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Program / Events
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June 22, 2006, Thursday @ 6 pm
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Best Western Venetian Court (click for driving instructions)
11269 Point East Drive, Rancho Cordova
Cost: Members free; Early Bird Registration (before 6/19): $30; Late (after 6/19)/on-site registration: $40/-
Networking: 6 to 7 pm
Speaker and Discussion: 7 to 8:30 pm
More Networking: 8:30 to 9 pm
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Pre-registration has ended; but you can register on-site and attend tonight's event by paying the walk-in cover-charge of $40
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Starting a business is tough. There are plenty of challenges, but the two that many entrepreneurs find most daunting are finding the first customer and raising start-up capital. Often described by investors as an 'acid test', the task of finding the first customer is extremely challenging to say the least. Even if you find a funding source or decide to bootstrap your business, how do you address the challenge of finding a paying customer?
Join some of Silicon Valley's serial entrepreneurs who will share their experience in securing the initial customer (and beyond) for their ventures. Topics of discussion include:
- How do you address the 'stability factor" objections for a startup?
- How do you make CxOs buy from a startup?
- How and when do you leverage your advisory boards?
- Who owns IP? What if the customer is looking to get things given away'?
- How much influence should you let your first customer have on your product roadmap?
- How to win the customer while not becoming the development arm of their company?
- How to go about finding the perfect partner to work with?
- What is different about finding a new customer for a new product launched by your existing business?
Panelists
George T Haber - President & CEO - Adimos
Mr. George T. Haber is the President and CEO of Adimos Wireless Multimedia. He's a Serial entrepreneur and co-founded at least two successful companies - CompCore and GigaPixel, both of which went through successful acquisitions. Mr. Haber is also an active "Angel Investor" and is involved with Public and Private Companies.
Nancy Benovich Gilby - Founder, Pocketthis
Nancy has been building successful startups for the last 19 years. She has helped raise eight rounds of funding and has developed a unique, integrated approach to company and market development, an approach that has generated three case studies at the Harvard Business School. Most recently Nancy co-founded and served as CEO of PocketThis. Prior to PocketThis, she co-founded and was VP of engineering and product development at MarketSoft. Nancy's leadership in product strategy and development contributed to another four successful companies, including Firefly, purchased by Microsoft; Wildfire, purchased by Orange; Component Software, co-founder, folded into Sun to become what is Java today; and On Technology, a successful public company. Nancy holds an M.S.E. and a B.S.E. from the University of Michigan.
Faraz Hoodbhoy - Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pixsense
Faraz Hoodbhoy is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pixsense. He just closed his first paying customer and is excited to share his success story. He most recently served as Vice President of Business Development at NextBrick Solutions, Ltd., and was responsible for its Enterprise Search practice. Prior to that he spent several years with Clickmarks, Inc. and as Director Global Solutions at Unisys Corporation, and with Cap-Gemini Ernst and Young. Faraz started his career at Microsoft on the team responsible for building the XML 1.0 standard. He is co-author of the book, "Applied XML- A Toolkit for Programmers" and holds a BS in Industrial and Management Engineering from Rensselaer.
Chris Chediak - Weintruab, Genshlea, Chediak - Moderator
Christopher Chediak is a shareholder at Weintraub Genshlea Chediak practicing in the areas of business, corporate and intellectual property. Mr. Chediak serves as head of the Corporate, Securities & Financial Institutions section. Mr. Chediak was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1983, after receiving his J.D. from the University of Southern California.
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