Jim Chapman
Advisor
Jim Chapman is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP where he focuses on securities law, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and international business transactions. Mr. Chapman has more than 20 years experience in corporate and securities law and has been involved in over 200 mergers, acquisitions, and financing transactions.
Ron Weissman
Ron Weissman of Band of Angels was vice president of strategy and corporate marketing for Verity, a global leader in corporate information retrieval and knowledge management.
During his tenure at Verity, the executive team earned the large company “turnaround of the year” award (1999) from the Turnaround Management Association; Verity gained dominant market share and saw its market capitalization grow from $50 million to more than $1.5 billion.
Gopan Madathil
Gopan Madathil is President & CEO of Investorfest Media, a leading venture accelerator for companies in the technology industry. Through his hands-on coaching efforts, over 75% of presenting companies have gone on to receive over $280 million in funding to date. Gopan has served in operational and board member roles, assisting early stage entrepreneurs with fundraising and investor introductions.
He has created go-to-market strategies including pricing, promotion, and strategic partnerships. He has been engaged in developing and executing strategic marketing plans, providing detailed market analysis, including: sizing, segmentation and competitive analysis. Gopan has 20 years of experience in the technology sector, working with startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Noah Doyle
Noah Doyle of Javelin Venture Partners has founded, launched and grown dozens of high technology products and companies in 20 years of entrepreneurship and management of innovation. Noah most recently directed the enterprise product line for Google’s geospatial products, Google Earth and Google Maps.
Prior to Google, Noah managed the Marketing Strategy and Corporate Development functions at Keyhole, Inc., the venture capital backed company that created the first Web-hosted digital earth model and was acquired by Google in 2004.
Douglas Burnet
Advisor
Hands-on operations professional with over 20 years multi-industry experience in finance, investment banking, fundraising, HR, positioning, product development, marketing, alliance relationships. Emphasis in growth management as founder of two startups and key role in third. M&A experience including post-merger integration.
Subject: Top 10 Lies Entrepreneurs Tell VCs & Angels
Location: Hacker Dojo
Speakers: Jim Chapman of Foley & Lardner LLP; Ron Weissman of Band of Angels; & Kiran Jethwaof Fumase.
Below are photos from the SF Roundtable: Tips for Traction: How to Get It, How to Keep It Alive!
Speakers: Eric Ferraro of LeClairRyan; Noah Doyle of Javelin Venture Partners; Gopan Madathil of InvestorFest Media. Location: pariSoma Innovation Loft.
SF May Roundtable 1
Eran Eyal
by Eran Eyal of Springleap.com and Evly.com
It was late one night when I sat in front of my computer and swallowed a bitter pill.
QUESTION:
I’m starting a Web service with two partners. I am Partner A and bring x to the table. Partner B brings y to the table. (The nature of x and y aren’t important for purposes of this question.) Partner C is our tech person and programmer. He’s an invaluable resource — years in the industry, past CTO of a successful internet company, etc. We’re lucky to have him aboard.
We’re going to launch this business out of our own pockets, i..e, there’ll be no compensation for anyone until sales start coming in.
QUESTION:
So let’s say I have an amazing idea for disruptive and game changing product. Let’s say it could be bigger than Facebook.
How do I bring the idea to market without being crushed by competitors, investors, and other capable people who are more opportunistic than honorable?
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