Upcoming Events

Past Events

April 7, 2021
Aligning the Dots with Dr. Philippe Bouissou

Dr. Philippe Bouissou has been in Silicon Valley for 30 years. He is a growth expert and the author of the bestselling book, Aligning the Dots: A New Paradigm to Grow Any Business. Aligning the Dots answers the question of how business leaders can grow their enterprises faster and outpace their competition. It describes his universal, data-driven methodology, A4 Precision Alignment™. A business can only achieve maximum revenue when it is perfectly aligned with its target market. Philippe will describe measurements of four universal alignments, the development of a Growth Playbook, and other tools entrepreneurs can use to achieve substantial and sustainable revenue growth.

Philippe is an accomplished venture capitalist, CEO, and entrepreneur and has served on the board of 20 companies. He currently manages Blue Dots Partners LLC, a Palo Alto-based advisory firm he founded, dedicated to solving one and only one problem: helping companies grow faster. He was the founder and CEO of G2i, a software company, before leading business development for electronic publishing at Hachette, one of the largest publishing companies in the world. He later joined Apple, where he started and managed the online Apple Store and grew its revenue from zero to $350 million under Steve Jobs. He later was General Partner with two early-stage venture capital firms.

Philippe graduated from École Normale Supérieure in Paris and holds a BS in Mathematics, an MS in Physics, and a Ph.D. in non-linear physics and chaos theory.

You can purchase his book, Aligning the Dots, here.

March 3, 2021
The Future of Blockchain, Investing, and Global Innovation with E. David Ellington

E. David Ellington is Founder & Executive Chairman of the Silicon Valley Blockchain Society, a global ecosystem supporting blockchain, AI, digital health, IoT and fintech related projects across industries and for social impact. David is an attorney, entrepreneur, a Managing Partner at Emory Capital Group, a Senior Advisor at SpaceFund, and an Advisor at LUMO Labs (Eindhoven) and Wiase Capital.

David was named to Upside  magazine’s Technology “Elite 100” and Black Enterprise magazine’s Business Innovator of the Year. Previously, David was a Trustee and Commissioner on the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System Board, the fifth largest pension fund in California, which is responsible for investing over $20 billion.

David has a BA in History from Adelphi University, an MA in Comparative Politics and Government (focusing on Africa) from Howard University, and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, where he concentrated on international, corporate, and tax law. He then completed Cornell University’s FALCON (Full Year Asian Language Concentration) Program in Japanese. David has served on many non-profit boards, including the Commonwealth Club of California and SFJAZZ.

February 24, 2021
Entrepreneurship and the Imperative of Global Progress with Peter Kellner (1:13:30)

Peter Kellner is Founder & Managing Partner of Richmond Global Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early stage technology companies in the United States and globally. He co-founded Endeavor Global in 1997 to identify and cultivate the highest-impacting entrepreneurs in the world. After university, as a Fulbright Scholar to Hungary, he founded the Environmental Management & Law Association (EMLA), one of Central Europe’s most influential NGOs in environmental policy and originally backed by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Peter is a co-founder and Director of Richmond Global Sciences, which provides systematic assessments of product impact for every industry of the economy, filling a significant gap in the current ESG data landscape. Peter is Chairman & CEO of Richmond Global Compass, an investment firm that integrates sustainability practices into traditional research.

Peter is a board member of several technology companies. He has invested in and lived on five continents over 20 years, seeding some of the largest platform technology companies from Brazil to China. He is a Member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO). He has served on the boards of Endeavor Global, Endeavor Jordan, Endeavor Chile, Endeavor Louisville, and Endeavor Miami. Kellner is a trustee of the Allen-Stevenson School in New York and a board member of America | The Jesuit Review. He is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Pacific Council for International Policy, and International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is a Crown Fellow at The Aspen Institute and Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He lectured in Princeton’s Engineering Department on entrepreneurship for 13 years and provided the funding to create Princeton’s E-Lab for student entrepreneurship.

February 17, 2021
OFFICE HOURS: 4:112 Other Funding Sources, Securities, and Bad Deals (1:00:27)

Some questions asked: Should I introduce interested VCs to each other? Should I give a range of amounts I am fundraising? Can I raise money if I have other simultaneous projects? What can I do if I do not like the valuation? How long does fundraising take? What is the most important item in diligence? Are patents worthless to VCs? Should I use the attorney my investors tell me to use? How important is a demo of the product? Why do investors hate buying out older investors? Can a bad social presence undermine my fundraising? What is the most important factor in choosing an investor? How do I get feedback before I make pitches?

February 10, 2021
OFFICE HOURS: 4:111 Other Funding Sources, Securities, and Bad Deals (51:53)

Some questions asked: Can I use crowdfunding to run an MVP and test my market? What are some rules I should follow if I self-finance my company? What does an investor suitability questionnaire look like? How do spinouts work? How are management carveouts structured? Should I take money from unaccredited investors? Can I only recapitalize some investors but not others?

February 3, 2021
Secrets of a Serial Entrepreneur with Gene Hoffman

Gene Hoffman builds companies that disrupt industries. Gene is President of Chia Network, a blockchain based on proofs of space and time to make a cryptocurrency which is less wasteful, more decentralized, and more secure. Prior to that, he was co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Vindicia, a subscription management solutions company sold to Amdocs. Prior to Vindicia, he was co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Emusic, acquired by Vivendi/Universal.

Gene has been recognized by the San Francisco Business Times with the “40 under 40 Emerging Leaders Award,” was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as a member of the July 1999 E-Gang, was named one of the 100 most influential entrepreneurs in technology in Upside Magazine, and was the youngest NASDAQ CEO in history. Gene also attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he was a manager of the men’s collegiate basketball program under Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge.

January 27, 2021
OFFICE HOURS: 4.110 Down Rounds (53:31)

Some questions asked: How much money do funds spend on administrative costs, management fees, and other expenses aside from actual investments? What happens when the venture partner on my board leaves the fund that invested in my startup? How do co-investments with my investor’s limited partners work? What can managers do with deals before their funds are closed? Can I count on my VC investing reserve amounts in my next round? Should I avoid talking with junior people at a fund? How can I become a VC? What are special purpose vehicles? How do I know the process a fund requires to approve a deal?

January 20, 2021
OFFICE HOURS: 4.109 How Venture Funds Work (55:48)

Some questions asked: How much money do funds spend on administrative costs, management fees, and other expenses aside from actual investments? What happens when the venture partner on my board leaves the fund that invested in my startup? How do co-investments with my investor’s limited partners work? What can managers do with deals before their funds are closed? Can I count on my VC investing reserve amounts in my next round? Should I avoid talking with junior people at a fund? How can I become a VC? What are special purpose vehicles? How do I know the process a fund requires to approve a deal?

January 13, 2021
OFFICE HOURS: 4.108 Strategic Investment and Venture Debt (59:40)

Some questions asked: Can I modify the terms of my venture debt, including by cancelling or repurchasing warrants, forcing conversion to equity, and otherwise? Can one buy secured debt of a competitor and what is an example? Why do corporate deals often not work? What are some ways to structure strategic in-kind investment into startups as a larger company? How does default and foreclosure work with loans? What are ways to expedite dispute resolution in a commercial agreement? Is industrial espionage in strategic deals a real threat? What are some tips for a good commercial deal with a strategic investor? What happens to a bridge loan if I sell the company before it converts to equity?

January 6, 2021
Expert Webinar: Tax and Accounting Issues for Entrepreneurs (1:00:42)

Entrepreneurs face a myriad of tax and accounting issues that most are ill-equipped to handle. Although the temptation is great to ignore these matters, doing so can lead to dire financial outcomes, especially to the taxes of the entrepreneur and the company’s investors. This program will address a number of common issues which face startup entrepreneurs under U.S. tax laws and accounting rules.

Download the slides here.

December 16, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 4.107 Diligence and Disclosures (50:51)

Some questions covered: How can a company control legal and other fees in the diligence process? Do VCs evaluate paths to exit at the diligence stage? How do investors use diligence later, after the investment? What do investors look for in contracts during diligence? How does M&A diligence differ from financing diligence? What were some of the failure of the Theranos investors during diligence? What third parties do investors contact during diligence? How should one use the term and think about “social entrepreneurship?”

December 9, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 4.106 Creating Cap Tables (52:28)

Some questions covered: What happens to restricted stock and to options when they expire? Why does some stock go back to the pool while other stock is removed from the cap table? What does imputed value mean? What does a real, live complicated cap table look like? What are different ways of handling convertible note discounts? How would you compute a cap on a convertible note? What is a waterfall analysis using a cap table?

December 2, 2020
Expert Webinar: Secrets of a Unicorn Hunter (59:34)

A small number of early stage Series Seed and Series A investors find and mentor a disproportionate number of “unicorns,” companies valued at over US$1 billion. Tim Connors is one of the industry’s best unicorn hunters. Tim was named to the Forbes 2020 Midas List for being among the world’s best dealmakers in venture capital. His recent notable unicorns include drone delivery service Zipline, fintech startup Chime, and data analytics startup Looker, which was acquired by Google for US$2.6 billion.

In this Expert Webinar, we will learn from Tim some of his secrets for identifying great technical founders, vetting hard computer science “under the hood,” and applying his fundamentals-focused Lean approach to building extraordinary value.

Tim is the Founder and Managing Partner of PivotNorth Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on disruptive innovations in computer science. Tim has created over US$7 billion of market cap as a VC and operator. Prior to founding PivotNorth, Tim was a partner and GP for 12 years at Sequoia Capital and US Venture Partners. During Tim’s operating career, he helped build C-Cube Microsystems from a startup into a publicly-traded leader in digital video, and at Tandem Computers he helped design Tandem’s flagship Everest server line. Tim is a named inventor on three issued US patents.

Tim serves on the Advisory Council of the College of Engineering at Notre Dame, is a Director on the Stanford University Draper Venture Investment Fund, and serves on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities San Francisco. Tim received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, with High Honors, an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Stanford University, and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School, with Distinction.

November 25, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 4.105 Venture Terms: Control and Protections (51:03)

Some questions asked: What materials should a board observer receive? Do debt limits in protective provisions vary based upon the stage of the company? What are the different kinds of inspection rights for investors and directors? Why do investors wish to restrict selling of stock by founders? What should a founder expect to “re-vest” upon a financing? Why are rights of first refusal problematic? What are examples of harsh drag along terms? What are some examples of required class based voting?

November 18, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 4.104 Venture Terms: Economics (57:38)

Some questions asked: What is meant by a Series A, B, or C stage company? Can you limit pro rata and other rights only to certain investors? What are pros and cons of accepting investment in tranches based upon milestones? How do adjustable pre-money valuations work? Can I start a fund if I am not an accredited investor? How do pledge funds and SPVs work? Can you raise too much money with convertible notes? Is it smart as a founder to give to an investor an enhanced liquidation preference for more founder ownership?

November 11, 2020
Expert Webinar: Insurance for New Ventures—What Do You Need and Why? (59:07)

When starting a new company, entrepreneurs do not rank insurance high on the list of issues they consider, focusing instead on funding, hiring key employees, developing technology and products. However, insurance coverage is typically required for the following key milestones at the earliest stages of a company’s development:

• Closing a venture capital round
• Signing a lease
• Licensing agreements
• Hiring employees
• Purchasing and shipping equipment or product
• Customer contracts
• Beta testing a product
• Clinical trials

Insurance does not need to be difficult, but it requires experience to navigate this space without delays and frustration. In this webinar, Steve Sawyer will cover the basic insurance needs of new ventures in the Tech and Life Science industries. More importantly, he will outline the key issues to anticipate as a company grows and reaches key milestones, and the value of designing an appropriate insurance and risk management program for current and future needs.

Steve Sawyer is Executive Vice President and Partner at Woodruff Sawyer, the leading insurance advisory firm to life science and technology companies in Silicon Valley and beyond. Steve has worked with hundreds of new ventures, taking many from the startup phase through product development, commercialization, and global expansion, including taking over 30 companies through the IPO stage in the last five years.

Steve has served on the board for BayBio and is active in various non-profits and missions committed to pressing needs in our community and around the world. Steve has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He is a designated Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU).

October 28, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 4.103 Angels and Early Investors (55:56)

Some questions asked: What is the biggest mistake angel investors make? Should I use a SAFE instead of a convertible note? What steps do I have to take to verify one of my investors is an accredited investor? Should I agree to a secured convertible note? What is the power curve? How can convertible debt help my company’s equity compensation issues? What is an MFN clause?

October 21, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 4.102 Preparing for Fundraising (47:33)

Some questions asked: Should I pay for introductions to VC investors? Should I enter my company in business plan competitions? Should I finance my startup on credit cards and my home line of credit? What are the biggest mistakes in pitches? What are the biggest mistakes in financial models? Is harassment and discrimination real in fundraising? (Yes, of course it is.) Can I limit reference calls in diligence?

October 14, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 4.101 Fundamentals of Startup Investing (48:18)

Some questions covered: What are some common “red flags” in startup pitches? How do I know what companies might buy my company? Should I use a SPAC to raise money? What are some tips to raise money from the government? What is a “down round?”

October 7, 2020
Expert Webinar: The Science of Scaling (53:42)

“When to scale?” and “How fast?”

These two questions are mission-critical for startup organizations. Yet, as entrepreneurs, we lack a rigorous approach to answering them.

The “Science of Scaling” provides a scientific, data-driven approach to uncovering answers to these critical questions. After peering inside the go-to-market machinery of hundreds of startups over the last three years, Stage 2 Capital Managing Partner Mark Roberge found the following five issues as the most common diagnoses for failed scale attempts:

• Premature focus on top-line revenue generation in lieu of consistent customer value creation;
• Inadequate, non-data-driven definition of product-market-fit;
• Misunderstanding of go-to-market capabilities needed before hiring salespeople;
• Front-loading sales hires at the beginning of the year rather than pacing throughout the year; and
• Confusing temporary competitive advantage with a sustainable competitive advantage.

The resulting Science of Scaling approach has been the bedrock of Stage 2 Capital’s method in guiding entrepreneurs and their new ventures through the scaling process. The Science of Scaling defines each stage of scale, establishes quantifiable measures for each stage, structures the sequence and signals of when to move from one stage to the next, and explores the optimal go-to-market design of each stage.

Mark Roberge is Managing Director at Stage 2 Capital, the first venture capital firm run and backed by heads of sales and marketing. He is also a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School where he teaches courses on sales, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Prior to these roles, Mark served as SVP of Global Sales and Services at HubSpot where he scaled annualized revenue from $0 to $100 million and expanded his team from 1 to 450 employees. Mark has an MBA from MIT Sloan.

You can sign up for Mark’s eBook, “The Science of Scaling,” here.

September 30, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: Part One: Creating a Startup (54:50)

Some questions covered: What does success look like in the early stages of a company? Could the Patent Office work better for startups with more funding? To whom can you reveal your patentable inventions without ruining your ability to file a patent? Are there reasons not to incorporate in California? How can I identify possible pivots?

September 23, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 3.104 Best Governance Practices (55:43)

Some questions covered: What duties to I owe creditors as I approach the “Zone of Insolvency?” What duties do I owe my preferred and common stockholders? What are some implications of recent Delaware court decisions on the duties directors owe their stockholders? What are some tips for an effective rights offering? Can stockholders challenge board compensation? What does imputed knowledge mean?

September 16, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 3.103 Founders and Early Talent (57:04)

Some questions covered: Should I ask for “single trigger” vesting for a “change of control”? What do some sample startup bonus plans look like? What are the most common reasons CEOs are fired? Why does personal financial stress so frequently lead to CEOs being terminated? What steps should I take to fire my co-founder? How do I treat cash I have to put into my startup prior to receiving professional investment?

September 9, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 3.102 Common Stock and Options (58:48)

Some questions covered: Should I have an employee stock purchase plan for my startup? When do I have to file an 83(b) form? How should I compensate a finder? How can I structure receiving a lot of stock at a high value to minimize my tax burden? Can I get a proxy on my cofounder’s shares? How can I get money from stock if it is restricted and I cannot sell it outright? Can I give stock as a bonus to an employee?

September 2, 2020
Expert Webinar: Designing Data Privacy Into Your Business (56:50)

More than ever, you are responsible for the privacy and information of your users. Rapidly developing international data privacy laws represent a sometimes overwhelming challenge to startup entrepreneurs and investors alike, especially those that have a global audience. Many startups do not know what data they actually store, including from small accumulations of data collection, what laws they must comply with, including in Europe and California, what data they are sharing inadvertently with third parties, and their true exposure resulting from privacy violations, even inadvertent ones

Although most companies ignore privacy entirely or bolt on privacy policies after the fact, the best companies design privacy into the structure of their business models, technologies, platforms, and company culture from the beginning.

Our guest, Joe Saul, J.D., CISSP, CIPM, is the Chief Privacy Officer of Apomaya, Inc. He previously served as the Chief Security Officer of Truven Health Analytics, where he led privacy and security compliance for a multinational health data analytics company with over 3,000 global employees holding over 200 million patient records (Truven Health Analytics was acquired by IBM and is now part of IBM Watson Health). Joe is a leading expert on law, technology, information security, healthcare analytics, and data privacy, including HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA. He has led many investigations and trainings on security and privacy issues.

August 26, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 3.101 Set Up Step By Step (58:25)

Some questions covered: How can I get legal counsel at formation before I can afford to pay for lawyers? When should I reincorporate or recapitalize an old business? What is a buy/sell agreement? Why do international tax rates vary so much? How do I avoid tax nexus in the United States as a non-U.S. company? How can I avoid tax issues if I incorporate a company after I have created significant value? What is a profits interest in an LLC? Why are married founders problematic?

August 19, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 2.103 Driving Innovation Through IP Strategy (53:40)

Some questions covered: Is it worth paying extra for better patents? How do I find a good patent attorney? Should I use a “clean room” procedure if I am leaving my current company to compete against it? What should patent bonuses look like for inventors in startups? Are trade secrets better than patents in most cases? What is false advertising? Should I accelerate examination of my patents?

August 12, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 2.102 Patent (51:42)

Some questions covered: What prior disclosures can kill the novelty of a patent? If I am buying a company, how do I make sure I get its intellectual property … and can I also protect myself if the company infringes third party patents? Does it make sense to patent games and rules of games? If my technology is used as an industry standard, are there special rules I have to follow? What are some patent law reforms that might help?

July 31, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 2.101 Copyright and Trademark (52:53)

Some questions covered: Can innovation be used to create business models which make the creation of traditional art (literature, painting, poetry, music, film, etc.) economically sustainable for artists? What are artists’ moral rights? For a fair use defense to copyright infringement, how much can I sample and how much do I need to transform the original? Do I need my contractors and employees to assign IP to my company? Does a co-owner of my IP have to share with me any profits she or he makes? Do I have to police or monitor usage of my trademark? Can I copyright a game format?

July 24, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 1.104 Agile, Pivots, and Lean (46:45)

Some questions covered: What is the Lean Canvas? What are some examples of Kanban boards and data dashboards? What is Extreme Programming? When should you give up and not pivot? Can LLCs raise venture money? What insurance does a startup need?

July 17, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 1.103 Design and Data (47:37)

Some questions covered: What advice do you have if I successfully sell my company? What metrics should I use to measure a subscription business? Or the success of my app? What do TCV, ACV, LTV, TAM, SEO, and SEM mean? (Entrepreneurs love 3 letter acronyms, by the way.) What are some good practices for interviewing potential customers for their needs? What are some tactics if I am stuck in brainstorming new ideas?

July 10, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 1.102 Creating Lean (45:20)

Some questions covered: I sold 70% of my company early on when I needed money; how can I renegotiate the deal now that my company is about to take off? What does a sample analysis of Leap of Faith Assumptions look like? Can you run multiple MVPs at once? How do you measure viral growth? How can I protect my intellectual property while running an experiment? What is a good Net Promoter Score? Any other ways to measure Product/Market Fit mathematically?

July 3, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 1.101 Creating Innovative Companies (Part II: Lessons 9-15) (51:14)

Some questions covered: Can a founder’s agreement for all founders be dangerous if I have to fire my co-founder? How can I stop a copycat from copying my business model in another country? Can blockchain technology be applied to other problems aside from cryptocurrency and what are some of the risks of “smart contracts” created by computer algorithms?

June 26, 2020
OFFICE HOURS: 1.101 Creating Innovative Companies (Part I: Lessons 1-8) (50:05)

Some questions covered: What is negative float? Why does revenue not always match cash? What is an illegal monopoly as opposed to a creative monopoly? Should you use open source software for everything? Can you create a non-proprietary platform? What is Trump’s executive order against Twitter about? How do you spin off a business?