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August 2012

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Headlines:


UC Berkeley Startup Accelerator @ Skydeck Welcomes New Director

The Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum Returns

 

Entrepreneurs and Berkeley-Haas Alums Speak at Cross-Campus Entrepreneurship Course

 

Money and Meaning: Social Finance


Upcoming Events:

Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum:
2012-13 Angel & Venture Capital Financing Overview
Thursday, August 30, 2012



UC Berkeley Startup Accelerator @ Skydeck Welcomes New Director



The Lester Center, in collaboration with the Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at the College of Engineering and the UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Research’s Office, is pleased to welcome Jeff Burton as Skydeck’s new Executive Director.


Burton was on the founding team of Electronic Arts (EA), a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was responsible for the company’s early entry and success in international markets, as well as developing international business strategies and operations from inception through the company’s IPO in 1989. Throughout his more than 30-year career in the startup world, Burton has served as a founder, CEO, and owner of a variety of consumer-facing software technology companies.

“We are excited to have Jeff working hands on with our entrepreneurs as well as helping turn Skydeck into a focal point of education and connection for UC Berkeley startups. He has a tremendous network, great experience and has been helping Cal founders for years,” says Lester Center Executive Director Andre Marquis.

Jeff Burton   Jeff Burton

Burton is looking forward to fostering a community of educated UC Berkeley–affiliated entrepreneurs in order to help drive the creation of successful, scalable startup companies. Burton will work with the Lester Center and our Skydeck partners to help run campus and community events, scale the mentor network for the Skydeck teams and other UC Berkeley-affiliated startups, and build UC Berkeley’s entrepreneurial community.

“Developing the world’s leading business startup ecosystem is certainly within reach, given the preeminence in the world of UC Berkeley’s research resources,” says Burton.  “It is truly inspirational.  The students, faculty, and broader community deserve credit for enabling a place like Skydeck, and my mission is to spotlight the exceptional talent we have here.”



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The Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum Returns


After a summer hiatus, the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum is back for another great year.
On Thursday, August 30th, we present the 2012-13 Angel & Venture Capital Financing Overview sponsored by Fenwick & West LLP.

We invite you to join our panel of expert angel and venture capital investors for a look at early stage investing during the past year and what the future investment environment holds. The presentation will also include a review of the key metrics for venture capital investments/exits and critical VC term sheet terms for Q2 2012. Represented firms include August Capital, Shasta Ventures, SoftTech VC and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Thank you to our session sponsor and moderator Samuel Angus, Partner at Fenwick and West LLP. 

Registration is required and this session always sells out so don’t delay.

Sam Angus   Sam Angus, moderator for the August 30 Forum

If you who don’t want to miss one minute of the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum this year, and like to get a good value, check out our membership rates. We’ll see you at the Forum!

 

Been to the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum? If not, watch this short video to see what you’re missing!

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Entrepreneurs and Berkeley-Haas Alums Speak at Cross-Campus Entrepreneurship Course

 


Over 300 UC Berkeley undergraduate students are registered for this fall’s “Introduction to Entrepreneurship.”  This course is a cross-campus initiative, sponsored by Berkeley-Haas Dean, Richard Lyons and the Executive Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, Mark Richards. 

 

The goal of the course is to bring entrepreneurship in its many forms and shapes to an even younger audience on campus, many of whom believe that entrepreneurship will meaningfully impact their degree and post-collegiate career choices. This semester, Lester Center Director of Social Entrepreneurship and Faculty Director of GSVC, Jennifer Walske, will be joined by Ajay Bam, as a co-instructor for the course.

Ajay is a new instructor with the Lester Center, having recently relocated to San Francisco from Boston, and is also an entrepreneur in the mobile commerce arena.  Ajay is already embedded into the entrepreneurship community at UC Berkeley, serving as an advisor and instructor to Agora Startup House, the first residential startup incubator for UC Berkeley students, launching this fall.

 

Jennifer Walske Jennifer Walske   Ajay Bam Ajay Bam

Speakers for this fall’s course include many successful Cal Alums, such as Charles Huang (BA Economics and Asian Studies 93) who founded Guitar Hero, Roger Sippl (BS 77), founder of Informix, John Scharffenberger (BA 73), founder of Scharffen Berger Chocolates, and Fred Reid (BA 73), founder of Virgin America.  Shantanu Narayen (MBA 93), CEO of Adobe Systems, will also be addressing the class on the topic of corporate entrepreneurship. Recent UC Berkeley alumnae speakers include Sumaya Kazi (BA 04), who was listed on Forbes Female Founders To Watch From UC Berkeley. Sumaya founded Sumazi, a technology platform built on top of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Also joining our young entrepreneurs’ panel is Paul Baeyens (Haas BS 10), a former student of Professor Walske’s.  Paul’s startup has received early revenue success and recognition as a top seller on Amazon, for its vitamin supplement product.

The capstone for the class is IDEAFest, wherein student teams pitch their ideas in one minute or less to a panel comprised of entrepreneurs.  A video link of the finalists will be posted to the Lester Center website at the end of the semester.


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Money and Meaning: Social Finance

 


The Lester Center is pleased to announce a new MBA course in social venture capital, jointly offered with the Center for Responsible Business and the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership at Berkeley-Haas. 

Lester Center   CNPL  

CRB

The objective of the course is to get “inside the head” of impact investors, navigating the issues they face in the emerging field of social venture capital (i.e., private equity for businesses have a double or triple bottom line).  The course includes a roster of experienced impact investors, such as:  John Goldstein (Co-Founder, Imprint Capital), Brian Trelstad (former CIO, Acumen Fund), Stuart Davidson (Managing Director, Sonen Capital), Will Rosenzweig (Founder, Physic Ventures), Heidi Krauel (Chief Operating Officer & Head of Communities Investing, New Island Capital), and Mark Kramer (Founder and Managing Director, FSG).  Also speaking are the following Berkeley-Haas and UC Berkeley alumnae: Siddharth Sanghvi (MBA 03), General Manager, Sustainable Commerce at eBay, Wes Selke (MBA 07), Founding Director at Hub Ventures, and UC Berkeley alum Teresa Pahl (Partner at Hanson Bridgett).  In this nascent field, discussions will revolve around the following questions:

 

Students will also source investment opportunities, ultimately recommending a social venture for investment, to a panel of impact investors.


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