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Lester Center Assembles over 300 Experts
to Support its 2008-2009 Programs
June 8, 2009
Berkeley, California
There is nothing like the power of a network - particularly for entrepreneurs in search of funding, business partners, marketing opportunities, and legal advice.
Today, we celebrate the Lester Center’s network of over 300 top-flight professionals who gave their time and expertise to provide Berkeley entrepreneurs with the critical knowledge and contacts to increase their chance of success, now and in their future lives.
During the 2008-2009 academic year, we had a record number of participants work with us, including:
- 125 entrepreneurs and corporate executives
- 115 venture capitalists
- 25 lawyers
- 25 consultants
- 10 accountants and banking professionals
who provided our community with:
- Hundreds of hours of free mentorship in classes and office hours
- Over 150 lectures in the classroom
- Feedback and judging at competitions including the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition and the Venture Capital Investment Competition
- Expert presentations by 50 practitioners to combined Berkeley and public audiences
- Countless connections to the broader network of Bay Area investors, executives, professionals and corporations
- Funding and support for the companies emerging from Berkeley
The Lester Center’s networks are what make the entrepreneurship and innovation program strong and vital. Let us introduce some of the people “inside the network”:
Steve Gertz
President, Sage Associates
Entrepreneurship Lecturer
Lester Center Advisory Board Member
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“I greatly enjoy my association with the Lester Center as a Haas faculty member (the Lester Center was recently rated #7 in the world by US News).
Teaching entrepreneurship at Haas gives me the opportunity, after a long career in high tech venture-backed startups, to give something back to younger people. This contribution includes mentorship, time, experience, examples of success and failure and passion for early stage ventures. Among other returns, it is energizing working with the students which keeps me relevant and current.
Serving on the Center’s Advisory Board also allows me to help the Center's dedicated staff continue to raise the quality of the entrepreneurship program at Haas.” |
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Gary Little, Partner
Morgenthaler Ventures
(served as judge in UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition finals)
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“The Bay Area is the entrepreneurial capital of the world and Berkeley has been a great source of successful startups. Morgenthaler Ventures has financed the initial rounds of three startups from Berkeley.
The Lester Center has helped accelerate entrepreneurism by pairing Haas MBA students and alumni with Berkeley engineers, UCSF scientists, and government lab researchers.
We probably looked seriously at investing in a half dozen Berkeley startups this past year and introduced several Berkeley startups to our portfolio companies for strategic partnerships.” |
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Kevin Casey, MBA 2009
Founder, New Avenue Homes
Past President,
Entrepreneurs Association
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“The Lester Center and its seemingly countless speakers, courses, executive office hours and mentor meetings gave me the opportunity to create working partnerships with people throughout the Bay Area ecosystem.
I now know and work with senior scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, attorneys, local government officials and I even had the opportunity to meet senior venture capitalists such as Vinod Khosla and several partners from Kleiner Perkins and other top tier venture capital firms.” |
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Brett Wilson, MBA 2008
Co-Founder/CEO, TubeMogul (spoke on Opportunity Recognition for the Entrepreneurial Best Practices Series)
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“The benefits I reaped as a Haas student from the Lester Center’s classes, events and programs far outweighs any contribution I can make now by giving back to my alma mater.
Meeting budding entrepreneurs is awesome and inspiring and I hope to continue making those connections in the future.” |
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We sincerely thank all of the members of our network and look forward to continuing our partnerships with these individuals and companies and expanding our outreach to new friends of the Lester Center in the upcoming school year.
Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation - Haas School of Business |
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