Date:

July 15th, 2003

Place:

Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club

Register / Questions

 
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
          Luncheon on the Veranda

12:30 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.
          Agenda Review and Introductions

12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
          Investing in the Current Environment

• INVESTMENT PACE / PRICING
  Is the market on an upswing? What is the pace of investing for each fund? How many deals have you completed in the last six months? Discuss the valuations for each of your fund’s last three deals. Have the valuations changed proportionally with other stages?

• TERMS AND FINANCING STRUCTURES
  How do you approach structuring rounds? What are the risks and trade-offs? How are prices set for rounds and what kinds of terms are being used? Two times liquidation preferences – are they healthy? Is there enough incentive for management?
   
  What is the profile of companies that are able to secure follow-on funding? How many portfolio company financings were led by an outside investor? What are creative strategies being used to mitigate risk of down rounds and insider financings in the future? How many funds traunch investments based on milestones? What are the pros and cons? How many funds will do cross fund investing?

• SYNDICATION
  It seems that some opportunities are receiving multiple term sheets – is this a trend? How does this impact syndication? Which firms prefer not to syndicate initial rounds? Why? For those who syndicate, when do you start the syndication process, how do you choose your partners, and how do you divide the financing? Has anyone experienced syndicates that fall apart?

• DEAL FLOW DEVELOPMENT
  What do we think of the current quality of deals in the market? What are the best sources of quality deal flow? What is the competitive climate for seed and early stage deals? What strategies are we employing drive solid deal flow and to cope with the competition? How do funds identify new areas of investment? Do you do extensive sector analysis? How do firms analyze their deal flow pipeline?

• PORTFOLIO COMPANY MANAGEMENT
  What percentage of time and resources are being focused on existing portfolio companies? Are funds deploying strategies and/or policies across all portfolio companies? How are you managing burn rates? How far will funds consider cutting companies back? When is the right time to make an investment versus liquidate decision for a portfolio company? When is it prudent to put a company into hibernation versus write-off the investment? What strategies are being used to ensure accountable and transparent governance?

2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
          Break

3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
          Speaker - TBC

3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
          Managing the Fund

• LIMITED PARTNER RELATIONS
  There are indications that many firms will be raising new funds in 2004 and 2005. When will you go out? How is the fundraising environment today? How has the disclosures of returns by certain Limited Partners changed the environment? What strategies have funds developed to manage Limited Partners? How do you approach annual meetings? How much transparency is provided by firms? Given that fund sizes are shrinking, how do you determine what LPs get invited to invest in the next fund? How much time and cost is required to raise a new fund? What are the significant new terms required by LPs?

• FUND INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT
  Many firms have restructured or consolidated in the past year. What strategies are being used to take a firm to the next level of success? How much time is spent on developing and improving business processes? How has staffing changed over the past year? What are the keys for a fund’s success?

4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
          Wrap up

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
          Cocktail Reception