Visit of Google

Google and the Googleplex were our last visit into the Silicon Valley. Two women from the Human Resources welcomed us: Vicky Wang and Michelle Nguyen who are in charge of the MBA program.

They organized a meeting with six speakers: The creator of Google Earth, a project manager, two other people from the Human Resources. The first “Googler” explained the innovation and entrepreneurship process within Google (to launch new applications and even new products). It was very interesting to see how easily an idea can grow up in such an environment where creativity is enhanced.

At Google, every single employee has 20% of his time devoted to work on an innovative project that is out of his scope of competences. As a result, every single one kind of works for the R&D department.

We also talked about competitors; the speakers answered explaining that Google pay a very close attention to the customers’ reaction. They permanently adapt their offer, following the expectations of the market and advice from their clients.

They also gave us an explanation about their HR process and policy.

Then, they gave us a tour of the place. Every one has been impressed by the open spaces and how easily every one has access to everyone. Everything is done to encourage interaction between people, and to enhance the pleasure of working. From food to massage and Jacuzzi, everything is free! The food court is just an impressive melting pot of chefs!

Google sounds like employees’ paradise!

Nova Spivack

Nova Spivack is a technology visionary and entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience in pioneering ventures.

Mr. Spivack is CEO and Founder of Radar Networks (http://www.radarnetworks.com), a stealth-mode technology venture located in San Francisco. Radar Networks is developing a fundamental new technology for enriching content that will open up a new dimension of the Web. The company anticipates releasing its first products in 2007.

In 1994, Mr. Spivack co-founded EarthWeb (http://www.earthweb.com), one of the first Internet companies, where he was Executive Vice-President for Products, Strategy and Marketing. EarthWeb went public in 1999 and resulted in the Nasdaq's largest IPO single-day percentage point gain up to that point, spawning a wave of Tech IPOs. Mr. Spivack left EarthWeb’s board of directors in 1999 and began advising startups and angel investing. During the down-years of the post-Internet-bubble, EarthWeb’s content properties were acquired in 2000 by Internet.com (http://www.internet.com). The company’s Dice.com (http://www.dice.com) property remained a strong stand-alone business until it was acquired for approximately $200 million in 2005.

While at EarthWeb he helped key cultural institutions and businesses develop their first large-scale Web presences, including the New York Stock Exchange, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, BMG Music Club, Sony, AT&T, US West, and others. He also helped to catalyze the adoption of Java technology by leading the production of large on communities for the IT professionals, including Gamelan.com (http://www.gamelan.com), Developer.com (http://www.developer.com), and Datamation.com (http://www.datamation.com).

Prior to EarthWeb, Mr. Spivack worked in a variety of roles from technology marketing to software engineering at artificial intelligence and next-generation computing ventures including Individual, Inc., Ray Kurzweil’s pioneering OCR company, Kurzweil Computer Products which was sold to Xerox, and at Danny Hillis’ legendary supercomputing venture, Thinking Machines. Mr. Spivack is also the founder of Lucid Ventures (http://www.lucidventures.com), an early-stage incubator that originated the technologies that are now Radar Networks. Mr. Spivack is a co-founder of the San Francisco Web Innovators Network (SFWIN) (http://www.sfwin.org), a network of several hundred technology innovators and business leaders who meet monthly in the Bay Area.

Mr. Spivack has extensive experience working on knowledge representation and the Semantic Web, and has authored and helped to design several large (500 to 3000 class) ontologies in the OWL language (http://www.w3.org/2004/OWL/), the W3C open standard for ontology specifications. Mr. Spivack has also been a lead advisor to SRI International (http://www.sri.com) on the DARPA CALO program (http://www.ai.sri.com/project/CALO), a distributed research program encompassing several hundred top researchers across over 20 major research institutions focused on next-generation semantically-aware machine learning applications, and in particular on the IRIS Semantic Desktop project (http://www.openiris.org). Also with SRI and Sarnoff Laboratories, Mr. Spivack helped to co-found nVention (http://www.sri.com/about/nvention.html), SRI’s in-house technology incubator.

Mr. Spivack has co-authored several books on Internet strategy and technology and led the EarthWeb Press publishing imprint with Macmillan Computer Publishing, one of the largest computer book publishers, which resulted in a series of publications by leading authors on technology. He has been featured and cited in Business Week, CNN, CNBC, CBS Evening News, CNN-FN, Discovery Channel, The New York Times, Washington Post, WIRED Magazine, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Communications Week, Interactive Week, Internet World, Reuters, Newsweek, Red Herring, Silicon Alley Reporter, Interactive Age, Web Week, Java Developer’s Journal, and has spoken at numerous conferences and industry events. Mr. Spivack also helped to invent key technologies for interactive television and Web convergence in the early days of the Web, as well as several pending patents for Radar Networks.

Mr. Spivack has a long-time interest in cognitive science, artificial intelligence, emergent computation, knowledge management and the emerging Semantic Web. As a grandson of management guru Peter F. Drucker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker), Mr. Spivack shares his family’s heritage of interests in management theory, nonprofits, and knowledge work. In addition, he has been a student of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, art and culture for nearly 20 years and has pursued this interest extensively in monasteries, refugee camps and communities in Nepal, India, Europe and the USA. Mr. Spivack focuses his philanthropic activities on helping to fund the preservation of Tibet’s unique wisdom culture as a world-heritage treasure for the benefit of future generations.

Mr. Spivack has a BA in Philosophy, with a focus on cognitive science and artificial intelligence, from Oberlin College and a CSS degree from the International Space University (http://www.isunet.edu) a NASA-funded graduate professional business school for the space industry. In 1999 Mr. Spivack’s interest in space gave him the opportunity to help pioneer the early days of space tourism when he flew to the edge of space with Space Adventures (http://www.spaceadventures.com) and did micro-gravity parabolic flight training with the Russian air force.

Mr. Spivack’s weblog, Minding the Planet, focuses on Radar Networks and emerging technologies and can be read at http://www.mindingtheplanet.net

 

Source:http://novaspivack.typepad.com/about.html 

Plug and Play Tech Center

Plug and Play Tech Center is a strategic partner to technology start-up companies in Silicon Valley.

Based in Sunnyvale, they are home to a vibrant community of more than 90 start-ups offering a full range of services from full service office space to strategic advice to direct investments (via our investment arm Amidzad Ventures).

Since they opened their doors in January of 2006 they have assisted their resident companies in securing more than USD$ 55 million via Amizad Partners and their venture capital partners. They are committed to cultivating the next generation of revolutionary start-ups in Silicon Valley that will impact people globally.

Plug and Play Tech Center’s mission is to accelerate the entrepreneurs path to success by leveraging a vast network of high-tech professionals who are serial entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors and high tech executives in established Silicon Valley companies.

Source:www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

At this link, you will find informations about start-up working at the Plug and Play Tech Center. 

The Plug and Play Tech Center is a project lead by Amidzad:

Amidzad is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in emerging growth companies on the West Coast. We have over 50 years of combined entrepreneurial experience in building profitable, global enterprises from the ground up and over 25 years of combined investing experience in successful information technology and life science companies.

We are seed and early-stage investors with access to an extensive network of resources. Over the years, we have assembled a world-class network of serial entrepreneurs, strategic investors, and industry leaders who actively assist our portfolio as Entrepreneur Partners and Advisors. We partner with entrepreneurs and leverage the resources of our strong network to build successful companies.

source: www.amidzad.com 

Craig Johnson - Bio

Craig Johnson currently serves as the Chairman of the Venture Law Group Board of Advisors. He joined Heller Ehrman in 2003 and was a co-founder of Heller Ehrman's Venture Law Group, acting as its Chairman from its founding in 1993 until its merger with Heller Ehrman ten years later.

Experience

Mr. Johnson retired from the practice of law in 2005 and is now serving as an advisor to, and angel investor in, various early stage companies.

During Mr. Johnson's law career, he represented high technology emerging growth companies from incorporation through initial public offering or acquisition. Among the companies he has represented are Adaptec, Wyse, Collagen, StrataCom, Aspect, SnapTrack, Gupta, MediaQ, Reflectivity, Voxify, Centrality and IP Wireless.

Mr. Johnson is also the co-founder of Garage Technology Ventures, Financial Engines, Grassroots Enterprise and Concept2Company. These companies have raised more than $200 million in venture capital.

Mr. Johnson has been recognized by Business Week as one of Silicon Valley’s top 25 “movers and shakers” (1997), by Red Herring Magazine as one of nine Silicon Valley “top power brokers”, (1999), as one of the 100 most influential attorneys in America by The National Law Journal (2000), and by Forbes as one of the country’s top private company investors (“Midas List”) in 2001 and 2002. He has also been selected for inclusion in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business and Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for a number of years.

 Extract from: http://www.hellerehrman.com/en/attorneys/bios/Johnson_Cra...

Guy Kawasaki : His Real Story

I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1954. My family lived in a tough part of Honolulu called Kalihi Valley. We weren’t rich, but I never felt poor-because my mother and father made many sacrifices for my sister and me. My mother was a housewife, and my father was, at various times, a fireman, real estate broker, state senator, and government official.

I attended Iolani School where I graduated in 1972. Iolani is not as well known as its rival, Punahou, but I got a fantastic and formative education there. After Iolani, I matriculated to Stanford University where I graduated in 1976. My major was psychology-which was the easiest major I could find.

After Stanford, I attended the law school at UC Davis because, like all Asian American parents, my folks wanted me to be a “doctor, lawyer, or dentist.” I only lasted one week because I couldn’t deal with the law school teachers telling me that I was crap and that they were going to remake me.

The following year I entered the MBA program at UCLA. I liked this curriculum much better. While there, I worked for a fine-jewelry manufacturer called Nova Stylings; my first real job was literally counting diamonds. From Nova, its CEO Marty Gruber, and my Jewish colleagues in the jewelry business, I learned how to sell. The jewelry business is the toughest business I’ve encountered.

I remained at Nova for a few years until the computer bug bit me. The Apple II removed the scales from my eyes, so I went to work for an educational software company called EduWare Services. However, Peachtree Software acquired the company and wanted me to move to Atlanta. “I don’t think so.” I can’t live in a city where people call sushi “bait.”

Luckily, my Stanford roommate, Mike Boich, got me a job at Apple. When I saw what a Macintosh could do, the clouds parted and the angels started singing. For four years I evangelized Macintosh to software and hardware developers and led the charge against world-wide domination by IBM. I also met my wife Beth at Apple during this timeframe-Apple has been very good to me.

Around 1987, my job with Apple was done. Macintosh had plenty of software by then, so I left to start a Macintosh database company called ACIUS. It published a product called 4th Dimension. I did this for two years and then left to pursue my bliss of writing, speaking, and consulting.

Later, I started another software company called Fog City Software with three of the best people in the world: Will Mayall, Kathryn Henkens, and Jud Spencer. We created an email product called Emailer that we sold to Claris and then a list server product called LetterRip.

In 1995 I returned to Apple as an Apple fellow. At the time, according to the pundits, Apple was supposed to die again. (Apple should have died about ten times in the past twenty years according to the pundits.) My job on this tour of duty was to maintain and rejuvenate the Macintosh cult.

A couple years later, I left Apple to start Garage with Craig Johnson of Venture Law Group and Rich Karlgaard of Forbes. Version 1.0 of Garage was to provide matchmaking services for angel investors and entrepreneurs. We upgraded to version 2.0 which was an investment bank for helping entrepreneurs raise money from venture capitalists. Today, version 3.0 is focused on being a venture capital firm and making direct investments in early-stage technology companies.

This brings me up to date. Currently, I’m a managing director at Garage as well as an author and speaker. I’ve written eight books and have four children. My latest book is The Art of the Start-the Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything. It reflects my experience as an evangelist, entrepreneur, investment banker, and venture capitalist.

Guy Kawasaki - Official Bio

Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc.

Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way.

He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Extract from: http://www.guykawasaki.com/about/index.shtml 

Denis Coleman

Denis Coleman Denis Coleman, Entrepreneur, Angel investor and Mentor to early stage companies Denis Coleman is founder, investor, and Mentor of numerous technology and software start-ups in Silicon Valley. In the Biotech sector Coleman is currently the Chairman and President of Solus Biosystems, a startup with a hardware/software platform to accelerate drug discovery by measuring the interactions of proteins and drugs. In the mobile and handheld marketplace, Coleman is Director of Moonstorm (www.moonstorm.com).

Moonstorm is at the nexus of consumer marketing to-the-hand. In Internet marketing, Coleman Founded Claria Corporation (www.claria.com) in 1998, and served as it’s Chairman until 2004. Claria is the leader in online behavioral marketing, serving over 42 million consumers and 900 Advertisers. Coleman Co-Founded Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) in 1983, and served there through 1988 as VP of R&D. Coleman’s other companies include DCL, Wealthcycle (acquired by Loan City), C Level Design Corporation (a EDA company), Financial Engines, Neoforma (NASDAQ: NEOF), Visioneer Communications (merged to form SSFT), and Cognitive Technology Corporation. Coleman has served these companies in many roles including Director, Founder, and Investor.

Denis Coleman holds a BS and an MS in Mechanical Engineering and a MS in Management, all from M.I.T., and a Ph.D. in Management from Stanford University. Coleman has taught on the faculty of Stanford University, and is credited with 14 academic publications and one book.

John Bautista

John Bautista, is a member of the Emerging Companies Group, which advises emerging companies and venture capital firms.  Before joining Orrick, he was a co-founder of Venture Law Group and served on the Executive Committee. 

Mr. Bautista previously practiced at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati. 

Mr. Bautista focuses on emerging companies, and represents both public and private high-tech companies and venture capital funds in many areas, including corporate and securities law, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, public company representation, and technology licensing.

http://www.orrick.com/lawyers/Bio.asp?ID=160459

 

Rencontre avec Eric Benhamou

Nous rencontrerons tout d'abord Mr Eric Benhamou Lundi 14 Janvier 2008 dans un amphithéâtre de Stanford University. Mr Benhamou a été le fondateur et le CEO de la société 3com de 1990 à 2000. Il a aussi été CEO de la société Palm de 2001 à 2003. Il est actuellement à la tête d'un fonds d'investissement pour entreprises innovantes BGV.

 

En 1997, le Président Bill Clinton a chargé Mr Benhamou de faire en sorte que les USA restent toujours à la pointe de la haute technologie par rapport à la concurrence mondiale. En 1998, il a reçu le Prix du meilleur investisseur étranger par le Premier Ministre Israélien Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Agé de 49 ans, Mr Benhamou possède toute une batterie de diplômes israéliens, américains, et français.

Meeting with Eric Benhamou

We will meet first with Mr Eric Benhamou on Monday, January 14th at 10 A.M. in an amphitheater at Stanford University.

 

Eric Benhamou is chairman and CEO of Benhamou Global Ventures, LLC. Benhamou Global Ventures, started in 2003, invests and plays an active role in innovative high tech firms throughout the world. Mr. Benhamou is also the chairman of the board of directors of 3Com Corporation and palmOne, Inc. He served as chief executive officer of Palm, Inc. from October 2001 until October 2003. Benhamou served as chief executive officer of 3Com Corporation from September 1990 until December 31, 2000. 

 

In 1997, former President Bill Clinton appointed Mr. Benhamou to the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee which advises the President on research and development focal points of federal programs to maintain United States leadership in advanced computing and communications technologies and their applications. In 1998, Mr. Benhamou was recognized by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the Foreign Investor Jubilee Award.

 

Mr. Benhamou, 49, holds honorary doctoral degrees from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Widener University, Western Governors University and the University of South Carolina. He has a Master of Science degree from Stanford University's School of Engineering and a Diplôme d'Ingénieur from Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers, Paris.