American Business Association of Russian Professionals

Dear AmBARians:

In today's issue:

1.  REMINDER: AmBAR Workshop I, February 28, Thursday
2.  CoolTech Club with John Sebes, March 6, 2008
3.  SFERA Event: Speed Business Networking, March 6, 2008
4.  News: Google May Be Buying Ukrainian Portal Bigmir)net For $100 Million
5.  Job Posting: Retail product/service distributor in Russia (Moscow)

Please see details bellow.
Sincerely,
AmBAR Executive Team
ambar@ambarclub.org
http://www.ambarclub.org/

1. REMINDER: AmBAR Workshop I, February 28, Thursday

(Please note a location : meeting to be held in Fenwick& West, Mountain View )

TOPIC: The Science of Early-Stage Financing and Term-Sheet Negotiations
This session will present an overview of issues critical to entrepreneurs and young companies that are preparing to raise their initial round of venture capital. The content will cover both fundraising strategies and the issues critical in negotiating investment term sheets. Topics covered will include:

- What materials to prepare for investors
- Information to include in an executive summary
- Preparing your corporation for investment
- Role of a term-sheet
- Seed financing alternatives
- Sample capitalization tables
- Calculation of pre and post-money valuations
- Impact of size of option pool
- Typical Series A valuations and financing terms
- Company control issues

SPEAKERS:

Fred Greguras, Partner, Fenwick & West

Fred focuses on strategic legal issues for software, internet, semiconductor-related and life sciences companies. His practice includes start-up issues and financings in both domestic and international transactions. He has represented a wide range of companies from privately held start-ups to publicly traded companies. He has also been a venture capitalist and a general counsel and CFO for a startup.

Darrell Kong, Director of Venture Capital Services, Fenwick & West
Darrell focuses on strengthening Fenwick's relationships with both venture capital investors and the entrepreneur community. He has worked with emerging technology companies since 1998 in a variety of roles. Prior to joining Fenwick & West, he managed Gray Cary's Venture Pipeline group. His investment experience includes positions with Claremont Creek Ventures, Ex'tent (a private Dutch investment fund) and Sylvan Ventures where he worked on capital deployments totaling more than $40M into early stage companies. In addition to his investment experience Darrell launched myBschool.com, an on-line affinity marketing company targeting professional school students, while completing his graduate studies. Darrell graduated from UCLA with a BA in Economics and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.
REGISTRATION:
Pre-registration - $20 (sign at http://www.ambarclub.org/node/252)
At the door - $25

WHEN
Thursday, February 28, 2008
6:30pm - 10:00pm
(Please be on time - we shall start with the Russian food and need to close the doors at 7:15. Feel free to call at (650) 278-0431 if you need any assistance).

WHERE
Fenwick & West
801 California St
Mountain View, CA 94041
(off Castro Street, downtown Mountain View)

2. CoolTech Club with John Sebes, March 6, 2008

TOPIC: Saving Democracy from Computers: Creating Trust in Next Gen Digital Voting

You might think it wouldn't be hard to build a voting machine - all it needs to do is count, and computers are good at that! But in fact, billions have been spent in the as yet unsuccessful quest for e-voting systems that work. It's not so straightforward. In fact, the majority of ballots in U.S. elections are cast with electronic voting devices that are in most cases fundamentally flawed. In California, all but one of existing voting device products were de-certified as a result of an ad hoc independent review convening by the Secretary of State, resulting in largest switch to pure paper manual elections in history - all of California except two counties. Yet this change is a temporary setback as county elections officials across the state and across the country scramble to enable further use of electronic systems.

Why are electronic voting devices so desirable? Why is the current generation of devices so flawed? Is there any scope for technologists to make a positive improvement, either voting systems, or in the public confidence that has been eroded by the stream of press about election device problems? I'll answer these questions briefly at the level of public policy, and more specifically at the level of technical requirements for automation of elections. (Hint: it's not the functional requirements that are the problem!) I'll describe the technology approach and project approach that we're taking the Open Source Digital Voting project, and also explain what each audience member can do to help.

PRESENTER

John Sebes is the co-founder of the Open Source Digital Voting Foundation, and serves as CTO. John has a long and checkered history in high-confidence computing, security, and Internet and enterprise IT infrastructure, starting in the pre-Jurassic era before the Internet, network firewalls, and FUD. He is also recovering from a decade-long bout of start-up-itis, and enjoying the similarities and differences of building a technology non-profit organization.

See details at  http://www.khirman.com/ctc/20080306

3. SFERA Event: Speed Business Networking, March 6, 2008

SFERA (Association of Russian American Business and Professional Women, http://www.sferaclub.org) invites you to celebrate International Women's Day and meet dozens of new business contacts in a private room setting at the

California Grill at Marriott-San Mateo

1770 S Amphlett Blvd, San Mateo, CA 94402

SPEED NETWORKING is a networking event with an accelerated twist. The program is specifically designed to allow attendees the quick and entertaining opportunity to introduce themselves and pitch their company to other people in business.

With a unique format, participants of SPEED NETWORKING will meet more people, make more contacts, and generate more business ideas in one short evening, than they ever thought was possible at a networking event!

Benefits of Speed Networking
- Make more business contacts in one night than most make in a month
- Perfect your "30 Second" pitch
- Face-to-face networking
- Fun and fast paced
- Great for new entrepreneurs

WHEN
March 6, 2008, 6.30 pm - registration, 7.00 p.m. - activities start

WHERE
California Grill at Mariott, San Matero, 1770 Amphlett Blvd, San Mateo, CA

COST
Admission is FREE; you will be responsible for paying for your own food and drinks.

Check California grill's menu at http://www.sanmateomarriott.com/dining_menus.php

To register for this event email sferacluborg@gmail.com or call Irina Poloskova at (650) 291-1514

4. Google May Be Buying Ukrainian Portal Bigmir)net For $100 Million

Another day, another Google acquisition rumor, and this one comes from within the borders of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. According to local press reports , Google may have acquired Ukrainian Portal Bigmir)net for $100 million.
To read whole article please see http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/21/zdrravstvuite-google-may-be-buying-ukrainian-portal-bigmirnet-for-100-million/

5.JOB POSTING:

Retail Product/Service Distributer in Russia (Moscow)

ShopperTrack (www.shoppertrak.com) - premier provider of customer counting and tracking for retail, gaming, mall and shopping centers - is looking for a retail product/service distributor in Russia (Moscow is the preferred location)
A potential candidate could be:
Ø A Russian company or an individual who has an established retail business and would like to augment it with a new value-added service.
Ø A Russian/International construction company in the business of building malls and shopping centers.
For more details, please contact Natasha Krol at krol.natasha@gmail.com

Regional Sales Manager, based in Russia

Panasas is an emerging company developing a new approach to enterprise storage. We offer a breakthrough product, outstanding, execution-oriented leadership, competitive salary/benefits, and tremendous growth potential. We have developed a culture where bright, dedicated people can cherish the opportunity to shape an industry. The simplicity of our common goal, to create the world's first smart and infinitely scalable storage network, allows us to have laser focus on what we are doing as a company and how each of our jobs directly contributes to the realization of this goal.

We seek assertive sales over-achievers with excellent communication skills, a consistent track record of quota over-attainment, and strong networking in the local business market, specifically into the High Performance Computing (HPC) markets. Successful applicants will possess an industry reputation for competence, professionalism, integrity, and a passion for winning.

For more details, please contact Jay Michlin at jmichlin@panasas.com