Startups

Jennifer Scott Fonstad is a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Considered one of the most senior women in venture today, Fonstad invests broadly in early stage companies, most recently taking an early leadership role in clean energy. Additionally, she has been working to change our country?s healthcare system through entrepreneurship. Recent investment successes include Athenahealth, Lumenos (acquired by Wellpoint), and NetZero. In addition to her investing responsibilities, Fonstad sits on the investment committees for DFJ VinaCapital, DFJ?s partner fund in Vietnam; DFJ Tamir Fishman, DFJ?s partner fund in Israel; and serves as adviser to the DFJ China team. Fonstad finds much of her inspiration from her family. She and her husband Diego are building the first LEED Platinum certified home in their hometown of Atherton, California. Her oldest daughter has taught her the importance of grassroots efforts through her work with the Atherton GreenSTART program, her school, and through the FIRST Lego Competition. Fonstad joined DFJ as a Kauffman Fellow in 1997, becoming a partner in 1998. She began her career with Bain and Company after spending a year teaching math to high school students in sub-Saharan Africa. She graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and holds an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School. She is married with four children.

Sheryl Sandberg is Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. She oversees the firm's business operations including sales, marketing, business development, legal, human resources, public policy and communications. Prior to Facebook, Sandberg was vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, where she built and managed the online sales channels for advertising and publishing and operations for consumer products worldwide. She previously served as Chief of Staff for the United States Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton and began her career as an economist with the World Bank. Sandberg is the author of the book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. She also serves on the boards of Facebook, ONE, The Walt Disney Company, Women for Women International, the Center for Global Development and V-Day.

Mari Baker is the CEO of PlayFirst and the former CEO of Navigenics. Previous to that, she was an executive-in-residence at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which she joined in 2006. Prior to that, she was president of BabyCenter, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson company. Under her leadership, BabyCenter became the world's leading Web site for new and expectant parents, winning numerous online health awards and expanding significantly offline and internationally. Prior to her tenure with BabyCenter and Johnson & Johnson, she was a senior vice president at Intuit, Inc., which she joined in 1989 as product manager for Quicken. Baker led Quicken to grow into the number one personal finance product in the world, along with international expansion and the launch of Quicken.com. Baker also held executive or product management positions at Now Software, Migent Software, and E.F. Hutton. Mari Baker attended Stanford University, graduating with degrees in economics and sociology. She served on the board of trustees of Stanford University from 1996 to 2003, where she oversaw the Stanford Medical Center, and she continues to serve as a trustee emeritus. Baker currently serves on the board of directors of the Cozi Group and she is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization.

Michael Moe is a founding partner of ThinkEquity and author of Finding the Next Starbucks. He was formerly Director of Global Growth Stock Research and a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 1998, Moe was Senior Managing Director and Director of Growth Stock Strategy at Montgomery Securities. Moe has been named to Institutional Investor's All American research team and he has been awarded "Best on the Street" by the Wall Street Journal. He has also testified in front of the U.S. Congress on the subjects of education technology, the new economy, and initial public offerings, and he has appeared before the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. He is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts, a member of the San Francisco Analyst Society, he sits on the Board of Directors for the National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame, and he is a past advisor for the Center for Innovation. Moe was awarded his BA in Political Science and Economics at the University of Minnesota.

Tom Siebel is Chairman of First Virtual Group, a diversified holding company with interests in commercial real estate, agribusiness, global investment management, and philanthropy. Siebel was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Siebel Systems, which merged with Oracle Corporation in January 2006. Founded in 1993, Siebel Systems became a global leader in application software with more than 8,000 employees in 32 countries, over 4,500 corporate customers, and annual revenue in excess of $2 billion. Prior to Siebel Systems, Siebel served as CEO of Gain Technology and held various management positions at Oracle. He is a frequent industry spokesman and the author of three books, including Taking Care of eBusiness and Cyber Rules, published by Doubleday, and Virtual Selling, published by the Free Press. Siebel is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he received a BA in history, an MBA, a MS in computer science, and a PhD with honors in Engineering.

Spencer E. Ante is the computers department editor for BusinessWeek. Before joining the magazine in February, 2000, he was a staff reporter for TheStreet.com. Prior to that, he was a contributing writer at Wired News, a columnist for Business 2.0, a producer for the Netscape NetCenter, and associate editor of The Web Magazine. For "Meet the Hackers", a 2006 investigative story about the world's most dangerous cybercriminals, he was the recipient of a 2007 Deadline Club Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. A year earlier, he won a 2006 award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for "A Hole in Bush's Exit Strategy", a story about the problematic American training of Iraqi security forces. Ante received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University and a master's from the University of California at Berkeley. His book, Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital will be published by Harvard Business Press in April, 2008. He can be reached at http://creativecapital.wordpress.com.

Mr. Martin joined Pacific Biosciences in 2004 as a seasoned executive with a 25-year track record managing leading edge technologies, new ventures, and high growth businesses. Previously, Mr. Martin was Chairman, President and CEO of ONI Systems?a high-speed optical telecommunications company he founded in 1998 and took public in 2000. Named the Fastest Growing Company in Silicon Valley in 2001, ONI was sold to Ciena in 2002. After its sale, Mr. Martin served as a consultant to Ciena, a CEO in residence at the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, and was a Director at Cloudshield Technologies. Prior to ONI, Mr. Martin was President and Director of 3DO?an interactive gaming company. His earlier experience includes running desktop engineering for Apple Computer and founding Ridge Computers?designer of the world's first commercial reduced instruction set computing (RISC) minicomputer. Mr. Martin received a BS in Electrical Engineering at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mr. Martin currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pacific Biosciences and Infinera.

William McDonough is an internationally renowned designer and one of the primary proponents and shapers of what he and his partners call 'The Next Industrial Revolution.' Time magazine recognized him in 1999 as a 'Hero for the Planet', stating that "his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that-in demonstrable and practical ways-is changing the design of the world." Time magazine again recognized Mr. McDonough and Michael Braungart as "Heroes of the Environment" in October 2007. In 1996, Mr. McDonough received the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the nation's highest environmental honor; and in 2003 earned the U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. In 2004 he received the National Design Award for exemplary achievement in the field of environmental design. In October 2007, Mr. McDonough was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Mr. McDonough is the founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, an internationally recognized design firm practicing ecologically, socially, and economically intelligent architecture and planning in the U.S. and abroad. He is also principal of MBDC, a product and systems development firm assisting prominent client companies in designing profitable and environmentally intelligent solutions. Mr. McDonough is a Venture Partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners in San Bruno, California. Mr. McDonough is an Alumni Research Professor at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and Consulting Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He also serves as U.S. Chairman and member of the Board of Councilors of the China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development. He is part of the Management Committee of HRH The Prince of Wales's Business & The Environment Programme at Cambridge University. From 1994-1999, Mr. McDonough was the Edward E. Elson Professor of Architecture and Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia. Mr. McDonough's leadership in sustainable development is recognized widely, both in the U.S. and internationally, and he has written and lectured extensively on his design philosophy and practice. He was commissioned in 1991 to write The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability as guidelines for the City of Hannover's EXPO 2000, and in 1993 to give the Centennial Sermon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. More recently, Mr. McDonough and Michael Braungart co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, published in 2002 by North Point Press.

With a decade of experience in venture capital, Erik has been a catalyst for Cleantech in Silicon Valley and abroad. He leads MDV's Cleantech investment team and applies his expertise in areas of solar, biofuels, energy storage, industrial biotech and clean coal. Prior to MDV Erik worked at Interval Research Corp., a technology incubator funded by Paul Allen, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a technical staff member. He also consulted to several seed and early stage venture capital firms. While pursuing a PhD in engineering at Stanford, Erik led an interdisciplinary project between the electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering departments to develop a next-generation monitoring system for critical facilities. He holds a U.S. patent from his research work. Erik serves on the advisory council of the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency, as well as on the advisory boards of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), Stanford's BASES, NVCA Cleantech Council, and Cleantech Venture Network. He is a winner of the 2006 World Technology Award for Finance, presented by the World Technology Network, in association with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Dow Chemical, Cisco, TIME magazine, Fortune magazine, Science magazine/AAAS, Red Herring, and CNN. Erik earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Harvey Mudd College and both doctoral and master's degrees from the Stanford University School of Engineering.

Chip Conley is the founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, California's largest boutique hotel company now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Starting out with virtually no industry experience, Chip opened his first hotel, The Phoenix, in San Francisco's edgy Tenderloin district on a wing and a prayer. The company now consists of over 40 award-winning hotels, restaurants and spas across the state with over 2,500 employees and revenues close to 200 million dollars. Each unique property is designed to produce what Chip calls "identity refreshment" for his guests. The company gleans inspiration for each hotel from popular magazines such as Rolling Stone (The Phoenix), The New Yorker (Hotel Rex), Dwell (Vitale), Wired (Avante) and others. Chip and his company's time-tested techniques have been featured in Business 2.0, TIME, Fast Company, Fortune, People and other leading publications - so many magazines, so many new hotel possibilities! A popular speaker and innovative leader, Chip is regularly consulted by corporate, civic and academic institutions for his opinions, guidance and wisdom on building and maintaining a successful and transformative enterprise involving areas such as organizational leadership, creative business development, corporate social responsibility and spirit in business. In his new book, PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow, Chip shares his unique prescription for success based on the iconic Hierarchy of Needs. His new theory illustrates how Employees, Customers and Investors are ultimately motivated by peak experiences, and he demonstrates how to create these for each using real-world examples from his own company and others. Chip has been honored with the top hospitality industry awards and is recognized as a committed and creative philanthropist. He is the founder of San Francisco's Annual Celebrity Pool Toss, which has raised over 3 million dollars for inner city youth programs now thriving in the troubled neighborhood where he launched his first hotel. He is a member of the Global Business Network and Young President's Organization and received his BA and MBA from Stanford University. He was recently named Bay Area's Most Innovative CEO by the SF Business Times.

Beth joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in May 2005 to work in life sciences. For the past 20 years, she has focused her career on introducing new innovative treatments for AIDS, arthritis, asthma, cancer, psoriasis, cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and renal disorders. Seidenberg has introduced 10 innovative products to market and achieved over 40 regulatory approvals, including new indications and formulations, worldwide. These products have been successfully commercialized and provided benefits to millions of patients with grievous illnesses, and they have generated several billion dollars of revenue. Prior to joining KPCB, Beth was Senior Vice President, Global Development, and Chief Medical Officer at Amgen, Inc., the world's largest biotechnology company. During Beth's three years there, her responsibilities included all stages of clinical research, regulatory affairs, safety, health economics/reimbursement and medical affairs. During her tenure, five innovative products were approved for commercial use. Prior to joining Amgen, Beth was a senior executive in research and development at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Merck & Co., Inc. She began her career in basic and clinical research at the National Institutes of Health specializing in immunology and infectious diseases. Beth received her BS from Barnard College magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa; and her medical degree from the University Of Miami School Of Medicine, alpha omega alpha. Her post-graduate training was completed at Johns Hopkins, George Washington School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. She is a member of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Advisory Board and Barnard College Science Advisory Board.

John G. Melo is the Chief Executive Officer of Amyris Biotechnologies, a synthetic biology company working to reduce the cost of curing malaria and producing lower carbon, second generation bio-fuels. He was previously president of U.S. Fuels for BP, where he led one of the world's largest petroleum marketing, logistics, and trading businesses. While in this role he successfully grew revenues from $25 billion to $34 billion and increased net cash by $1 billion. During this time his team developed one of the world's most successful ethanol blending and marketing businesses. He also worked on the development of BP's "Helios" re-branding. Prior to his eight years with BP, Mr. Melo was a director with Ernst & Young in San Jose, California, and a management team member for several Northern California start-ups, including Computer Aided Services and Alldata Corporation. John serves on the Board of Directors for U.S. Oil, a $1.6 billion energy company, and Cilion, a leading low-cost ethanol manufacturer. John is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, The Chicago Club, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and YPO. He enjoys visiting his home country of Azores, Portugal, as well as skiing, biking, tennis, golf, and time with his children.

Dr. Larry Brilliant is the Executive Director of Google.org, where he leads major initiatives aimed at reducing global poverty, improving the health of the least advantaged in the world, and working to halt the effects of the climate crisis. Larry is an M.D. and M.P.H., board-certified in preventive medicine and public health. He is a founder and director of The Seva Foundation, which works in dozens of countries around the world, primarily to eliminate preventable and curable blindness. He serves as a member of the strategic advisory committee for Kleiner Perkins (KPCB) Venture Capital and also sits on the boards of The Skoll Foundation, Health Metrics Network, Omidyar Networks Humanity United, and InSTEDD, an organization bringing technological tools to improve disaster response. In addition to his medical career, Larry co-founded The Well, a pioneering virtual community, with Stewart Brand in 1985. He also holds a telecommunications technology patent and has served as CEO of two public companies and other venture-backed start-ups. The author of two books and dozens of articles on infectious diseases, blindness, and international health policy, Larry has worked at every level of government. He was recently a "first responder" for CDC's smallpox bio-terrorism response effort, volunteered in Sri Lanka for tsunami relief, and established an interdisciplinary consultancy to prepare for possible pandemic influenza. Larry lived in India working as a United Nations medical officer for more than a decade where he played a key role in the successful World Health Organization (WHO) smallpox eradication program and has recently worked for the WHO polio eradication effort as well. He was Associate Professor of epidemiology, global health planning and economic development at the University of Michigan. Larry earned a Masters in Public Health in health planning and economic development from the University of Michigan, and received his M.D. from Wayne Medical School. He has received several awards from the Government of India and from WHO. In February 2006 he received the Sapling Foundation's TED Prize.

As the president of Yahoo! Inc., Susan L. Decker is a key participant in determining Yahoo!'s business strategy and vision. She is responsible for all of the global business operations of Yahoo!, including sales, product marketing, and distribution across the three major customer groups of audience, advertisers, and publishers. Prior to that, from December 2006 - June 2007, she served as the head of one of Yahoo!'s two major business units, the Advertiser and Publisher Group (APG). In that role, she was instrumental in developing the company's recent reorganization plan and strategy to transform how advertisers connect with their target customers online. Preceding her work with APG, Decker was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for seven years, managing all aspects of the company's financial and administrative direction within key functional areas, including finance, facilities, investor relations (and human resources and legal through December 2006). Decker served on the board of directors of Pixar Animation Studios from June 2004 to May 2006 until its sale to Disney, and currently serves on the board of directors for Berkshire Hathaway, Intel Corporation, and Costco Wholesale. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University, with a double major in computer science and economics, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which awarded the $10,000,000 Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight. Diamandis is focused on building the X PRIZE Foundation into a world-class prize institute. The X PRIZE is now developing X PRIZEs in Genomics, Automotive, Education, Medicine, Energy, and Social fields. He is also an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded and run many of the sector's leading entrepreneurial companies. Diamandis serves as the CEO of Zero Gravity Corporation, a commercial space company developing private, FAA-certified parabolic flights utilizing Boeing 727-200 aircraft. In addition, he is the chairman and co-founder of the Rocket Racing League. Diamandis is a co-founder and director of Space Adventures, the company that brokered the launches of four private citizens to the International Space Station. In 1987, Diamandis co-founded the International Space University (ISU), where he served as the University's first managing director. Today he is a trustee of the $30M ISU, based in Strasbourg, France. Prior to ISU, Diamandis was chairman of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), an organization he founded while earning his undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and graduate degree in aerospace engineering at MIT in 1980. SEDS is the world's largest student pro-space organization. After MIT he attended Harvard Medical School, where he received his M.D. In 2005 he has was also awarded an honorary Doctorate from the International Space University. Diamandis is the winner of the 2007 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Innovation, the 2006 (inaugural) Heinlein Award, the 2006 Lindbergh Award, the 2006 Wired RAVE Award, the 2006 Neil Armstrong Award for Aerospace Achievement and Leadership, the Konstantine Tsiolkovsky Award, twice the winner of the Aviation & Space Technology Laurel, and the 2003 World Technology Award for Space. In 8th grade, while living in New York, Dr. Diamandis won first place in the Estes rocket design contest. Diamandis' mission is to open the space frontier for humanity. His personal motto is, "The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!"

Jeffrey Housenbold is President & CEO of Shutterfly, Inc., an internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly provides a full range of products and services that enable consumers to manage their digital photographs. Housenbold has a successful track record of building online consumer franchises by combining commerce and community. In June 2006, he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Retail and Consumer Products category for the Northern California region. Previously, Housenbold was Vice President of Business Development & Internet Marketing at eBay, where he managed customer acquisition and retention. At eBay he also held positions as Vice President & General Manager of its Business-to-Consumer Group and Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions. Formerly, he held senior management positions with AltaVista, including Vice President & General Manager, and was the Chief Operating Officer of Raging Bull, the community finance portal. He also served as Vice President of Corporate Development at WinStar Communications and as Manager and Founder of Accenture's Media & Entertainment Strategy Group. Housenbold completed his undergraduate degree with High Honors at Carnegie Mellon University in Economics and Business Administration and was also a Presidential Scholar. He went on to earn his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Dean's Fellow. Housenbold is the co-author of The Shutterfly Guide to Great Digital Photos, an instructional book published by McGraw-Hill on the essentials of digital photography and managing images. He is an avid photographer with his Canon 30D.

Dan Springer brings over 20 years of executive leadership and strategic sales and marketing consulting experience to Responsys, with proven success in interactive marketing, e-commerce, and finance. As Chief Executive Officer, Dan is responsible for charting Responsys' strategic direction and extending the company's leadership into new realms of digital marketing. Prior to Responsys, Dan was Managing Director in the San Francisco office of Modem Media where he was responsible for general management of the agency's western United States operations. Dan led the development of the agency's Performance Marketing capability by leveraging database marketing, web site analytics and search engine marketing techniques. Prior to Modem Media as the CEO of Telleo, Inc., he refocused the business from online advertising to business partnerships with leading brands like Taco Bell. Previously, Springer was also the Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager for NextCard, where he built the fastest-growing credit card in history by creating one of the Internet's top five advertisers. He started his career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and DRI/McGraw-Hill. Dan holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Occidental College. He also sits on the board of directors for ITI, E-LOAN and The Randall Museum.

Before joining the d.school at Stanford University, Michael Dearing spent nearly seven years at eBay serving most recently as Senior Vice President & General Merchandise Manager. In that role, he led category management, product marketing, seller development, eBay Stores, and direct-to-consumer marketing for eBay North America. While at eBay, Michael and his colleagues were also responsible for the launch and growth of many new merchandise categories, and new businesses such as Buy-it-Now, the listings upgrade business, eBay Stores, and ProStores. Prior to eBay, Michael held leadership positions at Bain & Company, Filene's Basement, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE-DIS), and Industrial Shoe Warehouse. Michael holds an AB in Economics with a focus in economic history from Brown University, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. His current interests include process design for new product development, "productizing" emerging technologies, web-based businesses, product marketing, and pricing. Michael founded Harrison Metal in 2006, where he invests in seed-stage companies and educates founders to help them succeed. His focus is on general management, business leadership, and product development. The Harrison Metal endowment fund makes direct venture capital investments in exceptional founders.

Ken Wilcox is president and CEO of SVB Financial Group. Since January 2000, when he took on the role, Wilcox has successfully pursued a strategy of expansion and diversification, while remaining focused on the company's core niches of technology, life sciences, private equity and premium wineries. Wilcox joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1990 when he co-founded the company's East Coast Technology Division. In this role, Wilcox managed the first regional office of Silicon Valley Bank and was responsible for all lending activity east of the Mississippi River. Upon promotion to chief banking officer in 1997, Wilcox moved from Massachusetts to California and became president and CEO within four years. Prior to joining Silicon Valley Bank, Wilcox spent two years as a member of the Technology Lending Group with the Bank of New England and five years at Shawmut Bank in Boston. Prior to his banking career, Wilcox was a professor of German at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wilcox received a bachelor's degree in German studies from Oakland University and a Ph.D. in German Studies from The Ohio State University. He also earned a master's of business administration from Harvard Business School. Wilcox is a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Despite having no game, Jay Coen Gilbert co-founded and sold AND 1, a $250 million basketball footwear and apparel company based outside Philadelphia. Coen Gilbert led AND 1's product and marketing for most of his 13 years with the company, and served as AND 1's CEO during its period of most rapid growth. Coen Gilbert is now co-chairman of Investors' Circle, a national angel network dedicated to "Patient Capital for a Sustainable Future" that has invested over $107 million in 171 companies since 1992. Coen Gilbert is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and serves on the boards of the Philadelphia chapter of KIPP, a national public charter middle school; City Year, a leading Americorps youth service program; and Monteverde Friends, US. He grew up in New York City before heading west to Stanford University, graduating with a degree in East Asian Studies in 1989. Coen Gilbert lives with his yogini wife, Randi, and their two children in Berwyn, PA.

Prior to joining B Lab, Kassoy spent 16 years in the private equity business, most recently as a partner at MSD Real Estate Capital, an affiliate of MSD Capital, the $12 billion investment vehicle for Michael Dell. Kassoy is dedicated to growing innovative for-profit and non-profit models for social change. He is a board member of Working Today and the Freelancers Union, which provide affordable health insurance and other financial services to independent workers in thirty-two states. He also sits on the boards of Echoing Green, Wall St. Without Walls, and acts as an advisor to Civic Builders. Andrew was raised in Boulder, Colorado and graduated with distinction from Stanford University, where he was a Truman Scholar and President's Award winner. In 2001, he was named a Henry Crown Fellow by the Aspen Institute. Kassoy has also been active in Colorado politics, and he has served as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married to Kamy Wicoff, a writer, and he has two young sons.

Mir Imran founded InCube Laboratories in 1995 to focus on his passion: creating medical device solutions that change the standard of care in critical healthcare markets. Mir began his career as a med-tech entrepreneur in the late 1970's. Over the decades, he has become one of the world's most successful inventors, entrepreneurs and investors in healthcare. Mir now holds more than 200 issued patents - and is perhaps most well known for his pioneering contributions to the first FDA-approved Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. Mir's current crop of inventions includes advanced treatments for neural aneurysms, epilepsy, ulcerative colitis, obesity and chronic pain, among others. Most of these will enter clinical trials in the 2008 to 2010 timeframe. As an entrepreneur, Mir has founded over 20 medical device companies, including: Vidamed (acquired by Medtronic), Physiometrix, Cardiac Pathways, Advanced Cytomextrix (acquired by Oncotech 1997), Percusurge (acquired by Medtronic 2001), Reflow, Inc. (acquired 1999), Safeview (acquired by L3 2006) Intrapace (founded 2001), Spinal Modulation (founded 2005) and Zonare (founded 1999). As an investor, Mir serves as the Life Science Venture Partner for DFJ ePlanet, where he has led 9 investments in a range of promising ventures around the globe. Mir is also an active angel investor, with a portfolio based around both medical and pharmaceutical ventures. Mir currently holds board seats with Bodymedia, Cardiovasc, Intrapace, Egeen International, Spinal Modulation, ZARS and Zonare. Mir holds an MS in Bio-Engineering and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers, where he spent three years as a Research Specialist.

Brett Crosby is the Group Product Marketing Manager of Google Analytics. He has been shaping the Web Analytics industry for ten years as the co-founder of Urchin Software Corporation and more recently as a senior product leader at Google. He is currently responsible for product positioning, feature roadmap development and all external product communications. Brett holds a degree from USC in Political Science and International Relations.

Steve Blank is an adjunct professor in the Department of Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University. A retired eight-time serial entrepreneur, Blank's insight that startups are not smaller versions of large companies has reshaped the way startups are built and how entrepreneurship is taught. His observation that large companies execute business models, but startups search for them, led him to realize that startups need their own tools, different than those used to manage existing companies. Blank's first tool for startups, the customer-development methodology, spawned the lean startup movement. The fundamentals of this methodology are detailed in his books, "The Four Steps to the Epiphany" and the "The Startup Owner's Manual." Blank teaches customer development and entrepreneurship at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley and Columbia University. In 2011, he developed the "Lean LaunchPad," a hands-on class that integrates business model design and customer development into practice through fast-paced, real-world customer interaction and business model iteration. In 2011, the National Science Foundation adopted Blank's class for its Innovation Corps (I-Corps), training teams of the nation's top scientists and engineers to take their ideas out of the university lab and into the commercial marketplace. In 2014, the I-Corps program was expanded to include the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Departments of Energy and of Defense. Over 750 teams have gone through the I-Corps program.