Surviving the Downturn – CEOs and CFOs are Invited to Hear Experts on Managing Through the Downturn

Date: Thursday, April 9th, 2009 Check-in / Breakfast: 7:30AM-8:00AM Event: 8:00-10:00 AM Event Location: SVB Financial Kellogg Auditorium 3005 Tasman Drive Santa Clara, CA 95054

Surviving the Downturn

Practical Tips for Operating in the Recession

 

 

You are invited to an exclusive educational event covering the pressing issues affecting venture-funded companies in 2009. CEOs and CFOs are invited to hear experts on managing through the downturn.

 

 

 

 

•  Managing your investor and banking relationships
• Types of companies and deals getting funded
•  Debt financing terms & availability
• Saving cash on your contractual obligations
• How to focus your limited financial resources
•  Avoid being penny wise and pound foolish
•  Staying out of legal trouble in turbulent times
•  Managing employees to save money and morale
•  Saving on IT while increasing capabilities

 

Please bring your questions for our Q&A session.

 

 

Featuring a Panel of Industry Experts

 

Eric O’Brien
Managing Director U.S., Lightspeed Venture Partners

Peter Kidder
Division Risk Manager,  SVB Silicon Valley Bank

Dan Saccani
President and Co-Founder, Ravix Group

 

James Fulton, Jr.  

Partner, Cooley Godward Kronish

 

Mark Richards
President & CEO, Moyo Group

 

 

Moderator

Heather Gates-Massoudi
Director VC Relationships, Deloitte Services LP

 

Panelist Bios

Eric O’Brien – Managing Director U.S., Lightspeed Venture Partners

Eric invests in digital media, datacenter infrastructure and semiconductors. Additionally, he helps oversee Lightspeed’s investment efforts in China. He has ten years of venture capital experience and two years of industry experience.

 

Previously, he worked in product management at Ciena (formerly Lightera Networks). Prior to Ciena, Eric served as an Associate at InterWest Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm, where he focused on communications and software investments, and as an Analyst at Morgan Stanley in the telecom mergers and acquisitions group.

 

Eric holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University. He is a member of the Advisory Board of DT Capital, a Shanghai-based venture capital firm of which Lightspeed is a limited partner. He is also Vice Chairman of Partners in School Innovation, an educational nonprofit working to improve student learning in low-income Bay Area public schools.

                                                                

Heather Gates-Massoudi – Director VC Relationships, Deloitte Services LP

Heather’s primary focus is building venture capital relationships, working with venture capital funds and their portfolio companies to provide innovative service offerings and quality professional services.

 

Before joining Deloitte Services, Heather was a Chief Financial Officer at a telecommunications software company.  She wrote the business plan, led financing discussions, led operations and participated and all aspects of management of the company.  Prior to that, she was Vice President of Business Development at a venture-backed software and services company.  While there, she successfully closed and managed relationships with large consulting firms including IBM Global Services.  She was an investment banker at Hambrecht & Quist (now part of JP Morgan) in the software and internet industry group executing on initial public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity investment opportunities. She previously spent nine years as an audit professional at another Big 4 firm serving the technology sector.  Heather has worked on numerous IPOs and other security offerings and has also served an as the key audit relationship for companies in the venture capital and technology, media and telecommunications industries. 

 

Peter Kidder –Division Risk Manager,  SVB Silicon Valley Bank

Peter serves as Division Risk Manager for Silicon Valley Bank.  He is responsible for leading the bank’s credit activities in California, including the underwriting and management of a $1.6 billion commercial loan portfolio.  SVB serves over 4,600 technology, life science, and private equity companies in California.

 

Peter has held several leadership positions at SVB in the Silicon Valley area, including Senior Credit Officer and Manager of several regional and industry divisions, including the Semiconductor practice, the Communications practice, and the Bank’s Palo Alto office.  He was also a Senior Relationship Manager with responsibility for a portfolio of private and public companies in the communications, hardware, semiconductor, and Internet areas. Peter joined SVB in 1995.

 

Prior to SVB, Peter was Chief Financial Officer of W.P. Dickey & Co., a privately-held investment and advisory services company based in San Diego, CA.  He was also an Account Officer in the Corporate Banking Division of State Street Bank in Boston, MA.   He holds an AB degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Darden School, University of Virginia.

 

 

Dan Saccani – President and Co-Founder, Ravix Group

Dan has worked with startup and early stage technology companies for over 25 years and spent the last 15 years consulting with a variety of startups in life sciences, software, semiconductor, hardware and internet.

 

Dan formed Ravix Group to offer the full range of financial and administrative outsource services and leverage the collective knowledge of professional early-stage company consultants. He focuses primarily on building and strengthening key client, investor and vendor relationships. During his career, he has been responsible for a wide range of financial functions, including inventory control, MRP and accounting system implementations for manufacturing entities as well as financial planning which has led to the successful cash management of his companies. During his consulting career, Dan has managed consulting firms of up to 75 professionals. Further, his clients have raised over $500 million of venture capital funding and he has managed debt and lease financing of over $250 million. Many of these companies went on to a public offering or acquisition/merger.

 

Prior to co-founding Ravix Group, Dan spent ten years with David Powell, Inc., a financial consulting firm, the last five of those as Vice President. Prior to that, he served as Director of Finance and Treasury Operations & Assistant Secretary of VMX, Inc., a public company. Prior to VMX, he was Cost Accounting Manager at Calma Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Electric, and Product Line Controller at National Semiconductor Corporation. Dan graduated from Santa Clara University with a B.S.C. in Accounting.

 

James F. Fulton, Jr. – Partner, Cooley Godward Kronish

Mr. Fulton heads of the firm’s emerging companies practice.  He joined the firm in 1995 and is resident in the Palo Alto office.

Mr. Fulton’s practice focuses on the representation of emerging technology and life sciences companies and the venture capital firms that invest in those companies.  As a specialist in corporate and securities law, he has counseled company clients and investors in a wide variety of projects, including company formations, spin outs, private and public financings, mergers and acquisitions, employee equity incentives, executive hiring and SEC reporting and compliance

Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Fulton was a senior budget analyst with the U.S. Government’s Office of Personnel Management for six years.  He was named as a 2007 Northern California Super Lawyer in the category of securities and corporate finance, and recognized in The Best Lawyers in America 2008 list in the category of corporate law and venture capital law.

Mr. Fulton received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1995, graduating cum laude. He received a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1989, graduating cum laude

Mr. Fulton is a member of the State Bar of California and the American Bar Association

Mark Richards – President & CEO, Moyo Group

Moyo Group is an IT services firm helping venture-funded companies with outsourced IT and implementation of finance and manufacturing software systems.  Mark has spent 29 years developing and deploying IT strategies and solutions for Silicon Valley companies. Over the last 17 years he served as CIO and IT Director for several fast-growing companies.

 

Mark was a member of the founding management team at Corio (acquired by IBM). As VP of IT Consulting for Corio, he created and managed the CIO Services practice, the Program Office, and led pioneering projects to deliver enterprise applications through the ASP/SaaS model. Prior to Corio, he was Director of IT Outsourcing for DSCI.