tmp= General Partner::Tim Connors::Tim Connors joined USVP in June 2001. He focuses on early stage investments in the IT sector. Prior to USVP, Tim was a Partner at Sequoia Capital. Tim's operating experience spans seven years in engineering, marketing, manufacturing and sales roles at successful high-growth start-ups like C-Cube Microsystems and large companies like Tandem Computers.
Tim is currently a Director of 4info.net, Adify.com, Guidewire Software, M-Factor.com, Right90.com, and Yoomba.com. Tim conceived of and co-founded Spoke.com. Previously, Tim was a Director of Redline Communications(LSE: REDL), ClickShift.com (acquired by WebTrends), StorePerform (acquired by Red Prairie) and SupplierMarket.com (acquired by Ariba). Tim serves on the Board of Advisors of the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurship at Notre Dame.
Tim received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.::./bios/TimC.jpg::tim.c@usvp.com;; General Partner::Irwin Federman::Irwin Federman sees economic and industry cycles as temporary conditions during which businesses can consistently forge important skills and relationships. A veteran of the semiconductor industry and venture capital community, Irwin knows that great ideas are conceived in both up and down markets and that good management and execution can overcome tough conditions.
"I derive enormous satisfaction from being associated with determined and capable people." Irwin says. "People who have a passion for building a company. Many of today's entrepreneurs persevered throughout the downturn; they refused to be beaten down. That's about more than venture capital -- it gives one faith in the human condition."
Irwin joined USVP in 1990 as a general partner with significant investment experience: as CEO of Monolithic Memories, he led his firm's investments in successful startups such as Cypress Semiconductor, Xilinx and Altera. During his tenure as CEO from 1978 to 1987, Irwin spearheaded MMI's turnaround from virtual bankruptcy to a $250 million revenue organization. When MMI merged with Advanced Micro Devices, Irwin assumed the post of Vice Chairman of AMD.
As former Chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association and board member of the National Venture Capital Association, Irwin draws on the breadth of his experience to help entrepreneurs consider their options: "Ultimately every decision is made by the management team," says Irwin. "It is rewarding when I can share experience that helps them sort out their alternatives."
Irwin was a founding or lead investor in Blue Martini, CheckPoint Software Technologies, Centillium Communications, Crescendo Communications, MMC Networks, NeoMagic, Netro, Nuance Communications, Quick Logic, SanDisk and TelCom Semiconductor. He has led USVP's investments in BeVocal, On24 and Mellanox, among many others.
As with other USVP partners, Irwin believes when you invest in a company, you invest in people.
"It is particularly rewarding to receive a call from an entrepreneur who is wrestling with a thorny problem or is having difficulty reaching a significant decision. He or she experiences a problem and thinks to pick up the phone, not out of deference or obligation, but because of a sincere desire for advice or counsel. You know you have earned trust when that happens. Nobody shares uncertainty otherwise."
Irwin received a B.S. in Economics from Brooklyn College and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering Science from Santa Clara University. A recipient of the Anti-Defamation League's Torch of Liberty, Irwin is involved with a number of community organizations in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Irwin and his wife enjoy ballet and opera and support the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Irwin enjoys fishing and reading and is an eclectic cook. His culinary alchemy is based on working with whatever's in the kitchen. "It's not unlike a business -- you try to maximize the best of what you've got to work with."::./bios/IrwinF.jpg::irwin.f@usvp.com;; General Partner::Winston Fu::Winston Fu is a General Partner at USVP, and he enjoys helping entrepreneurs build teams that are passionate, fun-loving and fanatical about their pursuit to build great companies.
Winston's investments focus is on the application of technologies in areas such as renewable energy, environmentally sustainable products, and semiconductors (and areas related to semiconductors). Winston, along with Van Kwok, leads USVP's activities in China.
"The renewable energy and clean-tech sectors potentially offer start-ups access to markets of enormous scale. However, the significant risks in developing products that are simultaneously economical and eco-friendly should not be taken lightly."
Winston serves on the boards of Active-Semi International, CiraNova, Ponte Solutions, Princeton Lightwave, Superprotonic, and Teknovus. During the past decade, Winston also served on the boards of Alchemy (acquired by AMD in 2002), Brion Technologies (acquired by ASML in 2007), Clear Shape Technologies (acquired by Cadence in 2007) and New Focus (NUFO made its initial public offering in 2000 and was subsequently acquired by Bookham in 2004).
Winston joined USVP as an associate in 1997, following his selection as a Kauffman Fellow in Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship, and he became a General Partner in 2000. Prior to joining USVP, Winston served in technical and marketing roles at Vixel Corporation, which made its initial public offering in 1999 (NASDAQ: VIXL) and was subsequently acquired by Emulex (ELX) in 2003. As director of product marketing, he was responsible for developing new applications for the VCSEL device product line at Vixel. Prior to helping launch Vixel, Winston researched and developed technologies in the areas of semiconductors, lasers and superconductors at Stanford University, Sandia National Labs and MIT.
Winston earned a bachelor's degree in Physics from MIT, a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, where he was an Austin Scholar.
Winston is a former captain of MIT's NCAA volleyball team and a former assistant coach for two nationally ranked juniors' volleyball teams. Still a volleyball fan, he is an advisor to Front Range Volleyball, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching and coaching juniors. Winston is married and has two children.
Favorite volleyball player: Bob Ctvrtlik, playing opposite of volleyball legend Karch Kiraly, earned a gold medal in the 1988 match against the Soviet Union. "Ctvrtlik was not a flashy player. He just got the job done at truly a world-class level."::./bios/WinstonF.jpg::winston.f@usvp.com;; General Partner::Steve Krausz::If change is the only constant, then it's the unique qualities of each entrepreneur that keeps Steve Krausz passionate about working with startups.
"I get excited about creation in technology," says Steve, who joined USVP in 1985. "It's exciting to see new generations of entrepreneurs who bring leadership to their organizations. These are people who can paint a picture of success that makes others want to join them, who can liberate others to be their best."
Steve has been involved with USVP's investments in Checkpoint Software, Harmonic Lightwaves and Stratacom. He serves on the boards of Asempra, Force 10 Networks, Imperva, Kasenna, Megapath, MontaVista, National Banana, Occam Networks, Sierra Monolithics, Synfora, Vontu, Xirrus and Xponent. Steve has led the firm's investments in Accelerated Networks, Applied Digital Access, Elantec, MicroLinear, Occam Networks, and Xylan.
Change means innovation -- it also means disruption of status quo. Steve is drawn to areas of disequilibrium, where the possibility exists of technology solving an old problem in a new way, or redefining the way people work and live.
"We shouldn't ever think we know what's next. The only thing we can anticipate is the unexpected."
Steve enjoys the role of coach and mentor to CEOs and finds it rewarding when he can help them consider new solutions or gain a broadened perspective on the market environment.
"Markets define themselves on the basis of business or consumers that have a need, and are most often evolutionary, not revolutionary," he notes. "The consumerization and globalization of technology are especially interesting now. The evolution from an enterprise model to one that is consumer-facing is big."
The father of two, Steve serves on the board of Woodside Priory School and is a former executive board member of the National Venture Capital Association. An avid skier, Steve enjoys travel with his family. When time permits, his reading interests include world history, especially the Middle East and Asia. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Best book I've read recently: Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Green.::./bios/SteveK.jpg::steve.k@usvp.com;; General Partner::David Liddle::When David E. Liddle joined USVP in 2000, he'd already had a long association with the firm. Having served for nearly 10 years on USVP's Technical Advisory Board, David left his post as president and CEO of business incubator Interval Research Corporation and was persuaded by long-time friends Irwin Federman and Phil Young to "just come in and look at a few deals."
David hasn't looked back. He'd worked with many venture capitalists in his career -- he first met Irwin and Phil while serving as CEO of Metaphor Corporation and interacted with them because they all shared the same venture backing -- and was impressed with the USVP difference.
"It's the process here, and the chemistry between partners, that makes the difference," notes David. "That difference extends to the way we work with entrepreneurs, such as going the extra mile to really leverage our network for them."
David enjoys the role of coach and mentor to entrepreneurs. "It's rewarding to offer experience or advice that helps entrepreneurs avoid pitfalls I learned about during my own operating experience," says David. "It's a good time to be an entrepreneur," David says. He sees no lingering affects from the post-bubble downturn. In fact, today's entrepreneurs -- some of them battle-scarred but ever more determined -- are stronger and savvier for it.
"Quite a few good companies are getting funded now. Pragmatism and prudence have returned to the venture community, and entrepreneurs are being pressed for bringing solid expertise and experience to the table."
David is especially passionate about the mobile and wireless space, having invested in semiconductor components and software for those markets. "I'm interested in technologies that can make cell phones work better and do more things well," he says.
Prior to co-founding Interval with Paul Allen, David founded Metaphor which was acquired by IBM in 1991, which named him Vice President of Business development for IBM Personal Systems. David's extensive experience in research and development has focused largely on human-computer interactions and includes 10 years at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), from 1972 to 1982. He has been a director of Sybase, Broderbund Software, Borland International and Ticketmaster, and is currently on the board of the New York Times Company. His board involvement at USVP includes Axiom Microdevices, Caspian Networks, Gear6, Klocwork, MaxLinear, MaXXan, Optichron, PacketHop and T-RAM.
David earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in EECS at the University of Toledo, where his dissertation focused on reconfigurable computing machines and theories of encryption, encoding and signal recovery. His contributions to human-computer interaction design earned him the distinction of Senior Fellow at the Royal College of Art.
David served on the board of the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose through 2004. He is on the boards of the Colleges of Engineering at Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan. An avid hiker, David and wife Ruthann Quindlen enjoy travel, especially to Italy and Spain, and Santa Fe, where he once chaired the board of the Santa Fe Institute, an organization that promotes the sciences.::./bios/DavidL.jpg::david.l@usvp.com;; General Partner::Paul Matteucci::"The aftermath of the Telecom/Internet bubble was a tough time for companies but it wasn't altogether a bad thing," says Paul Matteucci, who served as interim CEO for several USVP companies during this era and observed that the "real entrepreneurs" continued to innovate and forge new pathways that today are bearing fruit. With a passion for mentoring startup teams, Paul helped a generation of entrepreneurs learn object lessons in how to execute during difficult times. In fact, he notes, the best of them learned to use the difficult times as a source for innovation, and as impetus for creating cultures that are accountable, cash-efficient and focused.
"USVP remained very active during the downturn, continuing to invest throughout the recovery. And in 2006, we began to reap the rewards of our patience and consistency. The real entrepreneurs are still out there. We are now cultivating those investments rather than having a gap in our portfolio. The current generation of management in today's startups is savvier, more resilient, and willing to take five years to build a company."
Paul's passion is for creating jobs for people and their families. Small businesses are by far the major source of job creation in the U.S. and, increasingly, worldwide. His strengths include organization operations and team-building and market strategy.
"Entrepreneurs are smart, engaging people. They have a vision for how to change the world. I help them avoid the tendency to defocus when facing multiple opportunities."
Prior to USVP, Paul was CEO of HearMe, taking that company public in 1998. His two decades of operations experience include eight years with Adaptec, where he was Vice President and General Manager of the SCSI host adapter division. Paul served as a Resident Entrepreneur for Institutional Venture Partners in 1995 and was an advisor to Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures in the 1990s. Paul received an M.B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins and a B.A. from the University of the Pacific. He is currently on the boards of Homestead, Intransa, LimeLife, Pixzo, PodTech, Trovix, W5 and Winster, and is a board observer on LV Sensors.
Paul loves the Wild West, an attitude that causes him to spend time in Montana as often as possible, but one that also suggests itself in his investment philosophy:
"No one can anticipate the economic environment five or ten years out, so the specific times during which you make investments are not as relevant as the market you pick and the team you attract."
Of interest on the technology landscape: mobile applications, RFID technologies, storage and enterprise applications. On the natural landscape: "Building an American Serengeti"--an ambitious undertaking Paul is pursuing with the American Prairie Foundation, to recreate and preserve vast portions of the nation's prairie lands. Paul also serves on the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of the Bay Area.
A native of San Francisco's North Beach, Paul followed his Italian heritage to Florence, Italy, where he attended cooking school. He's blending his passions for cooking and the environment into a series of fundraising dinners for APF--"Lewis and Clark: Cooking of the Jeffersonian Era." Try Paul's Food Blog: www.foodcrunch.com.
Favorite Book: A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean, because "it reminded me of growing up with my father and brother."::./bios/PaulM.jpg::paul.m@usvp.com;; General Partner::Arati Prabhakar::Arati Prabhakar joined U.S. Venture Partners in 2001 after 15 years of working with world-class engineers and scientists across many fields to brew new technologies. At USVP, her focus is fabless semiconductor and semiconductor manufacturing opportunities. She serves on the boards of Kilopass, Kleer, Lightspeed Logic, Pivotal Systems, and SiBeam. She previously served on the board of Leadis Technology (NASDAQ: LDIS).
Arati was a program manager and then director of the Microelectronics Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from 1986 to 1993. At DARPA, she supported R%26D in company and university labs in semiconductor manufacturing, imaging, optoelectronics and nanoelectronics. In 1993, President Clinton appointed Arati Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where she led the 3,000 person staff until 1997. Arati then joined Raychem as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. She was subsequently Vice President and then President of Interval Research Corporation. Arati began her career as a Congressional fellow at the Office of Technology Assessment.
Arati received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech University. She received an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology. Arati is a Fellow of the IEEE.::./bios/AratiP.jpg::arati.p@usvp.com;; General Partner::Jonathan Root::As a physician, Jon Root evaluates investments in the medical field with a practitioner's eye. A common investment criteria when evaluating business opportunities in the biotechnology or medical devices fields is: does this solution meet, or begin to address, an unmet clinical need? Jon goes beyond that: is the innovation easily usable?
"The greatest idea in the world will not be successful if it's not practical to use," says Jon. "Entrepreneurs are great at applying technology to those unmet clinical needs, but they need a good medical advisory board to help them with real-world considerations such as ergonomics. I try to bring some of that hands-on, pragmatic advice to the table."
Jon spent nine years in clinical practice before joining USVP in 1995 as a Ewing Marion Kauffman Fellow in venture capital. He became a general partner in 1997. Before USVP, Jon was on the faculty and clinical staff at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City. There he was an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Director of the Neurology-Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit. He is board certified in neurology.
"Efficacy always dictates the doctor's choice of procedure or method," Jon notes. "It's critical to gain feedback from the people who will actually use your product," he says. Whether it's less invasive biopsy procedures or simple changes that make a tissue closing easier, considering the doctor as well as the patient helps optimize product design, Jon adds. "If an easier way is just as effective, there is opportunity for companies to make a difference. If a drug is as effective taken orally versus intravenously, the doctor will probably choose a pill-- if it's available."
Jon is on the boards of Altus Pharmaceuticals, Raven biotechnologies, OncoMed, Proteolix and Sequent Medical; he is active with USVP's investment in Ascenta.
Jon maintains relationships with leading medical schools on both coasts and enjoys helping entrepreneurs make meaningful connections. He helps entrepreneurs connect with leading specialists to gain input on product design issues.
Jon holds an A.B. in Economics from Dartmouth College, an M.D. from the University of Florida College of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
Jon enjoys golf, plus he likes to swim and ride bicycles with his wife and two sons.::./bios/JonR.jpg::jon.r@usvp.com;; General Partner::Chris Rust::Chris joined USVP as a Managing Member in 2004. He focuses on early stage investments primarily in the IT sector. Prior to USVP, Chris held the position of CEO of Mahi Networks (2001-2004); Partner at Sequoia Capital (1998-2002); Senior Director of PLM at Carrier Access Corporation (1997, CACS); Director of Marketing of Comcore (1996, acq by National); Principal Network Architect and founding member of Time Warner Roadrunner (1995-1996, on loan from US WEST); Broadband Network Architect US WEST (1992-1996); and Member of Technical Staff at MITRE (1988-1992). He started working as an electrical engineer designing microwave FDM radio equipment for Nokia in Helsinki Finland (1987).
Chris's approach to Venture Capital is simple: find great people whose passion is building successful enterprises from a mere spark of an idea, help them navigate the inevitable bumps along the way in a supportive and team-oriented manner, and get out of their way so they can focus on execution. He views Venture Capital as a services business existing to support the true champions of the global IT economy - the startup entrepreneur. Chris strives to be an active participant in the industries he invests in so he can help accelerate sales success for the USVP portfolio.
Chris is currently a Director of Akros Silicon (Power-over-Ethernet ICs), Dilithium Networks (transcoding gateways), StrataLight (40G optical transport), Veriwave (WLAN test gear), and Zannel (stealth). He also serves on the VC Advisory Board for the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA), and is a member of the communications and networking societies of the IEEE.
Previously Chris was a Founding Director or active early stage investor in Abrizio (acq by PMCS), Afara WebSystems (acq by SUN), Avanex (AVNX), Commerce5 (acq by DRIV), LVL7 Systems (acq by BRCM), Mahi Networks (acq by Meriton), Mellanox (MLNX), MEMX (out-of-business), Nexsi (acq by JNPR), SwitchOn Networks (acq by PMCS), Santur (private), Telera (acq by ALA), Turin Networks (private), and VxTel (acq by INTC). He has been a Director of the Telecommuncations Industry Association (TIA), was a founding member of the Cable Labs MCNS DOCSIS cable modem standards body, and has been a contributor to the ADSL and ATM forums.
Chris earned a BSEE (87) and MSEE (89) from the University of Lowell, an MS Telecommunications Engineering (92) from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and an MS Engineering Management (04) from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Chris taught graduate classes in computer networking and communications theory as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Colorado for five years while he lived in Boulder, Colorado. He currently holds issued patents for a multi-service home gateway he invented as a design engineer at US WEST.
Chris's interests and activities outside of work include reading, history, and outdoor sports such as cross country skiing and triathlon. He spent his childhood in the historic seaport of Gloucester, Massachusetts.::./bios/ChrisR.jpg::chris.r@usvp.com;; General Partner::Casey Tansey::Casey Tansey joined USVP as a general partner in April 2005. A veteran of the medical device industry, Casey brings over 25 years of entrepreneurial, early-stage medical device and seasoned operating experience to USVP.
Casey's extensive operations experience brings more to the table than strategic counsel -- he adds empathy to that mix.
"As a CEO, it was important to me when board members really shared our passion and understood organization-building focused on improving healthcare for patients. CEOs need venture capitalists that leverage their network of contacts, help identify the best partners, and share the company's vision. USVP takes this approach."
Casey's investment strategy is a lot like his strategy as a CEO: identify unmet clinical needs where patients are in need of new and improved products and services. At USVP, Casey will focus on the trend toward the miniaturization of devices and the development of minimally-invasive technologies that promise innovations in the delivery of medical products and services, especially in cardiovascular products, orthopedics, spinal care and neurology.
Casey's passion is to strive for delivery of medical services with less trauma to the patient and improved quality of life. Innovations shaping this trend include minimally-invasive technologies. During his tenure as CEO and President of Epicor Medical from 2001 to 2004, Casey, along with a dedicated team, pioneered a minimally-invasive treatment for atrial fibrillation and transformed the company into a recognized market leader. He led Epicor's acquisition by St. Jude Medical at a valuation of more than $200 million.
Prior to Epicor, Casey was CEO and President of Heartport, a public company that helped pioneer minimally-invasive cardiac surgery which is now a Johnson %26 Johnson company. Before that, he was with Baxter Edward's Cardiovascular Division for nearly ten years, holding various sales and marketing positions. During his tenure at Baxter, Casey was involved in launching innovative heart valve products that have grown to be the market leaders.
Casey is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Heart Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing humanitarian efforts in heart surgery worldwide through education and collaboration. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for CardioKinetix, Devax, Rosedale Medical, SentreHEART and Sinexus.
Casey holds a B.S. and M.B.A. from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, CA. Casey has served on the boards of Epicor Medical and Heartport, Inc.::./bios/CaseyT.jpg::casey.t@usvp.com;; General Partner::Phil Young::With a long tenure in venture capital, Philip M. Young has had the pleasure of working with many entrepreneurs. In fact, he's recruited a number of USVP's partners from the ranks of entrepreneurs over the years, most recently Casey Tansey. Whether it's helping a serial entrepreneur scout out his next company, or helping portfolio companies recruit the best possible management team, Phil enjoys the role of coach and mentor.
"Ultimately companies are run by the CEO and management team. Good board members know that the CEO, and only the CEO, makes both the final decisions and manages the execution. But good CEOs will solicit substantive input from their board, and benefit from the dialectic resulting from the meaningful debate of issues at the board level. I really enjoy the process when it's useful."
Phil has finely honed his sense for effective contribution to the companies he advises: "Sometimes it's best to run alongside the CEO, other times it's best to coach from the sidelines."
Execution is management's responsibility, but board members can be useful sounding boards. "Increasingly, business models are less straightforward. It's helpful to draw out the board's expertise and experience from seeing recurring patterns across industries and over time."
Prior to joining USVP in 1990, Phil spent four years with Concord Partners, Dillon Read's venture capital operation in Palo Alto. With a specialty in the medical device industry, Phil has watched the evolution of new methodologies, such as the emergence of minimally-invasive treatments, into increasingly diverse and pervasive applications.
"In this industry, you need to look at the clinician's perspectives on the market opportunity as well as the investment and technology sides," notes Phil. "Minimally-invasive procedures are still in their infancy." Phil's investment interests aren't confined to medical devices and biotechnology, however. Recently he's been active in online advertising, a more than $10 billion industry growing at nearly 30 percent a year. "A critical need in online advertising is helping companies find scalable business models that work," notes Phil.
Like other USVP partners, Phil arrived with extensive operating experience. He was President and CEO of Oximetrix, a manufacturer of critical care instruments and disposables, where he spent eight years growing the privately-held venture-backed company from $1 million in revenues to nearly $50 million. Prior to Oximetrix, Phil spent six years at New Court Securities in venture capital and corporate finance, two years as a management consultant with McKinsey %26 Co., and six years on Admiral Rickover's project management staff at the Atomic Energy Commission.
He has represented USVP on the boards of Aerogen, CardioThoracic Systems, CardioVascular Imaging Systems, CoCensys, Compugen, FemRx, Penederm, 3Dfx Interactive, Vical and Xoma--all of which became public companies. Currently he sits on the boards of Zoran, a public company, and privately-held Aptus Endosystems, Bayhill Therapeutics, Caspian Networks, Claria, Dotomi, RelayHealth, Synarc, St. Francis Medical and Timi3 Systems. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Cornell University and as Chairman of the Board of eCornell, the university's online distance learning subsidiary.
Phil earned a B.M.E. from Cornell University with High Distinction, an M.S. in Engineering Physics from George Washington University, and an M.B.A. with High Distinction from Harvard, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Phil enjoys photography, cooking and spending time with his wife in the South of France. He has two daughters and two grandchildren.::./bios/PhilY.jpg::phil.y@usvp.com;; Partner::Alan Kaganov::Alan Kaganov has been a partner at USVP since 1996, specializing in health care and utilizing his 25 years of experience in the medical device industry. His focus is on early-stage investments in the areas of medical technology, novel drug-device combinations, drug delivery systems and biopharmaceuticals.
As a responsible venture capitalist, Alan thinks "it is important to develop company-forming ideas that provide patient and societal benefits, especially ones that enhance patient safety and offer less-invasive procedures. Lowering healthcare costs definitely affects our industry."
What's hot on Alan's current roster of companies are devices for interventional cardiology and orthopedics/spine care. He is also looking at new disease-focused ideas that can fulfill large unmet market needs, such as drug-eluting stents, and innovations in localized delivery of drugs to avoid systemic toxic effects, like chemotherapies that target only cancer cells.
"Our group prides itself on the fact that we've all had an operational background, and most of us have been CEOs in our previous careers." At USVP, Alan has acted as interim CEO for a number of portfolio companies to help them define their vision and mission, hire the early team, develop the regulatory/clinical strategy, and start human proof-of-concept trials.
In health care, as in other endeavors, being well-connected counts for a lot: Alan has found that the best deals come from people you know. His own network of doctors, researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs and managers is a major asset. In today's challenging business climate, Alan says: "Successful startups need three key elements: vision, people and perseverance. Exit opportunities are still in the picture through acquisitions or IPOs, but care must be taken to navigate the regulatory and reimbursement pathways."
Alan takes pride in coaching. Many health care companies begin with a great founding physician, or strong engineers, or solid intellectual property, but they don't necessarily have an experienced leader. Alan enjoys providing the mentoring function that so many people have provided to him. He adds value by teaching entrepreneurial founders to think strategically about their new business, about the environment in which they will compete, and how they can gain competitive advantage. The entrepreneurs of the world have special drives and needs -- they're competitive, high energy, multi-tasking, and persistent in their determination to make change happen. That describes venture capitalists like Alan, too.
Alan earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, where he won the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2004. He also serves on its Board of Visitors. He has a Sc.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, and an M.B.A. from New York University. He has 15 U.S. patents in his name.
Prior to USVP, Alan was Vice President of New Business Development at Boston Scientific. During his tenure, the company completed a record number of investments and business alliances and became a market leader in interventional cardiology, radiology and endoscopy. Before that, he was CEO of EP Technologies, turning it into the recognized leader in catheter-based electrophysiology, Vice President of Technology and Business Development at the Baxter Corporation, and Research %26 Development Director of the Medical Device Division of Wyeth.
He currently serves on the boards of A-Med Systems, Aptus Endosystems, Atricure, Cryovascular, Sanarus Medical, St. Francis Medical and Timi3 Systems.
Alan enjoys golf, gardening, traveling, and following his New York sports teams as well as Duke Basketball. His current favorite book is Thomas L. Friedman's The World Is Flat which offers an overview of globalization trends that will affect all areas of business and humanity. ::./bios/AlanK.jpg::alan.k@usvp.com;; Venture Partner::Geoffrey Baehr::Geoff Baehr served on USVP's Technical Advisory Board before joining as a Partner in 2001. He left Sun Microsystems after 13 years and had not really considered going into venture capital. After getting to know the USVP team, he became excited about the opportunity to participate in a wide array of opportunities.
"The USVP people are truly decent. I enjoy the collaborative environment."
He is formerly Sun's Chief Network Officer responsible for technical and strategic network directions. During his tenure Geoff developed advanced technical products and, with his team, obtained more than one dozen patents.
Though he clearly has a love of technology, Geoff watches for low-key companies that solve big problems in a new way.
He cites Silego Semiconductor as an example: "They find niche markets for semiconductors where they can apply their analog design skills and build a superior part, addressing a large market, for less cost."

Geoff is most interested in networks, communications and operating systems software. "The fundamental problem that has still not been resolved in computing is identity."
Geoff was a founder of the ATM Forum and has served on numerous technical and advisory boards to both industry and government. He designed large networks for government clients for TRW Information Networks Division in the 1980s. At USVP, Geoff sits on the board of Vivato.
Geoff encourages entrepreneurs to avoid business models that rely on widespread adoption to be successful.
"Avoid the necessity for 'worldwide acceptance' of your idea for it to be successful. Solutions that create simplicity, that are 'just enough'--not adding more layers of complexity--are what's most compelling to me."
When he's not helping entrepreneurs think out of the box, he's looking through a box. Geoff practices large format nature photography using the historical wooden view cameras
Geoff volunteers with the San Mateo County Sheriff's office and works with the Cliff Rescue/Dive/Marine Unit as Head Diver.::./bios/GeoffB.jpg::geoff.b@usvp.com;; Venture Partner::Casper De Clercq::A twenty-year veteran of the medical and life sciences industry, Casper de Clercq observes that innovation in the biotech sector runs in cycles. In the past five years, for instance, there has been extensive adoption of high throughput cell screening assays in the industry.
"Over the next five to ten years we will see an emphasis on the integration of those tools and significant acceleration of lead compounds arising out of their application," he says.
Because FDA approval and public financing exert a defining influence on the biotech sector, Casper notes, medical device companies have recently been favored while biotech remains a longer term game. USVP has a long track record in biotechnology--founding partner Bill Bowes founded Amgen in the late 1970s--which attracted Casper to the firm.
"USVP takes the long term approach. They really stick with companies, using seasoned judgment with regard to risk while supporting the management team in building long term value."
Another strength of USVP is the operating experience of its team, Casper notes. "The emphasis here is on deep management experience. We don't get in the way of our companies, but we do get involved with respect to clinical, regulatory and commercialization strategy."
Having joined USVP in 2004, Casper has extensive experience with device innovations in the cardiovascular arena, drug delivery and diagnostics. Given changing conditions in the drug development area, oncology and other therapeutics with an abbreviated regulatory path are of particular interest to Casper.
Prior to 2004, Casper was heavily involved in several rounds of financing and the IPO process at Aerogen (AEGN), a specialty pharmaceutical company, where he served as Vice President of Business Development, Sales and Marketing. In 1999 he co-founded Epicor, which was acquired in 2004 by St. Jude Medical at a valuation of more than $200 million. Casper also held senior sales and marketing positions with Heartport (minimally invasive heart surgery) and Diagnostic Products Corporation (immunodiagnostics). At these companies, Casper worked closely with the scientific and engineering teams to define customer requirements and lead product commercialization.
Casper has been through venture financing from the company side many times, and advises: "It's important to get substantial investors early in the process. Yes, you want strategic guidance and good counsel, but it's also important to find VCs that have the financial resources to support several rounds. The commitment to long-term funding can be more important than initial financing terms. Medical investing is an endurance sport."
Early in his career Casper worked as a strategy consultant for Bain %26 Company, working in Boston, Johannesburg and London. Casper holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from Dartmouth and an M.B.A. and M.A. in Biology/Immunology from Stanford University.
A fan of aquatic sports, Casper has sailed competitively on the San Francisco Bay and in Europe and windsurfs when the wind gets above 20 knots. He rowed competitively at Dartmouth for four years. He is active with environmental organizations, especially around issues concerned with health and human impact.
"The advances in health care have allowed us to live longer--the other half of the equation is how we can minimize human impact on the ecosystems that sustain us."::./bios/CasperD.jpg::casper.d@usvp.com;; Venture Partner::Phil Schlein::Philip Schlein asks entrepreneurs a lot of questions without always expecting answers. What he's after is a process: if entrepreneurs can be encouraged to ask themselves certain questions, and others that arise in the process of inquiry, they may arrive at a better understanding of their customer and business opportunity.
"I don't have all the answers," says Phil. "But basic questions such as 'Who is your customer? What are their expectations?' can help entrepreneurs see the opportunities and pitfalls of their current strategy."
Phil has been advising entrepreneurs since he joined USVP in 1985. As President and CEO of Macy's California for 11 years, he has focused his investments in the retail sector--from pure retailing plays to the consumer Internet. For example, he guided USVP's investments in PetsMart and Fresh Choice. Phil serves on the boards of Auction Drop, Catalist, Sound ID,and Specialtys.
"Personalization and customization are two powerful forces driving retailing," notes Phil. Technology makes it possible and customers increasingly expect it.
"The Internet makes possible an unprecedented degree of customer profiling, but knowing your customers is not new," notes Phil. "What's interesting is how that customer information is driving products, services and brand; in essence, the company's identity."
Venture capital gives Phil the opportunity to join entrepreneurs in creating products and services that fill a consumer need, but it's an approach he's used throughout his career.
"When I was at Macy's, I considered myself an in-house venture capitalist, with the buyers as the entrepreneurs. We had to ask ourselves, "How can we serve the customer in new ways?' Specialty stores were offering a more individualized experience, so we changed our strategy to seeing ourselves as a group of specialty stores."
Phil is currently most interested in businesses that focus on supply-chain management in the retail sector. There are more strides to be made in inventory replenishment, logistics and distribution, he notes. Mobile applications and RFID, especially in warehouse and inventory management, present opportunities worth considering. Phil also follows the alternative medicine market. "The automation of retail is on the horizon. In the coming years, what we think of as vending machines will become a source of all kinds of high-value products from DVDs to iPods and digital cameras."
Phil is a guest lecturer in graduate classrooms at Stanford and Santa Clara University. He has two children, four grandchildren, and a 300-year old elder he looks up to: Emily, a magnificent oak in the center of his Napa Valley property. He has a vineyard where he grows mostly Cabernets. Phil is on the boards of the California College of Art, the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and the diRosa Preserve, a project in the Napa Valley that is seeking to create a public museum to show Rene diRosa's private collection of California artists.::./bios/PhilS.jpg::phil.s@usvp.com;; Associate::Mamoon Hamid::Working at USVP combines Mamoon Hamid's three passions: technology, people and building businesses.
Mamoon joined USVP in July 2005 and has over ten years of experience investing in and building high growth technology businesses. At USVP, he focuses on information technology investments and is actively involved with Monta Vista Software, Optichron, Piczo, Superprotonic and Zannel.
Mamoon joined USVP after spending over seven years at Xilinx (XLNX) in various marketing and engineering roles. As a Senior Manager in Strategic Marketing, he was responsible for defining and implementing sales and marketing strategies that grew the company's consumer electronics and automotive market segment revenues five-fold to $100 million in a span of three years. In his role as a System Architect at Xilinx, Mamoon was responsible for evangelizing the role of Xilinx technology in emerging markets. Prior to that, as an applications engineer, he designed performance and cost optimized FPGAs which led to key design wins for the company.
Mamoon has also worked for Voyager Capital, an early stage VC firm, and for Deutsche Bank.
Mamoon holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (graduated at age 19), an MS in Management Science %26 Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
A native of Pakistan, Mamoon grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, where he developed his love for playing, watching and coaching soccer. One day he hopes his team Eintracht Frankfurt will win the Champion's League.
Mamoon is multi-lingual in German, Urdu and Hindi.::./bios/MamoonH.jpg::mamoon.h@usvp.com;; Associate::Rick Lewis::Rick Lewis joined USVP in 2004. Rick spent six years in engineering and product development leadership roles at startups and market-leading companies. For Walt Disney Imagineering, Rick oversaw the development of project management software that has been deployed on dozens of large-scale construction projects, including a major theme park. Rick also co-founded and managed product development at a software startup that was funded by Parametric Technology Corporation. Rick was previously a software engineer at Autodesk, and has held positions at Sun Microsystems, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and McKinsey %26 Company.
Rick focuses on information technology investments, and is particularly interested in mobile applications and content, games and game platforms, enterprise software, and emerging consumer Internet businesses. Rick is closely involved with USVP companies Intermolecular, Instantis, and myYearbook.com.
Rick has published his research on computer aided design and is a member of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of California at Davis (Summa Cum Laude), an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with Distinction.
He is a member of the board of directors of the San Francisco nonprofit Real Options for City Kids, which provides services such as after-school tutoring and sports clinics.::./bios/RickL.jpg::rick.l@usvp.com;; Founder::Bill Bowes::Founding partner Bill Bowes has seen a lot of change since USVP's inception in 1981--in the venture community, in the Valley, in the world. But some important things remain the same; namely, the passion of entrepreneurs: "It's the entrepreneurs that keep this business new and fresh, every day," says Bill.
A venture capitalist in the Bay Area for nearly 50 years, Bill founded and helped to build USVP to what it is today. His belief that venture capitalists should guide companies based on real-world experience continues to set the tone at USVP: "We've always put our emphasis on the operational experience of our team," notes Bill. "The partners here can say to entrepreneurs 'we've been where you're going' and really mean it."
Bill was the founding shareholder of Amgen and was its first Chairman and Treasurer. Prior to founding USVP he'd already had success as a venture capitalist with companies like Cetus, Raychem (where he served on the board from 1961 until the late 1970s), and Dymo Industries. Bill had previously been Senior Vice President and Director of Blyth Eastman Dillon %26 Company, where he worked from 1953 to 1978 and was a consultant to Blyth Eastman Paine Webber from 1978 to 1980.
At USVP, Bill led the firm's investments in Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Applied Biosystems, Devices for Vascular Intervention, Glycomed, Sun Microsystems and Ventritex. Currently Bill is on the board of Xoma Corporation.
Today Bill devotes much of his time to education and medical research. He is on the executive committee of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is Board Chairman of The Exploratorium, San Francisco's exemplary interactive museum of the sciences. He also serves on the Board of the Asian Art Museum, Grace Cathedral and the Hoover Institution.
Having focused his investment career largely in the medical industry, Bill remains involved through some of his nonprofit work. He is on the Board of Directors of the UCSF Foundation and is Chairman of the Mission Bay Capital Campaign. He serves on the Advisory Committee of the Bio-X Initiative, an effort by Stanford University to foster interdisciplinary medical research. He is on the visiting committee at the Harvard Business School.
Bill is optimistic about the information technology and life science industries, and about USVP's prospects for the future: "We've hired several new, young partners in the past five years. It is very rewarding to see the firm attract people of this caliber," says Bill. "When you start something, you want to see it continue for a long time. The partners have great contacts and expertise in their fields. The firm is the best it's ever been right now."
Bill holds a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University, an M.B.A. from Harvard University and served in the U.S. Army infantry in the South Pacific and Japan during and after World War II.
A fan of classical and jazz music, Bill's interests range from Verdi operas to Louis Armstrong. He enjoys cycling, hiking, golf and traveling in Europe with his wife.::./bios/BillB.jpg::bill.b@usvp.com;; Associate::Ted Maidenberg::Ted Maidenberg brings to USVP significant expertise in consumer-facing information technology. At USVP, Ted focuses on information technology investments, with his main areas of interest being digital media, mobile content and applications, education and ecommerce. He is actively involved with 4INFO, Adify, National Banana and Yoomba.
Before joining the firm, Ted was a Director at Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, heading up the Asia Pacific region. In that capacity, Ted built out WB's mobile content publishing business in Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. His work included working with world class brands such as Harry Potter, DC Comics, Tom %23 Jerry and Looney Tunes.
Ted joined WB from Time Warner where he was a founding member of the Time Warner Investments group (previously AOL Investments). During his time there, the group invested in over 60 early stage companies, committing over $250 million. In this role, Ted led or co-led the sourcing, executing and managing of 12 companies including: Blackboard, Exent, PlanetOut, Shopping.com, and Vindigo.
Before Time Warner, Ted was at Credit Suisse in their media/telecom investment banking group, where he focused on the radio and communication tower sectors.
Ted holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis (honors).
Ted enjoys tennis, mountain biking and the eternal suffering that is known only to Chicago Cubs fans.::./bios/Ted_Maidenberg.jpg::ted.m@usvp.com;; Entrepreneur-in-Residence::Ajit Gill::Ajit joined USVP as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in December 2006 after 14 years at Nektar Therapeutics (previously Inhale Therapeutic Systems) where he was the CEO for the last 8 years. He joined the company as CFO, soon after it received its Series A financing in 1992, and also served as head of R%23D and operations for several years. He led the development of Nektar's inhaled insulin product, Exubera, in partnership with Pfizer and Ajit retired from Nektar when Exubera received regulatory approval from the FDA (US) and the EMEA (EU). During his time at Inhale/Nektar, Ajit managed the transformation of the business model from a pulmonary delivery company, focussed on protein and peptide delivery, to a proprietary products company with several blockbuster products on the market incorporating its drug delivery technologies and a market cap of over $2 billion (fully diluted) when he stepped down as CEO.
Prior to joining Inhale, Ajit worked for many years in the computer business in a variety of roles in general management, finance, business development and operations. Immediately before joining Inhale, he was General Manager of Interactive Systems Products Business, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak.
"After spending so many years working on getting Exubera approved and working in drug delivery, the EIR role at USVP is fascinating. First, it affords me the opportunity to look at a variety of new businesses, applying new and different technologies with different business models. Second, it lets me develop my own business ideas especially focusing on opportunities that leverage India. Finally, it's an opportunity to work with an excellent group that works in a team-oriented way not just in making investment decisions but in helping companies develop their strategies and business models. I have seen the team work as a group and come up with solutions better than any one person had at the start of the meeting. I really enjoy this aspect of the USVP Medical Team's style."
Originally from India, Ajit completed his B. Tech in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, his M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska and his MBA from the University of Western Ontario.::./bios/AjitG.jpg::agill@usvp.com;; Entrepreneur-in-Residence::Vivek Pendharkar::Vivek joined USVP as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence in March 2007, with 24+ years of industry experience in chips, computer systems, networking, and communications technologies -- having worked across start-ups, mid-size as well as large companies.
Vivek started his career at National Semiconductor in 1982 as design engineer in microprocessor R%23D; worked at his first start-up developing multi-processor systems -- Sequent Computer Systems -- that had a successful IPO; advanced to R%23D management roles over a 13 year career at Hewlett-Packard in RISC architecture based work-stations %23 minicomputer systems; was Director of Engineering at Intel on the Itanium program that was based on HP's VLIW architecture; joined his second start-up, Lara Networks as VP of Engineering (acquired by Cypress Semiconductor in July 2001).
After the acquisition, Vivek was Vice-President for the Network Search Engine Business Unit at Cypress Semiconductor, where he helped grow revenue from $5 million to $50+ million/year, over a four year period. After Cypress, Vivek took on the interim-CEO role at Sierra Monolithics, a USVP portfolio company in the RF/WiMAX space. Most recently, Vivek was CEO at Velogix, also a USVP portfolio company developing Programmable Logic products.
Vivek is a graduate of BITS Pilani, India (BSEE '80); Virginia Tech (MSEE '82); and Stanford University, Graduate School of Business (SEP '95). ::./bios/Vivek_Pendharkar.jpg::vpendharkar@usvp.com;;