VLAB

Affective Computing: The Power of Emotion Analytics
2015-05-21 18:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Affective Computing
The Power of Emotion Analytics

Thursday, May 21, 2015
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

Affective Computing — technology that knows how you feel, can now read human emotion in real time. By combining sensor technology, big data and machine intelligence, Emotion Analytics engines will engage consumers more effectively, propelling a new Emotion Economy.
This controversial development will affect all areas of industry from advertising and market research to consumer products. Facial expressions and even the spoken word can be observed and analyzed in real time to detect physical response to stimuli, identify emotion and transform measurable results into actionable insights. Companies using Affective Computing will create a whole new level of brand and product experiences for users, disrupting the $32B Consumer Market Research industry.

How will Affective Computing allow companies to influence your day-to-day behavior?
Will people sacrifice emotional privacy for affective computing enabled enriched experiences?
Can built-in affective computing agents be used to upsell consumers?

Moderator

Zavain Dar, Senior Associate, Lux Capital

Panelists

Yuval Mor, Co-founder and CEO, Beyond Verbal
Rana el Kaliouby, Co-founder and Chief Strategy & Science Officer, Affectiva
Ken Denman, President and CEO, Emotient
Mary Czerwinski, Research Manager, Microsoft Research

Demo Pavillion

Beyond Verbal • Affectiva • Emotient • Gestigon • Eyeris • SAILORS-Stanford AI Lab

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Founders Series: Consumer Based Marketplaces
2015-05-06 17:30 - 20:00 | San Francisco, CA
Founders' Series

Consumer Based Marketplaces
Mentorship from Jeff Jordan,Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Wednesday, May 6, 20155:30 pm to 8:00 pm5:30 pm: Reception and networking6:30 pm: Fireside Chat

San Francisco(Address will be sent to registered attendees.)

Jeff Jordan is a pioneer in transforming traditional marketplaces to e-commerce consumer based marketplaces and expanding business through product innovation. Join VLAB Founder Series, Wednesday, May 6th, for an evening with Jeff Jordan, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and gain insights that you can apply to your own startup. The discussion will be moderated by Michael Copeland, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
With Jeff’s experience as an executive and VC, he will share his insights on:

Product innovation and implementation in online marketplaces
Economically empowering users through “People marketplaces”
Targeting previously un-addressable markets through new media technologies
The importance of taking risk to be disruptive

Join us at our next VLAB Founders Series event to connect with other startup founders and gain personalized feedback from Jeff Jordan about the opportunities for change in our daily consumption and commercial activities.

Speaker

Jeff Jordan
Jeff serves on the board of Airbnb, Belly, Crowdtilt, Instacart, Pinterest, Walker & Company, and 500px. Jeff also oversees A16Z’s investments in Fanatics, Julep, and zulily.
Jeff was chief executive officer and executive chair of OpenTable. Before Open Table, Jeff was president of PayPal, making them the global standard for online payments. Earlier, as senior vice president and general manager of eBay North America, he drove the successful acquisitions of PayPal and Half.com. Before eBay, Jeff was chief financial officer of Hollywood Entertainment and president of Reel.com. Jeff holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he serves on the Advisory Counsel.

This is event is sponsored by

About the VLAB Founders’ Series
Founders’ Series events provide a unique opportunity for startups and technologists to take part in an interactive session. Come prepared with your burning questions!
If you would like to have the rare opportunity to take the “Hot Seat” on stage to receive feedback from the speakers, please be sure to enter your question in the field below. Startup founders selected for the “Hot Seat” will be notified in advance.
For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org.
Note: Founder's Series tickets are for startup founders and are subject to approval. Please allow 24-48 hours for final ticket confirmation.

Fintech: Silicon Valley Takes On Wall Street
2015-04-21 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Fintech
Silicon Valley Takes On Wall Street

Tuesday, April 21, 2015
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

Finance is no longer a game restricted to the professionals.
Today’s lean, data-driven startups are moving financial services from Wall Street to Main Street. Using artificial intelligence and scalable web platforms, they are leveraging operational efficiencies to drive new business models.
Changes to the regulatory environment following the financial crisis now make it possible for new entrants to offer financial services targeted to Millennials and the middle-class. Fintech startups are poised to disrupt this massive multi-trillion dollar market.
Will Silicon Valley startups succeed at revolutionizing Wall-Street or will they be squashed by the massive power, deep pockets and Capitol Hill connections of centuries-old financial behemoths?

Moderator

Nick Shalek, Partner, Ribbit Capital

Panelists

Baiju Prafulkumar Bhatt, Co-Founder, Robinhood
Libor Michalek, CTO, Affirm
Jillian Manus, General Partner, Structure Capital
Jake Fuentes, CEO, Level Money, acquired by Capital One

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

The Enterprise Strikes Back: Disrupting Vendor Clouds
2015-03-17 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
The Enterprise Strikes Back
Disrupting Vendor Clouds

Tuesday, March 17, 2015
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

OpenStack is democratizing the data center. Up until now, only very large Internet players like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple could afford custom-built data centers that gave them a competitive edge. With OpenStack, the Compute, Network, and Storage pillars of today’s data center are being commoditized, allowing companies of all sizes to build or buy the infrastructure they need.
As a free and open-source cloud computing software platform, OpenStack enables data center infrastructure as a service (IaaS). With competition driving prices down, startups and entrenched players are in a race to bring the power of the cloud to the Enterprise.
According to 451 Research, the OpenStack market will quadruple over the next four years to reach $3.3 billion by 2018. Dominant players like AWS are being challenged by companies that are gaining traction through interoperable infrastructure, services, and cloud management tools..

Who will guarantee interoperability among vendors?
How will business models evolve for Open Source private clouds?
Will service providers continue to grab the lion’s share of the revenues?

Moderator

Peter Christy, Research Director, 451 Research

Panelists

Joe Arnold, President and Chief Product Officer, SwiftStack
Chris C. Kemp, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Nebula
Alex Freedland, Co-Founder and Chairman, Mirantis
Simone Brunozzi, Vice President and Chief Technologist, Hybrid Cloud at VMware
Jacques Benkoski, Partner, US Ventures Partners

Demo Pavillion

SwiftStack • Nebula • 451 Research • Red Hat • SuperMicro • PLUMgrid • OpenStack.org • SF Bay OpenStack

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Founders Series: The Art of Relationship Building
2015-03-12 18:00 - 20:30 | CA
Founders' Series

The Art of Relationship Building
An Evening with Heidi Roizen

Thursday, March 12, 20156:00 pm to 8:30 pm6:00 pm: Reception and networking7:00 pm: Fireside Chat

San Francisco(Address will be sent to registered attendees.)

Relationships are fundamental to every successful startup.
Approaching business interactions with a relational perspective, rather than a transactional one, lays the groundwork for long-term success.
If you are a startup founder, join us on Thursday March 12th, for an evening with Heidi Roizen, Operating Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and hear from a Silicon Valley icon with deep experience.
Heidi will share her insights on:

Building relationships, not just a Rolodex
Re-thinking the art of negotiation
Maintaining your cool under adversity
How ethics sets the tone

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to connect with other startup founders and receive personalized mentorship from Heidi Roizen. Learn what it takes to build successful and meaningful relationships for your entrepreneurial venture.

Speaker

Heidi Roizen
Heidi, a Stanford University Graduate School Alumni, and renowned Silicon Valley VC, is also a successful entrepreneur and former CEO of T/Maker (an early personal computer software company). She was the former VP of World Wide Developer Relations at Apple, and in addition to being a key decision-maker at DFJ, Heidi also teaches classes on Entrepreneurship at Stanford University.
Heidi serves on the board of DMGT (LSE: DMGT), ShareThis, Mode Media, and Technorati, and is on the advisory board of Springboard Enterprises and the National Center for Women in Information Technology.

Moderator

Hank Barry
Hank Barry is co-chair of Sidley Austin’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practice group and a co-founder of the firm’s Palo Alto office. Hank’s previous roles include managing director at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and CEO and a Board member of Napster, Inc. Hank represents Amazon.com Inc. and other companies in digital media matters, as well as technology startups and venture capital firms.

About the VLAB Founders’ Series
Founders’ Series events provide a unique opportunity for startups and technologists to take part in an interactive session. Come prepared with your burning questions!
If you would like to have the rare opportunity to take the “Hot Seat” on stage to receive feedback from the speakers, please be sure to enter your question in the field below. Startup founders selected for the “Hot Seat” will be notified in advance.
For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org.
Note: Founder's Series tickets are for startup founders and are subject to approval. Please allow 24-48 hours for final ticket confirmation.

Gut-Feeling: Ventures into the Microbiome
2015-02-17 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Gut-Feeling
Ventures into the Microbiome

Tuesday, February 17, 2015
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

Is Bacteria Analytics the Key to Personalized Medicine?
Bacteria are no longer the enemy. Scientists and entrepreneurs have entered a race to develop tools and datasets that uncover the role microbes play in human health.
The human body contains a complex environment of bacteria that live on the skin, and in the mouth and gut — the microbiome. Genetic information in the microbiome outnumbers genetic information in human cells by 40:1
Advances in DNA sequencing and big data allow us to analyze bacteria like never before. Companies that focus on the microbiome could transform multi-billion dollar concerns like weight loss ($60B), probiotics ($30B), cosmetics, dental health, and even chronic diseases like diabetes.

Will microbiome analysis change modern medicine?
How are entrepreneurs involved?
Is the money in sequencing, analytics, or drug development?

Moderator

Mark Bünger, Sr. Research Director, Lux Research

Panelists

Colleen Cutcliffe, Ph.D., Co-founder & CEO, Whole Biome
Karim Dabbagh, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Second Genome
Jackie Papkoff, Ph.D., Vice President, Johnson & Johnson Innovation
Douglas Crawford, Ph.D., Managing Director, Mission Bay Capital, Associate Director, QB3

Demo Pavillion

AOBiome • Nubiome • Stanford Relman Lab • PacBio

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Young Women Entrepreneurs Under 30
2015-01-20 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Young Women Entrepreneurs Under 30

Tuesday, January 20, 2015
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

VLAB’s annual Young Entrepreneurs Event hosts a panel of women founders under 30.
These extraordinary visionaries are impacting businesses, changing the perception of women.
They will share their stories about building products, leading teams, raising capital, and bouncing back from every setback.
Beyond gender, beyond their words, beyond the products and even beyond their visions and teams, we connect with their passion.
Join us in January 2015 as we hear their drive to leave this world a better place; to show upcoming generations of women that they, too, can succeed. The question was never “why?” or “why not?” – it has always been, “how?”

Moderator

Fran Maier, Founder, TRUSTe

Panelists

Brienne Ghafourifar, Co-Founder, Entefy
Lisa Falzone, CEO, Revel
Alex Meliones, Co-Founder & Chief Creative and Marketing, BitWall
Nanxi Liu, Co-Founder and CEO, Enplug
Yunha Kim, Co-Founder and CEO, Locket

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Human Augmentation: Blurring the Line Between Biology & Technology
2014-11-20 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Human Augmentation
Blurring the Line Between Biology & Technology

Thursday, November 20, 2014
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

The true age of the bionic man is upon us. Innovative new technologies are restoring and enhancing human sensory and motor functions like never before. Setting a new standard for quality of life and physiological enhancement, their creators enrich human capacities in ways only imagination could promise in the past.
Entrepreneurs and private investors are innovating with low cost materials, sensors, and computation, to quickly replace the clumsy solutions of the past.
What will the glasses, hearing aids, prosthetic, and wheelchairs of today look like in the near future? How will new ventures and entrepreneurs change the meaning of “disability”? What new industries will spawn to meet new customers demands?
Join us as we hear from entrepreneurs to discover how innovation blurs the lines between biology and technology, and explore the implications of what some call Human 2.0.

Moderator

Corinna E. Lathan, Ph.D., P.E., Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AnthroTronix

Panelists

Peter Hadrovic, President, Sonitus Technologies Inc
Nathaniel McCaffrey, Vice President of Engineering, Ekso Bionics
Shahin Farshchi, Partner, Lux Capital
Jeremy Crowell, Director of Central Fabrication, Hosmer, a Fillauer company

Demo Pavillion

Ekso Bionics • Sonitus Medical • FIXED The Movie • VisionCare Opthalmic Technologies • Syn-Touch LLC • Two Six Industries • Emotiv

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Big Data from Space: Actionable Intelligence on Earth
2014-10-22 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Big Data from Space
Actionable Intelligence on Earth

Wednesday, October 22, 2014
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

Dramatic disruptions to Earth observation are being delivered by ambitious startups that are launching large fleets of small, interconnected satellites and developing cutting-edge analytics. The number of earth-gazing satellites has nearly doubled in 2014 alone. With views into daily global activity being refreshed at a faster rate than ever before, selling raw pixels and signals is not enough to satisfy industry demands. It is these startups that are changing how we use Big Data in business here on earth.
Responding to ever-expanding industry demands by delivering “near real-time” data and developing cutting-edge analytics at a lower cost, these startups are providing actionable insights for many industries. Finance, insurance, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mapping, manufacturing, shipping, mining, sustainable industries, and energy enterprises are using eyes and ears in the sky to make better decisions and improve operational efficiency with actionable data sent ultimately from space.
As funding moves rapidly from government to commercial, the global market for satellite-sourced intelligence is predicted to grow by over $5 billion by 2019. Venture capital firms such as DFJ Venture and Khosla Ventures are investing in innovative startups, with successful exits like the recent acquisitions of satellite operator Skybox Imaging by Google for $500 million and climatology Big Data analytics venture The Climate Corporation by Monsanto for nearly $1 billion.

Why are industry giants eager to consume data from the sky?
Which markets will be transformed using Big Data from Space?

Moderator

Amaresh Kollipara, Principal, Space Angels Network, and Managing Partner, Earth2Orbit

Panelists

Pavel Machalek, CEO, Spaceknow
Theresa Condor, Vice-President Sales & Business Development, Spire
Robbie Schingler, Co-Founder, President and COO, Planet Labs
Shay Har-Noy, Ph.D, Senior Director – Geo-spatial Big Data, DigitalGlobe
Julian Mann, Co-Founder and Vice-President Product Management, Skybox Imaging (acquired by Google)

Demo Pavillion

Mapbox • Spaceknow • DauriaGEO • UrtheCast • Alanax • Silicon Valley Space Center • SETI

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Founders' Series: Building Durable Startups for Lasting Impact
2014-09-23 18:00 - 20:30 | Menlo Park, CA, Menlo Park, CA, United States
Founders' Series

Building Durable Startups for Lasting Impact
Office Hours with John Lilly
Moderated by Robert Scoble

Thursday, September 23, 20146:00 pm to 8:30 pm6:00 pm: Reception and networking7:00 pm: Fireside Chat

Menlo Park, CA(Address will be sent to registered attendees.)

Building a sustainable startup with lasting impact is not an easy endeavor. If you are a startup founder with a compelling vision of the future, join us on Tuesday, September 23rd, to receive mentorship from John Lilly, Partner at Greylock Partners. John, a renown Silicon Valley VC, is also a successful entrepreneur as former CEO of Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox, as well as the founding CEO and CTO of Reactivity (acquired by Cisco in 2007).
John focuses on the consumer internet market. He is Greylock’s investment lead in Dropbox and led their investments in Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo, 2013) and Instagram (acquired by Facebook, 2012). John is on the Board of Directors of MessageMe, Clearslide, Citrus Lane, and Code for America. John previously served on the boards of directors of TripIt (acquired by Concur, 2011) and CenterRun (acquired by Sun Microsystems, 2003). Hear John address:

Building your team
Successfully scaling your business
Distribution and network effects
Choosing your investors

Join us at our next VLAB Founders Series event to connect with other startup founders and gain personalized feedback form John Lilly and Robert Scoble. Learn what it take to build your durable, scalable and impactful company.

Speaker

John Lilly, Partner, Greylock Partners
Building a sustainable startup with lasting impact is not an easy endeavor. If you are a startup founder with a compelling vision of the future, join us on Tuesday, September 23rd, to receive mentorship from John Lilly, Partner at Greylock Partners. John, a renown Silicon Valley VC, is also a successful entrepreneur as former CEO of Mozilla, the organization behind Firefox, as well as the founding CEO and CTO of Reactivity (acquired by Cisco in 2007).
John focuses on the consumer internet market. He is Greylock’s investment lead in Dropbox and led their investments in Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo, 2013) and Instagram (acquired by Facebook, 2012). John is on the Board of Directors of MessageMe, Clearslide, Citrus Lane, and Code for America. John previously served on the boards of directors of TripIt (acquired by Concur, 2011) and CenterRun (acquired by Sun Microsystems, 2003).

Moderator

Robert Scoble, Rackspace
As Startup Liaison for Rackspace, Robert Scoble travels the world for Rackspace’s startup program, tracking the bleeding edge of technology. He’s a technology evangelist who has interviewed thousands of executives and innovators around the globe and has shared his insights and learnings with his millions of followers on YouTube, Twitter, Google+. He has also authored several technology books, and his latest is The Age of Context.

About the VLAB Founders’ Series
Founders’ Series events provide a unique opportunity for startups and technologists to take part in an interactive session. Come prepared with your burning questions!
If you would like to have the rare opportunity to take the “Hot Seat” on stage to receive feedback from the speakers, please be sure to enter your question in the field below. Startup founders selected for the “Hot Seat” will be notified in advance.
For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org.
Note: Founder's Series tickets are for startup founders and are subject to approval. Please allow 24-48 hours for final ticket confirmation.

Deep Learning: Intelligence from Big Data
2014-09-16 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Deep Learning
Intelligence from Big Data

Tuesday, September 16, 2014
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

A machine learning approach inspired by the human brain, Deep Learning is taking many industries by storm. Empowered by the latest generation of commodity computing, Deep Learning begins to derive significant value from Big Data. It has already radically improved the computer’s ability to recognize speech and identify objects in images, two fundamental hallmarks of human intelligence.
Industry giants such as Google, Facebook, and Baidu have acquired most of the dominant players in this space to improve their product offerings. At the same time, startup entrepreneurs are creating a new paradigm, Intelligence as a Service, by providing APIs that democratize access to Deep Learning algorithms. Join us on September 16, 2014 to learn more about this exciting new technology and be introduced to some of the new application domains, the business models, and the key players in this emerging field.

Moderator

Steve Jurvetson, Partner, DFJ Ventures

Panelists

Adam Berenzweig, Co-founder and CTO, Clarifai
Naveen Rao, Co-founder and CEO, Nervana Systems
Elliot Turner, Founder and CEO, AlchemyAPI
Ilya Sutskever, Research Scientist, Google Brain

Demo Pavillion

Clarifai • SkyMind • Ersatz Labs • AlchemyAPI

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Algorithm Alchemy: Turning Talent Search into Gold
2014-06-19 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Algorithm Alchemy
Turning Talent Search into Gold

Thursday, June 19, 2014
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

Startups are turning the tables on recruiting with targeted prospecting algorithms. Applicant search is transformed into precise talent-matching through the collection and curation of data from numerous sources. The new platforms level the playing field, reshaping the interaction between job seekers, recruiters, and hiring managers.
There is a new gold rush in the global talent acquisition market! According to Bersin by Deloitte, the global talent acquisition market is now worth over $150B annually. While online job boards and aggregators continue to hold the largest slice of the pie, new entrants are poised to take away significant market share.
Join us on Thursday, June 19th to find out how today’s alchemists are exploring new frontiers in the job market, disrupting an industry that has become inefficient and unwieldy:

Will resumes and cover letters become obsolete?
Do the new tools threaten the work of today’s recruiters or augment their value?
Will behavioral assessment tools shift the perception of who is considered the most qualified candidate?
Will new marketplaces replace online job postings in an era of powerful employment matchmaking?

Moderator

Craig Driscoll, Talent Partner, Highland Capital

Panelists

Alex Dévé, Founder and CEO, Whitetruffle
Marc Hoag, Co-Founder and CEO, Venturocket & Crowd Vitae
Sheeroy Desai, Co-Founder and CEO, Gild
Dan Shapero, Vice President of Talent Solutions, Linkedin

Demo Pavillion

Readyforce • Venturocket • Whitetruffle • Gild • JobScore • Rewards.to • Loopd • HackerRank • Hired

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Collaborative Robots: Living Amongst Us
2014-05-29 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Collaborative Robots
Living Amongst Us

Thursday, May 29, 2014
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
6:00 pm: Reception and networking
7:00 pm: Panel discussion (with Q&A)

We are now standing at the dawn of a new robotic era. Robots are learning to perform complex tasks and to interact with humans in boundless environments. Naturally, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are at the center of this disruption.
Massive new markets are opening up. A new generation of innovative robotic platforms is emerging with human cadence and more adaptable automation solutions. According to TechNavio, the global service robotics market is expected to grow at CARG (compound annual rate growth) of 20%. Industrial robots will reach $37 billion by 2018. The agricultural robots market is also expected to reach $16.3 billion by 2020, 20 times its current value.
Groups including the Open Source Robotics Foundation are carving the building blocks of a Robot 2.0 revolution, creating open platforms that dramatically shrink the cost of new robot development – much like how LAMP stacks supercharged Web 2.0 and created a wave of internet startups including Google and Facebook.

Will these robots facilitate the predicted re-shoring or renaissance in US manufacturing?
And what will be the economic consequences of this new co-habitation?

Join us on Thursday, May 29th, 2014, as we hear from our panel of entrepreneurs and learn how powerful mobile processors and sensors as well as sophisticated AI technology are inspiring the development of a modern robot.

Moderator

Andra Keay, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Robotics

Panelists

Melonee Wise, CEO & Founder, Unbounded Robotics
Milan Shah, VP of Software Engineering, Rethink Robotics
John Dulchinos, Vice President of Automation, Jabil Circuits
Peter Hebert, Co-Founder, Lux Capital

Demo Pavillion

Aldebaran • Dash Robotics • OSRF (Open Source Robotics Foundation) • Otherlab • Precise Automation • Revolve Robotics • Tempo Automation

Cemex Auditorium
at the Knight Management Center
Stanford Graduate School of Business
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94025

Founders Series: The Perfect Pitch - Connecting with Investors
2014-05-13 18:00 - 20:30 | CA
Founders' Series

The Perfect Pitch
Connecting with Investors
Office Hours with Bill Reichert, Managing Director, Garage Technology VenturesModerated by James Beriker, President and CEO, Simply Hired

Tuesday, May 13, 20146:00 pm to 8:30 pm6:00 pm: Reception and networking7:00 pm: Fireside Chat

Silicon Valley(Address will be sent to registered attendees.)

Are you a startup founder pitching your idea to investors? Join us on on Tuesday, May 13th as our featured luminary, Bill Reichert, Managing Director at Garage Technology Partners, shares valuable insights into the venture capital investment process.
Key topics will include:

Communicating the essence of your company and how to get investors on board with your vision
Developing a compelling pitch
Connecting with potential investors
Devising plausible growth plans, sales cycles, and market segmentation
Addressing risk with potential investors
Aspects of negotiating your Seed and Series A investments

Limited spaces are available for this exclusive event where you will have the opportunity to discuss your burning questions with Bill Reichert in a candid environment.

Speaker

Bill Reichert
Bill brings a wealth of experience as a successful serial entrepreneur and as Managing Director at Garage Technology Partners. Bill has been a member of the Board of Directors of MiaSole, CaseStack, WhiteHat Security, ClearFuels Technology, ThermoCeramix, cFares, and STEP Labs (acquired by Dolby Labs). Some of Garage’s earlier investments include Pandora Media (NYSE: P), Digital Fountain (acquired by Qualcomm), Coremetrics (acquired by IBM), iNest (acquired by LendingTree), Psionic (acquired by Cisco), LeftHand Networks (acquired by HP), Answers.com (NSDQ: ANSW), Hoku Scientific (NSDQ: HOKU), and Kaboodle (acquired by Hearst Corp). Prior to joining Garage in 1998, Bill co-founded Academic Systems, funded by Kleiner Perkins, Accel Partners, and Microsoft, and acquired by Plato Learning (NSDQ: TUTR). Earlier, Bill was a senior executive at venture-backed technology companies.
Garage Technology Ventures is a seed-stage and early-stage venture capital firm based in Los Altos, California. Garage makes focused investments in promising early-stage technology companies and works intensively with them to help them grow and succeed.

About the VLAB Founders’ Series
Founders’ Series events provide a unique opportunity for startups and technologists to take part in an interactive session. Come prepared with your burning questions!
If you would like to have the rare opportunity to take the “Hot Seat” on stage to receive feedback from the speakers, please be sure to enter your question in the field below. Startup founders selected for the “Hot Seat” will be notified in advance.
For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org.
Note: Founder's Series tickets are for startup founders and are subject to approval. Please allow 24-48 hours for final ticket confirmation.

Click to Fit: How Startups are Personalizing Fashion
2014-04-15 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
“Never go to the mall again,” is the mantra of startups who are setting their sights on disrupting the $200 billion dollar apparel industry.
Through new sourcing technologies and differentiated approaches to big data, next generation retail startups are providing a personalized fashion experience that is scalable and accessible through the click of a button.
What has conventionally been the most subjective of all retail verticals is now being mastered by entrepreneurs with this new data centric approach. Consumers far from Rodeo Drive or Savile Row can now experience personalized fashion that is reflective of their style and custom tailored to fit to their body, shape and size.
Questions to be addressed by our panel include:

How will our shopping experiences change based on this new revolution of mass personalization?
Can a personalization company for the mass market also be efficient, accurate, and scalable?
Can inventory risk be mitigated with this new model of retailing?
With investments in apparel ecommerce declining, how are investors perceiving this new wave of personalization in apparel?

Join us on Tuesday, April 15th, as we discover how retail startups are redefining our pre-existing notion of commerce.

Moderator

Janie Yu, Vice President, Fung Capital

Panelists

Katrina Lake, Founder and CEO, Stitch Fix
Michael Zhang, Co-Founder, Trumaker
Sean Moran, CEO and President, Reflektion
Rob Holloway, Founder and CEO, Zafu (Former President, Levi’s US)

Demo Pavillion

ShoeFitr • PersonalShopping • Dapper • Vastrm • Tulemod

Ambient IQ: Intelligence Anywhere and Everywhere
2014-03-18 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Ambient IQ: Intelligence Anywhere and Everywhere **VIDEO AVAILABLE**
Event summary here.

Ambient IQ: Intelligence Anywhere and Everywhere Tonight! Tuesday, March 18, 2014Tickets will be available at the door. LOCATION:Stanford Graduate School of BusinessKnight Management Ctr – Cemex Auditorium, Zambrano Hall641 Knight WayStanford, CA 6:00pm – 7:00pm: Registration & Reception7:00pm – 8:30pm: Event Program Ambient data, collected through sensor networks and mobile devices, is transforming our physical environment into a ubiquitous experience which is personalized, context-aware, and responsive to the presence of people and vice versa. With Google’s recent acquisition of smart thermostat maker, Nest, for $3.2B dollars, and the integration of Apple’s CarPlay into the automotive industry, we will see the potential for new platforms to emerge as venture capital firms including Greylock, Highland Capital and Box group are investing nearly $468 million in automation startups. Companies from GE to Yahoo to Intel to Mobile Service Providers are seeking to be play a critical role in this business. Cisco estimates 50 billion networked devices by 2020. This network of devices is expected to help individuals carry out their day-to-day activities seamlessly and with greater efficiency. As we enter the era of the smart environment, what will it take for startups including Electric Imp and Automatic to succeed in this new, dynamic environment where the abundance of data creates both tremendous opportunities and challenges? Join us onTuesday, March 18th as we discover the possibilities and feature startups who are redesigning our everyday experiences. ModeratorBill Ferrell, Founder, Weld Inc. Panelists Hugo Fiennes, Co-Founder and CEO, Electric ImpThejo Kote, Co-Founder and CEO, AutomaticSavitha Srinivasan, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group & Director, IBM Corporate StrategyJosh Elman, Partner, Greylock Partners

Where's the Beef? Startups Disrupting the Food Chain
2014-02-18 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Where’s the Beef? Startups Disrupting the Food Chain **VIDEO AVAILABLE** Event summary available here.

Getting a taste for animal-free proteins of the future

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

LOCATION:
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Knight Management Ctr –
Cemex Auditorium, Zambrano Hall |
641 Knight Way
Stanford, CA
(Parking and Directions)

6:00 pm – Registration, Networking Reception & Demos
7:00 pm – Panel Discussion (Q&A)

** Advance Registration Closed – TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR **
With recent advancements in tissue engineering and plant protein research, startups and food technologists are now engineering meat and other animal products to meet rising levels of global consumption.

– Will startups like Modern Meadow and Beyond Meat be able to capture a large chunk of the $6 trillion food industry?

– Will they revolutionize how we produce food?
– Will they reduce GHG emissions and our overall carbon footprint?
– What makes a food technology startup fundable?

Join us on Tuesday, February 18th to discover how innovations in the biotech industry are disrupting conventional methods of food production. Find out if these technologies will provide a more sustainable food supply, reduce our carbon footprint, and steer us away from our carnivorous habits.

Moderator

Stacy Feld, Partner at Physic Ventures

Panelists
Andras Forgacs, Founder and CEO, Modern Meadow
Ethan Brown, Founder and CEO, BeyondMeat

Ken Plasse, VP Business Development, Nutritionals, Solazyme

Rob Leclerc, Ph.D., CEO, AgFunder

Demo Companies
Six Food Insects | KuliKuli
| Soylent

** Early Bird Rate ends soon, Register today!

** Follow (@VLAB) on Twitter and Event Hashtag #VLABfood

Young Entrepreneurs: Under 30 and On Fire
2014-01-21 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Young Entrepreneurs: Under 30 and On Fire **VIDEO AVAILABLE** Event summary available here.

Stanford University
LOCATION:
Cemex Auditorium | Stanford University
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
6:00 pm – 7:00PM Registration & Reception
7:00 pm – 8:30PM Panel Discussion including Q&A Session

**ONLINE REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR**
Follow (@VLAB) on Twitter and Event Hashtag #VLABGenY

VLAB is back with one of the most anticipated events of the year: Young Entrepreneurs – Under 30 and On Fire. We are tapping into the minds of some of the most successful innovators under 30 in the heart of Silicon Valley. They are doing it all: raising money, leading talented teams and steering their vision forward.

Five young entrepreneurs, all under the age of 30 will share their stories as they inspire us with the power of their ideas and their relentless passion to execute.

Moderated by Adam Draper, CEO and Founder of Boost Incubator, our panel will feature:
Michael Carter, CEO at Game Closure, raised $12M to tackle the hardest problems in mobile gaming and is recognized by W3C for his initial design of the HTML5 WebSocket real-time technology that is used in all modern web browsers

Melody McCloskey, CEO at StyleSeat, a woman entrepreneur recognized in 2010 by Business Insider as a Silicon Valley 100

James Tamplin, CEO & Co-Founder at Firebase, a co-founder of a realtime application platform that allows developers to synchronize data instantaneously
Lat Ware, Founder at Crooked Tree Studios, a game developer who successfully launched a game with telekinesis like powers on Kickstarter
Marcus Weller, Ph.D., CEO & Chairman of Skully Helmets, the CEO of a heads-up display motorcycle helmet which won the coveted DEMO God award at their 2013 launch
To see highlights of last year’s event, click on the following link and join us on Jan. 21st.
Five distinguished panelists, one moderator. No theory; real execution and real results. Don’t miss it! See you there!

Self-Driving Vehicles
2013-11-21 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Self-Driving Vehicles ***VIDEO AVAILABLE***
New inroads bring driverless cars to market. Event summary available here.

LOCATION & SCHEDULE:

Stanford University

Cemex Auditorium,
655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA 94305-7298

Parking Information
Parking Structure VII, 655 Knight Way off Campus Drive (located under Faculty Building West @ Knight Management Center)

5:30 pm – 6:15PM Pre-event Appearance: Google Self-Driving Car
6:00 pm – 7:00PM Registration & Reception

7:00 pm – 8:30PM Panel Discussion including Q&A Session

**ONLINE REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR**

Follow (@VLAB) on Twitter and Event Hashtag #VLABauto

Advances in sensor technologies, robotics, and vehicle-to-vehicle communications are now converging to (finally) make driverless cars a reality.

Sales of driverless vehicles are expected to surpass 95.4 million by 2035, representing 75% of all light-duty vehicle sales according to an August 2013 report by Navigant Research. Unfathomable? Think again!

This radical shift in transportation is driving the old, established auto industry to a new frontier. Opportunities abound for leveraging technology and innovation to get driverless cars to market. These include connected cars, cars initially used for slower speed driving, networks of alternative fleets, traditional automakers, and even autonomous expertise from other industries.

When self-driving, autonomous vehicles replace the ones we have today, it will impact an existing ecosystem of stakeholders from automobile manufacturers to dealers, servicers, insurers and car-for-hire providers. Those who remain complacent in the face of such disruptive change may find themselves left behind.

When will today’s passenger vehicles become the dinosaurs of tomorrow? Why will this happening in the near future instead of in 10+ years?

Which technologies and customer needs have triggered the disruption in transportation? (Environment, Congestion, Safety, Rising costs of fuel?)

Which business models are the most viable? What approach will garner the most funding to propel it forward?

How will companies generate the most demand and traction for their route-to-market?

Join VLAB and our panelists on Thursday, November 21st for a lively discussion on the reality and future potential for autonomous cars.

PANELISTS

Thilo Koslowski, Vice President & Automotive Practice Leader, Gartner
Josh Switkes, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Peloton Technology Inc.

Corey Clothier, President and COO, Induct Technologies USA
Marteen Sierhuis, Director, Nissan Research Center – Silicon Valley
Luca Delgrossi, Director, Driver Assistance & Chasis Systems NA, Mercedes-Benz R&D North America
Sven Strohband, Partner and CTO, Khosla Ventures

Special Appearance by Google Self-Driving Car
Time: Thursday, November 21st – 5:30-6:15PM

Please join us for the chance to speak with a Google operations driver and have an up close and personal opportunity to check out one of their self-driving cars equipped with video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America, for their support of this upcoming event. Panasonic Automotive Systems is the premier provider of innovative, environmentally responsible in-vehicle electrical systems and devices.

Founders' Series: Office Hours with Carl Showalter, from Opus Capital
2013-10-24 18:00 - 20:30 | Mountain View, CA, Mountain View, CA, United States
Office Hours with Carl Showalter, from Opus Capital
Exclusive Event for Startup Founders & Technologists

Moderated by Bill Schreiber, Partner at Fenwick & West
Thursday, October 24, 2013
LOCATION: Mountain View, exact location TBA

6:00 pm – Registration & Reception
7:00 – 8:30pm – Event Program
This is an exclusive event for startup founders and technologists.
Are you a startup founder or an innovator at a tech company with burning questions looking to get some great advice on your venture or idea from an industry luminary in enterprise infrastructure, big data, SaaS and the Internet of Things? Join us at our next VLAB Founders Series event on Thursday, October 24th featuring Carl Showalter, General Partner at Opus Capital.
Please apply to attend the October 24th Founders Series event here !
Please apply by 12 PM Tuesday, October 22 for an invitation to attend this event.
About Carl Showalter
Carl Showalter brings a wealth of experience in the areas of the Internet of Things, network virtualization, next generation wireless, and data center/cloud infrastructure software. His investment portfolio includes many exciting startups including Panzura, SpiderCloud Wireless, Arraynet and Vertascale. Before joining Opus as a founding General Partner, Carl was a General Partner with Lightspeed Venture Partners. Prior to this, Carl served as Vice President of Marketing at Juniper Networks. Before Juniper, Carl was Vice President of Dial and Broadband Services for UUNET, overseeing the 300-person, $1B revenue division. He also held various sales and management positions at ANS, an AOL company, where he helped build AOL’s modem access network and then helped launch hardware-based firewalls and IP VPNs in the mid 1990′s.
Opus Capital is an early stage, IT-focused venture fund that invests in startups focused on building big businesses leveraging trends around the cloud, mobility and big data.

About VLAB Founders Series
Founders Series events provide a unique opportunity for early stage startups and technologists to take part in an interactive “office hours” style session, so come prepared with your burning questions! Several startup founders are invited to take the “Hot Seat” on stage, where they each have the opportunity to ask Carl questions and receive feedback, specifically about their startup idea, execution, or positioning.

Application process for the Founders Series event with Carl Showalter:

Apply here to the Founders Series event (application is brief and painless…we promise!)
Purchase a ticket. You will receive an email with a link where you can register for the event by purchasing a ticket (Early Bird price: $25, Regular price: $35).
Event location notification. Once you have purchased a ticket, you will receive an email with event location 48 hours prior to event.
Hot Seat finalists. If you have requested to be a “Hot Seat” candidate, semi-finalists will be notified no later than 24 hours prior to the event date. All Hot Seat semi-finalists will be requested to have a brief discussion with VLAB Founders Series Chair/Co-Chair prior to event. Final selection will be announced at event.

Apply early for the best chance at an invitation!

For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org

Privacy Startups
2013-10-15 18:00 - 20:30 | Stanford University: Vidalakis Dining Hall, 680 Serra Street, Stanford, CA, United States
Privacy Startups ***VIDEO AVAILABLE***
Can entrepreneurs protect your privacy online? Event summary available here.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

LOCATION:
Stanford University

Vidalakis Dining Hall | Schwab Residential Center (
Directions
)
680 Serra Street

Stanford, CA

6:00 pm – Registration & Reception
7:00 pm – Panel Discussion including Q&A Session
Online registrations are now closed. Tickets will be available for purchase at the venue.
Follow (@VLAB) on Twitter and Event Hashtag #VLABprivacy

Everyone is mining your data.

In the next minute, Google will receive over 2 million search queries, Facebook users will share nearly 1 million updates, and over 200 million emails will be sent. Large scale data-mining and analytics have enabled data brokers, like Acxiom, Datalogix, and Epsilon, to build detailed profiles on you and over 700 million other consumers.

According to the Wall Street Journal, privacy concerns are shaking up the $120B online advertising business, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) reports that the lack of trust in U.S. networks may cost us between $22 to $35 billion dollars.

As the loss of privacy in the digital age becomes more rampant, entrepreneurs are fighting back – securing your data, protecting your web traffic, and encrypting your communications. Will they succeed, or do we live in the age where privacy is forever lost? Join us on Tuesday, October 15th to find out.

Moderator

Seth Rosenblatt, Senior Writer, CNET

Panelists
Casey Oppenheim, Co-Founder, Disconnect.me

Nico Sell, Co-Founder & CEO, Wickr
Jack Yang, Associate General Counsel – Global Privacy Office and Enterprise Risk, VISA

Jacques Benkoski, Partner, US Venture Partners

Phil Zimmermann, Creator, PGP, and Co-Founder, Silent Circle

Aerospace: The Overlooked Customer for Your Startup
2013-09-24 18:00 - 20:30 | Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center, MacKenzie Room, 475 Via Ortega, 3rd Floor, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Event summary available here.

Aerospace: The Overlooked Customer for Your Startup
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Location:

Stanford University
Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center, MacKenzie Room
475 Via Ortega,
3rd Floor
Stanford, CA 94305
Parking Directions

There will be a catered reception before the start of the event.

6:00 pm – Registration & Reception
7:00 pm – Panel Discussion
ONLINE REGISTRATION CLOSED
**TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR**
Follow (@VLAB) on Twitter and Event Hashtag #VLABsi
Do you consider yourself an aerospace innovator? If not, think again. In this new economy of agile and rapid global innovation, cutting edge developments in both consumer and enterprise focused markets can make significant contributions to aerospace, yet many entrepreneurs are unaware of their technology’s potential in the aviation market.
Aerospace companies are creating new business models and forming partnerships to tap the potential of mainstream business models for the aerospace market. Come join a panel of aerospace-leading thinkers and learn how those that defy gravity are also defying traditional thinking on opportunities, partnerships, and innovation.
This event is sponsored by Sikorsky Innovations, the research and development organization of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. Sikorsky Innovations hosts an Entrepreneurial Challenge to identify and accelerate the development of emerging, transformational business solutions across all markets that can be applied to specialized aerospace and rotorcraft markets.
For additional details about the 4th Annual Entreprenerial Challenge hosted by Sikorsky Innovations, please click on the following link. Applications are due by November 1st, 2013.

Moderator:
Amaresh Kollipara, Founder and Managing Partner at Earth2Orbit and Principal at Space Angels Network

Panelists:
Jonathan Hartman, Disruptive Technologies Lead at Sikorsky Innovations

Adam McKenzie, Founder and CTO at Rescale

JoeBen Bevirt, Founder at Joby Aviation

Education Technology Tsunami: Common Core Disrupts K-12
2013-09-17 18:00 - 2013-09-21 20:30 | Stanford GSB: Cemex Auditorium at the Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Education Technology **VIDEO AVAILABLE**
Education Technology Tsunami: Common Core Disrupts K-12. Event summary available here.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013
LOCATION:
Stanford University
Cemex Auditorium, Zambrano Hall | Knight Management Center
641 Knight Way
Stanford, CA
(Parking and Directions)

6:00 pm – Registration, Networking Reception & Demos
7:00 pm – Panel Discussion (Q&A)
** Online registration closed **

A massive wave of change is transforming education as personalized, data-driven, digital learning programs storm into K-12 classrooms. The Common Core, adopted by 45 US states, imposes learning and testing which adapts to a student’s ability in real time. This may be the greatest driver ever of opportunity for EdTech entrepreneurs. Companies are innovating with new technologies, data platforms and tools to conform to the Common Core. Opportunities abound in curriculum design, testing and assessment tools.

Based on research by GSV Asset Management and Candlestick Research, the 2013 US education industry at large is nearly $1.5 trillion, representing 10% of America’s GDP, the largest category after healthcare. Education technology spending alone is predicted to hit $60 billion by 2018. California’s governor has allocated $1.25 billion in the next two years just to transition to Common Core technologies.
·How can entrepreneurs best leverage this historic business opportunity?
·What are the most effective go-to-market strategies in creating a sustainable business model?
·Which companies are successfully integrating Common Core into their products and services?
·How can companies develop successful partnerships with key stakeholders, including parents, students, teachers and administrators, all of whom are trying to make best use of all these new technologies?
·How can entrepreneurs help unleash data, create new curriculums, and train teachers all the while inspiring students to achieve higher levels of learning?

According to leading education investor, Tom Vander Ark, Partner and Founder of Learn Capital: “It’s exciting to see 45 states voluntarily adopting common college and career ready expectations for students — it makes the U.S. globally competitive, is embraced by teachers, and is unleashing an avalanche of innovation.”

Moderator

Tina Barseghian, Editor, Mindshift, and Senior Editor, KQED

Panelists
Mick Hewitt, CEO & Co-Founder, Mastery Connect
Lane Rankin, CEO & President, Illuminate Education
Scott Drossos,

Senior Vice President 1:1 Learning, Pearson North America
Karen Lien
, Director and Partner, ImagineK12
David Reilly, Assistant Superintendent, Sequoia Union High School District

Demo Companies
Agnitus | Bloomboard | Duck Duck Moose | Front Row Classroom | Motion Math | Pathbrite

** Follow (
@VLAB
) on Twitter and Event Hashtag
#VLABedutech

VLAB Open House: Season Kickoff Event 2013-14
2013-08-27 18:30 - 20:00 | Palo Alto, CA
VLAB Open House, Season Kickoff Event 2013/14
Join us at the VLAB Open House

When:
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM, Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Location:
Palo Alto, CA

Event is Sold Out. N
o tickets are available at the door, please no walk-ins.

You’re cordially invited to come kick off the 2013-14 VLAB program year and find your place in an event committee, functional team, or both! Join VLAB’s Executive Leadership for an evening of food, drinks, networking, and compelling discussion about what you can get out of being an active member of the VLAB Volunteer Community. This year’s event will be held in Palo Alto.

VLAB has continued to thrive for the past 23 years in large part because of its vibrant volunteer community, made up of people just like you. With a passion for entrepreneurism and connecting ideas, technology and people, you provide the spark that helps maintain the high caliber of VLAB events and our reputation as a nexus of Actionable Discovery. Our 2013-14 Program Year Kickoff Party is the perfect chance to reconnect and decide where you’re going to get the greatest benefit by speaking with our Executive Committee chairs, event chairs, and each other. Let’s discover together what VLAB can become this year.

Looking for the next official VLAB Monthly event? Join us for

September’s EdTech Tsunami!

Virtual Currencies: Gold Rush or Fools' Gold
2013-06-18 18:00 - 20:30 | Munger Bldg 4, Paul Berst Hall, 555 Salvatierra Walk, Stanford, CA, United States
Virtual Currencies: Gold Rush or Fools’ Gold ***VIDEO AVAILABLE***

When

Tuesday, June 18, 2013
6:00 – 7:00pm Networking and Refreshments
7:00 – 8:30pm Panel Discussion and Q&A

Where

Munger Bldg 4, Paul Brest Hall,
555 Salvatierra Walk, Stanford Univ
Parking Address:
Parking Structure 6, 560 Wilbur Way
Please allow some extra time for parking; availability may be tight due to increased event activity at Stanford.
Directions to Munger Conference Center

Tickets will be available at the door!

Introduction

Susan Athey, Professor of Economics,
Stanford Graduate School of Business

Moderator
Kashmir Hill, Senior Online Editor, Forbes Panelists
Fred Ehrsam, Co-founder, Coinbase
Chris Larsen, CEO and Co-Founder, OpenCoin, the company developing the Ripple protocol

Wendy Cheung, Director of Compliance and BSA Officer,
Silicon Valley Bank
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Principals,

Winklevoss Capital

Event Description

What if currency wasn’t something that exchanged hands physically, but moved instantaneously between networks, countries, and continents? What if it wasn’t regulated by a government, system of banks, or any entity at all? And, what if it was completely open source?This disruption of what we view as currency isn’t just theory, it is already a $1.5 billion dollar movement. Leading the charge is Bitcoin. Launched in 2009, Bitcoin moved to decentralize currency in a big way by leveraging cryptography (instead of government authority) to digitally coin and transfer money. Users can choose to use the currency veiled in anonymity while steadily gaining ground as a valuable, peer-to-peer currency.
With over 11M bitcoins in circulation, the virtual currency is gaining significant traction. Thousands of companies and online retailers, and as many as 140 non-profits currently accept payment in bitcoins. The market value of a single bitcoin was as low as pennies at the outset, has risen as high as $266 and now hovers in the $100-120 range.
The emergence of an alternative currency has had a domino effect. As more people “mine” (create) new bitcoins, more retailers and organizations scramble to adopt the infrastructure to accept this new form of payment. Non-profits have also been early adopters and virtual currencies have provided new ways to fund and extend their work.
The spike in consumer interest has also lead to new currency exchange systems like Mt. Gox—the current most popular online exchange, and Ripple–an emerging platform that calls itself the world’s first open transaction network to facilitate exchanges between all kinds of currencies, including Bitcoin. And the rise of Bitcoin has also spurred new similar virtual currencies such as Litecoin. The interest has not gone unnoticed by VC’s. Andreessen Horowitz recently completed an angel round for an undisclosed amount to fund OpenCoin, the developer of Ripple.
This fascinating area is also fraught with its own concerns. The characteristic potential anonymity of Bitcoin has led to virtually untraceable funding of illicit activities. The government, which has been slow to recognize virtual currencies, is starting to take notice considering the booming growth of this largely untaxed, unregulated currency.
Whether you are bitcoiner yourself or are brand new to virtual currencies, join a panel of experts on June 18th 2013, to learn about the past and future potential of virtual currencies.

VLAB and OPEN, Founders Pitch Fest
2013-06-08 08:00 - 16:00 | Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA, 95054, United States
VLAB and OPEN, Founders Pitch Fest
Where: Santa Clara Convention Center
When: Saturday, June 8th, 2013
Register: http://bit.ly/15nPJSx
Submission Deadlines:
Business Pitch/Presentation submission deadline: 6/06/13
Qualified entrepreneurs to be contacted: Upon receipt of the pitch
VLAB and OPEN Silicon Valley will host an all day pitch fest, pairing entrepreneurs with industry veterans or investors for targeted feedback on their pitch. The best pitches discovered throughout the day will be presented to a panel of executive and investor judges.
Founders pursuing opportunities in Consumer Web, Mobile, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship and others will benefit tremendously from this opportunity to learn, network, share and be inspired! Motivated startup founders are encouraged to apply.
The qualities/attributes we are looking for in Founder applicants include, but are not limited to:

Tech professional who has utilized his or her experience to start a venture
Open to potential investment, mentorship, new knowledge and inspiration
Has a viable problem / solution fit, viable market potential or another unique qualification in addressing the problem that he or she is pursuing
May have met milestones such as product prototype or initial product release, customer traction, or building the team.
Has an idea with high-growth potential and could go on to raise capital
Has a collaborative mindset in working with other founders

Format
Your submission should consist of a 1 Page Executive Summary and/or 5 slides and present the following information:

Business Idea and what unmet need it solves
Target market, potential of the market and your competition
Business model – margins, scalability of solution
What you need to execute on your idea (your funding requirement)
Why us, why now – brief bios of team members, track records

For questions or to submit your pitches email LaunchPad@opensiliconvalley.org

Founders' Series: Apply to Startup Office Hours with Bob Borchers of Opus Capital
2013-05-29 18:00 - 20:30 | Menlo Park, CA, Menlo Park, CA, United States
Apply to Startup Office Hours with Bob Borchers of Opus Capital
A Founders’ Series program
When:
May 29, 2013
6:00pm – 7:00pm: Networking / Refreshments
7:00pm – 8:30pm: Interactive Office Hours Program

Where:
Menlo Park, CA

This event is exclusively for startup founders.

Please apply by 11 p.m. on May 28 for an invitation to the May 29th program: http://goo.gl/3kRWi

VLAB Founders’ Series is proud to announce this month’s featured expert, mobile and consumer marketing veteran Bob Borchers, Partner at Opus Capital. Bob is focused on investments in mobile applications and services as well as adjacent opportunities in hardware and software. Prior to joining Opus Capital, Bob was part of the original iPhone team at Apple and was instrumental in the development, launch and global expansion of the revolutionary iPhone, iPhone OS, App Store and iPhone 3GS. Before Apple, he pioneered mobility solutions at FusionOne and spent six years at Nokia where he co-founded the Vertu business.

The Founder’s Series event is a great opportunity to learn from the featured expert and to network with other founders.

Several lucky founders will be selected for a turn on the “hot seat,” where each will have will have six minutes of direct interaction with Bob, to ask questions and receive direct feedback, specifically about their startup idea, execution, or positioning. All founders in attendance will benefit from hearing the questions, responses, and overall insight provided by the featured expert. Questions and answers are requested to be kept confidential as a courtesy to founders whose startups are in stealth mode. Thus, the event is not a venue for exposure for startups, so promotional/marketing materials are not permitted and pitching is not allowed. Hot Seat participation is optional, and we encourage all founders to apply even those not interested in being on the Hot Seat.

If you are invited, register by purchasing a ticket and await an email that will provide event night details, including time, location and parking specifics. “Hot seat” semi-finalists will be notified 24 hours prior to event date and the final selection will be announced at event.
Apply early for the best chance at an invitation.

Please apply here by May 28 for an invitation to the May 29 program: http://goo.gl/3kRWi

Once invited, registration requires a nominal fee.

For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org

Collaborative Consumption
2013-05-21 18:00 - 20:30 | Oberndorf Event Center, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Collaborative Consumption

When

Tuesday, May 21, 2013
6:00 – 7:30pm Networking and Refreshments
7:30 – 9:00pm Panel Discussion and Q&A

Where

Oberndorf Event Center at Knight Management Center, Stanford (Parking and Directions)

Tickets available at the door!

Event Description

A new economic model is emerging as the millennials are thinking smart about ways to make money on everything they own. As the “sharing economy” proliferates, p2p and point-to-point luxury cars are being used by the minute and sophisticated car owners are earning cash for their cars while at work. Instead of paying retail prices for top fashion, folks are using online platforms to choose and swap with others. Vacationers are staying at personal townhouses, mansions and even pitching tents in people’s gardens while homeowners turn a profit on their assets.Time and space limitations, uneasy economic times and increasing sustainability and community values have triggered a shift in behavior, a new business philosophy. While “sharing” has been around for some time, mobile applications, advances in payment technologies and connected social networks are putting in place an infrastructure that supports trust and accessibility for community sharing – pushing this movement to a whole new level.
The impact is in the numbers. Car-sharing revenue is expected to reach over $3B by 2016 and peer-to-peer rentals are expected to expand to become a $26B industry. Perhaps most telling is $110B–the estimated total market for the sharing economy over the next few years. This market is emerging and expanding at a rapid pace.

· What made Airbnb such a commodity, will this work for others startups and in which verticals?
· How do the changes in auto sharing impact auto manufacturing?

· How do insurance models work in the “sharing economy”?
· What barriers are inhibiting this movement to scale?
· Should you trust just anybody with your home, car, dress or power saw?
· What is the regulatory environment like around this movement?

You can learn more about this fascinating topic by joining VLAB on May 21st 2013 for a lively discussion exploring reality and future potential for collaborative consumption. Meet a panel of experts including entrepreneurs who are driving the new, sharing economy.Moderator:
Kanyi Maqubela, Venture Partner, Collaborative Fund

Panelists:
Andre Haddad, CEO, Relay Rides
Andy Ruben, Co-Founder, yerdle
Ronny Conway, Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
Peter Dempster, Advanced Technologies Engineer – Energy Topics, BMW Group

Founders' Series: Apply to Startup Office Hours with Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
2013-04-30 18:00 - 20:30 | Mountain View, CA, Mountain View, CA, United States
Apply to Startup Office Hours with Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
A Founders’ Series program
When:
April 30, 2013
6:00pm – 7:00pm: Networking / Refreshments
7:00pm – 8:30pm: Interactive Office Hours Program

Where:
Mountain View, CA

Vinod Khosla grew up dreaming of being an entrepreneur, despite growing up in an Indian Army household with no business or technology connections. After moving to the Silicon Valley, Khosla started the standards-based Sun Microsystems in 1982 to build workstations for software developers. Through the years at KPC&B, Khosla took on Intel’s monopoly with Nexgen/AMD (the only microprocessor to have significant success against Intel, sold to AMD for 28 percent of AMD), incubated the idea and business plan for Juniper to take on Cisco’s dominance of the router market, formulated the very early advertising-based search strategy for Excite, and transformed the moribund telecommunications business and its archaic SONET implementations with Cerent (sold to Cisco for $7B). Khosla, now at Khosla Ventures, has a passion for nascent technologies that can have a beneficial effect and economic impact on society. His greatest passion is being a mentor to entrepreneurs, helping them build technology-based businesses.

VLAB Founder’s Series hosts leading visionary expert mentors who have brought unique innovations, special entrepreneurial characteristics, and sometimes even, the emergence of entire industries to Silicon Valley, and furthermore, the world. These mentors have made significant impacts on the spirit of entrepreneurialism and have a strong interest in seeding the next generation of life changing developments.

Founder’s Series is held once a month where approximately 80 founders of solid early stage startups are selected to take part in a collaborative “office hours” style session. Several startup founders are selected for the “hot seat,” where they each have six minutes to ask questions of the featured expert and receive feedback, specifically about their startup. All founders in attendance will hear the questions, responses, and overall insight from the featured mentor.

This event is exclusively for startup founders. Several founders will be given the opportunity to be on the“hot seat”– a chance to interact directly with Vinod to get direct feedback about your startup idea, execution, or positioning.

Please apply here for an invitation: http://goo.gl/3kRWi

Final application deadline is Saturday April 27 for event date Tuesday April 30. However, the event is expected to reach capacity, so please apply early.

Please allow 2-3 days for invitation requests to be processed. Once invited, registration requires a nominal fee.

For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org

The Future of Diagnostics: Consumer Driven Medicine
2013-04-16 18:00 - 21:30 | Munger Bldg 4, Paul Berst Hall, 555 Salvatierra Walk, Stanford, CA, United States
The Future of Diagnostics: Consumer Driven Medicine ***Video Available***

When

Tuesday, April 16, 2013
6:00 – 7:00pm Networking and Refreshments
7:00 – 8:30pm Panel Discussion and Q&A

Where

Munger Bldg 4, Paul Berst Hall,
555 Salvatierra Walk, Stanford Univ
Parking Address:
Parking Structure 6, 560 Wilbur Way
Directions to Munger Conference Center

Online sales are closed.
Remaining tickets will be available at the door on a first come, first serve basis.

Event Description

What if the first step diagnosing your health was done by you, in your home, at your convenience? What if you could leverage new technology to see your fertility cycles, determine whether you have the flu or just a cold, monitor a chronic condition, or update your eyeglass prescription?
Point-of-consumer diagnostics is a rapidly expanding field that uses advanced sensing technologies, wireless monitoring, smartphones, big data, and affordable point-of-care biochemical processes to put diagnostic tools directly in the hands of the patient. Driven by the convergence of these technologies and healthcare cost pressures, a new direct-to-consumer healthcare market is emerging, in which we actively take ownership of our health by demanding new technology that empowers us and mitigates healthcare costs.
According to a report published by BCC Research in January 2012, the point-of-care diagnostic space reached $13.4B in 2010 and is estimated to grow to over $16.0B in 2016, leveraging the one billion smartphones already in use globally.
New venture opportunities for direct-to-consumer diagnostics are vast, yet challenges remain as entrepreneurs push the bounds of existing regulations, seek capital at the unmapped crossroads of high-tech and medicine, and identify the keys to monetization and market entry. Join us to learn more about how entrepreneurs are disrupting the medical infrastructure to put your health in your hands.
Moderator:
Daniel Kraft, M.D., Executive Director, FutureMed, Faculty Chair of Medicine, Singularity University
Panelists:
Walter De Brouwer, CEO of SCANADU
Dr. David Albert, Founder and Chief Medical Officer at AliveCor
Anne DeGheest, HealthTech Capital, Managing Director and Founder
