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| Capital Efficiency: Outsourcing, off-shoring, and smaller early-stage investments are all methods VCs use to keep their portfolio companies lean, mean, and competitive, particularly in the software universe. How to best fund and staff a start-up from seed to expansion is an ongoing challenge. What emerging strategies are VCs adopting to keep their portfolio companies growing on the cheap? What works? And as importantly, what tactics have created more problems than they've solved? |
| Will private equity change tech? Or will tech change private equity? The Freescale deal was the latest acquisition in a buying spree that has seen private equity groups notch up $45 billion worth of technology buyouts in the past two years. And they seem only to be warming up. The newly formed Private Equity Council estimates that PE firms have amassed more than 700 billion in capital, enough to buy Microsoft, Google, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard. Deals for those companies are highly unlikely, but several leading PE groups have been kicking the tires at other prominent tech companies, including struggling PC maker Dell, drifting Internet giant Yahoo, and disappointing storage equipment maker EMC. The trend raises a fundamental question: Is private equity good for an industry in which research and development, capital investment, and recruiting and retaining top talent are critical elements for long-term success? |
| How to build the next $1b company on the East Coast? Microsoft, Google, eBay, Genentech, Dell, Amazon, etc. these are just a few examples of an elite group of companies that have managed to turn billion-dollar ideas into billion-dollar businesses. What did these and other high-growth companies do to achieve such a goal? What blueprint do they follow to produce such results? How can entrepreneurs and their investors follow these examples and jointly build the next $1 billion company before a public tech player satisfies its hunger and acquires the venture? |
| Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Track Innovation in Service Oriented Architectures: where is it headed? There has been a considerable flurry of activity behind the movement towards a service oriented architecture (SOA). So, where is this technology and business approach headed? How are leaders in SOA planning to move their technology innovation forward? What is the impact on customers? This panel will bring together technology leaders to discuss directions and predictions for the future of this important technology movement. |
| Is the Venture Model Broken? Too much money chasing too few ideas is forcing VCs to go "dirty and deep" to find deals. Structurally, however, VCs face the same issues: Partners can sit on a finite number of board seats, and start-ups continue to need operational expertise, and VCs to develop industry relationships. Should VCs bring back the incubator to cope with these challenges? Or minimize their number of investments to be able to further service their portfolio companies. What evolving strategies are VCs adopting to deal with the changing needs of early-stage companies? |
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