• Selecting industries and investee companies
• Alignment of the stakeholders
• Investor involvement – how much and how?
• Messages to investee companies seeking capital
• Ensuring growth companies deliver on their promise
• Current thinking in investment structure
• Exiting best for all involved
Speakers
Randy Komisar
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
USA
Randy Komisar joined the storied venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2005 as a partner. For several years prior, Randy worked as ³virtual CEO² with entrepreneurs creating businesses using innovative technologies.
He is the author of the best-selling book The Monk and the Riddle, as well as the HBR article ³Goodbye Career, Hello Success² and several articles on leadership, entrepreneurship, passion and creativity. He is also the co-author of Getting to Plan B presenting a lean, empirical method for driving innovation and developing winning business models, and I F**cking Love that Company, about creating cherished artisanal brands in the era of Amazon online ubiquity. Randy frequently lectures at Stanford, where he was a Consulting Professor for many years, and speaks at home and abroad on innovation and leadership.
Before joining Kleiner Perkins Randy was a co-founder of Claris Corporation, served as CEO for LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, and acted as a "virtual CEO" for such companies as WebTV and GlobalGiving. He was a founding director of TiVo and Nest and has served on the global advisory boards for the UCSB Institute for Energy Efficiency and the National Entrepreneurship Network of India. Earlier, Randy served as CFO of GO Corporation and Senior Counsel for Apple Computer, following a private practice in technology law.
Randy holds a BA in Economics from Brown University and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Dr. Ronald Weissman
Band of Angels
USA
Dr. Ronald Weissman is Chairman of the Software Industry Group of the Band of Angels, Silicon Valley’s oldest angel organization and manages the Band’s mentoring programs.
A partner at Performance Works, he advises technology companies on market entry strategies in such areas as Financial Services, Energy, Health Care and Media. He has also advised corporate venture funds and innovation initiatives at G2000 companies. He was a Partner for seventeen years at Apax Partners, a global venture firm, focusing on software and cross-border technology investments and managed its venture software portfolio after Apax became a private equity firm.
Prior to Apax, he was CMO and head of Investor Relations at Verity (the leader in enterprise knowledge retrieval). Verity’s management team won Large Cap Turnaround of the Year (Turnaround Management Association) after the company increased its market cap, profitably, from $50M to nearly $2B. Prior to Verity, he directed Strategic Marketing and European Marketing for NeXT, reporting to Steve Jobs.
Ron invests in enterprise SaaS, IoT, Fintech, analytics and AI, vertical market B2B software and Health IT. He has advised or invested in 60+ companies and has served on 30+ boards worldwide.
Ron advises companies on SaaS strategies, capital strategies and venture finance, SaaS business models and private company Board governance. He is a guest lecturer at Stanford, UC Berkeley and at the University of Santa Clara’s schools of Law and Business and universities in Europe. He has recently advised organizations in Chile, New Zealand, Australia and Armenia and has lectured on creating innovation hubs to many US and global organizations, including the US White House on the links between venture investing, next generation networks and economic development.
Ron has been profiled in the Silicon Valley Business Journal (“Angel of the Apocalypse”), Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Technology Forecast and other business publications. He is a Fulbright Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, with BA, M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from UC Berkeley.
Arama Kukutai
Finistere Ventures
USA
Arama Kukutai is a co-founder and Partner at Finistere Ventures a pioneer in the Agriculture and Food technology sectors founded in 2005 and actively investing from its second fund. Mr. Kukutai has been a company founder and entrepreneur in the Agribusiness sector with over 20 years’ experience. He served as Executive Chairman of PKW Farms, a successful agribusiness and diversified investment entity involved in dairy farming and aquaculture activities in New Zealand, Asia and Australia. Arama also led the New Zealand government’s Trade & Investment agency in North America, following which he emigrated to the USA. He has led the creation of Finistere’s global network in Agtech which includes offices in Tel Aviv, San Diego and Silicon Valley, and Dublin, Ireland . Mr. Kukutai serves on the boards as a Director or Observer of current portfolio companies Crop Pro Insurance, CropX, Plenty, Taranis and Zeakal. Mr. Kukutai is an active member of the Agtech investing community and regular presenter at leading industry events. Finistere is one of the leading Agtech focused venture funds and partnered with industry leaders including Agrium, Bayer, Pepsico and International Farming Corporation.
Justin Milano
Good Startups
USA
Justin Milano helps exceptional leaders build thriving companies. As a serial entrepreneur and executive coach from Silicon Valley, Justin uses a unique blend of business coaching and psychology to help leaders and team members create breakthroughs and fulfill their maximum potential. He currently coaches and advises leaders at rapid growth enterprises and venture capital funds including JP Morgan, Northwestern University’s Kellogg Innovation Network, Webgility, Paragon One, 500 Startups, the Global Accelerator Network, and others. Justin is a regular speaker throughout the world on the topic of well being and performance in the workplace.