American Business Association of Russian Professionals

Dear AmBARians:

Please review the following event announcements and news by AmBAR affiliates and friends. We also encourage you to visit http://www.ambarclub.org often for the most recent postings.

Sincerely,

AmBAR Executive Team  

1. Silicon Valley Open Doors is coming in November, 2007!

AmBAR launches its third annual Silicon Valley Open Doors technology investment conference (SVOD-2007), which will take place at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, on November 8-9, 2007.

The SVOD Conference has become the premier industry event bringing together more than 300 innovators from the US, Former Soviet Union, Europe and Israel; prominent Silicon Valley and international venture capital firms; leading technology and business media. 

Based on the traditional SVOD format, the program will include company exhibits and presentations to the audience of professional investors, as well as seminars conducted by leading venture capitalists, lawyers, and other experts in the areas of finance, business development, and general management. The topics of the seminars will include: building growing technology ventures, developing business plans, structuring deals, and protecting intellectual property. Representatives of some of the major Silicon Valley companies will speak about partnership opportunities.

The highlight of SVOD-2007 will be the competition for the most promising technology company, in which entrepreneurs will present their business plans to a distinguished Panel of Judges, which consists of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and business professionals. The winner will receive a traditional AmBAR Golden Lock Award at the Conference closing ceremony. 

If you or your Russian-speaking peers, involved in a start-up company, are interested in participating in the SVOD 2007 and the business plan competition, please submit your application by September 15 to info@svod.org.

If the company you referred to will be selected for presentation, you will receive a free pass to SVOD 2007. Please use the same e-mail in case you have any specific questions or requests regarding the conference.

In addition to the traditional program a number of large technology companies and start-ups both from Silicon Valley and the FSU countries will present their career opportunities.

Registration will be opened in July 2007. For more information please contact us at info@svod.org. 

2. Jobs at www.ambarclub.org

Check out the new job listing on AmBAR’s website http://www.ambarclub.org/forum/jobs. If you are hiring, post the job description to AmBAR’s website. It is free. 

3. Invitation to a unique professional education program in software entrepreneurship – “Start in Garage”, Russia

Together RUSSEE Consulting, ABRT Venture Fund and Microsoft Corporation have started in Russia a unique professional education program in software entrepreneurship - «Start in Garage» - www.startingarage.com 

This dynamic educational program is aimed at anyone who is interested in founding a software company or working for a software company. The program gathers key topics in strategy, operations and business essential for launch and operation of a successful software house. The program emphasizes the excitement, as well as the difficulties, of managing in a fast-paced high-tech environment where it is difficult to plan more than a year ahead. Learn how to build a sustainable world-class software company and expand your presence into the US and European markets. The program is rich with practical exercises, guest lectures, case analysis and discussions.

The program's mission is to catalyze Russian software market, and help: 

·       Russian start-up companies to grow faster and expand their presence into the US and European markets;

·       Growth-stage companies to develop new opportunities.

  Learn more at www.startingarage.com

Contacts: Evgeny Fetyukhin, Program Director

e-mail: evgeny.fetyukhin@startingarage.com

tel. : +7 (495) 766 30 88

4. Invitation and special discount for AmBAR Members to attend EMPEC 2007 

The International Council of Institutional Investors (ICII) is honored to announce the 2nd annual Investment Forum - EMPEC 2007, which will take place at the Congress Center of TPP in Moscow on June 4-5, 2007.

The uniqueness of the forum is the opportunity to meet with the world's most influential institutional investors such as CalPERS and New York State Common Retirement Fund in an informal networking setting.  The leading Western and Russia-based private equity funds such as TPG, Baring Vostok, Delta, State Street Global Advisors, Alfa Capital, and Renaissance will share with Russian companies and entrepreneurs the optimal approaches in obtaining financing from them. The EMPEC 2007 key themes will include private equity, venture capital, real estate investments, and IPO in Russia and CIS. 

 The list of EMPEC 2007 confirmed speakers includes:

·        Nick Smirensky (Head of Alternative Investments, New York State Common Retirement Fund)

·        David Fann (President, Pacific Corporate Group)

·        Richard Sobel (CEO, Alfa Capital Partners)

·        Sergei Bubnov (Head of Alternative Products, Renaissance Investment Management)

·        Giedrius Pukas (Chief Investment Officer, Troika Capital Partners)

·        Lindsay Forbes (Director of Corporate Equity, EBRD)

·        Kirill Dmitriev (Managing Director, Delta Private Equity Partners)

·        Paulina McGroarty (Managing Director, NASDAQ)

·        Charlotte Philipps (President & CEO, AIG Interros)

As a background, in May 2006, the ICII pursued a joint initiative with several of today's emerging market political and economic thought leaders.  The inaugural two-day EMPEC was held at the World Trade Center Moscow and featured several of the top decision-makers in private equity.  These participates included world-class institutional investors, such as New York State Common Retirement Fund, preeminent international private equity capital groups, including Texas Pacific Group and Baring Vostok, and global financial institutions, such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. EMPEC 2006 attracted more than 220 delegates and was covered by 5 TV stations and dozens of prominent media organizations.

The regular registration fee schedule for EMPEC 2007 is as follows: 

Friends of AmBAR will receive a discount of $100 by using the registration code "ambar". To register, please visit www.empec.org/2007/registration or contact Olga Ustenko at +7.495.660.3635 or by email registration@empec.org. 

5. Wrike.com, the tool for web collaboration

“When it comes to collaboration, many entrepreneurs still go the clunky-but-familiar e-mail route. Wrike.com is a web-based task management service that helps bridge the gap between e-mail collaboration and Web 2.0 online collaboration....”  

Read the whole article at

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2007/april/175800.html

6. Blog about management tour to Silicon Valley

For seven days, a group of Ukrainian and Russian general directors and owners of companies conducted a management tour to Silicon Valley. The tour was organized by "BayView Innovations" www.bayviewinnovations.com and "FastForvard" www.fforward.biz companies. During the tour participants visited the best companies of the Valley including Intel, Google, LinkedIn, Cisco, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, eBay, and Skype. 

Read Dmitriy Bondar's blog about the tour at http://www.ambarclub.org/node/62.

American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR) located at 555 Bryant Street, Suite 161, Palo Alto, California 94301 is committed to respecting your privacy.  If you would prefer not to receive future general e-mail announcements or e-mail announcements about the upcoming events and activities of AmBAR, please write to unsubscribe@ambarclub.org and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.