Silicon Valley Open Doors Conference Connects Russian Entrepreneurs and Venture Capital

WebKnowHow
Thursday, November 2, 2006; 09:15 AM

The Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD-2006) conference will introduce entrepreneurs from Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union to the nuances of starting companies, seeking financing, and working with venture capital. The goal of the conference is to encourage the actual development of companies using Russian resources and traditional sources of venture capital. SVOD-2006 is hosted by the American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR) and will take place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California on November 16-17, 2006.

“Throughout countries such as Russia, the Ukraine and other former Soviet states there are outstanding innovators, technologists, and technologies that not only can serve as the foundation for new companies, but could also make substantial contributions to the state of technology worldwide,” said Dr. Evgeny Zaytsev, President of AmBAR and partner at Asset Management Company, one of the oldest venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley.

The former Soviet Union countries have an abundance of outstanding programmers, engineers, chemists, and other scientists – all due to the historically excellent educational system. The number of university graduates only in IT-related fields amounted to over 244,000 people in 2005-2006 academic year. Russia is also one of the leading producers of doctoral graduate degrees in the world.

The SVOD conference is the only non-profit event of its kind, bringing dozens of high-tech innovators of Russian and Ukrainian origin with the U.S. sources of capital. It is a working conference with strong focus on building networks and partnerships between technology entrepreneurs from the Former Soviet countries and American investors and entrepreneurs.

Among speakers at SVOD-2006 are Pitch Johnson (Asset Management Company), John Morgridge (Cisco Systems), Tim Draper (Draper Fisher Jurvetson), and Beth Seidenberg (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers). Anticipated participants from the U.S. include prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms Alloy Ventures, Doll Capital Management, and Institutional Venture Partners; executives from global technology companies Cisco, Google, Oracle, Symantec, and Yahoo!; and representatives from leading technology and business media C/News, Red Herring, and Reuters. Conference partners are Asset Management Company and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The program will also feature panel discussions by industry experts from Russia and Ukraine on venture capital opportunities in these countries. A select group of 20 start-ups will showcase their technologies and business plans to a panel of prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Additionally, the conference will offer comprehensive seminars on entrepreneurial finance, business development and general management.

“The former Soviet Union countries are rich with great opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors,” said Tim Draper, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “The Silicon Valley Open Doors conference is a timely initiative, and we trust it will unlock tremendous investment opportunities in Eastern Europe.” DFJ has already backed several Eastern European teams that have been particularly successful, such as Skype and Parametric Technologies.

For additional information about SVOD-2006 or to register visit the conference website at www.svod.org .