Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE)

Jonathan Abrams is the founder and CEO of Socializr, an online service for sharing event and party information with your friends. Jonathan is an award-winning serial entrepreneur who created the pioneering social networking service Friendster in 2002, inspiring and influencing a generation of new Internet companies, large corporations, non-profits, and political campaigns. Previously, Jonathan was the founder & CEO of bookmarking community HotLinks, and worked as a software engineer at companies such as Netscape and Nortel. Jonathan holds an Honors B.Sc.

Steve is Managing Director of Emerging Company Services (ECS) at PricewaterhouseCoopers. ECS acts as “mentor capitalists” for young, high potential companies and assists them with a variety of services, including, Reviewing Executive Summaries/Investor Presentations, Referrals, Raising Money, Partnerships and Finding People. ECS works closely with the leading opinion leaders/influencers in the Bay Area, including venture capitalists, attorneys, bankers and other service providers that have made Silicon Valley the leading high tech center in the world.

Jim Chapman is Managing Partner at Nixon Peabody's Silicon Valley practice. Jim's practice areas include public and private securities offerings, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions and international business transactions. He has been involved in over 150 mergers, acquisitions and financing transactions. These transactions have included public offerings, private placements, debt financings, venture capital transactions, stock sales, asset sales, mergers, reorganizations and recapitalizations.

Stephane joined the NVCA in May 2006. His primary responsibilities include senior representation and member services on the West Coast, coordination of regional outreach initiatives, industry focus initiatives, international and LP liaison. Prior to the NVCA, Stephane was Managing Director with the Private Equity Group at Silicon Valley Bank. At SVB, Stephane created and ran the Venture Exchange program, which helped early stage VC source deals from the Bank’s portfolio of client companies.

John Gale is President of Taligo LLC. Since 1985, Taligo has focused on understanding, planning, and launching new businesses, products, and services. We do this through providing market development and strategy consulting services to the IT vendor community.

Nat Goldhaber is a managing director at Claremont Creek Ventures, an Oakland-based venture capital firm focusing on early stage investments in information technology companies. Nat is the resident expert on mobile technology with a broad interest in areas such as mobile payments and social networking. His focus on this investment field is built on twenty years of experience in IT. Nat was the CEO, President and Chairman of Cybergold, Inc. (CGLD), an incentives-based Internet marketing company, founded by him in 1995. In August 2000, Cybergold merged with MyPoints.com (MYPT). Mr.

Charles Hsu has 20 years of experience in the life science industry, including 14 years as a venture capitalist dedicated to investments in early-stage life science and health care firms. He has co-founded and/or directly invested in over 20 companies, and has served on 13 Boards of Directors. Prior to starting his venture capital career, Dr. Hsu was a research scientist and manager in two start-up biotechnology companies. He has worked and co-invested with most of the top-tier life sciences venture capitalists that are active today. Dr.

Jeff Lettes, communications director of SVASE, is principal of Silicon Valley communications firm Global Media Strategy. An entrepreneur at heart, Jeff founded Global Media Strategy following a 25-year career inside some of the world’s leading startups, Fortune 500 companies, and PR agencies, where he developed and implemented high-impact corporate, product and executive-level communications programs.

Larry joined WaldenVC from Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, where he was Director of New Media, Broadband, and Enhanced TV research. Prior to Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, he worked in Digital Media Equity Research at Robertson Stephens. Over his research career, Larry followed companies in interactive entertainment, consumer and business software, cable infrastructure, new media, and the Internet. As an analyst, he led numerous IPOs and follow-on offerings for companies such as CBS MarketWatch, Terayon, Woman.com, Edmark, Maxis, Wink, and Softnet.

Casey McGlynn is a partner at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and a member of the firm\'s Policy Committee. His practice focuses on the organization, funding and corporate representation of companies in the information technology, life sciences and telecommunications industries. Casey is a nationally recognized leader in the representation of startup and growth technology companies.

Sally Pera is uniquely positioned to develop and drive processes for business development. Sally has "walked her talk" having owned four businesses, the largest of which was the Pocket Coupon Directory of Northern California, a direct mail marketing company. She has worked with hundreds of professionals in aligning their unique talents to their potential marketplace.

Laura Weigant joined Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs in July 2001, as a financial and administrative consultant. In October 2002, the position status changed to a full-time employee and is currently Marketing and Finance Manager. Prior to July 2001, Ms. Weigant spent four years with Constellar Corporation, a Software Technology Company, as Office and Accounting Manager and was promoted to Finance Manager three years later, overseeing the U.S.