VENTURENET
2005, A SOLD OUT PERFORMANCE
By Joseph Marks, Software Council Board Member and
Managing Partner, Smart Technology Ventures
The tenth
anniversary of VentureNet was an enjoyable event, its success
partly owing to the growing maturity of Southern California's
tech community and the Software Council's hard work. The Software
Council has supported the growth and unity of our tech community
for many years now, with each year's programming building upon
the success of previous years. Thus, VentureNet has become the
region's premier capital conference for software and information
technology companies.
This year's
VentureNet, which took place on September 8, was sold out with
more than 330 attendees present. Attendees came for a full day
of company presentations, venture capital panels and of course,
the keynote address by Tim Draper, who kicked the day off by educating
and entertaining the audience with an anthem to the spirit of
the entrepreneur and start-up culture. Tim's message encouraged
innovation and support of entrepreneurs, noting that they are
a special group that can contribute great ideas for the good of
our industry as well as the active economy.
The audience
heard from ten exciting start-up companies that had been carefully
hand-selected by the VentureNet committee from a competitive pool
of applicants. The review panels were comprised of venture capitalists
from many of the premier firms in Southern California, a lunch
keynote panel featured venture capitalists from several well-known
Silicon Valley firms. All and all, we heard from a leading group
of dynamic companies, entrepreneurs and venture capital providers.
Every presenter
offered interesting insight and valuable new ideas. The Best of
Show award was awarded to Vigilistics, a company that provides
national-brand process plants from coast to coast with unerringly
accurate 24/7 details of machine downtime and product loss, tracing
the most complicated batch genealogy from receiving through shipping.
Best of Show is awarded after an evaluation by a select group
of investors on the basis of the following characteristics: most
innovative, most promising company, most compelling value proposition,
best investment opportunity, and best presentation.
For me, the
presenters at VentureNet continually represent the best of Southern
California's technology community. This tenth year celebration
was no different. The Software Council's VentureNet is truly the
premier event in Southern California for bringing together investors
and entrepreneurs. Post event, I have heard several of this year's
presenters are already in talks with VentureNet capitalists they
met at the event.
The improving
economy, the re-invigorated VC market and Tim Draper's fun and
inspiring stage presence made VentureNet a great success and testament
to the vibrant entrepreneurial environment in Southern California.
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Joseph
Marks is a managing partner of Smart Technology Ventures,
a leading early and mid-stage SBIC venture capital fund based
in Southern California. STV has built a strong reputation
for its deep technical expertise and ability to develop technology
businesses. Mr. Marks serves on the board of directors of
the Software Council, Market Wire, Lucix and Eternal Systems.
For more information, visit www.stv.com
or email Joe at JMarks@stv.com.
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