Venture Capitalists Place Their Bets
Monday, January 8, 2007, 11:30am - 12:45
What is going to be the hot electronic gift for next Christmas? Who is bringing a bundle or application or service that everyone has got to have and why? What peripherals are going to be incorporated into what we purchase? Is voice recognition upon us? Is video a given for day to day communication? Will the Internet be integral or is it only the technology that will enable connectivity and the services will be closed networks? What are the specific niche markets where the monies are to be found today?
David Aronoff, General Partner, IDG Ventures Boston
David Aronoff joined IDG Ventures in June 2005 from his previous position at Greylock Partners where he led several of the firm’s successful investments in the communications and systems markets. At Greylock, Aronoff’s track record included Akara (acquired by CIENA), Cimaron (acquired by AMCC), e-Dial (acquired by Alcatel), SiTera (acquired by Vitesse), Xedia (acquired by Lucent) and Xros (acquired by Nortel). Aronoff also held executive roles at Chipcom, co-founded the Attitude Network (acquired by TheGlobe.com), and held technical positions at Bell Labs. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Vermont, an MS in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.
Rod Randall, Senior Managing Director, Vesbridge Partners, LLC
Rod has spent over 20 years in the networking industry as an entrepreneur, senior executive and venture capitalist. Prior to forming Vesbridge, Rod was a General Partner with SPVC where he led investments including Dynamicsoft (acquired by Cisco), Bitfone and Visage Mobile. Before becoming a venture capitalist, Rod had been Chief Marketing Officer at Lucent which he joined in 1999 upon the acquisition of Ascend (by Lucent for $24 billion) where he had been the Vice President of Marketing. Prior to Ascend, Rod was Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and General Manager at Stratus Computer (acquired by Ascend for $833 million) and Vice President of Strategic Market Development at Madge Networks.
Prior to Madge Networks, Rod was a co-founder of Teleos Communications in 1987. During the nearly 10 years Rod was building Teleos, he held several roles including CTO, Vice President of Business Development and Vice President of WAN Access Technology. Rod helped guide Teleos until its acquisition for $165 million in 1996 by Madge Networks which provided a solid return to investors on $27 million raised. Rod began his career in technology with Bell labs in 1981.
