Can
Startups Penetrate the Living Room? Emerging Goliaths of
Consumer Electronics
Note: This video is part 1 of a 7 part series.
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.
