Category: Events

Both my Partner John Frankel and I are presenting at the first NY Business Expo, November 14-15.  I think Andrew Wong has done an exceptional job growing a small Meetup group into a real conference business, riding the boom in the NY entrepreneurial economy.

I particularly like their Startup Central track, a chance for any startup or small business to have a one-on-one session with mentors that are experienced in taking companies to the next level.  Marginal cost: free.

I was also glad to see they’re incorporating the StartEngine Demo Day, an LA-based accelerator.  This is a logical strategy on StartEngine’s part, to leverage the platform of the Expo to market their companies to the right coast.

To register for the NY Business Expo: RSVP.

Here’s a preview of my talk on “Identifying your next entrepreneurial opportunity”:

 Worldwide Investor Network (WIN) is holding a 2-day conference on “Funding The Best In Global Innovation” November 13-14 in NYC, showcasing 10 tech startups from around the world.

Among our speakers are Habib Kairouz (Managing Partner, Rho Capital), Ed Sim (Founder of BOLDstart Ventures), Kirill Sheynkman (Senior Managing Director, RTP), and me.

I’ve been following WIN’s growth since its inception in early 2011 and think it’s a source of companies that would typically remain off the radar of the NY investor ecosystem.   My research on deal origination has found  that investors who focus on less-popular geographies and source proprietary investments get superior returns.

As a way to encourage students from the NY area to attend the event, WIN is offering 50% off already-reduced student tickets, making it less than 50 dollars to attend. You can use promo code innovation to get this special student pricing.

In addition, WIN has a few spots available for the “Learn From The Best” section of the conference, where CEOs of top NYC-based startups share best practices, common mistakes, and advice on becoming a global company and expanding successfully to the US market. If you are a CEO/VC interested in participating, email ASAP Eyal Bino at eyal(@)worldwidein.com.

I’m still figuring out what I’ll present on…suggestions welcome!

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.

The NYC chapter of AlmaLinks will be hosting me for one of its monthly AlmaSessions dinners on September 6th in midtown NYC.  AlmaLinks is a private, invitation-only group for “young Jewish professionals who have demonstrated exceptional professional achievements.  Apply to join AlmaLinks and RSVP.  I’m flattered to be included.

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 14^th and 15^th, 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 .

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.

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

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.

“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.

I enjoyed presenting yesterday at the Association for Corporate Growth Due Diligence Symposium on “Squeezing Blood from a Stone: How to Elicit Maximum Information in Minimum Time from Management and Industry Sources”. As always, I welcome feedback.

I’m in Vegas this week presenting to the Association for Corporate Growth Intergrowth 2009 on “The Virtual Handshake: How to Originate Deals, Win Clients and Raise Capital with Web 2.0” . I’ve posted an edited version of my slides here.