[Brown CS Talks] Brown CS Seminar: David Shrier in Lubrano on 3/1/2002 at 12 pm.

[talks-admin@list.cs.brown.edu]

                             CS Seminar
                  
                  The Department of Computer Science
                           BROWN UNIVERSITY

                              
                              presents

                             David Shrier

                      Adjunct Associate Professor
       Entrepreneurship with NYU's Stern School of Business MBA
                              Program

                    Friday, March 1, 2002 at noon
               Lubrano Conference Room (CIT 4th floor)
               Refreshments will be served at 11:45 am
                               

             ``THE FIRST $1 MILLION IS ALWAYS THE HARDEST''

 

                               Abstract


The heady days of the Internet boom are over, and venture capitalists
are returning to conventional funding metrics -- making it very
difficult for a 22-year-old with a bright idea to raise venture
investment.  But entrepreneurs throughout history have become
successful by kicking conventional wisdom in the teeth.  How can you,
as a young entrepreneur with an idea, get your business off the
ground?  How can you address the problem of constrained access to
capital?  We will explore these issues in the context of the recent
World Trade Center tragedy, which has focus on and investment in
security software, biometrics and data analysis.  Are we seeing the
newest speculative ``bubble'', destined for collapse like the recent
deflation of the storage, wireless and peer-to-peer markets?  Or are
we looking at a megatrend in the software industry with billion-dollar
wealth creation opportunities?  In this luncheon discussion with a
working venture capitalist, we'll explore conventional and alternative
funding strategies for software companies.  We will emphasize the
perspective of the young entrepreneur.


David L. Shrier (Sc.B. '95) has led over $250M of technology venture
capital transactions both for General Electric and for private
investment funds.  David has founded two startups, and developed
software for Wall Street and the Yale School of Medicine.  He is an
Adjunct Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship with NYU's Stern
School of Business MBA program, and serves on the Board of the MIT
Enterprise Forum of New York City.







                    Host:  Professor Andy van Dam