Ron Conway was the founder and managing partner of Angel Investors LP (1998-2005) and continues today as an angel investor.
He invested in over 240 startups during the late 1990s, including Google, Paypal, and over 100 startups in recent years, including Digg, Twitter, PBWiki, and Wikia.
Ron has served on many boards/advisory boards, including Facebook, Photobucket, RockYou, StumbleUpon, SendMail, Ask Jeeves, Napster, Plaxo, and SNOCAP.
He has held leadership positions at companies including Personal Training Systems, Altos Computer Systems and National Semiconductor Corporation.
Ron is involved in numerous philanthropic causes and was #6 in Forbes Magazine's Midas list of top "dealmakers" in 2006.
Mike Maples, Jr. is the managing partner of Maples Investments, and is an entrepreneur in his own right. Before becoming a full-time investor, he worked in a variety of executive and management roles in high-growth companies. His background spans a variety of markets including consumer technology, small business, and the enterprise, and he has served in various executive roles in product development, marketing, and corporate strategy.
Mike began his technology career in high school, when he started a software company that developed games and educational products for the original IBM PC. He has been passionate about the technology industry ever since.
Most recently, 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 $100 million. Motive was one of the only successful technology IPOs in 2004, and the most successful infrastructure software IPO for the prior three year...
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Description
Don't live in Silicon Valley? If you're serious about business, you'd better pack your bags. The local ecosystem of ideas, entrepreneurship, and venture is so powerful, says investors Ron Conway and Mike Maples, that no other region can even come close, and that it pays to move here because every advantage counts.