Nov. 9: Capital on Stage VC Showcase in NY

On Friday November 9, I’ll be participating at as one of 20 VCs at Capital On Stage in NY, an unconventional startup conference about funding in which investors present themselves to a curated group of startups – instead of the reverse.

Ever since I became a VC, I find it a little odd to constantly be the one being sold to. As an entrepreneur, I spent 95% of my time selling.  So I like this role reversal; I feel very at home being the salesman.

We’ll meet at Goodwin Procter on the top floor of the New York Times building.  The other VCs and I will discuss our firms; our views on the market, our added value, and what we’re looking for. In addition, there will be Open Office hours in the morning, where Startups can book several meetings with the investors of their choice. Tickets aren’t expensive for Startups (starting at just $55), but you must apply and be selected.

Only founders of Internet companies may attend, so no employees. Besides that, you need to be working on a scalable product and be ready for (another round of) funding. Admission is based on invitation-only and there are only 175 seats available, so make sure to apply for an invitation today.

Arjen Strijker (the founder) is offering my readers an early bird rate of $55 (normally $115). To claim it you should enter my name in the reference field when you apply for an invite via the CapitalOnStage.com website.

They have previously successful events in Europe (Amsterdam and London with Balderton, Index, Fidelity Growth, DFJ, etc.). They’re now turning their attention to New York, where RTP Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Flybridge Capital, Safeguard, Amadeus Capital, Bain Capital, and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures are confirmed so far.

Nic Brisbourne, partner at DFJ esprit, wrote a laudatory post.

OCE Discovery Conference in Toronto, May 14th – 15th

Next week I’ll be traveling up to Toronto to speak at the country’s best trade show and conference Discovery 12 (“best” according to some awards the program has received).  I’ve been asked to talk about best practices in deal origination, and why our pipeline took us to Canada, where we made investments in 500px and InteraXon.   They’ll have over 2,600 attendees and more than 330 exhibitors.

As part of this year’s conference, Discovery will be bringing 150 mentors together with 150 eager entrepreneurs in a timed event with the goal of achieving the next Guinness World Records Title in Canada as the World’s Largest Business Mentorship Event.   I’ll be participating in this event as a mentor. You can view the official announcement here.

If you plan to be in the Toronto area on May 14th and 15th, I encourage you to join me at the conference!

 Click here to register and use promo code DISCOVERY20 to receive a special discounted rate:

Discounted rates with promo code.

  • Attendee- $540
  • One booth plus 2 passes- $1160
  • Student- $95

…………………..

Cool Facts: 

– OCE Discovery has been voted Canada’s Top Trade Show for the last 2 years.

– Startup Genome ranked Toronto 4th best startup ecosystem behind Silicon Valley, New York & London.

– The Ontario Government has committed $3 billion in funding over 8 years into its Innovation Agenda

– Canada was recently ranked #1 by Forbes magazine as the Best Country for Business .

How to Work with Private Equity and Venture Capital Portfolio Companies

I’m delivering a webinar next Tuesday for Harvard Business School Career Services on “How to Work with Private Equity and Venture Capital Portfolio Companies”.  Among the topics I’m covering:

– Raise capital from a venture capital fund to found a company

– Partner with a private equity fund to find a company to buy or found

– Get a job at a private equity/venture capital portfolio company

– Earn extra income (while keeping your full-time job) by participating in expert networks

– Join a senior advisor network

– Join a portfolio company board

I’d value any feedback you have on my draft deck, embedded below. If your main focus is VC/startups, see John Gannon’s venture capital jobs site and Christina Cacioppo’s startup and job resources.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQJS4CXs6y5pDgHHmofYnQKnDDyuDPwX6KlKS0gfWEn8lHShouIYZyzON5-KdSUqY7fi8_BJiQqrc1V/embed?start=false&loop=true&delayms=3000

How Top Venture Capitalists Create (and Sometimes Destroy) Portfolio Company Value

I hope you can join us Thursday night at a joint event of the Harvard Business School Angels of New York and the Harvard Business School Club of New York, on “How Top Venture Capitalists Create (and Sometimes Destroy) Portfolio Company Value”.  I’ll briefly discuss my research study on this topic, and then we’ll have an all-star panel speaking.

Panelists
Christopher Fralic, Managing Partner, First Round Capital
Dave Tisch, Founder & Managing Director, TechStars NYC
Mike Yavonditte, CEO, Hashable

Moderator
Nikhil Kalghatgi, Senior Associate, SoftBank Capital

Christopher Fralic is a Managing Partner at First Round Capital’s New York office, and has focused on a number of the firm’s investments in Advertising Technology, Social Media, Ecommerce, Gaming, Mobile and more.  Mr. Fralic has 25 years of technology industry experience, with significant Internet business development roles since 1996.  Prior to joining First Round in early 2006, Mr. Fralic was VP of Business Development at social bookmarking and tagging company del.icio.us through the Yahoo! acquisition.  Mr. Fralic was also one of the early employees and VP of Business Development at Half.com starting in 1999, and after the eBay acquisition, spent six years with eBay in a variety of entertainment, business development, and media roles.  Mr. Fralic earned his BS in Finance from Villanova University and his MBA from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.  You can reach Chris at www.nothingtosay.com and @ChrisFRC.

Dave Tisch is Founder and Managing Director of TechStars in NYC and is an angel investor through the BoxGroup.  BoxGroup is an investor in companies like Boxee, Flavors.me, Goodsie, fab.com, art.sy, Coursekit, Skillshare, GroupMe, DataMinr and many more.  You can reach Mr. Tisch at Tisch@techstars.com and @davetisch.

Nikhil Kalghatgi is an early-stage Venture Capitalist at SoftBank Capital and is based in NYC. He focuses on evaluating and sourcing seed and series A opportunities and has special interests in mobile, e-commerce and social platforms. Mr. Kalghatgi was Founder and Fund-Manager of Partner 6 Investment Group, a micro hedge fund in Boston, and then joined the founding team of Localytics, a mobile application analytics provider. Mr. Kalghatgi is a recovering engineer with several years of experience in front-end design and development focused on mobile and web UX before completing his MBA at Harvard Business School. You can reach Mr. Kalghatgi at nikhil@softbank.com and @nikhilkal.

Michael Yavonditte is CEO of Hashable, a New York startup backed by ff Venture Capital and a number of other leading VCs. Previously he was CEO of Quigo Technologies, a contextual ad network, which he sold to AOL for a reported $340m+. Prior to joining Quigo, Mr. Yavonditte served as vice president of sales for USA Networks Electronic Commerce Solutions Group in New York. Prior to that he was Managing Director of the strategic alliances group at AltaVista. In 1997, Mr. Yavonditte joined Juno Online Services, Inc. as a director in their business development group. Mr. Yavonditte started his career at Ziff-Davis Publishing in New York where he held various sales and management roles.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Location: Cooley LLP, 1114 Avenue of the Americas , 46th Floor (enter from 42nd Street), New York, NY
Time: 6:00pm Registration, 6:30 pm Program, please register by 3pm on Wednesday, January 11th
Cost: $15/Members of HBS Angels of NY and/or HBS Club of NY; $40/Non-members & Guests.  Includes buffet dinner
Organizers: Nikhil Kalghatgi MBA ’11, David Teten MBA ‘98
Sponsor: Cooley LLP

HBSCNY members register here $15.00

HBS Angels of NY members register here $15.00

Non-members register here $40.00

To join HBS Angels and learn more, visit hbscny.org/angels

Women’s Association of Venture and Equity Sep. 30 Event: Deal Sourcing in a Down Market

I hope that some of you can join us for a panel discussion sponsored by the Women’s Association of Venture & Equity, on Wednesday, September 30 in New York. I’ll be discussing the results of my research on best practices in deal origination. Please note this is only open to women.

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/2LPu3F3v7kGaHr
https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/scEzvTO4MAtgNm

“Deal Sourcing in a Down Market”

A panel of experienced private equity investors and advisors will discuss strategies and best practices for finding deals in a tough market.

Event Chair:
Yue Guan, Palladium Equity Partners

Moderator:Djena Graves Lennix, ICV Partners

Panel:
Robert Landis, Partner, Origination – Riverside Company
David Teten, CEO – Teten Advisors, LLC
Robert Hall, Senior Advisor – Centerview Partners
Gretchen Perkins, VP of Business Development – Huron Capital Partners

Location:

New York Marriott East Side
525 Lexington Avenue (and 49th Street)
New York, NY 10017-1226

Click here for directions

Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Time: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Agenda:

6:00 pm to 6:30 pm – Registration
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm – Panel Discussion
7:30 pm to 8:30 pm – Reception & Networking

Cost:

$80 for WAVE members;
$95 for non-members

How to register:
The audience is limited to women in PE – GPs, LPs, intermediaries, placement agents, and advisors. Advance registration is required. All registrations are screened.

Contact Danielle Fraser, WAVE Administrator at fraser@theacademygroup.com or call 877-928-3606.

London, Sep. 7: How Professional Investors Elicit Maximum Information in Minimum Time from Industry Sources

I’ll be speaking in London next week and hope that you will join us:

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: How Professional Investors Elicit Maximum Information in Minimum Time from Industry Sources

Sponsored by the Harvard Business School Club of London Thursday, September 7, 6:30pm Offices of McKinsey & Co., 1 Jermyn Street near Piccadilly Circus, London RSVP and prepayment: http://www.hbsa.org.uk/cgi/hbs?do=index&page=event&event=222

Cost: 10.00 pounds

“Interviewing industry sources requires a broad range of skills which I didn’t learn in business school: rapport-building; how to open a conversation to start off on the right foot; how to close a conversation and keep the door still open. Nitron Advisors has helped me to interact with experts more effectively, learn more from them, and make better trading decisions. Nitron showed me how to ask the right questions… And how to help an expert teach me how to ask the right questions! Any investor without this skill set is at a significant disadvantage in the war for alpha.” – Partner, Multistrategy/Convertible/Credit Arb $500M fund, New York, NY

As a professional investor, you speak every day with corporate management, with industry sources, and with other knowledgeable experts. However, are you getting as much information as possible? Do your sources pro-actively contact you with new investment ideas? Do you have access to the right sources for your business?

David Teten, CEO of research firm Nitron Advisors, will fill the gap. Come learn:

+ How can I learn the most information possible from industry sources?
+ What questions should I ask?
+ What are the killer phrases NOT to say?
+ How do I build a pool of knowledgeable sources in the industries in which I invest?
+ What questions prompt sources to share their most valuable information?
+ What are the legal and ethical guidelines that I should think about when speaking with sources?

There are countless books on how to read a balance sheet or an income statement. However, when you actually measure how professional investors spend their time, they spend perhaps half of it talking with management, attending conferences, and in other ways learning from industry sources. Yet, there’s not a single book on Amazon or course in business schools on how to do that effectively. We fill this gap.

Who is Nitron Advisors?

Nitron Advisors provides professional investors with precise answers to their questions about specific companies and industries, by tapping our exclusive Circle of Experts of thousands of knowledgeable industry insiders. You can learn directly from the Experts through private telephone consultations, in-person customized surveys, and interactive events. We provide access to senior executives, local managers, technologists, suppliers, customers, and regulatory observers. We specialize in connecting you with executives in transition.

By the nature of our business, we have developed an in-house expertise in elicitation, and developed this training program for our clients as a “User’s Guide” to our services.

“By talking with a Nitron Advisors expert, our…conversation led to north of a million dollar profit for us and our clients. Within 48 to 72 hours, I was trading facts with the actual person we wanted to be connected to, and that allowed us to form an extremely fast, investable idea.” – Lyron Bentovim, Managing Director, SKIRITAI Capital, New York Post, August 7, 2005

Biography of Speaker

David Teten is CEO of Nitron Advisors.

David is also the lead author of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online, the first business book about how to use online networks to accelerate sales and raise capital.

He runs TheVirtualHandshake.com resource site and blog and co-writes a monthly column for FastCompany.com. David recently was named a “2005 Future HR Leader” by Human Capital magazine for Nitron Advisors’ unique use of social software for recruiting.

David serves on the Advisory Board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and of Accolo, a recruitment process outsourcer.

David is a frequent keynote speaker at finance and technology industry conferences and at such universities as Wharton, Columbia Business School, Yale, and Princeton.

He formerly was CEO of GoldNames, an investment bank focusing on serving the internet domain name asset class.

He has worked with Bear Stearns’ Investment Banking division as a member of their technology/defense mergers and acquisitions team, and was a strategy consultant with Mars & Co. David holds a Harvard MBA and a Yale BA.

Invitation: TiECON East, June 15-17, Boston, MA

I hope that some of our readers will join me at TiECON East, June 15-17, in Boston, MA. With over 1,200 expected attendees, TiECON East plans to become the largest Global Innovation conference on the East Coast.

The sponsoring organization is TiE, whose members receive roughly 5% of the venture capital investment in the United States.

Speakers include: –

Howard Anderson, Founder Battery Ventures and The Yankee Group – Nikesh Arora, VP & GM Europe, Google – Clayton M. Christensen, Professor, Harvard Business School, Author, The Innovator’s Dilemma – Rajat Gupta, Senior Partner Worldwide, McKinsey & Co. – Ray Kurzweil, Author & Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence – Venkat Ramaswamy, Ross School of Business at University of Michigan – Paul Sagan, CEO, Akamai – Mohanbir Sawhney, Professor, Kellogg School of Management – Howard H. Stevenson, Professor, Harvard Business School – Hatim Tyabji, Executive Chairman, Bytemobile Inc.

I’ll be participating in two panels, one on innovation in social software and online networks, and one on innovation in investment research.

The keynote speaker is Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations (although I somehow doubt he will be talking about innovation, given that’s not the UN’s strength.) With prices starting at $269 for TiE Members and $100 for student members, the conference isn’t expensive. For more information or to register, contact the TiE-Boston office at (781) 272-3875 or visit www.tieconeast.com .