Venture-Backed Executives Club
Survive (and Thrive) in Today’s Business Environment
June 23, 2009 | 6:00-8:30 PM | 1000 Elwell Court | Palo Alto
Event Sponsor: TIPS Group

CEOs of venture-funded start-ups are being asked by investors and boards to cut costs to the point where the current funding can last 18-24 months and to drive for cash flow break even so no more money will need to be raised to survive. This means cutting staff to the bone and may mean delaying product launches. No new products and less support for sales mean generating sales is even more challenging. So how do you survive and thrive with drastically limited resources and a record-breaking down market? Moreover, history proves companies that innovate and make it through such downturns perform exceptionally well. In fact, some of the venture community’s most successful companies were founded in the last downturn. So how do you innovate and survive with bare-bones resources in this ugly market? Get some answers from a panel of fellow CEOs who have “been there and done that”. How did they do it? What are the key lessons they learned? Are these lessons applicable today? Also you will have the opportunity to share your own story so come prepared with one.

MC: Basil P. Fthenakis, Technology & Intellectual Property Strategies Group PC

Moderator: 
Al Hulvey, CEO, Internet Advertising and Marketing Services, GreetingsManager.com 

Panelists:
Stephanie Fohn, Chief Executive Officer, WhiteHat Security
Tom Lounibos, Chief Executive Officer, SOASTA 
Gautam Godhwani, CEO/Co-Founder, Simply Hired
Prashant Shah, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Bios:

Gary Leight is a Silicon Valley executive with a 29-year record as Chairman, CEO, COO, CFO and VP of Sales. He has industry experience in Software (Application, Enterprise and Infrastructure), High Technology and Financial Services with companies such as Raytheon Missile Systems, Hewlett Packard, BTI Computer Systems, Project Resources, Operations Control Systems, SkyWi, Lequity, and TIDAL Software. He has led companies through a range of market cycles, economic conditions, competitive pressures, technological changes and legal challenges. He’s lived the experience of dealing with difficult stakeholder issues, cutting costs, preserving cash, generating more sales with fewer resources, building customer need and confidence, negotiating with creditors and positioning companies not only to survive but thrive. He has started, grown and restructured companies with over 150 employees and over $30 million in sales. Gary is Chairman of TIDAL Software which he founded in 1979. At several critical points in the company’s history, he has stepped in as CEO to address critical challenges faced by the company. At one point, he turned this multi-national company from near bankruptcy to breakeven in six months. Since that time, TIDAL Software has been highly profitable and grown an average of 30% per year.  On April 9th, Cisco Systems announced its intention to acquire TIDAL Software for $105 million. Gary prides himself on his ability to build organizations, develop innovative strategies and implement programs to increase sales, reduce costs, improve operational efficiencies and achieve corporate goals.

Stephanie Fohn, Chief Executive Officer, WhiteHat Security:  Ms. Fohn has a broad base of management and entrepreneurial experience, with particular expertise in information security. Most recently, she was president and chief operating officer of SecurityFocus, a provider of enterprise security threat management systems. She led the company to a dominant industry position, resulting in its acquisition by Symantec in August 2002.

Previously, she served as vice president of marketing and business development for Tripwire, Inc. and director of distribution partnerships for Infoseek/Go Network. She also co-founded and led two start-ups - Lucidian Technologies, a developer of network-based intrusion detection software, and The WWWorks, a web development firm focused on e-commerce and database integration.

Ms. Fohn began her career in the security industry as director of business development for Pilot Network Services, Inc., one of the industry's first managed security service providers. Prior to joining Pilot, she spent six years in venture capital and investment banking in the technology arena. Ms. Fohn holds an M.S. degree in management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and bachelor's degrees in business and psychology from University of Washington. 

Tom Lounibos, CEO for SOASTA, oversees SOASTA’s operations, sales and marketing arms and is responsible for the company’s go-to-market strategy. Tom brings more than 30 years of experience in building early stage software companies, leading two companies to successful IPO¹s. Most recently, Tom was CEO of Dorado Corporation. Previous to Dorado, he was EVP for Sagent Technology through its 1999 IPO, entrepreneur-in-residence at Crosspoint Venture Partners, and held executive positions at Digitalk Corporation, Knowledgeware (KWI), and Encore Financial Services. Tom has also served on several Boards in the Silicon Valley.

Gautam Godhwani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Co-founder at Simply Hired. Gautam is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Simply Hired. With a passion to improve the job seeker experience and bridge the gap between recruiters and potential candidates, he has led the Company’s mission to make job search simple and painless. Gautam is a veteran entrepreneur, with experience starting organizations and finding talented people to help grow them. His entrepreneurial roots can be found in the first dot-com boom, when he was the CEO and co-founder of AtWeb, an Internet 1.0 company acquired by Netscape/AOL in 1998. AtWeb developed a product called Web Site Garage that helped millions of small businesses "tune-up" their websites and register them with all the leading search engines. After leaving AOL, Gautam turned his attention to the local community and co-founded the India Community Center. ICC is the largest India-focused, non-profit, community facility in North America, and Gautam continues to serve as an advisor and Trustee today. A graduate of UC Berkeley (1994), his experience before the dot-com era includes gigs at technology giants HP, IBM, and Microsoft.

Prashant Shah, Managing Director, joined Hummer Winblad in December 2000. He has been instrumental in many investments including Baynote, Bridgestream, Cenzic, InMage, Jareva Technologies, Krillion, Scalent, SyncVoice, Tizor and Voltage Security. He also observes a number of these boards. In addition, Prashant is an active Charter Member of TiE Silicon Valley, where he is Chair of the Software SIG; and a member of the Board of Trustees for Astia.

Prior to Hummer Winblad, Prashant spent many years defining and launching high tech products. His background spans all seven layers of the OSI stack with product management roles at enCommerce (acquired by Entrust), Cypress Semiconductor and AT&T. Prashant received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Registration Fee:
VC Taskforce Member $55;
Affiliate Organization Member $75
General- $95

Venture-Backed Executives Club Committee Members:
Al Hulvey, CEO, Internet Advertising and Marketing Services, GreetingsManager.com
Christina Ellwood, Principal, Moreland Associates