Farmers insurance group of companies
VC-IO - Entrepreneur Series
Is my idea good enough to attract VC funding? How do I make a real business plan out of inspiration? What should my pitch to VCs include? What are some common mistaken assumptions that entrepreneurs make about VCs? What do VCs need to know about entrepreneurs but are afraid to ask? The VC-InsideOut Entrepreneur Series is focused on enabling entrepreneurs to gain access to the information, insights, and tools needed to build successful technology companies. Leading entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and other service providers share their experiences on the "ins and outs" of creating an idea, business plans, hiring teams, raising capital, and building businesses that scale.
- Episode 1 - Creativity Meets Reality
It's not enough to just have a good idea. In order to be successful, an entrepreneur must think through all aspects of their vision to determine if a real business can be developed. Having been involved with several successful companies and product launches, Neil will walk us through how to to grapple with "the flushing out" of a great idea. - Episode 2 - CEO Compensation and the Founder Discount
Pascal Levensohn interviews Professor Noam Wasserman of the Harvard Business School about his current research, which reveals concrete evidence confirming the existence of a "founder discount" in CEO cash compensation. They also discuss the concept of CEOs who act as altruistic stewards compared to non-founder CEOs who act as self-interested agents in venture-backed private technology companies. - Episode 3 - Israeli Entrepreneurs and the Technion
Pascal Levensohn has a conversation with Professor Avi Fiegenbaum about the Technion's curriculum for entrepreneurs, his new book on the origins and development of Israel's VC sector, and some of the process challenges faced by VC-backed company boards in Israel. - Episode 4 - Personal Robotics
Kip Sheeline interviews Stanford Professor Ken Salisbury and doctoral student Eric Berger about the groundbreaking Personal Robotics platform they are developing at Stanford, in collaboration with Professor Andrew Ng of Stanford's Computer Science department and Keenan Wyrobek, a doctoral student in Mechanical Engineering. This platform will ultimately permit the 'human safe' use of robots for domestic and other non-factory applications. If you are interested in seeing videos of the first generation platform, please go to http://personalrobotics.stanford.edu/videos/ and, when prompted for a password, enter "LVP". - Episode 5 - Promoting Women in Technology
Jeff Karras interviews CalPERS board member Priya Mathur and Astia CEO Jennifer McFarlane about opportunities for women entrepreneurs. They discuss the value of supporting women entrepreneurs and provide perspective on why this is good business and good for California as a whole. Jennifer and Priya also discuss the CalPERS California Initiative and Astia (formerly the Women's Technology Cluster), providing insight valuable to both Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs. - Episode 6 - Buying From a Start-up
Partha Srinivasa, the Global Chief Architect (CTO) for Farmers Insurance Group, part of Zurich Financial Services, shares his evaluation framework and overall perspective on the risks and rewards of buying emerging technology products and services from resource constrained start-ups. Jeff Karras interviews Partha, who is responsible for the overall strategy, architecture, and technology for Farmers' IT infrastructure.
