Ann Winblad, Founding Partner, Hummer Winblad Ventures
Lars Leckie, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Ventures (moderator)

The success of a new venture is often determined by the level of disruption it brings to the market. What is being disrupted? How is that disruption making an impact? Is the disruption truly innovative? Success in the competitive world of enterprise software requires innovation in both the business model and the technology.

Whether you are a founder of a company or are just thinking about starting a company, join us on Thursday, April 14, for an evening with Ann Winblad, Founding Partner of Hummer Winblad Ventures. Hear from the pioneer of early-stage enterprise software investing to gain important insights for building a successful company.

Among the topics to be covered, Ann will address:

• validating the demand for your product or idea
• creating a platform versus building single applications
• understanding enterprise sales cycles

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to connect with other startup founders and receive custom-tailored advice — and for a select few, personalized mentorship — from Ann Winblad and Lars Leckie. Learn what it takes to build a winning strategy for your entrepreneurial venture.

Speaker

Ann Winblad

Ann is the co-founder and a managing director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Hummer Winblad Venture Partners (www.hwvp.com) is a leading venture capital firm focused exclusively on software investing and manages over $1 billion in cumulative capital. Since Hummer Winblad Venture Partners’ inception in 1989, the firm has launched over 100 new enterprise software companies.

Ann has over 30 years of experience in the software industry as a successful software entrepreneur, strategy advisor, technical author and venture capitalist. Ann has a BA in Mathematics and in Business Administration from St Catherine University, an MA in Education with a focus in International Economics from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, and honorary Doctorate of Law degree from the University of St. Thomas.

Ann has served as a director of numerous start-up and public companies. She currently serves on the boards of Ace Metrix, MuleSoft, OptiMine, and Sonatype. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of St. Thomas and a board member of the Richard Schulze Family Foundation.

Moderator

Lars Leckie

Lars plays a critical role in selecting and managing HWVP’s investments in SaaS, virtualization, cloud, and mobile technologies. Prior to joining Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Lars held founding and operational roles at multiple start-up companies. As a co-founder of AutoFarm (now Novariant), which is focused on GPS and robotics, Lars was in charge of strategy, product marketing, business development, and building the sales team across three continents.

Lars has a Masters of Science (Engineering) from Stanford University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He also holds an Engineering Physics degree from Queen’s University (with honors). Lars currently sits on the board of Kiip, PLUMgrid, InsideSales.com, Innovative Leisure, and Aria Systems. He has played a key role in the firm’s investments in Karmasphere (Big Data Analytics) and NuoDB (Scalable SQL database). Lars also holds several US patents.

About the VLAB Founders’ Series

Founders’ Series events provide a unique opportunity for startups and technologists to take part in an interactive session. Come prepared with your burning questions!

If you would like to have the rare opportunity to take the “Hot Seat” on stage to receive feedback from the speakers, please be sure to enter your question in the field below. Startup founders selected for the “Hot Seat” will be notified in advance.

For all other questions, please contact founders.series@vlab.org.

Note: Founder's Series tickets are for startup founders and are subject to approval. Please allow 24-48 hours for final ticket confirmation.