Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum
March 19, 2009
6:30-8:30 PM
Andersen Auditorium, Haas School of Business
Surviving and Thriving
During the Downturn
Click here for program description and speaker biographies
Presentations available:
- Dan Finnigan (Jobvite)
- Andrew Leonard (Credit Suisse)
- Faysal Sohail (CMEA Capital)
- Bob Walters (Untangle)
Video on YouTube (video on YouTube site):
The economic downturn has entrepreneurs focused on survival, not just company growth. They are shifting emphasis from new customer acquisition to customer retention, from employee recruiting to employment optimization and from fundraising to capital preservation. This new setting may involve salary cuts, terminations, out sourcing, and other strategies for “getting the job done.”
The upcoming Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum will tackle these topics through a discussion with some of the best entrepreneurs and venture capitalists around the Bay Area. We will address topics such as:
- What strategies are best to remain viable?
- How should a company position and prepare for opportunities as they arrive?
- What is the role of venture capitalists and board members in this environment?
- How the entrepreneur/CEO manage the VC community and the obligations to investors in these circumstances?
- How can you align your company with industries or verticals that are more resilient to macroeconomic challenges?
Please join us in celebrating the entrants in the 2009 UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition at the reception and networking hour. We had a record number of entrants this year and there were many more good ideas than semi finalist spots, so we are giving you the opportunity to judge the teams and ideas for yourself! Come chat with these budding entrepreneurs by looking for the bright yellow name tag during the reception.
We are proud to partner with Faysal Sohail and his colleagues at CMEA Capital as they put together an expert panel of CEOs and bankers who will join Faysal in helping us make sense of these challenges.
Our distinguished panel includes:
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Dan Finnigan |
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Andrew Leonard Vice President, Credit Suisse (presentation available) |
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Faysal Sohail |
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CEO, Untangle |
The program begins with a networking hour at 6:30 PM with complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the Bank of America Forum at the Haas School of Business. Don't forget the opportunity to "Be a Number" and pitch your idea or company to the crowd!
Registration is required. If you are currently a UC Berkeley faculty, staff, or student, a Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory employee, or associated with the UC Office of the President, preregister here, call 642-4255 or e-mail lester@haas.berkeley.edu for special rates. If you are unfamiliar with the UC Berkeley campus, check out the campus map to locate the Haas School on the east (uphill) side of campus.
More About Our Panelists
Dan Finnigan is CEO of Jobvite. Dan has spent his career launching and growing Internet businesses with a focus on the recruitment market. Previously, Dan served as Senior Vice President of Yahoo! and General Manager of Yahoo! HotJobs, doubling revenue between 2002 and 2007. At Yahoo, Dan established Yahoo and HotJobs’ partnership with a consortium of over 700 newspapers, today representing 41 percent of total Sunday circulation in the U.S.
Prior to Yahoo! he led the creation of Knight Ridder Digital, the Internet company of the world’s second largest newspaper publisher, serving as President and CEO. For Knight Ridder, Dan led its joint acquisition of CareerBuilder with Tribune, serving on CareerBuilder’s Board for three years. Prior to joining Knight Ridder, Dan helped launch, and eventually led as CEO, Smartpages.com (now Yellowpages.com) for SBC/ATT. Dan holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Andrew Leonard is a Vice President for the Credit Suisse Technology Group based in San Francisco covering enterprise software companies. Prior to re-joining the Credit Suisse Technology Group in March 2004, Mr. Leonard worked in business development for Respond Networks, a venture-backed online marketplace for services. Previously Mr. Leonard was an Associate in the Software practice of the CSFB and Deutsche Bank technology investment banking groups and a Financial Analyst in the Deutsche Bank and Smith Barney technology investment banking groups.
Mr. Leonard has completed financing and advisory assignments for clients including Amazon.com, Aspect Communications, BMC Software, Concur Technologies, Cypress Semiconductor, Datatel, HNC Software, Infor Global Solutions, Intuit, iPass, National Semiconductor, NetSuite, Onyx Software, Oracle, PLATINUM technology, STMicroelectronics and The Vantive Corporation. Mr. Leonard received his B.A. degree in History with Honors from Stanford University.
Faysal Sohail joined CMEA Capital in 2002 as a Managing Director. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of AirTight Networks, Applied Wave Research, Evolution Robotics, Multigig, Pyxis Technology and Symwave; and Faysal previously served on the board of Alien Technology. Mr. Sohail brings with him more than a decade of senior executive experience in engineering, marketing and business development. He was CEO of Cadabra Design Automation and managed its acquisition by Numerical Technologies (NMTC) where he served as Sr. Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations.
Prior to Numerical Technologies, Faysal was Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Synopsys Inc. (SNPS). In 1990, he co-founded Silicon Architects, which was acquired by Synopsys in 1995. Earlier in his career, Faysal spent several years in IC design engineering and marketing positions with Actel Corporation (ACTL) and LSI Logic Corporation (LSI). Mr. Sohail holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), where he also served on the College of Engineering Advisory Board (CEAB), and is Chairman of the Board of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.
Bob Walters is CEO of Untangle, the pioneer in open source network gateway platforms. Most recently, he landed his segment-leading application security startup, Teros, at Citrix Systems via acquisition. Along the way, Bob contributed in executive/general management positions at a number of top startup and public companies, including Securant Technologies (now part of RSA Security), Linuxcare, Informix Software, and Red Brick Systems.
Bob is a published expert and invited speaker in internet security, data warehousing/data mining, entrepreneurship, and leadership. He is an honors graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and was a Guggenheim Fellow at Princeton University.
