Funding Strategies Panel Members

Greg McAdoo - Partner, Sequoia Capital (sequoiacap.com) - Greg McAdoo focuses on investments in the components and systems sectors and joined Sequoia Capital in 2000. He is currently Director of PowerFile, IP3 Networks, Big Bear Networks, & Isilon Systems. Greg was also responsible for Sequoia's investment in Allegro Systems (Acquired by Cisco in 2001). Formerly President and CEO of Sentient Networks (Acquired by Cisco Systems), Greg has over 17 years of engineering and management experience in the networking industry. Greg has held senior engineering and executive level management positions at Cisco Systems, Sourcecom, Micom Communications and Datability Systems.

Mike Simmons - Chariman and CEO, ORBID Corporation (orbidcorp.com) - Mike joined ORBID at its inception in August 2002. Prior to joining ORBID he served as the President of VIA NET.WORKS, Inc.; Managing Director of United Pan-Europe Communications; Vice President-Marketing for A2000, the UPC and MEDIA ONE joint venture in Amsterdam; GM in Ft. Wayne, IN and then AVP in New Jersey for Comcast Cable Communications; and marketing, sales and operating positions with Insight Communications Company, Inc. and Westinghouse Broadcasting and Cable.

David Hartford - Founder and board member, N8 Systems (n8systems.com) - David was the founding CEO of N8 Systems from January 2002 to November 2005. He has more than 25 years of experience with software development--as a software/systems engineer and manager for large-scale systems development (Mellon, Rockwell International), an attorney representing software companies (Brobeck), and an investor in software and systems integration companies (Technology Funding, European Convergence Partners).

Kendall Fargo - Founder and CEO, StepUp Commerce (stepup.com) - Kendall Fargo is the Founder and CEO of StepUp Commerce, Inc. StepUp is a leading local shopping services company that helps retailers use the Internet to display their in-store products. Prior to founding StepUp, Kendall was the VP of Internet and Enterprise Business at Handspring, Inc. and oversaw the company's e-commerce and retail channel business. Prior to joining Handspring, Kendall was co-founder and Vice President, of Corporate Operations at Beyond.com.

Panel Moderator - Chris Stedman, Silicon Valley Bank (svbank.com) - senior vice president and division manager of Silicon Valley Bank's South Bay region, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. He is responsible for all commercial banking activity in Northern California's South Bay region and has served in this position since May 2004.

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"About 25% of our invesments got angel funding in advance. We view angels as an important part of the ecosystem. Bridge financing is a good way to bring in early money before the share price is set." - Greg McAdoo, Partner, Sequoia Capital

"Have a plan and stick with it. Assume you'll need to raise twice as much as you think you'll need and it will take you 2-3 times as long as it's supposed to." - Mike Simmons - Chairman & CEO, ORBID Corp.

"Assign some mental value to the quality of the potential investor. S/he should know your space, have a strong Rolodex, be able to help with customers and management. A good question to ask you VC - "Just how active are you going to be?" - David Hartford - Founder and board member, N8 Systems

"Fund as long as possible yourself. I suggest you build a great business and then you'll have options. If you think you'll need 2 investors, get 4-5 interested. This will ensure the highest/fairest valuation, cut down on due diligence, and let you pick the investor you feel brings the most value." - Kendall Fargo - Founder and CEO, StepUp Commerce


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