Panels

Venture Capital Panel

The Venture Capital Challenge: Streamlining the Investment Process from Identification to Exit

Venture capital firms are continuing to expand their worldwide investment strategy and identifying countries that are most attractive for foreign venture opportunities. In doing so however, there have been more impediments as geographic distances, cultural barriers, and different legal systems have created new challenges to the process. In addition, venture capital firms have consistently found themselves struggling to allocate their resources between the need to identify new opportunities and improve existing portfolio companies. This panel will focus on how venture capitalists are applying best practices to the venture process to better facilitate timelier and more productive investments.

Panelists:

Panel Moderator: Emily Mendell - VP, Strategic Affairs & Public Outreach, National Venture Capital Association

Wharton Panel Managers: Damien Fisher, David Su

Mergers & Acquisitions Panel

Innovation through Acquisitions

Recent researchers looking at mergers and acquisitions in tech fields have acknowledged for years that the challenges of successful acquisitions are significant, as are the challenges of post-acquisition integration.

This panel will explore the rationale behind acquiring a tech business and will specifically address the following questions: How to value innovation? Which integration approach to adopt under different conditions? How to make it foster even after acquisition and more importantly how to work with the founders of the smaller firm once they get absorbed? How to keep the entrepreneurial spirit? How to design an incentive system?

Panelists:

Panel Moderator: Saikat Chaudhuri - Assistant Professor of Management, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Wharton Panel Managers: Sebastien Rozanes

New Tech/Startup Panel

Emerging Technologies: Challenges Faced by New Tech Startups

Facebook, Joost, SecondLife – these are poster children of today's technology era. What do consumers really want today and how do these startups create that technology. Web 2.0 already seems like yesterday's play field. Technology is rapidly changing as consumers demand anytime anywhere access to information through mobile phone, television, internet and other devices. This panel will explore the opportunities and challenges that lie in front of today's entrepreneurs as they build these new age startups. The panel will also discuss the strategies startups are undertaking to thrive in this new competitive landscape.

Panelists:

Panel Moderator: Rhys Williams - President, New World Angels

Wharton Panel Managers: D'laila Pereira, Dan Richards

Media & Entertainment Panel

Inventing and Innovating Personal Entertainment

The last half decade has seen a transformation in the personal entertainment space. We have seen a revolution in the interactive entertainment category. New inventions, path-breaking innovations, both on the software and hardware side have contributed to this momentum.

The panel will explore questions such as How firms create markets, where there are none. How aggressive firms break into entrenched markets. How the old guards maintain leadership positions. How firms choose between the time-tested technologies and the risky innovations. All at break-neck speed, with technology and consumer tastes changing rapidly.

What are the future trends in this exciting space of personal entertainment? Is convergence still the Holy Grail, a search for that perfect I.C.E device (Information Communication Entertainment)? Or are specialized devices the winning bet?

How can we expect the hardware in personal entertainment devices to further evolve? Are we moving towards a Software dominated world, with trivial machines connecting customers to a central software behemoth?

Overall, the panel will discuss and share the various global strategies and insights that go into these products and services.

Panelists:

Panel Moderator: Spencer Reiss - Contributing Editor, WIRED Magazine

Wharton Panel Managers: Siddharta Gupta

Internet & Web Services Panel

The Web as Platform: How Cloud Computing Will Change the Software Industry

The migration of productivity software from the desktop to the Web is a disruptive shift which will radically change both user experiences and software business models. The ways that future applications will be developed, marketed, and used within the emerging Web platform remain uncertain. Will the convergence of distributed machine and human intelligence merely improve our efficiency or will it completely transform the way we work with content, analyze data, and make business decisions? How will the rapid deployment of Web-hosted platforms and applications change the dynamics of software product development, innovation, and IT strategy? Beyond licenses, subscriptions, and online ads, what new revenue models will emerge on the Web platform to support computer-based businesses of the future? The panel will explore these and other questions about the future of the Web-based software industry.

Panelists:

Panel Moderator: Jeff Barr - Senior Web Services Evangelist, Amazon.com

Wharton Panel Managers: Rory Conway

Non-Profit Panel

Social Media: Expanding the Nonprofit Reach

In the wake of the success of social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube, organizations have been able to capitalize not only on the ready made network of potential customers, but more importantly the consumer information that allows for more targeted advertising. Nonprofit organizations have also begun to take advantage of these new distribution channels to promote their causes, activities, or organizations.

This panel will to explore the strategies and approaches taken by Nonprofit agencies as they seek to expand into the social media realm. The panel will also highlight benefits, both social and financial, that social media advertising can reap, and any challenges that may be unique to the industry.

Panelist:

Panel Moderator: Rebecca Masisak - Co-CEO, TechSoup

Wharton Panel Managers: Alicia Wang, Khetiwe Richards

Collaborative Software Panel

Achieving Agility through Collaborative Software

Collaborative Software is shrinking the world by establishing new networks, allowing real-time sharing of information online, and creating a virtual world where geographical distance is no longer a limitation. Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites are amongst the most popular online destinations. Collaborative information sites such as Wikipedia have become powerful resources. Corporations are using collaborative software to redefine business processes in different ways; from enabling sharing of information to leverage their knowledge, to allowing distributed collaboration across geographically separated locations in real-time. This panel will focus on companies that create value from innovative collaborative technology, with a lively discussion on industry trends and key success factors.

Panelist:

Panel Moderator: Josh Quittner - Executive Editor, Fortune

Wharton Panel Managers: Patricia Costa, Atul Kumar

Interactive Media Panel

Reaching today's Consumer through Interactive Marketing

This panel will explore how marketers are paving new roads to engage the sophisticated consumer. How are companies employing new marketing strategies in the form of blogging, user-generated content, video, mobile and interactive content to target end customers? Which approaches deliver the most buzz vs. deliver incremental sales? This discussion will highlight the attributes of an effective campaign while addressing the challenges and risks of this new approach.

Panelist:

Panel Moderator: Rohit Bhargava - Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide | 360 Digital Influence

Wharton Panel Managers: Alicia Wang, Khetiwe Richards

Wireless/Telecom Panel

The Business of Wireless: When Everything Connects

The wireless industry is on the cusp of a dramatic transformation. Higher bandwidths, coupled with more sophisticated mobile devices, will soon usher in a new generation of wireless tools and services whose capabilities go far beyond the mere ability to download e-mail, photos, and web content quickly. The wireless panel focuses on the innovations and strategies that are shaping the future of wireless voice and data services. Our panelists will discuss the shape of tomorrow's wireless devices and the lifestyle and productivity impact of these devices in the context of hot trends like mobile social networking and location-based intelligent services. An era of universal wireless connectivity is around the corner! The wireless panel is your sneak preview into this amazing future.

Panelists:

Panel Moderator: Amol Sharma - Telecom Reporter, Wall Street Journal

Wharton Panel Managers: Manoneet Singh, Joshua Wais