Innovation in the Cloud: How Cloud Computing is Changing the Landscape of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Tuesday, February 28, 20125:30 PM - 7:30 PM (Pacific)
Download the podcast and listen to executives and entrepreneurs from the Valley sharing their insights on how they are building successful businesses which leverage cloud computing to re-shape their industries, from enterprise solutions to mobile consumer applications, in this featured event at Stanford Graduate School of Business for Stanford's annual Entrepreneurship Week.
About the panel discussion
“Cloud makes it easier and cheaper than ever for anyone anywhere to be an entrepreneur and to have access to all the best infrastructure of innovation”, noted Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn.
By reducing IT design and deployment costs significantly, enabling greater access to data and services across geographies, and harnessing flexible computing power, cloud enables innovation in firms and fuels a start-up boom across the globe. CHAIN and SPRIE are pleased to present a panel of executives, investors and entrepreneurs to share their insights about building successful businesses by leveraging cloud computing.
PANELISTS
James Dai, CEO and founder of CalmSea Inc.
Jim Dai, Chief Executive Officer, CalmSea
Jim is the CEO and founder of CalmSea Inc., a provider of business optimization solutions for retailers. Jim has 25 years of experience in software industry, with a proven track record of delivering quality product and services to customers. Before founding CalmSea Inc, Jim was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Altos Ventures. Prior to that, Jim was the Sr. Vice President of Products for DemandTec, responsible for Product Management, Engineering, Operations, Customer Support and IT. Jim was instrumental in DemandTec’s successful IPO in 2007. Prior to joining DemandTec, Jim held executive management positions at Siebel, Vivant!, DoubleTwist, Informix and Oracle.
Jim holds a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master Degree in Management from Stanford University.
Sam Ghods, Vice President of Technology, Box.com
Sam Ghods, Vice President of Technology, Box.com
Sam Ghods is the Vice President of Technology at Box, where he manages the design and architecture of Box's application and technology stack. Prior to joining Box, Sam was a developer at essembly.com, which is now part of Project Agape. Before essembly.com, Sam was the lead developer at zexsports.com, where he was responsible for development, server management, and architecture.
Sam attended the University of Southern California, where he studied computer engineering and computer science for two years before joining Box in 2006.
Ken Oestreich, Senior Director of Marketing, EMC
Ken Oestreich, Senior Director of Cloud and Virtualization Marketing, EMC
Ken Oestreich is Sr. Director of Cloud and Virtualization Marketing at EMC. With over 20 years in enterprise software and data center technology, he is now helping EMC define the market for cloud computing and IT transformation.
Prior to EMC Ken was with Egenera Inc, a data center infrastructure play (funded by Pharos Capital and Kodiak Venture Partners) and Cassatt Corp, a data center automation startup (funded through Warburg Pincus). Earlier in his career, he was with Sun Microsystems in various new product management capacities. Ken also helped found the Liberty Alliance, an industry-wide body defining federated identity standards for the internet.
Ken began his career in Electrical Engineering, controlling adaptive optics with Litton Industries. He holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University.
He frequently blogs at fountnhead.blogspot.com and tweets as @fountnhead.
Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing Director, Illuminate Ventures
Cindy Padnos is the founder and managing partner of Illuminate Ventures, an early stage, high-tech venture capital firm. Illuminate invests in start-ups leveraging new technologies and business models, with a focus in the fast growing category of cloud computing. Current investments and board seats include BrightEdge, CalmSea, Hoopla and Xactly Corporation.
Named by Fast Company as one of the Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010 and by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the Most Influential Women in Business in the Bay Area in 2011, Cindy has been helping accelerate emerging technology companies for over 25 years - as an entrepreneur, advisor, investor and board member. She has raised and deployed more than $100 million in venture funding to help launch dozens of innovative start-ups and bring them to successful outcomes.
Cindy is an advisor to Astia and Project Olympus and sits on the Business Board of Advisors for Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business where she received her MBA/MSIA.
Robert Scoble, Start-up liaison, Rackspace; Blogger of 'Scobleizer'
Robert Scoble is a blogger, technology evangelist, and author. Scoble is best known for his blog, Scobleizer, which came to prominence during his tenure at Microsoft from 2003-2006, and he was one of the five guys who started Microsoft's famous Channel9 video community. Subsequently, he worked for Fast Company as a video blogger. He currently works at Rackspace as Startup Liaison Officer through the sponsored content and social networking site building43.com. He is the co-author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers. Described by The Economist as a “minor celebrity among geeks worldwide who read his blog religiously”, Scoble has the distinction of followcost.com naming a unit of measurement to quantify how annoying it will be to follow someone on Twitter as the “milliscoble.”
About the organizers
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About Entrepreneurship Week (E-Week) at Stanford
Stanford E-Week