The 4th Annual PITCH: Women 2.0 Startup Competition is open to early-stage ventures around the world, from high growth business ventures in web 2.0 to mobile, from enterprise web/mobile to consumer clean/biotech. Applying companies must be in beta stage and have not received significant funding. Deadline to apply to PITCH is October 1st, 2010.

This competition is in line with Steve Blank’s position that startups plan while companies model — hence, Women 2.0 is holding a business model competition rather than a business plan competition. Judging is based on not just the initial business model but what the team learned by pivoting, for example, avoiding the “beauty contest” of business plans where judges resort to choosing the best “paper exercise” plan (rather than the best business or the team that has made the most progress in figuring out product-market fit). Teams, whether they win or lose, finish the competition significantly more prepared to launch their business in the real world. Read more »

A handful of startups will be chosen to pitch live in San Francisco at the 4th Annual PITCH Night on November 4th, 2010. Previous years’ prizes included meetings with Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital), Tim Draper (Draper Fisher Jurvetson) and Esther Dyson (investor in companies such as Flickr, del.icio.us, and 23andMe), and a host of startup-friendly services.

Quick Facts about PITCH 2010:

1. The founding team must have at least one female.
2. The founding team must have a technologist* on the founding team. A technologist is an engineer, scientist, mathematician, biologist, etc.
3. Your venture must be in beta. This means you should have a prototype (alpha or beta version) or the product is already in the market.
4. PITCH is focused on companies with high-growth potential.

Apply to PITCH: Women 2.0 Startup Competition

How to apply to the Women 2.0 PITCH Startup Competition — there are 3 parts:

1. Fill out the application here. Once you start an application, you may edit your application anytime prior to the closing date of October 1st, 2010. Application fee is $50 per startup.

2. Mail in your business model scribbled on a paper napkin — Capture your creativity on the paper napkin with your doodles and drawings. Submit your business idea on a paper napkin no larger than 7×7 inches. Your name and contact info must be on the napkin so we can match it with your online application. Napkins must be received at 63 Bovet Road, #519, San Mateo, CA 94402 no later than October 1st, 2010. Napkins will be exhibited to the public at PITCH Night. By default, your napkin will be exhibited. If you do not wish to participate in the exhibition, state clearly on a note and attach it on the napkin.
   
   
3. Film a 2-minte video pitch — Think of this as a traditional TV commercial, and the audience/viewers are your “perfect” customers. How will you pitch your product to them? The video should be uploaded along with your business plan through Angelsoft. Uploading video takes time and bandwidth, we suggest you do not wait until the deadline to submit your video pitch.

All applications will receive feedback from at least 3 members of the judging panel. Judges are investors and successful entrepreneurs who take time to review your application in detail and provide honest, constructive feedback on your venture and application. For a list of the judging panel, click here.

Finalists will be notified October 14th, 2010 and invited to present at the Women 2.0 PITCH event in San Francisco on November 4th, 2010. If you are selected as a finalist, the entire team must present at PITCH.

Investor Meetings for PITCH 2010 Winners:

Esther Dyson (Principal, EDventure Holdings)
Esther is an active investor at EDventure Holdings in a variety of startups, focusing on technology. Her portfolio of private space and air travel investments includes XCOR Aerospace, Space Adventures/Zero G (recently merged), Constellation Services, Icon Aircraft, Coastal Aviation Software and Airship Ventures. She has flown weightless on Zero-G four times, but hopes to go up again soon. On the IT side, Esther’s investments included Flickr and del.icio.us, both sold to Yahoo! and Medstory, sold to Microsoft. Currently, she sits on the boards of 23andMe, Meetup, WPP Group, Eventful, Evernote, Boxbe and Yandex, the leading Russian search company. Esther sold her business EDventure Holdings, along with its Release1.0 newsletter and PC Forum conference, to CNET Networks in 2004. Esther left CNET at the end of 2006 and (with permission) has resumed doing business under the name of EDventure Holdings. She spends most of her time exploring new space, health care and IT start-ups and technologies, writing about them and actively (and with full disclosure) investing in some of them.

Matt Murphy (Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)
Matt manages the iFund at KPCB, a collaborative initiative with Apple focused on funding and building defining applications on the iPhone OS platform and the mobile internet. His expertise is in network communications, compute infrastructure, and mobile applications. Matt is either a Director or works closely with the management teams of Booyah!, GOGII, Pelago, Shazam, shopkick, Kodiak Networks, RGB Networks, Stoke, Aerohive Networks, and Puppet Labs. Previously, Matt was a board observer at Google (from initial investment to IPO), led KP’s investment in Autonavi (NASDAQ: AMAP ‘10), and was a Director at Ocarina Networks (acquired by Dell ‘10), Peakstream (acquired by Google ‘08), Dash Navigation (acquired by RIM ‘09). Prior to KPCB, Matt led product management at a semiconductor startup (Netboost acquired by Intel) and worked at Sun Microsystems. Matt holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mike Maples (Managing Partner, FLOODGATE)
Mike is the managing partner of FLOODGATE, and was recently named as one of “8 Rising VC Stars” by Fortune Magazine for his investments in business and consumer technology companies. Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was an entrepreneur and operating executive who worked in a variety of senior management roles in high-growth companies. His background spans a variety of markets including consumer technology, small business, and the enterprise, and he has led various functions in product development, marketing, business development, and corporate strategy. Mike co-founded Motive, Inc., the world’s leading broadband software company in 1997, and played key roles in its growth from raw start-up through sales of more than $75 million. Motive was one of the only successful technology IPOs in 2004, and the most successful infrastructure software IPO for the prior three years. At Motive, Mike was General Manager of Motive’s Corporate Business Unit, as well as Chief Marketing and Strategy officer. Prior to Motive, Mike was responsible for worldwide product marketing at Tivoli Systems, where he managed the company’s product portfolio from its early-stage development through its 1995 IPO and growth to a $750M line of business within the IBM Software Group. Mike began his professional career at Silicon Graphics, where he served in business development and product marketing roles. Mike holds an Engineering degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Naval Ravikant (Partner, AngelList)
Naval is an entrepreneur and angel investor, a co-author of Venture Hacks, and a co-maintainer of AngelList. Previously, he was a co-founder at Genoa Corp (acquired by Finisar), Epinions.com (IPO via Shopping.com), and Vast.com (largest white-label classifieds marketplace). Naval has advised Bix.com, iPivot, and XFire, among others, and invested in many companies, including Twitter, FourSquare, DocVerse (sold to Google), Mixer Labs (sold to Twitter), Jambool (Social Gold), SnapLogic, PlanCast, Stack Overflow, Heyzap, and Disqus. Naval holds B.S. in Computer Science and Economics from Dartmouth College.

Got questions? Email askpitch@women2.org.

Applicants can apply in one of six categories:

Eligibility and Rules:

Submissions are accepted globally. The application must represent the original work of members of the team. You may have a team of up to five (5) individuals. At least one (1) member of the founding team must be female — this is a Women 2.0 production after all! Submissions that do not adhere to the submission process and rules will be disqualified.

We accept businesses in alpha and beta launch only. The competition is for new, independent ventures in the seed, start-up, or early stage. PITCH 2010 is intended for growth companies and the judging panel will ask “Is this a fundable venture?”. Generally excluded are the following: buy-outs, expansions of existing companies, real estate syndications, tax shelters, franchises, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area, and spin-outs from existing corporations. As if you’d be silly enough to submit that anyway.

The submission process utilizes Angelsoft, the industry standard to manage deal flows. By submitting your business plan, you are agreeing to the Angelsoft Terms of Service and agree to be bound by the terms described in the Angelsoft Privacy Policy.

Previous PITCH Nights and Winners:

• 2009 Pitch Night
• 2008 Pitch: “Beyond the Spark” Conference
• 2007 Pitch Night

PITCH 2010 Judges

Andy Bartley (Associate, The Angels Forum)
Andy is an Associate at The Angels Forum and The Halo Funds. He is responsible for sourcing and identifying potential investment opportunities in the life sciences, high tech, and consumer product spaces. Andy is actively involved in the evaluation of businesses seeking seed/early stage financing. He enjoys working with promising entrepreneurs to help them develop investor-oriented pitch decks and presentations. Prior to joining The Angels Forum, Andy worked for Stryker Endoscopy. Andy holds a B.S. in Biological Engineering from Oregon State University and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.

Alyssa Rapp (Founder & CEO, Bottlenotes)
Alyssa is the founder and CEO of Bottlenotes, the premier online wine community where wine enthusiasts come to learn about wine, share tasting notes and buy wine. Alyssa is also the author of Bottlenotes Guide to Wine: Around the World in 80 Sips (Adam’s Media, October 2008). Alyssa previously served as the sales/marketing manager for RO Imports, an importer of boutique New Zealand wines in New York and co-presided over a 300-person wine club at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Alyssa was named in Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30″ coolest entrepreneurs in America in September 2008. Alyssa co-resides in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area but greatly enjoys traveling around the world in search of today’s best wines. Alyssa holds a B.A. in Political Science and the History of Art from Yale University in 2000 and an M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Anurag Nigam (President & Board Director, Sand Hill Angels)
Anurag, President and Board Director at Sand Hill Angels, been an active angel investor and entrepreneur for the last 7 years putting money into 20+ companies. Anurag actively helps startups understand that great technology doesn’t always make a good business. His current investment interests are consumer internet, consumer product and medical devices. Anurag has has been part of 6 different startups. He was part of the founding teams & leading ASIC efforts at Cerent Corp (bought by Cisco) and Siara Systems (bought by Redback Networks). Anurag switched into the consumer Internet space and was is an investor and founder of hi5.com, a profitable social networking site with over 20M users. He currently is the founder and CEO of BuzzBox.com, a social discovery platform that is in early alpha. Anurag holds a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate from Carnegie Mellon University.

Betty Kayton (CFO, Dropbox)
Betty has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, as a key member of the executive team at high-growth, venture-funded start-ups. Her contribution ranges from strategic planning and fund raising to tactical challengers such as building appropriate infrastructure without stifling growth. Betty concurrently serves as CFO of several high tech companies (Wi-Fi/mesh networks, consumer products, Web 2.0, eLearning), and previously was CFO at Leapfrog (a leading manufacturer of interactive learning aids), Nominum (Internet/telecom infrastructure software), MGA Entertainment (since grown to be the world’s largest privately-held toy company), and senior financial management positions at Fortune 500 companies including Fujitsu and Citicorp. Betty was certified as a CPA while working for Ernst & Young. Betty holds a B.A. from Pomona College and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.

Chris Shipley (CEO, Guidewire Group)
Chris is a leading technology and product analyst. Best known as the executive producer of the DEMO Conferences for IDG Executive Forums, Chris has helped technology companies bring more than 1,000 new products to market since 1996. As a founding partner and editorial director in Guidewire Group, she consults with emerging technology companies in the U.S. and Europe to identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market. Fortune Small Business Magazine placed Chris on its “Top 10 Minds in Small Business,” and the San Jose Business Journal named her a “Woman of Distinction.” She has often been cited as a leading influencer by Marketing Computers magazine. Chris has covered personal technology since 1984 and has worked as a writer and editor for a variety of technology and consumer media. Chris holds B.A.s in Literature and Communication Arts from Allegheny College and pursues knowledge and understanding relentlessly.

Christine Herron (Principal, First Round Capital)
Christine joined First Round Capital as a Principal in 2008. Previously, Christine was a director at Omidyar Network, where she developed the Media practice strategy and drove $15 million in early-stage placements. Prior to joining Omidyar Network in 2005, Christine was the VP of Marketing for Mission Research, which develops small business CRM solutions. While there, she led marketing from initial business plan authoring through the acquisition of paying customers and distribution partners. Earlier, Christine founded and led Mercury2, a software-as-a-service developer of international trade logistics systems, and managed Internet products and strategy at both NetObjects and Microsoft. Christine has spent her career finding new and innovative information technologies. She started as an investor with Geocapital Partners, where she focused on early Internet infrastructure and network management software. Christine holds a B.A. in English from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Cindy Padnos (Managing Director, Illuminate Ventures)
Cindy is the founding Managing Director of Illuminate Ventures, focusing primarily on Internet, SaaS/cloud computing, digital media, technology-enabled services and mobile communications investments. Cindy currently serves as a director of privately held companies BrightEdge, CalmSea, Wild Pockets and Xactly Corporation. Prior to founding Illuminate, Cindy was a Director of Outlook Ventures where she was one of three investment professionals responsible for committing the firm’s $140M fund. During her tenure with the firm she participated in numerous new and follow-on financings, including sourcing more than half of the firm’s new investments. Before entering the venture capital community, Cindy gained almost 20 years of operational experience culminating in her role as founder and CEO of Vivant,, where she successfully led this venture-backed company to its acquisition (EVLV). Prior positions include roles as President and CEO of Acumen (M&A), founding VP of Marketing at Scopus Technology (IPO) and management positions at IDE, Ingres and AT&T. Cindy earned her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, at the University of Michigan and her M.B.A./M.S.I.A. with honors from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.

David Shen (President, David Shen Ventures)
David is the President of David Shen Ventures. He advises and invests in early stage internet startups, helping them in the areas of user experience, product development and strategy, and online advertising. David hails from Yahoo! where he was the VP of User Experience for almost 8 years where he and his team led the design of every Yahoo! product and service. Prior to Yahoo!, David was a design consultant at frogdesign, working on toasters and computer products, and also worked at Apple, building ergonomic keyboards, digital cameras, and monitors. In addition to advising early stage internet startups as David Shen Ventures, LLC, David is also Venture Advisor at betaworks, a next generation media company based in New York City. David holds a B.S. in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Donna L. Jang (Member, Sand Hill Angels)
Donna is a commercial lender with 34 years of banking experience in the Silicon Valley, routinely worked with clients to sharpen their business focus and articulate their business strategy. She analyzed financial aspects of their business operations, including target markets, competition, industry viability, client concentration risks, cash flow, and balance sheet valuations. Private equity investing has become a family tradition in Donna’s family. In the 1920s, her grandfather participated in small Chinese-owned businesses in California. Since 1960, her uncle invested in and helped start more than150 companies. Donna’s active investment interest in early stage companies is carrying the tradition forward. Donna is an active member in Life Science Angels, Sand Hill Angels, and HealthTech Capital.

Emily Melton (Partner, Mayfield Fund)
Emily is an experienced investor having worked in venture capital for nearly a decade. Emily’s primary areas of interest include technology enabled services and consumer-oriented technologies. Emily joined Mayfield from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, where she was actively involved in the firm’s consumer investment portfolio. Emily previously served on the boards of MyShape, NearbyNow, RedFin and ShareThis. She was also responsible for Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s investments in Meebo, Kudo, RichRelevance and Flux (acquired by MTVNetworks). Emily holds a B.A. with honors and distinction in Political Philosophy and an M.B.A., both from Stanford University.

Gautam Gupta (Associate, General Catalyst Partners)
Gautam focuses on investments in new and existing technology businesses at General Catalyst Partners. His areas of special interest include financial services, enterprise IT, consumer services, and new media. Gautam is also actively involved with GoodData. Before joining General Catalyst, Gautam analyzed brand strategy and consumer preferences in the Consumer Market Knowledge group of Procter & Gamble’s North American Fabric Care business unit. Prior to that, he worked closely with the sales and marketing groups at SinglePoint (fka: Wireless Services Corporation), and CTV Live on Campus, during his studies at Babson College. Gautam holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Babson College.

Georges Harik
Georges was Director of Googlettes and a Distinguished Engineer at Google. As Director of Googlettes, his team was responsible for the product management and strategy efforts surrounding many starting Google initiatives including Gmail, Google Talk, Google Video, Picasa, Orkut, Google Groups and Google Mobile. As a Distinguished Engineer, Georges was the co-developer of the technology behind AdSense, the first engineering manager of the Google Search Appliance, and the co-author of the original product plan for the AdWords Online system. Georges has contributed to numerous patents covering Google’s search engine and advertising networks. He worked previously at SGI, where he was a developer on MineSet, a data mining product. Georges is currently an advisor to various startups focusing on the areas of internet applications and biotechnology. He is also a founder of imo.im and starting an open source research lab in the area of artificial intelligence. Georges received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he focused on mathematical models of genetic algorithms, programs that evolve to solve problems, that are inspired by natural processes.

Gwen Edwards
Gwen brings over 30 years of experience building products, services, and profitable business units in high technology sectors. From Stanford Research Institute to Fortune 50 executive (SBC, Nortel Networks, Bell Canada, to Venture Capital backed technology start up CEO and advisor, she unites the knowledge of successful brands, experience with scale, and the skills of managing innovation. Since 2001, Gwen has been working in advisory capacities with angel and venture backed companies assisting with capital formation, key milestone achievement to enhance value, developing target market strategies, cultivating customer input, and assisting in the execution of key deliverables. She currently serves on the advisory board of Astia, an organization dedicated to the success of women entrepreneurs, as well as co-leads Golden Seeds, an angel investment network. She also serves on the board of the National Health Foundation. Gwen holds a B.A. from the University of California (National Scholastic Award Scholarship), an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University, and an M.A. in Communications from California State University.

Janice Roberts (Managing Director, Mayfield Fund)
Janice is a global communications executive and entrepreneur. As Managing Director at Mayfield Fund, she invests in networking components and systems, mobile communications and consumer-oriented companies. Prior to joining Mayfield, Janice built a successful early-stage investment portfolio as president of 3Com Ventures. She also led 3Com’s global marketing and business development operation and ran a number of the company’s new business initiatives, including the highly successful Palm Computing subsidiary. Previously, Janice was managing director and president of BICC Data Networks LTD., which was acquired by 3Com in 1992. She serves on the advisory board of the INSEAD Business School U.S. Council and supports the Entrepreneurs Foundation and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. Janice holds an honors degree in commerce (economics and finance) from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Jim Connor (Board Member, Sand Hill Angels)
Jim serves on the Board of Sand Hill Angels. He has been active in financial software applications for the past twenty years and was most recently the President of JPMorgan SymPro, a subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase & Company from August 2003 to May 2007. Jim was the founder and CEO of SymPro, Inc., grew the company to become the unqualified leader in its market space and managed the acquisition with JP Morgan Chase & Company. Prior to SymPro, Inc, Jim worked at Xerox Computer Services in Software Development Management. Jim is active in applying software technology to financial and business applications. He is currently the President of Discover Ventures, LLC which provides sales and marketing services to technology companies. He has published several White Papers on specific financial models and has a patent application accepted by USTPO. Jim serves on several advisory boards, is an active angel investor and serves as the Program Chair of the (SVASE) Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs, CXO Forum. Jim holds a B.A. in Business from the University of Cincinnati and is a member of several professional finance associations.

John Lanahan (Analyst, Launch Capital)
John is an analyst for a seed stage venture capital firm. Launch Capital is based in Boston and is opening a west coast office. John’s specific division of Launch Capital is LC Small Business, a hybrid form of lender (combining debt and equity) and invests in more traditional, slower growth businesses, aiming to bridge the gap between friends and family and bank lending. John holds a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College.

Katherine Barr (Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures)
Katherine is a member of the investment team at Mohr Davidow Ventures focused on Internet-enabled companies. Prior to joining Mohr Davidow, she was a Negotiator at Vantage Partners (spin-off of the Harvard Negotiation Project), working with technology clients including IBM, Cisco, Applied Materials, and HP. Before Vantage, she was a Senior Product Manager on the founding team at HSA, an education technology startup in Boston. Katherine teaches a yearly Professional Education Negotiation seminar for the School of Engineering at Stanford. During her graduate studies at Stanford, she was involved in running the E-Challenge business plan competition for BASES (Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students). Katherine is an advisor to Samasource, on the Organizing Committee for C100 and founding sponsor of Startup2Startup. Katherine holds a B.A. from McGill University, and completed an M.A. and the M.S. core curriculum in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University.

Katie Nittler (COO, Astia)
Katie is the COO at Astia, a global non-profit committed to building women leaders and accelerating the funding and growth of high-potential, high-growth, women-led start-ups. Katie joined Astia in mid 2009 to initially lead the showcase Astia Silicon Valley Program. In December 2009, she was promoted to COO with additional responsibilities for global programs, marketing and building Astia client management programs. With over 20 years experience in marketing & business development for high tech companies (Fortune 500 and venture funded start ups) including HP, PeopleSoft, Convoy/NEON, Commerce One, Portal and Oracle and not-for-profit organizations including NFCO and Lancashire University. Katie has been repeatedly recognized as an outstanding contributor. In 2000, she was recognized as one of the top 100 influential people in B2B. Katie is helping with Astia’s expansion across the globe by combining her passion for global alliances and growth in women.

Kevin Braithwaite (Co-Founder & Director, RootSpace)
Kevin is an entrepreneur with a particular interest in technological innovation and currently divide his time between Silicon Valley and Cambridge, UK. Over the last 10 years, Kevin has advised very early stage academic spin-outs through to multinational technology corporations, telecom operators and banks. He has worked with or founded companies in a variety of industries including software, media, Internet solutions, and business services. Kevin has worked with new spin-outs and start-ups from Cambridge University through his role as an advisor to Cambridge Enterprise and mentor at The Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at The Judge Institute of Management. Most recently, Kevin became involved in social entrepreneurship. This has led to the founding of various initiatives that empower technology based ventures to solve social and environmental issues in disadvantaged communities around the world. Kevin holds an M.B.A. from London Business School.

Mark Jacobsen (Managing Director, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures)
Mark has over 20 years of experience advising companies and entrepreneurs. He was a co-founder of O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures in 2005. Mark is currently a board member of AMEE, CollabNet, Instructables, O’Reilly Media and TripIt, and a board observer of Chumby Industries and Acquia. Mark joined O’Reilly Media in 1995 and, as Executive VP for New Ventures and Business Development, managed its investment portfolio for nine years. While at O’Reilly, he also had extensive operational experience including managing two startup companies, and overseeing O’Reilly’s conferences business, as well as responsibility for most business development and strategic relationships. Prior to joining O’Reilly Media, Mark was the Business Affairs Director at Colossal Pictures, an animation studio in San Francisco. Mark holds a B.A. from St. Olaf College and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Marleen McDaniel (CEO, ExLibrix)
Marleen is the former Chairman and CEO of Women.com, which she took public in 2000. Prior to joining Women.com, Marleen helped to launch several major technology companies, including 3Com, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems. At Sun, she managed marketing for the education products division, which developed and launched the Sparcstation. Marleen also served as Vice President of Marketing for Crescendo Communications, now the workgroup division of Cisco, and as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Ziff Davis’ trade show division. Marleen holds a B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley.

Rachel Sheinbein (Principal, CMEA Capital)
Rachel joined CMEA Capital in 2008 and is a Principal with the Energy and Materials team. She is on the boards of Contour Energy Systems, Danotek Motion Technologies and Solaria Corporation. Before CMEA, Rachel was a consultant for bio-plastics, solar and water treatment startups. For 9 years prior to consulting, Rachel worked in several positions at Intel - as a Chemical Engineer for industrial liquid waste and wastewater systems, a Program Manager for Environmental Health & Safety, focusing on metrics and new technology, a Purchasing Analyst, and a Strategic Product Manager for Supply Chain IT. Rachel is President of the board of Expanding Your Horizons Network, a non-profit that encourages girls in math, science, engineering and technology. In addition, Rachel volunteers for California Clean Tech Open and Imagine H2O. Rachel holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and both an M.B.A. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT.

Saad Khan (Partner, CMEA Capital)
Saad has spent his career innovating. From R&D to entrepreneurship, from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, Saad has always sought the bleeding edge of technology and creativity. He spent years building companies, advising entrepreneurs, and investing in Silicon Valley startups at Garage Technology Ventures where he worked closely with early stage entrepreneurs across the Garage portfolio including Pandora, cFares, and TripleHop (ORCL). Saad led Garage’s software and media investments, and spun-out (and subsequently sold) the Garage advisory business. In addition to his activities at CMEA Capital, Saad also co-founded the Film Angels, an angel network for indie film where recent presenters have included Carlos Santana, Steve Wozniak, and many Academy award winning actors, directors and producers. Saad is an advisor to peer-to-peer internet lending platform Lending Club and is a Charter member of TIE. Saad holds a B.S. in Symbolic Systems and a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.

Shai Goldman (Director, Silicon Valley Bank)
Shai co-manages SVB Capital’s Venture Exchange program, which serves as a platform to provide quality referrals to venture firms and assist emerging companies in raising capital through strategic introductions to the right investors for their business. His responsibilities include identifying investment opportunities for SVB Capital Partners Fund and other venture capital firms. Shai is the co-chair of SDForum’s Venture Finance SIG, a group dedicated to helping early-stage entrepreneurs prepare to meet with and attain funding from the venture capital community. Since 2004, Shai has also been a mentor for BUILD, a non-profit organization committed to motivating underserved high school students to succeed in school and go onto higher education, by helping them start and run their own businesses. Shai holds a B.A. in Economics from Santa Clara University.

Sharon Vosmek (CEO, Astia)
Sharon Vosmek is CEO of Astia. Astia is a community of experts and resources committed to building women leaders and accelerating the funding and growth of high-growth, women-led start-ups. Astia provides extensive resources and customized services to help startups achieve sustainable high growth or a successful exit. The community provides high quality, high touch, high impact customized interactions with experts; direct access to investors, industry leaders and technical visionaries; fundraising advice; and coaching. The role of the organization is to facilitate access to the proven pathways to success. It is the preeminent organization devoted to this objective.

Stewart Bonn (VP Product, Shortform.tv)
Stewart is VP Product at Shortform.tv and advisor/director of several consumer Internet companies. Stewart is an industry pioneer who helped turn computer games into a business. He joined Electronic Arts in 1983 as one of the first employees and produced many of Electronic Arts’ most successful titles during his 12-year career. As SVP and General Manager of EA Studios, he directed the development for all PC and videogame cartridge game development for 4 years. Stewart has served as CEO of AnyRiver Entertainment, VP Fun at There.com and VP Talent at Bix.com. Stewart holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley

Will Bunker (Entrepreneur, White Space Ventures)
Will is co-founder of the online dating service that became Match.com, the world’s largest personals site. In 1996 Will and a partner raised $90,000 from angel investors to start online personals pioneer One-and-Only.com. Will designed the software and developed the hardware infrastructure for the site, which grew to 4.5 million monthly unique visitors and annualized subscription revenues of $14 million, outperforming Yahoo Personals and other competitors. In late 1999 they sold Dallas-based One-and-Only for $45 million to Ticketmaster Online/City Search, where it was rebranded Match.com. Following his exit from Match.com in 2000, Will acquired Click Patrol, a service that managed key word advertising for Overture and others, which he sold to a competitor in 2002. He then moved back to his native Arkansas and acquired an industrial catfish farming operation, which he expanded into a more efficient and profitable business. In 2004, Will and Dan Owen formed White Space Ventures. In 2007 Will relocated to Portola Valley, CA. Currently working on vChatter.com which has become the largest video chatting service on Facebook. Prior to his career in technology, Will performed in a variety of management assignments around the world for Nelson Bunker Hunt’s international mining group. Will holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Mississippi State University.

Yokum Taku (Partner, WSGR)
Yokum is a corporate and securities partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR). Yokum represents technology and growth companies at all stages of development, through private financings, strategic transactions, public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. He also represents investors in venture capital financings. Yokum has advised numerous entrepreneurs from initial company formation to liquidity event. At any time, Yokum typically represents several start-up companies seeking venture financing, private companies that have received financing, and publicly traded companies. Yokum also leads Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Japan practice. He advises U.S. companies on their transactions in Japan, and Japanese companies on their transactions in the United States. Yokum also advises numerous companies with operations in Asia. Yokum worked at the Tokyo law firm of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu in 1994 and 1995. Yokum maintains a personal blog at www.startupcompanylawyer.com.

Inkind Sponsors for PITCH 2010

AppSumo
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Ask Your Target Market
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DBL Investors
DBL Investors manages the Bay Area Equity Fund I, a $75 million venture capital fund. The DBL Investors team completed its spinout from JPMorgan in January of 2008 and has managed the Fund since inception. The Fund invests in companies that can deliver market-rate venture capital returns while enabling social, environmental and economic improvement in the San Francisco Bay Area’s low and moderate income neighborhoods. Investments are made in private, primarily mid-to-late stage growth companies across all industries, with a focus on the strengths of the Bay Area including: Clean Technology, Health Care, Specialty Consumer Products and Services, and Information Technology.

Eventbrite
At Eventbrite, we’re passionate about bringing people together around a live experience. Whether it’s a photography class or a sold-out concert, an inspiring conference or an air-guitar competition — we’re true believers in the magic of events and the power of connecting people. Our service allows everyone to discover events and experience the excitement of bringing them to life. We do this by making it incredibly easy to create, find or attend an event. We help you manage the hard stuff — such as registrations and selling tickets — and we set you up with the tools to help your event spread virally through social networks. It’s event management, search, and promotion all coming together for the first time. We call it social commerce.

FoundersCard
FoundersCard is a members-only community of leading entrepreneurs and innovators. We support risk-taking entrepreneurs (those doing the real leg work in rebuilding the economy) by offering unparalleled rates and benefits from the world’s top brands. Members also can take advantage of regular invitation-only networking events as well as online networking opportunities. Among the most popular benefits members enjoy are deep discounts compliments of Equinox Fitness, AT&T wireless, W Hotels & Resorts, Exhale Spa, and Starwood.

Hiball Energy
Hiball Energy is the pioneer of a completely new category of energy drinks: refreshing, sparkling energy waters and juices. Hiball’s Sparkling Energy Waters are the only energy drink in the market that are made without sugar or artificial sweeteners of any kind and contain only 10 calories per bottle. Hiball’s new Sparkling Energy Juice drinks are low sugar and contain only 70 calories per bottle. All products are completely free of preservatives and are made with purified sparkling water, a proprietary blend of taurine, guarana, ginseng, b-vitamins, natural caffeine, natural fruit flavors and/or concentrates. Every bottle of Hiball provides a refreshing, naturally healthy boost of energy. Hiball: It’s Good Energy.

raw engineering
raw engineering is a Web engineering firm that provides clients with mobile and Web technology development services. With engineering expertise in PHP, Ruby on Rails, and other development platforms, the team also specializes in deploying applications to the cloud. For small businesses and startups that do not have access to a full time development team – or for development teams that need some additional support – raw engineering delivers a virtual team. The team is complete with development services and software architecture support, to help clients accelerate time to market for their with Web and mobile applications. The company prides itself on delivering high quality work, carried through a rigorous quality assurance process, enabling clients to deploy their applications into production, with confidence and ease. For more information, please visit www.raweng.com.

Sandbox Suites
With three locations in San Francisco and Berkeley, Sandbox Suites is the Bay Area’s premier provider of affordable, flexible, on-demand shared office and meeting space created specifically for entrepreneurs, independent professionals and start-ups. Sandbox is where you can come to network with an array of professionals, learn from thought leaders and simply get things done. Our monthly memberships vary from open seating desks to private group offices and don’t have any long-term leases. With same day move in, you can smoothly transition into your own office without losing any productivity or worrying about office setup. Best of all, members can work and meet at all three locations for the price of one. Find Sandbox Suites in SOMA, Union Square and Downtown Berkeley or visit www.sandboxsuites.com to book a tour or a free day trial.

Stage Two
Stage Two is a consumer lifestyle technology firm focused on creating amazing product experiences. Our methodology for accomplishing this: expand the concept of PR to fully include product marketing as an outsourced service. We believe this begins with product design (yes we do this, we’ve even won awards for it) continues through messaging and positioning strategy, and extends into public, new media, and blogger relations. We help build the product, create a voice, and manage the brand’s reputation. This new methodology means a new kind of consumer marketing firm.

Walker Corporate Law Group
Walker Corporate Law Group is a boutique corporate law firm specializing in the representation of entrepreneurs, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. WALKER has a strong team of former big-firm lawyers, who provide a full range of corporate legal services – from startup counseling to angel & venture capital financings to mergers & acquisitions. Their goal is simple: to help entrepreneurs succeed. For more information, please contact Scott Edward Walker, the founder & CEO, at 415-979-9998 or check out their website at walkercorporatelaw.com.