Russian President Dmitry Medvedev meets
with Managing Partners from the top 20
Silicon Valley Venture Capital funds and
TEC Managing Director, Anna Dvornikova.

The Entrepreneurs' Club (formerly CoolTech Club) – www.tecglobal.org - is an international multi-ethnic network of several thousand high-tech entrepreneurs, executives and other professionals started in 2003. Our members speak Russian, English, Hebrew and many European languages. We are headquartered in Silicon Valley and hold regular meetings in Palo Alto, New York, Washington, Tel Aviv, Moscow, and San Francisco. Our team consists of successful entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and technology experts.

We know what entrepreneurs need from the inside as we have built start-ups which failed and were successful. For over 5 years we led the American Business Association of Russian speaking professionals (AmBAR) and grew it from a small community gathering to the internationally renowned organization. In 2005 we founded the Silicon Valley Open Doors Technology Investment Conference (SVOD), a unique event that brought Silicon Valley venture capitalists together with the Russian-speaking entrepreneurs. In the spring of 2010, we brought the first ever delegation of Managing Partners from 20 top Silicon Valley Venture Capital firms to Moscow and co-hosted the Russian President Medvedev's visit to the Silicon Valley. We are committed to serve the community and bring value by organizing many interesting and valuable events and programs.

TEC Events (Silicon Valley)

Yuri Milner, CEO, DST with TEC Managing
Directors, Anna Dvornikova and
Stas Khirman in Moscow.

Generally TEC events take place ten times a year in Silicon Valley. The original goal for the club meet-ups is to promote community and collaboration spirit among entrepreneurs of different (mostly Russian-speaking) origin. Both young and mature entrepreneurs attend TEC sessions to establish new business contacts, evaluate their innovative ideas on their peers, discuss new market trends and get an expert advice. The industries vary based on the interests of the community, but generally they include IT, internet, cloud, telecom, biotech, and nanotechnologies.

We also discuss the issues of marketing, sales and launch of the product, as well as questions of raising funding both from angel investors and professional venture capitalists. One of our important topics is collaboration with "Elephants" – big corporations, such as Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, Oracle, HP and others.

Educational section of TEC meetings targets best practices in doing business on saturated markets, investment practices during all stages of the venture life cycle from inception to acquisition and real-life case study reviews. This part is presented by seasoned industryprofessionals and successful entrepreneurs and is exceptionally valuable for startups to avoid major legal pitfalls and undesirable outcomes from investment community. We also have close collaboration with Stanford University professors both at the Business School and Schools of Engineering and Computer Science.

Social activities are tuned towards team building and address two key startup pains – finding new partners for the venture willing to contribute their time and, sometimes, funds to transform shiny idea into a tangible product and engage industry "celebs" into board activities to raise venture credibility.

Steve Jurvetson, Managing Partner, DFJ with
TEC Managing Directors,
Anna Dvornikova and Stas Khirman.

TEC Seminars

Event with Anatoly Chubais, CEO,
Rusnano held at Stanford GSB.

TEC conducts one-to-two-week long or short one-to-two day seminars to help US and non-US technology companies and investors extend their business operations in USA and worldwide markets by establishing partnerships and connections, setting up local presence, and accelerating cross-border business development. The seminars are generally quite focused with case studies and personal attention of experts to attending companies.

TEC Seminars include sessions delivered by investors, serial entrepreneurs, and expert guest speakers. Moderated team discussions are used to help participants assimilate the rich information content. The program includes company visits, co-located events, and networking with entrepreneur and investment communities.

The seminars allow participants to use their own projects, situations, and problems as program case studies with the participation of Silicon Valley and other TEC Chapters' experts.  The participants also have an exclusive coaching session with venture capitalists and technology professionals.