SVForum Venture Startup Event: How Technical Founders Can Be Leaders July 19, 2012

Description: How Technical Founders Can Beat the Odds as Leaders

What does it take to go from being a red hot technologist who can deliver the goods when all around are struggling, to being the lead of a product development group, an engineering department, or the CEO of a fast growth startup? Why does it often take startup founders such as Ev Williams of Twitter, two, three or more attempts to hone their leadership skills? What are the decisions they have to take, what are the consequences of each one, and what does this mean for you? How will your boss view someone who acts & thinks like a startup CEO inside your company?

-When in my career should I launch a startup? (or position myself to be a leader?)

-Who do I recruit to the team? - family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, prior co-workers?

-What role do we take within the team? Who decides direction & goals? Who makes the decisions?

-Motivation & reward - do I want to be in control, do I want to do what I think is best for me, do I want to do what's best for the organization & how is compensation split or shared in each of these scenarios?

-Are my later hires the same as my early hires?

-What does it all look like to the founder's board & investors (or my boss?)

-Why are founders (and team leads) replaced?

Panelists:
Chris Gill, serial entrepreneur, member of Sand Hill Angels, observer of thousands of startups, and CEO of SVForum, will share what he has learned, illustrated throughout with real life "war stories"

Bill Reichert - Managing Director
Bill Reichert has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and an operating executive. Since joining Garage in 1998, Bill has focused on early-stage information technology and materials science companies.

More to come....

Official Website: http://www.svforum.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Calendar.eventDetail&eventID=14022