An investor panel focuses on the best ways for early stage companies to attract growth capital. This panel discussion took place at the Venture Association of New Jersey’s Elevator Pitch Olympics.
The Elevator Pitch Olympics are an opportunity for companies seeking capital showcase their companies in the exhibit hall. At Noon the luncheon program investor panel focuses on the best ways
for early stage companies to attract growth capital and then the Elevator Pitch Olympics begins. As in the real Olympics, the judges (investors) hold up scores and award points ranging from one to ten for quality of presentation and business fundability. At VANJ’s Elevator Pitch Olympics investors efficiently invest their time to hear numerous elevator pitches at one event.
Moderator
Leonard T. Nuara, Esq., Thacher Proffitt & Wood, LLP
Lennie Nuara is Chair of Thacher Proffitt’s Technology and Intellectual Property Practice Group and practices in the areas of intellectual property and information technology. He represents vendors and purchasers of computer and communications systems, and other outsourced services. In addition, Mr. Nuara handles transactions involving the negotiation of license and development agreements for emerging technology companies and for established companies.
An experienced trial lawyer, Mr. Nuara handles disputes involving licensing, misappropriation of trade secrets, copyright and trademark infringement, and anti-competition matters, with a particular emphasis on information systems and Internet businesses. He has also litigated software vendor claims arising out of two of the nation’s larger outsourcing transactions. His defense of these claims against the outsourcing customer by the software vendor included a nationwide fact finding investigation of mainframe software vendors to develop evidence.
Virginia Breen, General Partner, Sienna Ventures
Ginnie has been in private equity for nearly 20 years. Prior to joining Sienna, she co-founded Blue Rock Capital, a venture capital fund investing in early-stage information technology and service businesses. She currently serves on the boards of Ranch Networks and Asset International. Ginnie is also a board member of CMGI (NASDAQ:CMGI) and several fund-of-funds at US Trust Company.
Ginnie began her career in private equity with the Sprout Group, the venture capital affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (now Credit Suisse). Ginnie was also an investment analyst with DLJ’s Investment Banking Group and she worked as a systems analyst and product marketing engineer at Hewlett-Packard.
Ginnie received her MBA with highest honors from Columbia University and her undergraduate degree in computer science with electrical engineering from Harvard College. Ginnie was also an International Rotary Scholar, studying philosophy in southeast Asia. Currently, Ginnie is the Vice President of the Board of Education in her local community.
Steve Brotman, Managing Director, Greenhill SAVP Fund
Mr. Brotman joined Greenhill in 2006. He is the co-founder of Greenhill SAVP (”GSAVP”) and oversees management of $100M in venture funds. He previously spent 8 years at GSAVP’s predecessor, Silicon Alley Venture Partners, LLC which he founded in 1998. Prior to SAVP, in 1995, Mr. Brotman founded one of the first companies to focus on technology enabled services for media companies, AdOne, now known as PowerOne. Mr. Brotman currently serves on the board of Critical Mention and as a board observer at Knovel and Game Trust.
Mat D. Carlson, Esq., Associate, Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP
Mat D. Carlson is an associate in the Corporate and Financial Institutions and the Real Estate Practice Groups.
Mr. Carlson has a broad range of commercial real estate experience including acquisitions, dispositions, financings, structuring of real estate joint ventures and office leasing. Mr. Carlson has represented lenders and borrowers in the mortgage lending, construction lending and mezzanine lending transactions.
Prior to practicing in the area of commercial real estate, Mr. Carlson was a capital markets attorney in New York and California from 1997 to 2002. During this time period, he represented underwriters and issuers in a wide variety of capital markets transactions, including the initial public offerings of Silicon Valley technology companies eBay Inc., Webvan, Inc. and Leapfrog Enterprise, Inc.
Previous to entering the practice of law, Mr. Carlson was a professional in the advertising industry in New York and California. Specifically, Mr. Carlson was responsible for the media planning and purchase of advertising time and space for a variety of clients.
Roger Krakoff, Venture Partner, Sigma Partners
Roger joined Sigma Partners in 2004. He has over 15 years of venture capital, equity investing and operating experience. His operational background is in the information technology, enterprise software, technology enabled media and information services industries. Some of the NY/NJ companies that Sigma has invested in are Rave Wireless (NYC), Vettro (NYC), Tervela (NYC) and Interactions (Princeton, NJ).
Before Sigma, Roger was a partner with JEGI Capital, focusing on the intersection of technology with the media, marketing, and information industries. At JEGI he was a director of Aprimo Software, Noosh Software, and Intraspect Software (acquired by Vignette Software). He has also served as a Managing Director in Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s Business & Professional Information Group and directed the private equity fund’s investing efforts in the healthcare information market (Solucient), in addition to its efforts in venture investing (ChemConnect). Roger has held senior executive positions in corporate development, marketing, and product management at WebLine Communcations (acquired by Cisco Systems), Stream International (acquired by Solectron), the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation At D&B, he founded D&B Services; D&B Small Business Solutions, and opened business credit joint venture operations across Eastern Europe. He began his career at IBM. Roger is a frequent speaker and a writer on the information services industry.
Roger earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Bachelor of Arts with High Honors in International Relations and Economics from Tufts University.
Marc Singer, General Partner & Co-Founder, BEV Capital
Marc Singer is a General Partner and Co-Founder of BEV Capital (formerly named Brand Equity Ventures), a specialized venture capital fund focused on consumer-oriented businesses. BEV invests in Internet businesses, direct marketers, media, retailers, consumer products, and consumer services. BEV also invests in supporting technologies for consumer companies such as marketing software and services, Internet technologies, retail IT, information services, and analytics.
Marc focuses on both consumer and technology investments. Some of BEV’s investments Marc has been involved with include Adexa, Alloy (ticker ALOY), Classmates.com (sold to United Online), The FeedRoom, Invoke Solutions, Nature Technologies, Outpost.com (ticker COOL, sold to Fry’s Electronics), Redfin.com, Waterfront Media, Travel Holdings, and many others. In the last year BEV has had two successful exits: it sold Profitlogic to Oracle and Retail Solutions to Verisign.
Prior to co-founding BEV in 1997, Marc worked at Consumer Venture Partners, which he joined in 1993. Consumer Venture Partners focused on investing in early stage consumer businesses. While at Consumer Venture Partners, Marc was involved with numerous successful consumer investments, including Boston Beer (ticker SAM), Buca di Beppo (ticker BUCA), Gymboree (ticker GYMB), and Select Comfort (ticker SCSS). Prior to entering the venture industry, Marc worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in Investment Banking. Marc earned his BS from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
BEV brings its marketing and sales expertise to all of its investments. We work closely with our portfolio companies on issues such as marketing strategy, sales strategy, new product development, customer communication, lead generation, and pricing. In both the consumer and technology sectors, we believe that superior marketing and sales effectiveness are critical to building a successful company.
