The accomplishments of women executives in the technology industry and the TechWadi community in particular have long gone unnoticed. Well, TechWadi wants to change that - so we’ve put together our first in a series of “Women in Technology” events.

This edition of the event will address the unique challenges that women face in the technology, science and medical industries. We’ll address topics such as how senior executives achieve their professional success, cultural/gender biases in the workforce, advice for female entrepreneurs etc.

We’ve assembled a stellar panel made up of successful women from several disciplines in technology and its eco-system:

    •    Ghada Saliba-Malouf, Managing Counsel at Wells Fargo Bank

    •    Dania Ghantous, CTO at Lion Cells

    •    Maha Ibrahim, General Partner at Canaan Partners

    •    Nadia Mansour, VP Sales of The Americas at Turin Networks

    •    Susan Lucas-Conwell, CEO, SDF Forum

 
We hope you will join us for this worthy event.

Event Sponsors: WilmerHale

Date: Thursday July 10, 2008

Time:


Networking at 6:00 PM (registration starts at 5:30)
Program starts at 7:00 PM

Location:
1117 S California Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 813-1601

Registration: $20 for professionals - $10 for students


https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=tec&formId=20920

Youssri Helmy, Bryce Murray, Anwar Imam, Rami Elkhatib, Ralph Rabbat
and surprise guest: Amr Awadallah !

 TechWadi held the second edition of its Startup Boot Camp at the offices of Weil Gotshal. The panelists discussed the different aspects of startup creation from business plan, to recruiting, to fundraising …

Again thank you to our event sponsors: Weil Gotshal

And here are some photos from the event:

TechWadi is proud to be hosting the second edition of this event - if you haven’t registered yet, please do so today. We expect a good group of entrepreneurs and our panelists are world class. 

Date:

Saturday June 14, 2008
Registration starts at 8:30 AM
Event starts at 9:00 AM 

Address:

Offices of Weil Gotshal (Law Firm) - 5th Floor
201 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
Tel: +1 650 802 3000

Registration:

• Paid TechWadi members - $40 click here 
  
• Non-members - $65 click here  (be sure to check out our discount on a 12-month membership) 
  
• Students -  $25 click here

Map:

We’ll see you there. 

Latest edition of the “Business Plan to IPO” event is around the corner. 

Saturday June 14, 2008 - Redwood Shores, CA

LEADING SPEAKERS FROM OUR COMMUNITY HAVE
BEEN ADDED TO THE PANEL !

This is a unique event tailored to educating up and coming entrepeneurs on all of the aspects of creating a technology startups and running it successfully. All of the different phases of the life of a startup (from Business plan to IPO) will be discussed.

We  have assembled a world-class panel of experts that will offer entrepreneurs a detailed view of what it takes to build a successful startup. Our panel of experts represents tens of years of expertise and hundreds of millions of raised capital:

• Ralph Rabbat - Chief Architect @ SearchMe, a startup backed by legendary VC firm Sequoia Capital
  
  

• Youssri Helmy - CEO and co-founder @ Ideal Ratings, a startup in the financial services for Islamic Finance
  
  

• Rami Elkhatib - General Partner @ SouthEast Interactive Funds, a VC firm with offices on both coasts
  
  

• Anwar Imam - Attorney @ Weil Gotshal, a leading tech-focused law firm in Silicon Valley
  
  

• Bryce Murray - Executive recruiter @ Walker Talent Group, a leading recruiting companies based in Silicon Valley
  

Event Details:

 
Registration: 

• Paid TechWadi members - $40 click here 
  
  
• Non-members - $65 click here  (be sure to check out our discount on a 12-month membership) 
  
  
• Students -  $25 click here
  

Breakfast & lunch will be served at the event.

Date: 
Saturday June 14, 2008

Time:
Registration starts  at 8:30 AM. Conference proceedings start at 9:00 AM and should end around 2:00 PM

Location:
Redwood Shores Parkway,
Redwood Shores, CA

Detailed Agenda:

• 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: “Business Plan Development”
  What goes into a successful business plan ? How do you develop financial projections ? How much information do you divulge ? …
  
  
• 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: “Building out your team”
  How do you find co-founders ? What if you need to hire a CEO ? How do you split the ownership ? What about outsourcing ? …
  
  
• 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: “Deal Structuring”
  How much equity should you give up ? Who should be on your board ? What are standard deal terms these days ? …
  
  
• 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: “Fundraising for your startup”
  What types of investors should you go after ? How do you contact investors ? What are investors looking for ? …
  
  
• 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch & Networking
  Network with your fellow entrepreneurs

 
The last Startup Boot Camp event was very much appreciated by attendees - you can see what it looked like here: http://www.techwadi.org/photo-gallery/business-plan-to-ipo-2007/

TechWadi held its first semi-annual technology career
fair on Thursday May 15, 2008.

In Silicon Valley, the best companies succeed because they have the best human capital. TechWadi wants to work with the various technology companies (small and large) in our community to help them connect with the best talent out there. We expect this to be an ongoing and regular effort on the part of our association.

To that end, TechWadi will be developing two programs for job seeking candidates and companies:

1. Career Fairs - to be held twice a year
2. Online career center - that can help candidates and companies connect on an ongoing basis 

 The TechWadi team will be working with recruiting companies throughout 2008 to fine tune and improve these programs.

 In the mean time, we would like to thank the recruiters and companies who attended the last TechWadi Career Fair - Thank You !

• Arastra

• calisolar

• Cisco

• Cortina Systems

• Eatlime

• elixirmedical

• Faculte

• Google

• KAUST

• Santur

• Symmetricom

• Tessera

• Vusion

Here are a few snapshots from the event:

We hope to see you at the next event - June 14, 2008 - TechWadi Startup Boot Camp !

Our goal is to bring together the most exciting technology companies in Silicon Valley and the most talented professionals in the industry.
 

Update: We are delighted with the response from candidates - we’ve reached capacity for this event: 70+. For candidates already registered, we will send you details 48 hours before the event. See you there.

Date: Thursday May 15, 2008

Time: From 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Location: WilmerHale Law Offices - 1117 California Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304

Big companies: 

	Cisco	www.cisco.com
	Google	www.google.com
	Tessera	www.tessera.com
	Yahoo	www.yahoo.com

Startups:

	Arastra	www.arastra.com
	Cortina Systems	www.cortina-systems.com
	EatLime	www.eatlime.com
	Elixir Medical	www.elixirmedical.com
	King Abdullah University	www.kaust.edu.sa
	Santur	www.santurcorp.com
	Symmetricom	www.symmetricom.com
	Vusion	www.vusion.com
	CaliSolar	www.calisolar.com
	Faculte	www.faculte.com

For Companies Looking To Recruit:

We all know how challenging it can be to find and recruit the best and brightest talent in the technology industry. Well - TechWadi would like to help you and your company get a leg up on the competition. You can reserve a spot for your company to recruit at the TechWadi career fair.

Act Now - It’s Free ! If your company is interested in participating in this event, you need to reply
by email to: info @ techwadi.org       “___  Yes, I would like to participate in the TechWadi Career Fair May 15, 2008”

 (Space is limited - please confirm your attendance today)

 TechWadi held its second Business Plan Competition on April 17, 2008  in San Jose.  The event was held behind closed doors to provide entrepreneurs with the required confidentiality.

We were delighted to have received 12 great business plans addressing different areas of the technology industry. Out of those, our panelists selected the following 6 startups to pitch their plans:

• WhoHu (mobile)
• Luxint (hardware)
• Yamli (mobile)
• Mazuma (web 2.0)
• ISQ Online (web 2.0)
• SureCircle (services)
  

We’d like to thank our panelists who spent two hours (with little food or drink) providing feedback and advice to our entrepreneurs:

• Jack Young: Qualcomm Ventures   [VC]
• Karim Fahmy: Intel Capital            [VC]
  
• Joe Ayyoub: Siperian                   [Moderator]
• Motasim Sirhan: Elixir                   [Entrepreneur]
• Basil Hashem: Mozilla                   [Entrepreneur]
• Khaled Shami: Thelen Reid            [Lawyer]
  

Their involvement was essential in helping entrepreneurs fine tune their business plans.

We’d also like to thank Khaled Shami, an attorney at Thelen Reid in San Jose for hosting us at their very nice offices:

If you couldn’t participate in this edition of the Business Plan Competition - it’s not too late. The next edition of the Business Plan Competition will be held in Silicon Valley in September 2008. It’s never too late to get started on that business plan. 

To all technology entrepreneurs out there:

 
TechWadi would like to invite you to participate in our upcoming Business Plan Competition. TechWadi is hosting the second edition of this event on April 17, 2008 in San Jose, CA.

Entrepreneurs will get a chance to present their business plans to a panel of investment experts – VCs, lawyers and experienced entrepreneurs. This is a unique opportunity to receive advice and coaching from a panel of Tier 1 experts. 

If you or one of your colleagues would like to participate in this event, then please follow this procedure:

1. Submit your business plan in PDF format by April 10, 2008 - info@techwadi.org
   
2. Our panelists will review all submitted business plans and will select four business plans to be presented at the event
3. Entrepreneurs that have been selected to present at the event will be informed by email by April 14, 2008
4. Entrepreneurs that haven’t been selected should still plan to attend the event so that they can talk to the panelists and take advantage of the advice / coaching being provided
5. Entrepreneurs presenting at the event should bring their business plan (in PDF format) on a USB drive, so that it can be projected on a screen.

 
NOTE: If you would like to know what business areas your business plan should cover,  download this document. Entrepreneurs should also understand that their business plans wil be viewed by several people and so they should not include any confidential or proprietary information in their submitted business plan.

We hope you will take advantage of this unique opportunity to get your business plan in front of Tier 1 investment experts. The advice you will obtain will be invaluable in helping you fine-tune your business plan for possible VC funding.

If you need to contact the two speakers, here are their LinkedIn profiles:

• Joe Ayyoub, Siperian
• Chris Murdock, Yahoo 

For those who couldn’t make it, the pictures gallery can be found here:

Studies show that 90-95% of all jobs are filled through word of mouth!

New Speaker Added: Cortney Hesz, Director of Talent Acquisition at Yahoo!

Whether you’re looking for a job or just some sound expert advise, networking is your key asset to getting the information you need.  Come learn expert tips from Cortney Hesz, Director of Talent Acquisition at Yahoo! about the importance of networking in landing your dream job.  Ms. Hesz will also discuss two important aspects of networking, follow-up and follow-through.
 
And of course, as announced earlier, Joe Ayyoub will join Ms. Hesz in leading us in a fun interactive dialogue about how networking is not about making cold calls to people you don’t know but about talking to people you do know.

Have you ever wondered how you could leverage your TechWadi membership to enhance your professional career ?

With more than 800 members covering all of the technology fields, TechWadi should be a key resource to help you find career opportunities, find technology suppliers, find customers, close deals, get funding …

But you can only do that if you know how to leverage the power of the network. To help you do that, TechWadi is proud to host a speaker from our community who has put the “power of the network” to effective use throughout his career.

Joe Ayyoub, Senior Director of Customer Support at Siperian, will be sharing with you his 15-year experience in professional networking. Joe will discuss how to use the latest social network tools like LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook etc. to meet new colleagues. Joe will also discuss how to build long-term professional connections to help you with your job search, getting sales etc.

Update: Event Agenda

6:00 - 6:30 PM: Registration

6:30 - 7:10 PM: Networking

7:10 - 8:30 PM: Panel Discussion - Networking to advance your career

8:30 - 9:00 PM: Networking 

Location: WilmerHale Offices - 1117 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA

Time: Thursday March 20, 2008 - 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Registration: registration is required

Free for our paid members / $20 for non-members / $10 for students

Sponsored by: WilmerHale