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Global Mobile: Where in the World Are the Opportunities?
6:00pm – 7:30pm – Networking and Hors D’oeuvres
7:30pm – 9:00pm – Panel Discussion and Q/A
(Please note a slight schedule change)
Location
Stanford Business School
6:00pm – 7:30pm – Arbuckle Lounge (extended reception with more food and drink)
7:30pm – 9:00pm – Bishop Auditorium (delayed program due to GSB class)
Presenter
Faraz Syed, CEO & Co-Founder, Device Anywhere
Moderator
Ashok Narasimhan, CEO & Founder, Cinch (Founding CEO, Wipro IT)
Panelists
Connie Wong, CEO & Founder, Vidiator Technology, President, Hutchison Whampoa Americas
Kevin Leong, CEO & Founder, MoBlast
Cyriac Roeding, EIR at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Rob Trice, Senior Managing Director, SK Telecom Ventures
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Event Description:
With the huge growth of overseas markets and resources, mobile start-ups need to shift away from a “local” only focus and go “global.” There are dozens of novel ways that mobile devices and services are being used globally thus creating a plethora of revenue opportunities. However, going global in the mobile world offers many more challenges than going global on the Internet such as wireless carriers operating “closed” networks (aka “walled gardens”), lack of device/applications standardization, stricter local regulations, and diverse user behavior. Companies need to possess the right combination of management capabilities, innovation, market savvy, infrastructure and an overseas footprint to compete on a worldwide scale. In today’s competitive mobile markets, what are the challenges facing mobile start-ups to compete on the global stage? What go-to-market strategies and operational capabilities must they have in place to succeed? What are the tools and technologies which help mobile companies to globally expand?
See link to article on Cyriac’s (panelist) global travels for a sampling of global mobile usage.
The presenting company, DeviceAnywhere, not only has a variety of customers around the world, but they also provide tools for other mobile companies to locally develop and test mobile applications across hundreds of handsets across live networks around the world. Faraz Syed, CEO & Co-founder of DeviceAnywhere, will share his experience of expanding his company globally, while helping other companies also go global. A global mobile panel including the founding CEO of Wipro, President of Hutchison Whampoa (owner of operator “3), an EIR at Kleiner Perkins, and more provides insightful analysis of the challenges of going “Global Mobile”.
Bios:
Faraz Syed, CEO & Co-Founder, Device Anywhere
Recognizing a need in the fast growing mobile industry to provide the first truly affordable handset testing service, Faraz founded Mobile Complete in April 2003. Faraz spearheaded Mobile Complete’s evolution from being a technology provider for testing to its role today as a comprehensive mobile development environment. Clients throughout the world can access real mobile phones linked to live operator networks, through the Internet on their desktops. Being one of the fastest growing mobile start-up companies in Silicon Valley, the company provides service to many of the largest Internet and mobile companies in the world with more than 650 clients using the service.
Prior to launching Mobile Complete, Faraz was the Director of Solutions at Brience, a mobile WAP applications company, and a Technical Architect at KPMG Consulting. While employed with Brience, he experienced the difficulty and expense required to develop new mobile applications when teams often had to travel abroad to set up testing labs and independently purchase new handsets. The challenge facing the industry presented Faraz with the vision for founding Mobile Complete. Faraz has also held technical positions at Oracle, KLA Tencor and AMD. He holds a MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the lead singer for a local rock band, Kaif.
Ashok Narasimhan, CEO & Founder, Cinch, Founding CEO, Wipro IT
Ashok Narasimhan is the CEO and Founder of Cinch, a consumer-branded, cross-merchant program focused on increasing conversion to sales at e-tailer sites. He was previously CEO and Co-Founder of July Systems, which provided direct-to-consumer mobile services globally. Before that, he was CEO & Founder of Prio, a Web and credit card based promotion service which was acquired by InfoSpace for $1B+ in 2000. Ashok subsequently served on the board of Infospace. Prior to Prio, Ashok was Head of Worldwide Marketing, Business Development, and Engineering for VeriFone from its early days thru the IPO. Before coming to the US, Ashok was a key pioneer in India’s early IT industry and was the founding CEO of Wipro’s IT organizations and led its expansion into global markets. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Madras University and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
Connie Wong, CEO & Founder, Vidiator Technology, President, Hutchison Whampoa Americas
Connie Wong has more than 30 years of experience in wireless and IT technology. She is currently CEO/Founder of Vidiator Technology, Inc. and also the President of Hutchison Whampoa Americas. Vidiator is a leading mobile multimedia company and has customers in over 20 countries worldwide and offices in 10 countries. Connie was formerly VP of AOL Mobile Asia and prior to that, Connie was VP of BizDev for Nextel International where she served on the boards of Nextel Japan, Philippines and a JV with China Unicom in Shanghai. In Hong Kong, Connie worked for Hutchison Telecom International where she bid on global wireless licenses and set up new operation e.g. Orange India. She was a founding member of SmarTone Communications in Hong Kong, the first GSM operator in Asia. Connie began her career in the computer industry in Asia for DEC, Wang Labs, and Data General. She is on the Washington State Attorney General’s Technology Advisory Board and Co-Chairs Women in Wireless for the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). She also serves on the boards of The International Youth Foundation, Bahiastreet in Brazil, and Cocoon House in Washington State (for homeless teenagers).
Kevin Leong, CEO & Founder, MoBlast
Kevin Leong is the founder and CEO of the mobile web company (Mo’Blast) where he and his team of engineers in Europe, Asia and Silicon Valley have developed a flexible platform that enables the creation of location-based and mobile apps quickly. Prior to Mo’Blast, Kevin involved in two other startups ProxiNet and Zhanra, and held various technical leadership positions at IBM. Kevin appearances included recent JavaOne, Ars Electronica Festival (Linz) and S60 Summit (Barcelona). He has MBA from Haas, UC Berkeley, and a technical degree from University of Texas.
Cyriac Roeding, EIR at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Cyriac Roeding joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2008 as Entrepreneur-in-Residence, to focus on next-generation cross-platform mobile and online venture concepts. Previously, Cyriac was EVP of CBS Mobile, CBS Interactive. He launched CBS Corporation’s (NYSE: CBS) mobile businesses across CBS Entertainment, CBS Sports, CBS News and The CW. In partnerships with technology start-ups, he created U.S. industry firsts such as location-based mobile advertising, mobile video breaking news and sports alerts, and avatar-based mobile games tied to major TV shows. He grew CBS Sports Mobile into one of the Top Ten highest traffic ad-supported mobile websites in the U.S.; created the first virtual reality video gaming experience across TV, online and mobile with “CSI: NY”; and launched the first Alternate Reality Game with full primetime TV drama episode (Numb3rs) and outdoor billboard integration. Prior to CBS, Cyriac was the Co-Founder of 12snap, a European mobile marketing and entertainment company with clients such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, L’Oreal, adidas and MTV Europe. Before that, he developed growth strategies at McKinsey & Company for global media, software and high-tech players in Europe and in Silicon Valley. Cyriac has received several industry honors, including the first Lion Awards for mobile concepts at the Cannes Lion Festival in France (in 2003 and 2004). In 2007, Cyriac and his CBS Mobile team received the only Emmy Award nomination for Mobile. He was also elected Global and North American Chairman of the MMA, with 600 member companies worldwide. He currently serves as Chairman Emeritus. Cyriac received a master’s degree summa cum laude in engineering and business administration from Germany’s Technical University of Karlsruhe, and studied Japanese management at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Rob Trice, Senior Managing Director, SK Telecom Ventures
Rob Trice brings a variety of domestic and international investing and business experience to SK Telecom Ventures. Prior to joining SK Telecom Ventures, he was a co-founding Partner of Nokia Growth Partners, the global growth-stage venture capital arm of Nokia with US$350m under management for direct and fund-to-fund investing. From late 2000 until the end of 2004, he worked at Nokia Venture Partners (now BlueRun Ventures) on early-stage venture investments in the US and overseas. Previously, he worked at DIRECTV in Los Angeles and Tokyo in a variety of operational and business planning roles. Rob also worked as an international policy analyst at a Washington, D.C. based think tank, the Center for Strategic & International Studies. He holds a Master of Arts from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia. Rob is based in Menlo Park, California.
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