|
7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Agenda Review and Introductions
8:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Investment Strategies - Building a Portfolio
What are we doing today that we weren’t doing five or more
years ago? We will discuss overall strategies for building a portfolio
such as the following:
-
Recruiting top talent. With unemployment at an all time
low, the job market has heated up considerably over the past
few years. Top CEOs, engineers and other personnel are more
difficult to attract. What is the group’s current recruiting
experience? Is this just a Silicon Valley phenomenon? What are
the implications for doing seed deals? What kind of CEO do we
want for an early stage company and how and when do we start
recruiting?
-
Competition and pricing. What is the competitive climate
for seed and early stage deals? What pricing are we experiencing?
What strategies are we employing to cope with competition such
as
-
Due diligence - more or less. Are we spending more or
less time on marketing, technology and management than in
the past?
-
Geographical focus. Are we staying local, or looking outside
the area?
-
Deal capture. How do we secure an opportunity to invest?
How many use contingent term sheets to lock-up an opportunity
before investing due diligence resources?
10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Investment Strategies - Building a Portfolio,
continued
-
Syndication. As successful seed funds get bigger and as larger
funds move to earlier stages of investing, how and with whom
do we syndicate? Who does deals without an initial syndicate?
For those who invest alone, what strategies do you use to manage
your exposure? For those who syndicate, when do you start the
syndicate process, whom do you include, and how do you divide
the financing?
11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. National Venture Capital Association
Molly Myers, Director of Administration and Program Development,
National Venture Capital Association and Lee Williams, Director
of Membership Development, NVCA will be speaking about new NVCA
program directions and current legislative activities and about
the intent of the revised dues structure. There will also be a description
of the American Entrepreneurs for Economic Growth (AEEG) which today
is comprised of 8,000 member companies representing 1,000,000 jobs
and which during the last year has had an important influence on
legislation affecting the venture capital community.
Speakers: Molly Myers
Director of Administration and Program DevelopmentLee Williams
Associate Director of Membership DevelopmentNational Venture
Capital Association
1655 North Fort Myer Drive
Suite 700
Arlington, Virginia 22209
11:30 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. Seed and Early Stage Partnerships Rate
of Return
Jesse Reyes will provide us with current IRRs for seed and early
stage venture funds. We will discuss what is and is not included
in the data base and the challenges of reporting IRRs for early
stage partnerships.
Speaker: Jesse Reyes
Director
Venture Economics Information Services
11 Farnsworth Street, Fifth Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02210
12:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch Nob Hill Room
1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Distribution of Stock to Limited Partners
Jack Ahrens of Pathfinder will lead a discussion of techniques and
issues relating to the distribution of portfolio company stocks
to limited and general partners such as:
-
At what point do you distribute after lock-up?
-
Do you distribute in tranches or all at once?
-
Do you stay on the Board after the stock is distributed?
2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Stock Incentives to Directors and Others
Gary Stoltz of Pathfinder will lead a discussion on stock incentives
such as:
-
What are the advantages of incentives to venture capitalists
and other directors?
-
What should be the extent of such incentives?
-
What is the best format of options or warrants for the mutual
advantage of the company and the board members?
2:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Break
3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Strategies in the Marketplace
Geoffrey Moore is the author of two best-selling books, Crossing
the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Products to Mainstream
Customers (HarperBusiness, 1991) and Inside the Tornado: Marketing
Strategies from Silicon Valley’s Cutting Edge, (HarperBusiness,
1995). Mr. Moore will speak about the need for rapid and decisive
responses to a shifting and ambiguous marketplace - and the requirement
for new strategy creation alternatives to the traditional and time-consuming
process of research, diagnosis and prescription.
Speaker: Geoffrey Moore
The Chasm Group
550 California Avenue
Suite 320
Palo Alto, California 94306
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Incubators
The Enterprise Network (TEN) and the Software Business Cluster
in San Jose are two of the most successful incubators of seed stage
companies in the country. Joe Boedekker and Ross Hunt will discuss
their incubators’ goals and operations and how they plan to
work with funds such as ours. Jim Robbins, founder of the Software
Business Cluster and member of the original Enterprise Network Board
will discuss his experiences in forming light technology xx incubators.
Ross Hunt
President
San Jose Software Business Cluster
2 North First Street, Fourth Floor
San Jose, California 95113
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Reception
Venture Investing 1997
Stanford Court Hotel
Hosted by Robertson, Stephens & Company
back
to past events
|
