SVASE VC Breakfast with Hummer Winblad in San Francisco – Focus on Software as a Service
Bay Area, Startups April 28th, 2009
Weāre in a deep recession, VC investments dried up, startups are shutting down and the World is coming to an endā¦Ā or not?
Iām just back from a very lively Under the Radar conference where 32 startups presented and the audience was full of VCs looking for the next investment opportunity.Ā Those who missed the UtR deadline, or just did not fit this eventās profile (Cloud Computing) will soon get another change at Launch Silicon Valley, co-presented by SVASE, Garage Technology Ventures and Microsoft.
In between these conferences there re are several smaller, more intimate events, like the SVASE VC Breakfast Club series.Ā After a long time Iāll be back moderating the next breakfast meeting this Thursday, April 30stĀ in San Francisco.Ā As usual, this will be an informal round-table where up to 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. Weāve had VCās from Draper Fisher,Ā Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital ā¦etc.Ā This Thursdayās VC is Lars Leckie, representing the first exclusively software-focused venture firm, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
These breakfast meetings are a valuable opportunity for Entrepreneurs, some of whom would likely have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since Iāve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:
- Itās a pressure-free environment, with no PowerPoint presentations, live demos, Business Plansā¦etc, just casual conversation; but it does not mean you should come unprepared!
- Follow a structure, donāt just roam about what you would like to do, or even worse, spend all your time describing a problem, without addressing what your solution is.
- Donāt forget āsmall thingsā like the Team, Product, Market..etc.
- It would not hurt to mention how much you are looking for, and how you would use the fundsā¦
- Write down and practice your pitch, and prepare to deliver a compelling story in 2-3 minutes. You will have about 8-10 minutes, the first half of which is your pitch,Ā but believe me, whatever your practice time was, when you are on the spot, you will likely take twice as long to deliver your story. The second half of your time-slot is Q&A with the VC.
- Bring an Executive Summary; some VCās like it, others donāt.
- Last, but not least, please be on time! I am not kidding⦠some of you know why I even have to bring this up. Arriving an hour late to a one-and-a-half-hour meeting is NOT acceptable, but weāve had too many such incidents, so hereās a new rule:Ā if youāre late by more than 20 minutes, you will not be allowed to join the session.
Hereās the event info page, and remember to register – the previous event with Hummer Winblad sold out in advance.
Tags: entrepreneurship, hummer winblad, launch silicon valley, startup pitch, Startups, SVASE, Under the Radar, UtR, utr09, vc Funding, venture Capital
SVASE VC Breakfast with Hambrecht Geneva Ventures in San Francisco
Bay Area, Startups September 30th, 2008
Fincancial crisis or not, VC investments did not entirely disappear, itās just getting increasingly difficult to get funded.Ā But VCs are still on the lookout, and as proof Iāll be moderating another SVASE VC Breakfast Club meeting this Thursday, October 2nd in San Francisco.
As usual, itās an informal round-table where up to 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. Weāve had VCās from Draper Fisher,Ā Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital ā¦etc.Ā This time weāll welcome Peter Morrissey, Managing Director, Hambrecht Geneva Ventures.
These breakfast meetings are a valuable opportunity for Entrepreneurs, most of whom would probably have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since Iāve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:
- Itās a pressure-free environment, with no PowerPoint presentations, live demos, Business Plansā¦etc, just casual conversation; but it does not mean you should come unprepared!
- Follow a structure, donāt just roam about what you would like to do, or even worse, spend all your time describing the problem, without addressing what your solution is.
- Donāt forget āsmall thingsā like the Team, Product, Market..etc.
- It would not hurt to mention how much you are looking for, and how you would use the fundsā¦
- Write down and practice your pitch, and prepare to deliver a compelling story in 2-3 minutes. You will have about 8-10 minutes, the first half of which is your pitch,Ā but believe me, whatever your practice time was, when you are on the spot, you will likely take twice as long to deliver your story. The second half of your time-slot is Q&A with the VC.
- Bring an Executive Summary; some VCās like it, others donāt.
- Last, but not least, please be on time! I am not kidding⦠some of you know why I even have to bring this up. Arriving an hour late to a one-and-a-half-hour meeting is NOT acceptable, but weāve had too many such incidents, so hereās a new rule:Ā if youāre late by more than 20 minutes, you will not be allowed to join the session.
Hereās the event info page, and please remember to register the next three Entrepreneurs get in free, contact me here.
See you in San Francisco!
Tags: entrepreneurship, startup pitch, Startups, SVASE, vc Funding, venture Capital
SVASE Green VC Panel in the East Bay
Bay Area, Startups June 17th, 2008
Venture capitalists have been pouring money into āclean technologyā companies – $2.2 billion in 2007, an increase of 46% over 2006. Why are VCs making so many long-term, capital-intensive bets? Which technologies will be world-changing, and which will be duds?
In living proof that there is life outside the Palo Alto / Menlo Park proximity, SVASE will host a VC Panel on investing in Green Tech tomorrow at the Crow Canyon Country Club, in Danville, CA. (A very green venue for a Green Event
).
The panelists are:
- Marianne Wu, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
- J. Christopher Moran, Vice President, General Manager, Applied Ventures
- Paul Chau, Partner, WI Harper
- Peter Henig, Managing Partner, Greenhouse Capital Partners
- Mark Harris, Relationship Manager, Silicon Valley Bank
Agenda:
6-6:30 pm: Networking and Hors D’oeuvres
6:30-8 pm: Panel discussion and Q/A
For details see the SVASE site, or head straight to registration.
See you there!
Tags: entrepreneurship, Startups, SVASE, vc investment, venture Capital
House Burns While I Attend Launch: Silicon Valley
Misc June 11th, 2008
Yesterday was supposed to be a relaxing day of networking and watching startup pitches at Launch: Silicon Valley 2008, a joint event of SVASE and Garage Technology Ventures. The event started smoothly, with 400 or so participants when I received disturbing news: my next-door neighbor’s house was one fire. These side-view photos were taken from my window:




Here’s a video courtesy of the Pleasanton Weekly:
It was a bit of a nerve-wrecking day. “Luckily” enough the neighbor’s son and daughter both live in town, so they had a place to temporarily move to, until the house becomes habitable again.
Update (6/12):Ā Apparently reconstruction will take several months, just as bad (or worse) than building a new home.Ā The problem with old houses is that you have to bring everything up to current code.Ā My neighbors, a nice elderly couple are now looking for a house to rent until they can move back.
Tags: fire, Pleasanton, SVASE
SVASE VC Breakfast with Ann Winblad of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Bay Area, Software, Startups March 28th, 2008
After a long break Iāll be moderating another SVASE VC Breakfast Club meeting next Thursday, April 3rd in San Francisco. As usual, itās an informal round-table where 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. Weāve had VCās from Draper Fisher, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital ā¦etc. This time weāll have the honor of welcoming Ann Winblad, Partner, co-Founder of the first exclusively software-focused venture firm, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
These breakfast meetings are a valuable opportunity for Entrepreneurs, most of whom would probably have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since Iāve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:
- Itās a pressure-free environment, with no PowerPoint presentations, live demos, Business Plansā¦etc, just casual conversation; but it does not mean you should come unprepared!
- Follow a structure, donāt just roam about what you would like to do, or even worse, spend all your time describing the problem, without addressing what your solution is.
- Donāt forget āsmall thingsā like the Team, Product, Market..etc.
- It would not hurt to mention how much you are looking for, and how you would use the fundsā¦
- Write down and practice your pitch, and prepare to deliver a compelling story in 2-3 minutes. You will have about 8-10 minutes, the first half of which is your pitch, but believe me, whatever your practice time was, when you are on the spot, you will likely take twice as long to deliver your story. The second half of your time-slot is Q&A with the VC.
- Bring an Executive Summary; some VCās like it, others donāt.
- Last, but not least, please be on time! I am not kidding⦠some of you know why I even have to bring this up. Arriving an hour late to a one-and-a-half-hour meeting is NOT acceptable, but we’ve had too many such incidents, so here’s a new rule: if you’re late by more than 20 minutes, you will not be allowed to join the session.
Hereās the event info page, and remember to register – the previous event with Hummer Winblad sold out in advance.
See you in San Francisco!
Tags: entrepreneurship, startup pitch, Startups, SVASE, vc Funding, venture Capital
Matt Mullenweg and other Celebs on the SVASE Panel: Funding 2.0, How To Build A High Growth Startup Fast And Cheap.
Bay Area, Software, Startups, Technology February 6th, 2008
For all my love and support of SVASE, I sometimes complain that the monthly “Main Events” are a bit cut-and-dry. Well, that will certainly not be the case tomorrow: star-power, money, frugality are all well represented on the panel discussing Funding 2.0 ā How To Build A High Growth Startup Fast And Cheap.
Matt Mullenweg started Automattic on a shoestring, and his product, Wordpress became the most popular blog platform before he and his company accepted major funding.
Peter Yared, ActiveGrid’s Founder isn’t exactly unknown, either, although he is no listed as Founder & CEO, wdgtbldr. WTF? – you might ask, but that’s a company name. His website says: ps: pls snd vwls. We don’t get a lot smarter from this… but his LinkedIn profile reveals the company name as iWidgets, and his motto is:
The first rule of iWidgets is you don’t talk about iWidgets.
Naval Ravikant has been called a lot of names: Venturebeat labeled him: Crazy Man, his website is StartupBoy, and he is a Partner, at The Hit Forge:
The Hit Forge is a group of entrepreneurial engineers building mass-market web properties. We are owners of our companies, share common tools and code, and have enough money to fund dozens of attempts to find the next big hit. We don’t get locked into failed projects, we replace pointy-haired MBAs with modern web marketing, and we share stock so that if one of us wins, everybody wins.
Oh, and since I am a SaaS fanboy, here’s another acronym: CaaS, as in Capital as a Service (although Shai Agassi would disagree
) .
Mike Cassidy has co-founded and sold three companies: Stylus Innovation, Direct Hit and Xfire. He is currently Entrepreneur in Residence at Benchmark Capital, one of the Big Brand Names on venture capital. Traditional VC firms have to change: the capital efficiency of software startups means they cannot easily invest tens of millions in one startup anymore, and their traditional model is does not allow them to participate in much larger portfolios. But Mike is not a Partner: the Entrepreneur-in-Residence title means he is there fishing for his next Big Hit, and will jump back as entrepreneur quite soon.
If you’d like to hear these four superstars discuss issues like:
⢠Can any fundable startup really get to breakeven on less than $1M venture capital?
⢠What does a āCapital Efficientā startup look like?
⢠Where do you find the people & resources for next to nothing?
⢠How can you generate revenue straight out of the gate?
⢠If I can generate revenue, and I have minimal expense, why do I need Venture Capital?
⢠If $1M āhardly moves the needle,ā what returns are VCs now looking for?
- hurry, register here, before the event sells out. See you tomorrow, at 6pm in Palo Alto.
Tags: automattic, entrepreneurship, funding, SDForum, Startups, SVASE, Technology, TiE, vc Funding, venture Capital, wordpress
Startup Entrepreneurs who did not make it to the recentĀ
This year’s
Zoli Erdos