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- Navigating a Sea of Change: the Founders' Perspective
In a discussion led by Professor Irv Grousbeck, the two founders of NexTag will discuss the challenges they faced in turning around their company. NexTag is a leading online comparison shopping site and was named in 2004 to the Red Herring Top 100 and listed as the second fastest growing private company in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. Purnendu Ojha and Rafael Ortiz launched NexTag in 1999 during the height of the dot-com frenzy. Unlike most of these companies, however, NexTag survived, found its niche, and is now thriving. What approach did they take to revise their strategy once the bubble burst? How did they distinguish themselves from a crowded field of competitors? What challenges does rapid growth present to the company? And how does the company plan to compete increasingly with the largest Internet companies in the world? These questions and more will be addressed in the context of an exciting company success story.
- H. Irving Grousbeck, Professor and Codirector of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Stanford Graduate School of Business (Moderator)
- Purnendu Ojha, founder and CEO, NexTag
- Rafael Ortiz, founder and Vice President of Marketing, NexTag
Organizer: Andrew Walling, MBA '05
- China and India: What's in Store for Tech Companies and Investors
China and India are the two most discussed emerging economies in the world. Both have enormous populations, low labor costs, and both benefit from highly skilled engineers and active entrepreneurial sectors that are rapidly transforming the two countries into technology players. While China is the world leader in manufacturing, India dominates the software outsourcing industry. Despite the fact that China and India compete for foreign investment and technology transfers, their economies each have many competitive advantages. There are also vast differences between China and India - cultural, political and social. Further, China and India both have a unique connection to the Silicon Valley, including a two-way flow of technology, people, trade,and capital. What are the dynamics that have led to the current structure? How are they expected to change? Join us as a panel of experts discuss these questions and many more on this dynamic and especially relevant topic.
- Krish Krishkanthan, McKinsey & Company(Moderator)
- Raj Jaswa, President, TiE Silicon Valley and co-founder and former CEO, Selectica
- Andy Kau, Managing Director, Walden International
- Steven Mitzenmacher, Director of Corporate Development, Business Objects
Organizer: Mohan Lakhamraju, MBA '05
- Exploiting Technology: The CIO's Perspective
The role of IT within the enterprise is shifting. Some say that IT is ubiquitous and no longer provides a significant strategic advantage. Others argue that we are merely in the initial phases of a true revolution in how IT affects business. A third school of thought suggests that we are merely in a cyclical trough of the IT cycle, awaiting the next wave of innovation. Come hear the viewpoints of several leading Silicon Valley CIOs discuss the role of IT in the enterprise.
- Kevin Efrusy, Accel Partners (Moderator)
- Marc Hebert, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Partner Relations, Sierra Atlantic
- B. Lee Jones, Chief Information Officer, Stratex Networks
- Gerard Speksnijder, McKinsey & Company
Organizer: Sriram Sankaran, MBA '05
- Where Does Open Source Go Next?
Open Source has become a permanent feature of the IT landscape and seems poised to permeate virtually every aspect of technology. Our panel will discuss where open source goes next -- what are the opportunities and what are the road blocks, whose businesses will be disrupted and whose businesses will be fueled. We host a unique panel of experts to address the future of Open Source from a variety of different perspectives: from applications to infrastructure and from start-up to large enterprise vendor.
- Sarah Friar, Vice President, Goldman Sachs (Moderator)
- Bob Bickel, Vice President of Business Development, JBOSS
- Michael P. Evans, Vice President of Partner Development, Red Hat
- Dan Mosedale, founding member and toolsmith, mozilla.org
- Zack Urlocker, Vice President of Marketing, MySQL
Organizer: Derek Bingham, MBA '05
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