Silicon Valley Open Doors 2007

American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR) is pleased to announce that registration is now open for its third annual technology investment conference Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD-2007) to be held in Mountain View (California, USA) on November 8 – 9, 2007.

The main goal of the conference is to showcase investment opportunities available in the rapidly growing technology sector of the CIS countries and among a growing number of Russian and Ukrainian-speaking entrepreneurs in the United States, Canada, Israel, and Europe. Companies attending the event will be able to gain access to international venture capital and the global technology market and thus receive new opportunities to commercialize their innovative products.

SVOD is a one-of-a-kind event making it possible for the promising technology companies to have face-to-face meetings with the leading Silicon Valley venture and corporate investors, establish contacts with business angels, serial entrepreneurs and other technology and business representatives. The agenda for SVOD-2007 will cover three traditional areas: workshops and round-table discussions with representatives of the leading Silicon Valley venture funds, company presentations to the audience of venture capitalists resulting in the Fourth annual AmBAR Golden Lock Award to the most promising company, sponsored this year by Microsoft Corporation, as well as an exposition of cutting-edge technology products and services. As always, SVOD is a unique venue for informal meetings between entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and executives from large technology corporations. This year the conference will also host a recruiting panel followed by a networking reception uncovering opportunities available at the US, Russian and Ukrainian technology companies both in the US and in the CIS countries.

“We traditionally support the SVOD conference as it offers a unique opportunity to entrepreneurs from the CIS countries to become a part of the global technology business ecosystem,” says Evgeny Zaytsev, a partner with Asset Management Company, one of the Silicon Valley’s oldest venture capital funds and a Director of AmBAR. “Over the last several years, it played a key role in igniting professional venture investors’ interest in the CIS countries.”

The conference is attended annually by over 300 entrepreneurs, finance and legal professionals, and corporate leaders. Last year SVOD received sponsorship support from such companies as Asset Management Company, Intel Capital, Cisco Systems, Reuters, Silicon Valley Bank, IBS Group, Russian Technologies as well as the US State Department’s BioIndustry Initiative. Technology business leaders – John Morgridge, Chairman Emeritus of Cisco Systems, Franklin “Pitch” Johnson, founding partner of Asset Management Company, and Timothy Draper, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson – presented at the conference in the past.

Among the confirmed speakers at SVOD-2007 are Max Levchin, a founder of Paypal and CEO of Slide; Kip Knight, vice-president of marketing for eBay; Bill Tai, a partner at Charles River Ventures; Jeff Yu, managing director of Angels Forum. The conference will be attended by partners representing leading venture funds, including New Enterprise Associates, Alloy Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, ComVentures and a number of well-known angel investors.

“SVOD offers a unique opportunity to Russian and Ukrainian-speaking entrepreneurs to present their business ideas to Silicon Valley’s leading venture capitalists,” says AmBAR president Vera Shokina. “Business contacts established here will allow them to become full-fledged participants in the international technology community and be more successful in growing their companies.”

Conference Venue:
Computer History Museum
1401 N Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, California 94043

To receive additional information or to register for the conference, please visit our website at www.svod.org.

About AmBAR:
AmBAR (American Business Association of Russian Professionals www.ambarclub.org) is a non-profit business association of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, engineers, lawyers and other professionals with headquarters in Silicon Valley. Started in 2002 as an organization of expatriates from Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet Union countries that were involved in technology businesses in the United States, AmBAR has grown into a large network in which innovators and entrepreneurs of all origin can exchange ideas and business contacts. Today AmBAR membership base consists of more than 2,000 business professionals.
AmBAR creates a unique platform to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and business contacts between technology entrepreneurs, professionals, and investors. The organization is also dedicated to accelerating access to capital for innovative projects and developing technology partnerships between Russia, Ukraine and other FSU countries, and the United States. Through various seminars and conferences AmBAR provides educational programs that help entrepreneurs refine their business plans, and advance their product development and marketing efforts.