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Review & Selection Process
A committee of Southern California venture capitalists, angel investors and conference sponsors select the 12 companies that will be invited to present at VentureNet®. They will consider ventures from start-ups to later-stage operating companies on the basis of each company's:
- target customers,
- the target customers' pain and how well the company's products and services cure the pain,
- competitive advantage,
- management team,
- potential growth rate and size,
- financial model including the company's stage and the amount of capital being raised, and
- opportunity to create superior shareholder value.
Screening Committee:
- Teymour Boutros-Ghali, Monitor Ventures Partners
- Jeff Carmody, Agility Capital
- Bob Holmen, Miramar Venture Partners
- Mike Hedge, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
- Bong Koh, Prism VentureWorks
- Peter Lee, Prism VentureWorks
- Sam Lee, Finaventures
- Eric Manlunas, Frontera Group
- Dorothy Pavloff, California Technology Ventures
- Joe Platnick, Pasadena Angels
- Anders Richardson, Palisades Ventures
- Alain Rothstein, Kline Hawkes
- Darius Sankey, Zone Ventures
- Rick Sharga, CJ Patrick Company
- Tom Siegal, Shepard Ventures
- Mike Stuhley, Tech Coast Angels
- Stephen Watkins, Arcturus Capital
Jim Andelman, Rincon Venture Partners
Jim is a co-founder and General Partner of Rincon Venture Partners. In this capacity, he is responsible for driving the fund’s investment activities, as well as the firm’s operations. Jim has more than fifteen years of experience in venture capital investing, technology investment banking and advisory services and strategic business consulting. Jim serves on the Boards of Directors of CADFORCE, Inc. and Packet Island, Inc., and has Board oversight responsibility at Iconix Video, Inc. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of Friends of Yosemite Search and Rescue and on the Advisory Boards of the Douglas Family Preserve and the California Coast Venture Forum. www.rinconvp.comTeymour Boutros-Ghali, Monitor Ventures
Teymour Boutros-Ghali is co-founder and Managing Partner of Monitor Ventures an early-stage venture firm with offices in Palo Alto and Santa Monica. Teymour brings over twenty years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor and management executive. As a partner of Monitor Ventures, he focuses on information technology with particular emphasis on media and technology. He sits on the board of several private and public companies including Hydropoint Data Systems, IVT and TeeBeeDee. www.monitorventures.comJeff Carmody, Agility Capital
Jeff has an extensive background in venture debt financing through his years of experience at Sand Hill Capital and his current managing role at Agility Capital. Jeff is a founding board member of the Westlake Village/Santa Barbara Chapter of the Tech Coast Angels, a southern California-based angel investment capital group. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Coast MIT Enterprise Forum, Chaired the Advisory Committee for the Technology Council for the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of the Central Coast Venture Forum Steering Committee. He also chairs the Selection Committee for the South Coast Business & Technology Awards Dinner and is a panelist at many business plan competitions. He is a graduate of UCSB and is most proud of his accomplishments as a loving husband and father of two young sons. www.agilitycap.comJeff Cohn, Hunt Ventures
Jeff currently is a venture consultant to firms who have an investment interest in Southern California technology companies. Jeff currently is a venture consultant with Oversee.net, Hunt Ventures, MHS Capital and the Tech Coast Angels. Jeff has been the Investment Screening Director for the Tech Coast Angels for the past 8 years and has built as substantial rolodex of entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capital fund managers. Since 1999 Jeff has managed the growth of the Tech Coast Angels membership from 70 to 300 investors and 32 venture capital affiliates and has helped sourced the private financing of more than 130+ Southern California based technology companies. Jeff is also a hobbyist internet entrepreneur who founded two nationally recognized web sites DeadCellZones.com and PhotoEnforced.com. Jeff’s technology career includes consulting for ebusiness development firm iXL (Former NASDAQ: IIXL), and the enterprise software company Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA). Jeff has a B.S. in Business Administration, Finance from the University of Colorado.Bill Collins, Starboard Venture Partners
Starboard Venture Partners is a seed and early stage venture capital fund in formation based in Santa Monica, CA. The fund will be focused primarily in southern California on emerging companies with computing, communications, materials, new media and Internet technologies. Starboard invests earlier in the life cycle than most traditional early stage funds with lead investment positions of $250 thousand to $1 million. The fund managers, with strong track records at Clearstone Ventures and the Tech Coast Angels, will provide extensive mentoring to help guide portfolio companies to successful commercialization and launch. Starboard will syndicate and participate in follow-on funding rounds as warranted, reserving up to $8 million per company. The fund size is targeted at $100 million.David Cremin, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Frontier
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Frontier is a seed and early stage venture capital fund investing in California technology companies. DFJ Frontier invests in start-ups with the opportunity to change the world. We seek out entrepreneurs who have the energy, discipline, and courage to create something from nothing and the desire to work with investment partners who have the experience to help them get there. We are particularly interested in emerging technologies and will consider any market driven technology opportunity including software, information services, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and alternative energy. Our philosophy is to provide support to help entrepreneurs turn their idea or technology into a self-sustaining business with real value. For more information, our web address is www.DFJFrontier.com.Steve Dietz, GRP Partners
Steven joined GRP Partners upon its founding in 1996. Formerly, Steven was a Senior Vice President of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in the Investment Banking Division and a member of DLJ's Retailing Group for 14 years, where he provided advisory and capital raising services to more than 30 different retailers and numerous information technology companies. He has participated in early stage private equity investments as well as provided later stage financing and advisory services. In our current portfolio, Steven sits on the Boards of DealerTrack Holdings, eAssist Global Solutions, EMN8, Evant, and UGO Networks. www.grpvc.com
Daniel Docter, Intel Capital
Daniel Docter is a Senior Investment Manager with Intel Capital where he has worked for nearly seven years. Daniel focuses on communication infrastructure and enterprise server infrastructure investments, covering areas such as broadband access, Enterprise and Telecommunications networking, semiconductors, and novel system architectures and designs. He also covers the southern California region for Intel Capital (San Diego to Santa Barbara). Daniel is responsible for Intel Capital investments in Passave (acq. by PMCS), E2O Communications (acq by JDSU), Apogee Photonics (acq by Cyoptics), Kasenna, Stratalight Communications, Cortina Systems, Ceterus Networks, and Bridgewave Communications. Daniel received his PhD. from the University of Bradford, England in 1993 in solid state physics, and spent more than 11 years working on components and systems for optical and RF communications applications at AT&T Bell Labs (6 yrs) and Hughes Research Labs (5 ½ yrs). He has more than 50 journal publications and more than 10 patents to his credit in areas of material science, semiconductor fabrication, optoelectronic integration, and microwave device and circuit applications. Prior to joining Intel Capital, Daniel worked for Merrill Lynch in the Private Wealth Management Group where he advised clients involved in initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions. Daniel lives in Los Angeles and is active in supporting the southern California entrepeneurial and venture capital communities. www.intel.comErik Ekstrom, Deloitte & Touche
Deloitte & Touche LLP is a trusted business advisor to some of Southern California's most vibrant and emerging companies in the information technology industry. Venture-backed and growth-oriented companies are among this next generation of market leaders and face unique business challenges that can be addressed with Deloitte & Touche Venture Capital Services. Based on years of experience with fast growing companies, our Venture Capital Services Group offers end-to-end solutions that combine our tax, accounting, human capital, financial advisory and information technology expertise to help growth companies optimize performance, manage and strategize on key early-stage company issues and prepare for liquidity events. www.deloitte.comBrian Flucht, Blade Capital Management
Brian Flucht is currently an Associate of the venture arm of Blade Capital Management, investing in privately held, early stage emerging growth companies. Brian has over 10 years of strategic, operating, and engineering experience including digital media, wireless technologies, GPS, and venture capital. Prior to joining Blade he worked as a Senior Analyst for Shepherd Ventures. Prior to that, Brian was the Business Manager for the second generation Engineering, Analysis, Design and Development program at Science Applications International Corporation’s (SAIC) National Security and Space business unit. Formerly Brian served as a Systems Engineer at SAIC where he worked on the research and development of the next generation of GPS user equipment. Earlier in his career, Brian worked for the National Security Agency, researching and evaluating advanced microelectronic packaging technologies and managing high priority signals intelligence projects. Brian holds an MBA from the University of Southern California, with a concentration in corporate finance, and a degree in Material Science and Engineering, from Northwestern University.Mike Hedge, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
Mike Hedge is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth. His practice focuses on representing both public and private companies with respect to venture capital financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and technology transfer arrangements. His clients, which range from early stage start-ups to multi-billion dollar public companies, operate in various industries including enterprise software, encryption technology, medical device and pharmaceutical. He has also worked with many leading venture capital and private equity firms. www.sycr.comBob Holmen, Miramar Venture Partners
Bob Holmen is a Managing Director and co-founder of Miramar Venture Partners. Formed in 2001, Miramar invests in early-stage information technology companies, with an emphasis on Southern California opportunities. Bob's career experience encompasses hardware and software engineering at Hughes Aircraft to senior management in three technology companies. Most recently, Bob served as Vice President & General Counsel of First Consulting Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FCGI), which provides information technology consulting, integration and management services to health care, pharmaceutical and other life science organizations. He currently serves on the Boards of Get Lower and SiliconSystems; he is also an observer on the Board of SolarFlare Communications. Bob received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and J.D. from UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall). www.miramarvp.comKris Kaufmann, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP is a trusted business advisor to some of Southern California's most vibrant and emerging companies in the information technology industry. Venture-backed and growth-oriented companies are among this next generation of market leaders and face unique business challenges that can be addressed with Deloitte & Touche Venture Capital Services. Based on years of experience with fast growing companies, our Venture Capital Services Group offers end-to-end solutions that combine our tax, accounting, human capital, financial advisory and information technology expertise to help growth companies optimize performance, manage and strategize on key early-stage company issues and prepare for liquidity events. www.deloitte.comBong Koh, Prism VentureWorks
Bong focuses on digital media and consumer Internet investments out of Prism’s Santa Monica office. Prior to joining Prism, he was with Advanced Technology Ventures in Palo Alto, where he helped launch the firm’s consumer practice. Before ATV, Bong was Co-founder of Mobilocity, a mobile solutions provider to companies such as HP, Merrill Lynch, Autodesk, and BP. At Mobilocity he secured over $20 million in private equity from J.P. Morgan Partners, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, Siemens and Samsung. He led Mobilocity in the acquisition of interactive agency KPE and later sold Mobilocity to Wireless Knowledge (Qualcomm's Enterprise Software and Services Group) and Omnicom's Agency.com.
Prior to Mobilocity, Bong was with interactive agency, Organic (an Omnicom company), assisting both start-ups and large enterprises, such as HP, Tommy Hilfiger and Lucent, craft technology and digital media strategies. Bong previously worked as an investment banker with Salomon Smith Barney's Mergers and Acquisitions Group where he announced over $1 billion in transactions. He also served as a management consultant in the High Tech Practice at McKinsey & Company in Palo Alto and Los Angeles. Bong holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. www.prismventure.com
Kevin Jacques, Palomar Ventures
Kevin brings 16 years of experience to Palomar Ventures. His career has traversed widely across the information technology sector, including operating and investing experience in enterprise software, wireless applications and services, consumer internet, and new media. Palomar Ventures is a SoCal based, early stage venture firm with an interest in abroad range of enterprise and consumer facing technologies. Kevin represents Palomar Ventures at several portfolio companies including Gamma Technologies, SkyeTek, StorSpeed, and Zannel. Prior to joining Palomar, Kevin was the CEO of GlobeRanger, a leading RFID middleware company based in Texas. Previously, Kevin spent nearly six years as a partner with Sevin Rosen Funds. While at SRF, Kevin led investments or played an active role with several companies, including TruLogica (acquired by Hewlett Packard), Fuego (acquired by BEA), InnerWireless, Traq Wireless, ExtaNet (fka Clearlinx), and MetaCarta. www.palomarventures.com
Ben Kuo, socalTECH.com
Benjamin F. Kuo is the founder of socalTECH.com, a widely read newsletter and web site focused on Southern California's high tech industry. socalTECH.com tracks venture capital funding, high tech news, events, and runs frequent interviews with local entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The site also features a venture database with lists of local high tech companies, venture capital firms, executive bios, and more. www.socaltech.comJef Kurfess, Tech Coast Angels
Jef Kurfess has almost 30 years of consulting, operating and investing experience across a wide variety of industries in several countries. His 20 years of consulting experience was with Booz Allen, A.T. Kearney, Deloitte and several of his own firms. He held client side positions as Geophysical Crew Manager with several oil and gas exploration contractors, Director of Planning with the Dole Food Company and SVP Operations and Business Development with B3, an internet services firm spun out of AOL Time Warner. Jef is a member of the Tech Coast Angels and their deal pre-screening committee. He holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA in Finance from UCLA. www.techcoastangels.comPeter Lee, Prism VentureWorks
Peter is with Prism Venture, an early stage venture capital firm, where he is focused on consumer internet and digital media investments. Prior to joining Prism, he was an associate at Clearstone Venture Partners, an early stage Santa Monica based venture firm with a focus on consumer and enterprise technologies. Peter has more than ten years of experience in strategic, engineering, and operating roles in both start-ups and large companies. His experience spans technology operations and product development in startups such as Goldpocket Interactive and Virtual Ink as well as larger firms such as Microsoft. Peter has also worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and in engineering design roles at IDEO Product Development. He received his BS and MS in Engineering from M.I.T. and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he graduated with honors. www.prismventure.comEric Manlunas, Frontera Group
Eric is the Managing Director of Frontera Capital, a boutique venture capital firm he founded in 2002 that’s focused on investing in early-stage emerging companies. Previously, along with his Frontera role, he was concurrently a principal of a hedge fund until mid-2006. Eric is an experienced entrepreneur turned venture capitalist with a passion for early-stage investing. Prior to Frontera, Eric was the founding CEO of Sitestar; a publicly traded technology company focused on the consolidation of independently owned Internet service providers in the rural markets of the mid-Atlantic region of the US. During his tenure Sitestar became one of the largest independent ISPs in the region. Eric started his career with Arthur Andersen’s retail management consulting division in 1991. Eric has an MBA from Pepperdine University and sits on the board of a number of early-stage technology companies. www.fronteracapital.comGreg Martin , RedPoint Ventures
Greg Martin is a Partner with Redpoint Ventures in Los Angeles, focusing on information technology, communications and digital media investments in Southern California. Prior to joining Redpoint, Greg was an Associate with Brentwood Venture Capital, a firm he joined in 1999. Greg is a Director/Board Observer of the following Redpoint portfolio companies: Leadpoint, WebVisible, Networks-in-Motion, TelASIC Communications, SOA Software, Simula Labs, and Lead Technology Solutions. Greg currently serves on the Board of the Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) and is an Advisory Board member of the Tech Coast Angels and the San Diego Venture Group. www.redpoint.comBrian Mesic, Anthem Venture Partners
Brian joined Anthem from McKinsey & Company where he was an Engagement Manager. At McKinsey, Brian specialized in corporate strategy and technology and served CEO level clients in healthcare, semiconductors, media, communications, entertainment, and construction in the U.S., South Africa, and Brazil. Brian is on the boards of Blurb, Buzznet, and Planet A.T.E. and an observer on the boards of RFMagic and Entropic Communications. He also manages the progress of SolarFlare Communications and Axiom Microdevices. www.anthemvp.comSid Mohasseb, Tech Coast Angels
Sid Mohasseb is the managing director of Venture Farm LLC, an early stage execution and funding organization. He is also an executive member of the Tech Coast Angels. Formerly, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Vital Source, Inc. a global distributor of electronic components with offices in United States, Europe and Asia. Sid has also served as the Chairman / CEO of Competitive Knowledge Inc (CKI) - a VC backed Internet Company. After his career as a partner of a management consulting firm, Sid founded the national management consulting firm of Anabasis-Straub, focusing on strategy & operations and serving the fortune 500. Sid has also been instrumental in a number of corporate acquisitions and turnarounds both as an investor / advisor and as an executive operator. He has served on numerous corporate and advisory boards. Mohasseb has authored several publications, he is also the architect for the award-winning software solutions such as the Resource Allocation model (RAM) and is co-credited for two pending business process patents. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) with a B.S. and an M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research and Technical Economic Planning. www.techcoastangels.comJoe Platnick, Pasadena Angels
Joe Platnick is a Director of the Pasadena Angels and a Southern California-based angel investor, senior executive and board member with over 20 years experience with software, Internet, and wireless companies in the US and overseas. The Pasadena Angels is a group of leading private investors that provide long-term human and financial capital to build successful early-stage technology companies in Southern California. Members of the Pasadena Angels work closely with companies, in concert with a vast network of venture capital firms, incubators and professional services organizations, to build successful profitable companies. Since 2000, Pasadena Angels members have provided tens of millions of dollars of early stage capital to over 45 companies. www.pasadenaangels.comAnders Richardson, Palisades Ventures
Alain Rothstein, Kline Hawkes & Co.
Mr. Richardson Co-Founder, Managing Director of Palisades Ventures. He is active in all aspects of deal sourcing, due diligence and execution. Prior to co-founding Palisades Ventures, Mr. Richardson worked in the Investment Banking Division of DLJ and focused on public and private placements of debt and equity securities and buy-side and sell-side M&A advisory services in a variety of industries. Mr. Richardson sits on the boards of SOA Software and V-Enable and is a board observer for Lucix Corporation and Language Weaver. Mr. Richardson received a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School. www.palisadesventures.com
Alain Rothstein is a Principal with Kline Hawkes. He began his career with Interlaken Capital, a middle market buyout firm in Greenwich, CT. While at Interlaken, he focused on investments in a variety of industries including specialty chemical manufacturing, financial services and procurement outsourcing. Selected investments include: Master Protection Corporation, Strategic Distribution and First Marblehead. He currently focuses on a broad range of investment opportunities including logistics, healthcare and environmental services companies. He is a board member of CaseStack, Inc., Rayne Corporation and Environmental Services Group. Mr. Rothstein serves on the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Los Angeles’ private equity roundtable committee. www.klinehawkes.comAli Saleh, Deloitte Services LP
Ali's primary focus is building upon the core venture capital relationships and working with venture capital funds and their portfolio companies to provide innovative service offerings and quality professional services. Ali has over 20 years of experience providing audit and consulting services to growth and venture-backed companies. He advises clients with start-up operational, financial and financing issues. www.deloitte.com
Rick Sharga, CJ Patrick Company
Rick founded CJ Patrick Company to help companies develop business and brand strategies that clearly communicate a unique value proposition, create a position of competitive advantage, and leverage the strength of the brand in the marketplace. The practice is based on Rick's 20+ years experience developing brand strategies and sales and marketing programs for technology start-up companies and international corporations such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, JD Edwards and Cox Communications. Rick currently serves as the VP of Marketing for RealtyTrac, the nation's largest online marketplace for foreclosure properties. As a company spokesman, Rick has been quoted extensively in the press on foreclosure, mortgage and real estate trends, and appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, ABC World News, CBS Evening News, CNBC and MSNBC. www.cjpatrickcompany.com
Mark Skaist, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
Mark Skaist is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth.
His practice focuses on public and private securities offerings, venture capital transactions, mergers and acquisitions and intellectual property (including technology licensing, development and distribution transactions), primarily in the high technology/information technology industries. He also advises clients on matters involving corporate governance and employee compensation. His clients, who range from early stage start-ups to large publicly traded companies, include those involved in network infrastructure technology, enterprise software, telecommunications and new media, as well as a number of venture capital and private equity firms. www.sycr.comMike Stuhley, Tech Coast Angels
Mike Stuhley is the current President of Tech Coast Angels (TCA) in Orange County. TCA is helping fuel the growth of the most innovative companies and entrepreneurs in Southern California. TCA’s 270 members devote time, expertise and capital to help companies grow and succeed. Companies benefit from working with a group of seasoned, well-connected advisors. TCA is the largest angel network in the U.S. and the number one source of startup funding in Southern California. TCA members have invested more than $85 million in more than 128 companies and have helped attract more than $850 million of additional capital, mostly from venture capital firms. Mike is also the current CEO of two software companies, Formtran, Inc. and GoScan®, Inc. He has over 17 years of experience in the software industry, including executive positions with Scantron and Cardiff Software. Mr. Stuhley also serves on the board of Vigilistics, a TCA portfolio company. www.techcoastangels.comStephen Watkins, Arcturus Capital
Stephen Watkins is Managing Director of Arcturus Capital Venture Fund, LP an early stage venture capital firm focused on the southern California venture market. Arcturus is not limited to certain technology areas in which we invest. Stephen currently serves on the board as director or advisor to several technology companies, including Ondax, Inc. and Prolacta Biosciences, Inc and a board observer for SupplyFrame. Stephen earned an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA and received his undergraduate degree at the University of California at Berkeley. www.arcturusvc.com
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