#svforum

[itsc]

Sorry to bother, but there's a Scum Villain forum??

Yes! I made it earlier this month. It’s 18+ and you have to register to view it, but otherwise it’s open to whoever.

Visit our forum at: scumvillain.freeforums.net

[rsenak]

new goats just dropped

[lynnewatanabe]

A spherical motorized #robot on wheels with blinking eyes at the @NeuroSyntek booth. - #BuildingEmotionalIntelligence #RobotsRiseSV #SVForum #NeuroSyntek (at Computer History Museum)

[lynnewatanabe]

Fascinating panel! Allison Okamura @StanfordEng talks about autonomy and perception (human) control is the next frontier as first responders #SoftRobots #SVForum #searchRescue #RobotsRiseSV (at Computer History Museum)

[siliconglades]

How SVForum Scored Big with The World Cup Tech Challenge at Launch: Silicon Valley 2014.

I happened to have a few days of meetings scheduled in the Bay Area after my time at TiEcon 2014.  An unexpected conversation at the digital watering hole in TiEcon, i.e., the power outlet for recharging cell phones, led me to a search of events in town that I could attend for recharging my brain cells.  SVForum’s Launch: Silicon Valley 2014 seemed like the perfect place for a startup aficionado. 

Hope you enjoy this medley of thoughts and sights from the incredibly exciting conference. 

With several startup founders from different countries making pitch after pitch to (mostly) grim-faced VC’s and a supportive cheering audience, Launch was probably more exciting than a World Cup Soccer event.  It also didn’t hurt that some of the participants were able to gather flags that now probably adorn the walls of children’s rooms in several cities far and wide.

As one of the sponsors, Microsoft’s Nisha Baxi (@nishers) welcomed everyone to the event venue. 

Nisha Baxi @microsoft bizspark welcomes attendees at #LaunchSV #WorldCupTech @SVForum pic.twitter.com/ECVdU1Itvg

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

And then it began…  The format of the event was new to me - a World Cup Challenge, with startups from various countries.  As each startup’s founder or founders walked up to make their presentation, a snippet of their national anthem was played, and their country was marked on a silhouette of the world map on the backdrop.  It was indeed a treat to hear English spoken in a variety of accents. The timers for the pitches were managed by uniformed referees flashing a yellow card (for 2-minutes remaining, if I recall correctly) or a red card (when time’s up). 

Adiba Barney CEO of @SVForum introduces the referees at #WorldCupTech #LaunchSV pic.twitter.com/R8pEyIolv1

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

Incidentally, the day-long event was held at the elegant Microsoft Silicon Valley Conference Center in Mountain View, California.  Elegant in and out.

  The auditorium was cozy, had great acoustics, and each seat had an outlet, for attendees to power their gadgets without having to play musical chairs in search of a power-outlet.  That is thoughtful!  It should be mandated by city laws for all conference room seating.

Judges were drawn from renowned Silicon Valley VC and Angel groups.  I tried to put together a twitter list of the panelists, but several couldn’t be found easily on twitter, so I may hyperlink it for your (and my) benefit later on, both here on this blog and on twitter.com/siliconglades.  (Do follow us on twitter - we do cool stuff for and with entrepreneurs - both present and future entrepreneurs)

Sessions were divided into various categories of technology, and VCs with relevant expertise were present in each panel.  After each session, folks from the SVForum’s media team were seen conducting video interviews with the VCs.  Seen below is TM Ravi of Clearstone Venture Partners.

Panelists were gracious and took the time to talk to participants even after each session. Seen here is Peter Arvai of Prezi who told the story of how a well funded startup can exist outside of Silicon Valley and raise the morale of an entire nation (Budapest).  His story is something that Florida entrepreneurs ought to hear.

The sessions were broken into very uplifting keynote speeches.  Notable among those were Megan Smith of Google,

 Peter Arvai, of Prezi,

and James Maiocco of Microsoft Ventures. 

w @jamesmaiocco at #LaunchSV #WorldCupTech @SVForum “@MSFTVentures invests seed capital” pic.twitter.com/sN1XVNbe8a

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 21, 2014

Seen in the picture below is Megan Smith of Google, taking the time after her presentation to listen to, and converse with a long line of attendees, often sharing her contact information or providing direction and advice to each person.

The volunteers were incredibly helpful, going out of their way to point attendees to the cool power outlets on the chairs, or to the food area.

The kind & helpful unsung heros at #LaunchSV #WorldCupTech @SVForum made sure that every attendee was taken care of pic.twitter.com/Eo7Gfj9RPh

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 21, 2014

That kind of customer-service orientation and thoughtfulness simply can’t be taught from a manual.  It is usually found deep-rooted in the DNA of an organization, and starts at the top.  The CEO of SVForum, Adiba Barney runs a fine ship and leads her team effortlessly like a beloved school teacher or, more aptly put, a favorite soccer coach, moving from session to session effortlessly, handling mistakes in slides with humor and grace, and moderating sessions with the flair of a talk show host.  

Awesome elegant #leadership by CEO Adiba Barney at #LaunchSV #WorldCupTech @SVForum, an incredibly valuable event! pic.twitter.com/ZVpPxhJY68

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

The expo hall nearby was abuzz. 

The expo hall is bustling with startups from 14 countries & visitors at lunch break #LaunchSV #WorldCupTech @SVForum pic.twitter.com/5bzNlDfO7v

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

All the startups that pitched on stage were available to talk to the VC’s, attendees, and of course to the media. Seen here is Bill Reichert of Garage Technology Ventures talking to a radio crew.

The day of national anthems, startup pitches and questions from VCs ended with awards being announced, chocolate medals for the VC’s, and medals for the winners.

Here’s hoping we have the opportunity to be at a future SVForum event, or who knows, maybe we may convince them to hold one in Florida!

Given below are many embedded tweets featuring some of the many startups who pitched at Launch: Silicon Valley 2014.  For a list of winners, please visit http://svforum.org/Launch-Silicon-Valley-2014-World-Cup-Tech-Challenge.

We certainly hope that some of the keynotes are made available online. We also hope that we see a World Cup Tech Challenge that combines the two coasts, in the Bay Area and in Florida!  Now, here’s a sampling of some tweets posted from the event.

Dominik @cupenya seeks ‘world quantification’ measuring all in enterprise & making predictions @SVForum #worldcuptech pic.twitter.com/TSy5NiULm4

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

Mathieu, http://t.co/JLWZQm4d8v talks to @SVForum VC panel #WorldCupTech about contract workflow as simple as gmail pic.twitter.com/yKmu2vbGJD

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

#german #startup @summics at the #SVForum thumbs up! pic.twitter.com/xlGjxxy02v

— Polina M (@P_Marchenko)

May 20, 2014

"Education system has become a compliance industry", says Jason CEO @BloomBoard at #LaunchSV #WorldCupTech @SVForum pic.twitter.com/ZElWFbOQ8v

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

SDK coming in fall, says David Levitt, CEO of http://t.co/xDVfzuSuQb at #LaunchSV #WorldCupTech @SVForum Check it out pic.twitter.com/Gvbsku9W0y

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 20, 2014

http://t.co/K8fSnyvoIE presents new water purification using nano science #WorldCupTech @SVForum. Starting with India pic.twitter.com/7eZZdRzSfC

— SiliconGlades (@SiliconGlades)

May 21, 2014

Thanks are due to Micaela, and Jeff Lettes for all the help with my last-minute registration, and to Adiba Barney and her stellar team for the warmth and hospitality, and of course for the opportunity to enjoy a truly immersive silicon valley experience, in elegant settings.

[gobeyondbox]

The US Sports Industry alone is estimated at more than $470 billion. Opportunities for innovation, new ideas, and investment are ripe, and disruptive innovation is changing the game. Come hear the movers and shakers talk about what’s next! 

We're pumped to be on a panel discussion tomorrow at SAP in Palo Alto, CA about Designing the Future Digital Sports Experience alongside brilliant folks from Pogoseat, FantasyBrain, Stained Glass Wearables, and NXP Software!

[pjlam]

World-class Network Architect & Product Manager; Aspiring Pianist on the sideline

Peter has been a pioneer in the end-to-end Triple Play IPTV network design (Video, Voice over IP and Internet), having intimately involved in the IP-based networking design to major multi-national telecommunication and cable companies. 

Now Peter is heading the Product Management for one of the four High Impact Project (HIP) @ Cisco -- LISP (Locator and ID Separation Protocol).

Accomplishments:  

Develop marketing campaign for LISP as a revolutionary and disruptive Internet technologies that is game-changer in Network Virtualization and VM Mobility / Host Mobility.

Innovate and Expand Data Center Interconnect (DCI) technologies in the Enterprise and Data Center space.

Managed the entire $20 billion Cisco routing and switching IP / MPLS multicast routing portfolio, including IOS, IOS-XE, IOS-XR and Nexus Internetwork Operating Systems.

Invented New Method to Speed Up Multicast Recovery in the IPTV Network.

Designed the largest IPTV Network in the world from design, proof-of-concept, testing to deployment.

Demonstrated the first IPv6 multicast routers running at line-rate in the world.

Promoted multi-screen solutions (Anywhere, Anytime, Any Contents, Any devices, Any screens) to major cable companies.

Lead Mobile Internet Group at Silicon Valley Forum.