Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum

January 2007 Program:

The Forum’s first program of the new year will look at the continually growing and changing world of consumer electronics. In spite of the big names out there that dominate our everyday thinking, this is a market that still holds myriad opportunities for the inventor and entrepreneur. Tim Wilson from Partech International has arranged for the CEOs of three brand new companies to discuss how they plan to break into this incredibly lucrative market. Our panel will be:

Tom Willey, CEO of Discera, Inc. Today there are over 9 billion quartz crystals embedded in consumer devices ranging from TVs to quartz crystal watches. These crystals vibrate and this vibration is used as a reference to calibrate the timing of the electronic circuits. Discera has developed a family of silicon based frequency and timing control solutions that are smaller, cheaper, and consume less power than quartz based alternatives. For a Cal connection, Discera gas licensed some patents from UCB in developing their controllers. Tom is an experienced CEO and General Manager who spent the last 15 years growing successful businesses within the communications and wireless semiconductor marketplace. Tom has successfully managed all aspects of the semiconductor business cycle from product strategy and vision, product development through customer design wins and order fulfillment. Previous posts include President and CEO at Innovics Wireless, and Vice President and General Manager at both Philips Semiconductors and VLSI.

Neville Street, CEO of Casabi, Inc. Casabi provides an IP portal optimized for in-home internet connected portable phones. Casabi provides a range of free communications and information services to consumers and monetizes these services via a paid search business model. Prior to joining Casabi, Neville served as CEO of Mobile 365, the global leader in mobile messaging and data services. Previously he was vice president of BT Wireless and mm02, a leading European mobile telephone carrier. He was also CEO of OmniSky International, a News Corporation joing venture and early leader in wireless data services in both the US and Europe.

Amit Jain, CEO of Spudnik, Inc. Still in “stealth mode” at this writing, Jain will let us in on how Spudnik is developing large screen displays using a novel laser based design that will give them entry into a >$40B market. Amit has over 20 years experience in the optical industry with multiple startups. Prior to Spudnik, he was CEO of Big Bear Networks and CEO and Founder of Versatile Optical Networks.

Tim Wilson joined Partech in 2001, where he focuses on communications and component investments. He currently serves on the boards of directors of ARIO Data Networks, Teknovus, Discera and InvenSense. Prior to joining Partech, Tim was Chief Marketing Officer for Digital Island (acq. by Cable & Wireless). Prior to Digital Island, Tim was General Manager of Lucent Technologies' $2B Business Communications Systems unit (now Avaya), where he led international product management efforts, and co-authored a VOIP related patent.

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