What investment options are available for entrepreneurs in this new economic climate? Some of the usual sources have dried up in the recession, but it has also opened up some exciting structural changes in the business world. Entrepreneurs from young, vibrant companies are demonstrating that new ways of doing business through innovation, transparency, and integrity are disrupting markets. Smart decisions early on like taking less money, picking partners who understand and support founders all have a big impact on exit value. 'Show Me the Money’ takes an optimistic view on how to make smarter funding decisions in the early stages and maximise exit values. Come join us for an insightful conversation with BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones, Michael Birch, Co-Founder of Bebo, Andreas Lazar, Managing Director of Allen & Co, and Brent Hoberman, Founder of European Founders Capital and Mydeco. Tuesday 9 June 2009
Wednesday 22nd July 2009
Savoy Place,
2 Savoy Place,
London,
WC2R 0BL.
www.savoyplace.co.uk Tickets £25 Advance, £30 Door Venue Map About the Speakers: Michael Birch, Founder, Bebo and European Founders Capital
Michael Birch had no idea what he wanted to do when he left Imperial College London with a Physics degree under his belt. So he went into insurance. Last year, Michael, CEO and Co-Founder of Bebo, sold the company to AOL for $850million, a deal made possible by the merchant banking firm, Allen & Co.
Prior to the sale of Bebo, Michael also sold Ringo.com, an early social network in 2003. He is an investor in several companies including PlayFire.com, a computer gaming social network and MyStore.com, a place for users to sell goods online. In September 2008, he launched Wordia.com, a video dictionary website.
Today, Michael Birch is back to his first business, Birthday Alarm, which he is in the process of relaunching under a different name. Birthday Alarm was launched in 2001 and today has over 50 million users worldwide, but it needs some love to take it to the next level.
Michael made news recently following the announcement he had joined forces with Brent Hoberman of LastMinute.com and other successful entrepreneurs to launch a development fund to aid start-up technology companies. European Founders Capital (EFC) is expected to fill the gap between angel investors, who typically make hundreds of thousands of pounds available, and venture capitalists who provide millions. www.bebo.com
Andreas Lazar, Managing Director, Allen & Company
Andreas Lazar is a Managing Director at Allen & Company, the privately-held merchant banking firm that represented Michael during the sale of Bebo to AOL, and was one of the underwriters for the Google IPO. supported the sale of Bebo. He is responsible for developing and executing assignments for the firm’s clients across all areas of its practice, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, public financings and private placements, and is primarily focused on the media, interactive, and communications area. Allen & Co. is a consummate niche player. Its specialty is forging long-lasting and lucrative relationships with corporate leaders.
Andreas joined Allen in 1998, initially working in its New York office. From January 2006 through August 2008, Mr. Lazar left the firm to work as Senior Vice President of Business Development for Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. In September 2008 he re-joined Allen as part of the team establishing the firm’s presence in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, and is based in the London office.
Brent Hoberman, Founder, European Founders Capital and Mydeco
Brent most recently co-founded the European Founders Capital – an early stage fund backed by entrepreneurs for digital entrepreneurs. He is also Chairman and founded VC-backed internet based startup, mydeco, the online interiors site that will revolutionise the way we shop and design for our homes. mydeco.com is the UK’s leading interior design website. It brings together the widest range of home furnishing products, from over 750 retailers, from high street stores to niche retailers and up-and-coming independent designers. It also offers ground-breaking 3D room design tools. The buzzing community of over 50,000 people passionate about home design also share ideas and advice and show off their creative flare with 3D room designs.
Prior to mydeco, Brent co-founded lastminute.com in April 1998 with Martha Lane Fox and was CEO and took the company to profit and gross bookings of over $2bn. The company floated in March 2000 when the dot-com bubble was at its peak - the IPO was 40 times oversubscribed and the price increase during the process was a record for a UK company. lastminute.com acquired 14 businesses after the IPO to supplement the annual growth of the core brand which was over 100% from 1998 – 2004. In 2005 lastminute.com was sold to Sabre for $1.1bn.
Brent is a Governor of University of the Arts College, London and a non-executive board director of Guardian Media Group. From January, 2007 he took on the role of Non-Executive Chairman of Wayn.com – a travel and leisure social network with over 14.5 million members. Brent is also an angel investor in several internet companies including Viagogo, Wayn.com and moveme.com.
http://mydeco.com
Chairing the event, and back by popular demand, is Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC Technology Correspondent
Rory Cellan-Jones whose career started with the BBC in 1981 as a researcher on ‘Look North’ in Leeds, covers developments in business and industry, working across the network on programmes such as the Money Programme, Newsnight and the Today programme. In 2000, he was the BBC’s Internet Correspondent, and following the ‘dot com’ crash of 2000, he wrote the book "Dot.bomb" about the frenzy and the free-fall of the dot.com market. Since January 2007, Rory Cellan-Jones has been the BBC's technology correspondent with the job of expanding the BBC's coverage of new media and telecoms, and the cultural impact of the Internet. www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology
Glasshouse was founded in 1998 to provide support, encouragement and inspiration to entrepreneurs across all sectors, with success in London spawning events in San Francisco, Prague, Sydney and New York.
We value diversity of thought, business and background, and believe there's a wealth of experience and contacts that can be shared across all industries. Most of all, we aim to encourage, stimulate and promote those with an entrepreneurial passion who want to shape their own future.
‘Glasshouse events bring style and wit to the entrepreneurial set,
you can’t chuck a brick without hitting a mogul or a maven!’
Jim Buckmaster, CEO, Craigslist
Previous guest lists have included:
Organisations: 7Digital, ASOS, B3ta, Babble.net, Bebo, Betfair, BT, Buildersite.co.uk, The Cloud, Cominded, Crowdstorm, eBay, DTi, Endemol, Figleaves, Firebox, Freshminds, The Friday Project, Friends Reunited, Friends Abroad, Gala Coral, Glasses Direct, GNR, Google, Gumtree, Hitwise, Houses of Parliament, Imagini, Joost, iSporty, Ladbrokes eGaming, Last.fm, Lulu.com, Play.com, Match.com, MoveMe.com, Million Dollar Homepage, Microsoft, MindCandy, Ministry of Sound, Mofo Games, MOO, Monumental Games, Moreover, MTV, Mydeo, MySpace, News International, Nexagent, Oracle, Orderwork, Oxygen Games, Quikker, Paypal, Play.com, Reuters, Shopping.com, Shop Qwik, Skinkers, Skype, Snipperoo, Sony, Technovate, The Universal Music Group, Toptable, Yahoo!, The Young Foundation, Weeworld, Zopa, Zoomf, Zubka.
Investors: 3i, Atlas Ventures, Accel Partners, Advent Ventures, Atomico Investments, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Close Ventures, Creative Capital Fund, Deutsche Bank, DFJ Esprit, Doughty Hanson Technology Investors, Episode 1, Fleming Private Equity, Goldman Sachs, IBIS Media, Index Ventures, Ingenious Ventures, London Seed Capital, London Technology Fund, Liberty Global Investors, Morgan Stanley, NESTA, New Media Spark, Mathematical Capital, Oxford Capital Partners, Seraphim Capital Fund
Press: Angelnews, BBC TV and Radio, Business Week, Channel 4, City am, The Daily Express, The Evening Standard, The Financial Times, Fortune, The Guardian, ITN, Netimperative, New Media Age, The Observer, Sharp Edge, Silicon.com, TechCrunch, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Spectator.
Microsoft BizSpark is a global program designed to help accelerate the success of early stage startups, to find out more, click below:
Special Thanks to:
Stiff Rowlands is a new breed of creative agency based in London and Manchester
Sponsorship Opportunities
A series of tiered sponsorship packages are available to businesses and members wishing to support our events. The sponsorship packages benefit a variety of marketing and communications strategies and offer branding at events and on all event marketing and promotional materials, links to a web site, acknowledgement during event welcome, guest passes, advance guest list information, priority matching with attendees and much more.
For more information about the full range of sponsorship opportunities with The Glasshouse please contact jane@theglasshouse.net