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09/04/14 | Uncategorized

VCs From Google Ventures, Y Combinator, NEA, Cowboy Ventures Judge at Women 2.0’s PITCH Competition

Our PITCH judges hail from Google Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Forerunner Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Y Combinator and more.

By Jessica Schimm (Digital Audience Engagement Lead, Women 2.0)

Think technology is lagging in diversity? In the big picture, yes. At the Women 2.0 conference, absolutely not.

In a ballroom downstairs at Hotel Kabuki Sept. 30th and Oct. 1st, you’ll find a diverse group of women and men who have founded technology companies. You’ll also find a diverse group of judges representing today’s top VC firms.

At Women 2.0, we support the next generation of technology leaders, and one way we do that is through our bi-annual PITCH competitions. The pressure will be on at our HowTo conference as we bring 10 founders to the stage to pitch their startups in front of top VC firms.

Our panel of judges score each founder based off of the quality of the pitch, the Q&A session, sustainability of the startup, team market size product and innovation. Scores are tallied and the highest average number determines the overall PITCH winner. Read about our PITCH prizes here. If the ideas presented on stage pique the interest of our judges, they might even reach out to set up a separate investment meeting.

Our 10 finalists have startups in a wide range of industries, from urban development to travel to finance, multimedia and more. Our judges have equally as diverse expertise. Their firms have invested in successful startups across the world, including Postmates, Dropbox and AirBnB. These men and women have invested in and work across several industries, including consumer brands, startup incubators, education and international business.

After the competition, our judges will join our PITCH coach Dave Kochbeck for a discussion about what each finalist did well and what they can improve upon, helping everyone in the audience better learn to nail their pitch.

Our Day One judges represent Maveron, Y Combinator, Google Ventures, The Social Capital Partnership and Mayfield Fund.

DAVID WU (@Daviddavidw)

Partner, Maveron

David Wu

  • You’ll find David coaching entrepreneurs at top Bay Area incubators such as Y Combinator, AngelPad, 500 Startups, and Stanford’s StartX.
  • He’s invested personally in nearly 30 startups, including Practice Fusion, Postmates, SeatMe, Beautylish and Tile.
  • He began his tech career writing C++ code at Scitor and Synopsys and subsequently spent a decade as an executive at Homestead Technologies (acq.) by Intuit.

Maveron invests “in people rather than companies.” A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: Darby Smart, Julep and Madison Reed.

JESSICA LIVINGSTON (@foundersatwork)

Founding Partner, Y Combinator

Jessica Livingston

  • Jessica is the organizer of Startup School.
  • She is the author of Founders at Work.
  • She was previously VP of marketing at investment bank Adams Harkness, where she managed an award-winning rebranding of the company.
  • Since 2005 YC has funded over 560 companies, including Dropbox, Airbnb, Stripe and Reddit.

Y Combinator provides seed funding for startups. A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: Homejoy, inDinero, Pretty Padded Room (PITCH Finalist) and Science Exchange.

BRIGETTE LAU (@blau00)

Partner, The Social Capital Partnership

Brigette Lau

  • Brigette focuses on early-stage investments in education.
  • She was SocialCapital’s COO.
  • She sits on the board of Descomplica, Vittana and CodeNow.
  • Previously, she held roles of increasing responsibility in sales, business development and engineering at several startups and large Fortune 500 companies including IBM.

The Social Capital Partnership is a partnership of philanthropists, technologists and capitalists utilizing venture capital as a force to create value and change on a global scale. A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: InstaEdu (the founder will be speaking at this conference), Alltuition and Common Bond.

TIM CHANG (@timechange)

Director, Mayfield Fund

Tim Chang

  • Tim has been named to the Forbes Midas list, as one of “12 Most Influential Tech Investors” by CNET and received the Gamification Summit award for Special Achievement in the industry.
  • His operational experience includes working in Japan for Gateway Inc and as a trilingual Engineer for General Motors
  • He serves on seven advisory boards including Stanford/MIT VLAB, Verizon 4G Venture Forum, Stanford Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science

The Mayfield Fund provides seed, venture, and growth-stage funding to the best companies – not strategic investments for Google. A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: Poshmark (speaking at our conference!), EasilyDo and Ouya.

Our Day Two judges represent Cowboy Ventures, Google Ventures, Forerunner Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.

DAVE MUNICHIELLO (@davemuni)

Partner, Google Ventures

Dave Munichello

  • Dave joins Google Ventures from the executive leadership team of Kiva Systems
  • At Kiva Systems he helped grow the eCommerce-enabling robotics company to ultimately sell to Amazon for $775 million.
  • He lead teams as a Captain in the U.S. military’s most elite units

Google Ventures provides seed, venture, and growth-stage funding to the best companies – not strategic investments for Google. A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: Kabam (past speaker at our Women 2.0 conference), 23andMe and Moonfrye.

PATRICK CHUNG (@patrickchung)

Partner, New Enterprise Associates

Patrick Chung

  • Patrick is a director of 23andMe, Curalate, Euclid, FanTV, Lytro, MeCommerce, Philo, and Ravel Law
  • He is actively involved with Coursera, CrowdMed, IFTTT, Rock Health, and Upworthy.
  • His past investments include Pulse (acquired by LinkedIn), Loopt (acquired by Green Dot), GoodGuide (acquired by Underwriters Laboratories), Xfire (acquired by Viacom), and Xoom (NASDAQ: XOOM).
  • Patrick helped to grow ZEFER, an Internet services firm (acquired by NEC) to more than $100 million

New Enterprise Associates is an investment capital firm that is investing in technology and healthcare. A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: Tesario, Coursera (past Women 2.0 speaker!) and Hearsay Social.

EURIE KIM (@eurie_kim)

Principal at Forerunner Ventures

Eurie Kim

  • Eurie was a management consultant at Bain and Company, where she advised large retail and e-commerce clients on strategy, acquisition opportunities, and consumer insights.
  • She was an associate at Castanea Partners
  • Eurie launched, MAVN, an artisanal leather goods company catering to the needs of professional women.
  • She served on the founding team of BYESSE, a European luxury brand incubator, which sought to invest capital and business support in top fashion designers around the world.

Forerunner Ventures is an early stage investment firm focused on funding entrepreneurs focused on commerce. A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: Birchbox, Chloe+Isabel and Wanelo.

AILEEN LEE (@aileenlee)

Founder & Partner at Cowboy Ventures and Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Aileen Lee

  • Aileen has been the lead or supporting partner in KPCB-backed companies such as Bloom Energy, Blue Nile (NASDAQ: Nile), Callaway Digital Arts, Friendster (acquired by MOL Global), Good Technology (acquired by MOT), One Kings Lane, Plum District, Rent the Runway, ShopKick, Tellme (Acquired by MSFT), and Zazzle.
  • She was founding CEO of RMG Networks
  • Prior to joining KPCB, Aileen worked at Gap Inc. and for Odwalla and The North Face in brand and product Marketing.

Cowboy Ventures is a digital seed-stage focused fund that was founded in 2012. A few female-founded companies the firm has funded: Brit+Co, Styleseat, True&Co and Mightybell.

Impressed? We are too! Meet these judges at the HowTo Conference and learn from the feedback they will be giving our finalists.

Want to rub shoulders, errr, we mean, network with this impressive folks? Don’t miss this year’s PITCH Competition. Grab your tickets now!

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