CLE 123 inc.

Preparing Entrepreneurs to Compete in the United States

In July 2005, TangibleFuture, Inc. and Astecs arranged for a team of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, investors and professional service providers to speak to entrepreneurs in five cities in Mexico. The goal was to share with Mexican entrepreneurs how Silicon Valley approaches turning technology into profitable businesses.

The tour was organized and sponsored by the Mexican government in conjunction with Fumec, the United States-Mexico Foundation for Science. The sessions were promoted by government bodies, chambers of commerce and local organizations. Several hundred entrepreneurs, educators, incubator managers and members of the press attended the events.

Dr. Richard Caro, of TangibleFuture introduced the technology commercialization process and discussed the elements of a good business concept drawing on examples from his experience in the field of medical devices. Dr. Caro's presentation focused on value creation and highlighted the mistakes that entrepreneurs often make in focusing exclusively on technology development milestones. He urged entrepreneurs to gather business intelligence, closely monitor their markets and focus commercial milestones in order to maximize value and achieve commercial success.

David Smith drew material from his book Zero-to-IPO to discuss the entrepreneurial journey and the special challenges facing technology entrepreneurs. David explained how successful startups in Silicon Valley and elsewhere target their exit routes, plot milestones, generate momentum, assemble a winning team, raise investment funds, regularly take bearings and plan for contingencies.

Dr. Po Chi Wu provided a valuable insight into the venture investors perspective explaining how business proposals are filtered and selected for investment. Dr. Wu discussed how the life of a technology startup naturally evolves as the company matures and how the cycle repeats itself when successful companies and entrepreneurs assist new startups to grow. As venture capital is just getting established in Mexico, Dr. Wu's perspectives and experiences in Taiwan and China as well as Silicon Valley were highly enlightening.

Mark Cameron of White of White and Lee LLP, explained how companies were formed and structured in Silicon Valley from a legal perspective. He discussed the various options open to Mexican companies wishing to do business in the US—including commercial agreements with US partners, the formation of US subsidiaries and US parents. Mark went on to step the audience through the process of raising funds from US venture investors and explain how merger and acquisition transactions are structured.

Jon Rortveit, CEO of Tynax, explained what was involved in successfully migrating an overseas company to the US market. He identified the mistakes that are often made and discussed reasons why these efforts often end in failure. After explaining how the US market was much larger, more competitive and complex than any other, Jon discussed why it was important for new entrants to follow a rigorous and targeted market-entry strategy. He encouraged entrepreneurs to find local advisors and act like a local company.

About the Lecturer

Richard G Caro

Dr. Richard G. Caro has over 20 years of experience at the intersection of technology and business: as CEO of two startups, CTO of a third, occasional angel investor, and advisor to numerous new business ventures in fields such as life sciences, communications, alternative energy, security, and nanotechnology. He has been responsible for the development of a number of successful products and ha...

Jon Rortveit

Mr Rortveit is the CEO of TYNAX, a global marketplace for technology and intellectual property. Mr. Rortveit is a serial entrepreneur with 20 years international experience from working with startups as well as Fortune 500 companies. His areas of expertise include corporate strategy, international business, marketing, distribution, joint ventures and alliance building. Prior to joining TYNAX Mr...

David Smith

David is the founder and president of Astecs, the Association of Technology Entrepreneurs and author of the book Zero-to-IPO. A technology entrepreneur for over 20 years, David now helps innovate, incubate and accelerate technology startups in Silicon Valley. Through Cambridge Manhattan Group, David is currently involved with several exciting new companies in the software, Internet and media se...

Mark Cameron White

As the founding partner of Silicon Valley law firm White and Lee, Mr. White has represented recognized companies such as HotMail, ClassmatesOnline, Nuvomedia, Native Minds, 3ware, SurfMonkey.com, garageband.com, Betasphere, the EDA Consortium and AirFlash and venture capital funds such as New Enterprise Associates, Nexit Ventures and Selby Ventures.

Mr. White has spoken on technology la...

Po Chi Wu

Dr. Po Chi Wu is a 20-year veteran venture capital investor who has invested in several companies which eventually grew into billion-dollar enterprises. Dr. Wu was President and co-founder of Allegro Capital, a highly successful venture capital firm in Silicon Valley; a Vice President at Advent International, where he opened and headed the California office and was responsible for investments i...

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