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Tim Draper keynote at TEC International Startups Conference (Dec 6,2011)

Timothy C. Draper is the Founder and a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.  His original suggestion to use "viral marketing" in web-based e-mail was instrumental to the successes of Hotmail and YahooMail, and has been adopted as a standard marketing technique by hundreds of businesses.  On behalf of DFJ Tim serves on the boards of DoAt, Glam, Meebo, Prosper, SocialText, and DFJ Plug 'N Play companies.  DFJ's previous successes include: Skype (EBAY), Overture.com (YHOO), Baidu (BIDU), Parametric Technology (PMTC), Hotmail (MSFT), PLX Technologies (PLXT), Preview Travel (TVLY), Digidesign (AVID), and others. 

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TEC International Startup Conference

 

Mark your calendars and join us on December 6th (Tuesday) in Palo Alto for our signature full-day TEC Startup Conference!

As always, TEC brings together entrepreneurs of Russian, Israeli, European and Latin American origin with Silicon Valley investors. The event will feature 15 cutting edge start-up pitches to the audience of top angel investors and venture capital funds such asDraper Fisher Jurvetson, Sofinnova Ventures, Trident Capital, US Venture Partners, Storm Venture, Partech International, TMT Ventures, NorthBridge Venture Partners, Fenox Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Artiman Ventures and many others. To see the partial list of confirmed investors, please go to: http://www.tecglobal.org/judges.

You will be able to network and get guidance from our star keynote speakers: Pitch Johnson, the Silicon Valley’s legend and one of its founders, and Tim Draper, Managing Partner at DFJ and the inventor of a "viral marketing" concept in web-based e-mail that was instrumental to the successes of Hotmail, YahooMail, and hundreds of other businesses, and Saeed Amidi, the Founder and CEO of internationally renowned Plug-and-Play. The top industry entrepreneurs successful in creating, building and selling their companies will share their experience and knowledge during our evening panel discussion.

TEC brings value to you and your company, don’t miss it!

 

Register for TEC International Startup Conference in Palo Alto, CA  on Eventbrite

Agenda:

8:30am - 9:30am
Registration, Breakfast & Networking
9:30am - 10:15am Opening remarks and Keynote: Venture Capital Field Stories
Pitch Johnson, Founding Partner, Asset Management Company
10:15am - 10:45am

Keynote by Tim Draper, Managing Partner, DFJ

10:45am - 11:45am Startup Pitches
11:45am - 12:15pmKeynote: Legal Issues for Global Startups
Daniel Zimmermann, Partner, WilmerHale
12:15pm - 1:15pm Networking Lunch 
1:15pm - 1:30pm Social Media for Business - Myths and Reality
Anatoly Volkhover, Founder & CEO, Manumatix
1:30pm - 3:00pm Startup Pitches
3:00pm - 3:30pm Networking break
3:30pm - 4:00pm Keynote: Investing Globally
Saeed Amidi, Founder, Plug & Play
4:00pm - 5:30pm Startup Pitches
5:30pm - 7:00pm Reception & Networking
7:00pm - 8:30pm

Panel on Entrepreneurship
Mike Cassidy
, built and sold 4 companies – Stylus Innovations, Direct Hit (built in 500 days and sold for $532M), Xfire, and Ruba (sold to Google)
Stan Chudnovsky, sold 2 companies, one for over $100M
Alex Miroshnichenko, serial entrepreneur, CTO, Virsto, the “hottest” startup in the Valley

 

Moderator: Ilya Strebulaev, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

 

8:30pm - 9:30pm Closing, Winner Announcement, & Networking

 

To apply for investment pitches, please register and send your executive summary to stas@khirman.com

 

Pitching companies:

Siri equivalent for Android and other platforms.
Magnifis Virtual Personal Assistance technology combines natural language understanding, speech recognition and personalized user knowledge. Our Assistant can answer questions and help with calendar management, reminders, messaging, local search, reservations, navigation and more, through a voice interface.

AlphaFares is a disruptive travel company that offers deeply discounted airfare to leisure travelers. We have developed a patented technology that allows a seller of airline tickets to easily and precisely differentiate between business and leisure customers, enabling targeted airfare pricing. This technology does not have any drawbacks associated with the opaque distribution channels, such as Priceline or Hotwire, and has been very well received by the airlines. We are launching in March ‘12.

OpenSignalMaps is the largest wireless signal crowdsourcing project in the world. Over a million users of OpenSignalMaps for Android have contributed data to help create global maps of cell phone and WiFi coverage. The data collected is being used to build a recommendation engine that allows users to find out exactly which network offers the best service for them at home, at work, and during their commute."

AppsGeyser - convert web content into native mobile apps in 2 easy steps, distribute and monetize.

MoWaiter is a single mobile and social network platform allowing restaurants and customers to interact more efficiently. Instead of a jungle of apps for each unique restaurant or chain, MoWaiter will be the unified solution from which users can order, pay, and receive suggestions and incentives tailored to their own preferences.

Internet Polyglot is dedicated to helping our members learn foreign languages by providing them a way to memorize words and their meanings. This helps your memory to grasp more information and retain it for longer time.

WikiSeer is the world's first semantic ad platform for mobile display ads. WikiSeer increases display ad revenues by 300%. Our technology uses a combination of Summarization, Natural Language Processing, Linguistics and Machine Learning to improve ad revenues. WikiSeer is live with a select customers and producing revenues."

Oomnitza products help companies run better by changing the way their people work. Companies are reducing costs and increasing user engagement by deploying our easy-to-use, customizable and intuitive enterprise applications that work stand alone or integrated with existing solutions.

SoundOfMotion is a revolutionary venture specializing in high-precision sports performance monitoring technology for road and track cycling, mountain biking, alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding and running.

Russian3DScanner is an affordable software that allows 3D-specialists all over the world to scan real-world objects in 3D using ordinary camera and a projector. You can make the model in several hours as precise as you would make it manually in several days.

Pixowl makes Mobile Family Games. Our first game Doodle Grub has been installed 4m times in 6 months.

SAEX is abbreviated from SAles EXchange. It is a perfect place to buy, sell, or exchange business contact information. We provide 100% accuracy of the business contact information and dramatically reduce cost for seeking this king of data.

Ambiq Technology is a globally operating service provider and enabler of transportation, payment, and other services based on the Near Field Communication technology. Ambiq operates its TSM (Trusted Service Manager) and manufactures devices that enable NFC on legacy phones. Ambiq partnered with VimpelCom (Beeline) to provide transportation and payment applications in Russia.

yaM is a web-based notepad for business meetings that takes the pain out of the process. Our tools for preparing, structuring and visualising the discussion will save hundreds of thousands of hours for business people every day.

LUXIHOME is reinventing the definition of Home Automation bringing to market Smart Home as a Service (SHaaS). LUXIHOME SHaaS is a cloud-based software platform that enables users to remotely monitor home inhabitants (children, seniors and pets), well-being, and control home appliances.

Noca has built a payment system that allows Merchants to start accepting payments online without having to get a Merchant account or getting PCI certification for their site. Additionally by offering an integrated low cost "Secure Check" system Noca is able to offer processing rates lower than other processors. On the Consumer side Noca is building a system where Users will be able to pay with a "PIN" as opposed to typing in full Credit Card information.

trint.me is a software platform where users can express their true intentions (friendly, professional or romantic) for specific people in their Facebook network without fear of rejection or risking their current relationship. If there is a match of intentions, both people know about it privately. If there is no match, neither one knows about others’ intentions.

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TEC Pitch - Business plan presentations by Russian-speaking entrepreneurs

Dear Friends:

Mark your calendars and join us on November 8th (Tuesday) in Palo Alto for our famous TEC Pitch! In addition, a large delegation of entrepreneurs from Russia is coming to meet you.

The event includes a panel of venture capitalists, 10 min pitches from 5 pre-selected companies and extensive networking.

Among our confirmed distinguished judges are:

 

If you’d like to apply for this and future TEC Pitch events, please complete http://www.tecglobal.org/PitchingApp form and send a note to stas@khirman.com.

Register for TEC Pitch by Russian-speaking companies in Palo Alto, CA  on Eventbrite

http://tec20111108.eventbrite.com/

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TEC Breakfast with Runa Capital 2011-10-18

TEC meeting organised for Silicon Valley Russian-speaking entrepreneurs and Moscow-base Runa Capital partner Andre Bliznyuk.

5 years of investment banking experience: headed the Russia/CIS Equity Capital Markets Group for Goldman Sachs (2010-2011) and, prior to that, UBS Investment Bank (2006-2009), focusing on IPOs and other ECM transactions in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan
In 2003-2006, head of capital markets and investor relations at Sistema, leading Russian conglomerate, managing debt and equity financing deals for Sistema, MTS, Comstar, Sistema Hals and Sitronics; prior to that, worked in Wimm-Bill-Dann’s investor relations team (2001-2003)
Graduated from MSU with a master’s degree in Cross-Cultural Communications; followed this with a graduate course in Economics/Management

TEC Pitching Opportunity

Following great success of "Startup Pitch" at the last TEC meeting with Deutsche Telekom top executives, we decided to dedicate portion of future TEC events for new startups presenting their business plans . If you'd like to pitch your business to distinguished group of TEC investors and mentors, please fill up your startup info at http://www.tecglobal.org/PitchingApp

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Dancing with the Elephant: Pitching to a Largest Telecom Operator

Please join us on September 21st (Wednesday) in Palo Alto for TEC meeting with a group of Deutsche Telekom top executives. DT comes to the Silicon Valley for scouting entrepreneurs and startups working in the areas of:

  • mobile applications
  • location
  • payment
  • cloud infrastructure and cloud security
  • communications
  • OTT media
  • middleware

The event includes a panel of DT executives, 10 min pitches from 4 pre-selected companies and extensive one-on-one networking.

Confirmed Deutsche Telekom speakers:

Attending VCs

  • Jim Smith (Partner , Mohr Davidov Ventures)
  • Tae Hea Nahm (Partner, Storm Ventures)
  • Vivek Mehra (Partner, August Capital)
  • Sanjay Subhedar ( Partner,Storm Ventures)
  • Dror Berman (Partner, Innovation Endeavors)
  • Serge Plotkin (Venture Partner,Opus Capital )
  • Evgeny Zaytsev (Partner, Helix Ventures)

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TEC Weekend Reading 2011-09-09

Business

Why Mindcraft is so Popular

http://www.tecglobal.org/node/116

In depth analysis of un-expected massive success of game created by single person...

(and shame-less advertisement of my son first techno blog ;-)


Why the Fax Machine Refuses to Die

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/09/07/027235/Why-the-Fax-Machine-Refuses-To-Die


Startup Funding

Venture Funding Report  for 2011Q2 published by Venture Deal (http://www.venturedeal.com ). Bottom line : bio/pharma/mediacal - significant increase from previous quarter, all other domains see [mostly ] decrease of venture funding...
- Biotechnology · Pharmaceutical · Medical Devices http://www.venturedeal.com/Reports/pdf/VentureDeal2011Q2BioTechnologyReport.pdf
- Alternative Energy · Clean Tech · Energy · Environmental http://www.venturedeal.com/Reports/pdf/VentureDeal2011Q2CleanTechReport.pdf

- Internet · Digital Media · eCommerce · Software http://www.venturedeal.com/Reports/pdf/VentureDeal2011Q2InternetReport.pdf
- Telecom · Wireless · Mobile · Communications http://www.venturedeal.com/Reports/pdf/VentureDeal2011Q2CommunicationsReport.pdf

FREE Term Sheets for Startups

http://www.growingstartups.com/business/free-term-sheets-for-startups/

Very helpful collection of free documents every emerging startup needs.....


Technology

OAuth : The Big Picture

http://blog.apigee.com/detail/video_and_slides_oauth_the_big_picture/

(video recording and slides of nice presentation made by ApiGee)

Check “Bad idea” section at the near end!


Don't let these disasters happen to you: The top five engineering hints you'll rarely hear

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/power/library/pa-enghints1/


Modern Microprocessors: A 90 Minute Guide

http://www.lighterra.com/papers/modernmicroprocessors/


General

Foundry Group Premiers Documentary Film About Secret Lives of Venture Capitalists

http://www.foundrygroup.com/wp/2011/09/imavc/

***** No entrepreneurs were harmed in the making of this film.*****


Survival Of The Stupidest

http://www.science20.com/hammock_physicist/survival_stupidest-77846

Absolutely enlightening!!! Include mathematical proof that “In an environment infested by stupidity 'being the smartest' does not equate to 'being the fittest'. “

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TEC Weekend Reading 2011-09-03

Business

Legal Advice : If I Launched a Startup : http://startuplawyer.com/startup-issues/if-i-launched-a-startup
While this blog is clear advertisement for legal services, it includes short list of quite helpful basic advises for VERY early stage founders.

NASA Blog recommendations : How to guide your project toward failure :
http://wiki.nasa.gov/cm/blog/mattatnasa/posts/post_1314035416289.html
Learn from the best experts how to waste resources on failed projects (Shuttle to nowhere?)

Sequencing the Startup DNA on LinkedIn
http://blog.linkedin.com/2011/09/01/entrepreneur-data

Benchmark your startup against 3,200+ internet startups.
https://beta.startupgenome.cc/


It's Not Just Standing Up: Patterns for Daily Standup Meetings
http://martinfowler.com/articles/itsNotJustStandingUp.html

Five Tips For Getting iPhone Reviews
http://mobileorchard.com/five-tips-for-getting-iphone-reviews/


Technology

 Scratchpad : dev tool in the latest FireFox : http://blog.mozilla.com/devtools/2011/08/15/introducing-scratchpad/

Google released “offline” support for Gmail. GDOC support to  be released soon..
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/using-gmail-calendar-and-docs-without.html

AI vs. AI. Two chatbots talking to each other   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WnzlbyTZsQY
IMHO, looks like a natural man & female conversation, isn’t it ?

Web technologies evolution [ infographics]
http://evolutionofweb.appspot.com/?hl=en

Free Stanford U classes at your location:
http://www.ai-class.com (Artificial Intelligence)
http://www.ml-class.com (Machine Learning)
http://www.db-class.com (Introduction to Databases)

 
Other

How to get media attention using fake research:
Exhibit 1 : Is Internet Explorer For The Dumb? A New Study Suggests Exactly That.
http://www.aptiquant.com/IQ-Browser-AptiQuant-2011.pdf
Exhibit 2:  retraction at http://www.aptiquant.com/articles/396/ 9
(quite a lot of people believed this “research” and create a MASSIVE traffic )
Bonus reading : iPhone users are getting more sex ;-)
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/dont-be-ugly-by-accident/
( no , it is not a joke - coming form quite solid company)

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TEC Weekend Reading

Business
  
 
Technical
  
 
General
  

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From Zero To Millions in Customers and Revenues

Thinking to bootstrap your company in the Silicon Valley ? - Learn from those who did it!

 

Pages

What They Say About Us

"The wonderful thing about entrepreneurs is that their passion for starting new companies transcends languages and geographic boundaries."

Ron Conway, Founder and Managing Partner of the Angel Investors LP funds, early stage investor in Google and PayPal

"Networking is very important for start-ups. The challenge for them is often not money: it is mentoring and finding people who can give good advice from experience."

Esther Dyson, Founder, EDventure Holdings

"This conference is clearly a labor of love for a group of dedicated professionals who care deeply about the Eastern European entrepreneurs. From the value-packed educational panels, to the star-studded key note speakers' line up, to an amazing quantity of venture capitalists – this is a not to be missed event for any high tech entrepreneur,"

Richard Guha, President of the Marketing Executives Network and Managing Partner at MaxBrandEquity

"As Stanford MBA students, we were exposed to a lot of VC firms both from the Valley and abroad. It is at Stanford that we met Anna Dvornikova, an absolutely amazing business leader and (by our big luck) our friend, who was the center of the Russian Silicon Valley professional community, and was doing a huge work to connect Russia and the Valley. Anna helped us a lot with kick-starting Wikimart, put us to our first-ever conference, introduced us to most of Russian VCs. And all that happened in a very short time span! It was the beginning of a six-month journey that despite the particularly tough times resulted in an extraordinarily group of investors backing our start-up."

Maxim Faldin and Kamil Kurmakayev,
co-CEOs, Wikimart