with the managements of Covalent
Technologies and ProcurePoint. Previously, Sameer was a
director of Obongo (acquired by AOL), and was involved with
eGroups (acquired by Yahoo) and MP3.com (acquired by Vivendi
Universal). Before joining Sequoia Capital in 1998, he was a
Principal at Broadview, an investment banking firm
specializing in information technology mergers and
acquisitions. Earlier, he held technical field sales and
consulting positions at Oracle. Sameer has a BSEE and MSEE
from M.I.T. and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of
Business.
Mark Kvamme, Sequoia Capital
Mark Kvamme focuses on services and software investments. He
is currently a Director of IronHide, EMN8, Bang Networks,
Cerisent, Sawyer Media and Harmonic. Mark is also a Director
of Macromedia (MACR). Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in
1999, Mark was Chairman of USWeb/CKS and Chairman and CEO of
CKS Group prior to the merger with USWeb. Earlier in his
career Mark was a Director of International Marketing for
Wyse Technology, the President and CEO of International
Solutions, and was a founding member of Apple France. Mark
has a B.A. in French Economics and Literature from the
University of California at Berkeley.
Jonathan Abrams, Friendster, Inc.
Jonathan Abrams is the founder & CEO of Friendster, Inc.
Friendster is an online community that connects people
through networks of friends for dating or making new
friends. Previously Jonathan was the founder & CEO of
HotLinks Network, Senior Director of Engineering at Bitfone
Corporation, and a senior engineer at Netscape
Communications, Bell-Northern Research, Nortel Networks, and
CrossWorlds Software. Jonathan is also the Co-Chair of the
SDForum Venture Finance SIG. Jonathan holds an Honors B.Sc.
in Computer Science from McMaster University in Ontario,
Canada.
Agenda:
6:30pm-7:00pm Registration/Networking/Refreshments
7:00pm-8:30pm Pitch Session (starts promptly at 7:00pm)
** Latecomers who arrive after 7:20pm will not be admitted
to avoid disruption of the session.
Location:
Microsoft Main Campus
1065 La Avenida, Bldg. 1
Mountain View, CA
Venture Finance Co-Chairs:
- Jonathan Abrams – Friendster, Inc.
- Steve Bennet – Bodega Partners
- Tom Cervantez – Thelen Reid & Priest, LLP
Registration:
Pre-registration is required. Seating is limited!
Cost (Refreshments included)
$15 SDForum Members
$30 Non-Members
To register online, please visit the link below.
http://www.sdforum.org/sigs/venturefinance/
The Venture Finance SIG is sponsored by Crosby Heafey,
ExecuStaff, GrayCary, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
Silicon Valley Bank and White & Lee.
