Investment Outlook Panel 2018

TiE Seattle starts 2018 with a lineup of powerful speakers in its annual Investment Outlook Panel 2018.

After a dip in 2016, 2017 reached new heights in terms of venture capital invested over the past decade, surpassing 2015 in dollars invested. Deal count, however, is still falling from the 2015 highs. As VC deal count dropped for the second year in a row, so did exit activity. The number of VC-backed exits around the world reached a peak in 2014 and nearly matched it in 2015, then dropped in 2016 and again in 2017. The figures are commensurate with the noticeable lack of IPOs in the past few years.
Companies staying private longer contributes to the massive VC funding rounds discussed above.2017 has also been characterized by turmoil at the most valuable private company in the US, sexual misconduct allegations against several prominent VC investors, and layoffs and shutdowns at many VC-backed startups, among other themes.With more money, going to later rounds, funding a smaller concentration of (already well-funded) companies, staying private for longer (whew!) what is the Pacific NW community of investors and investment bankers doing to enable regional entrepreneurs; to seed, grow and then allow their companies to reach next levels? How are investors addressing issues of sexual misconduct and lack of diversity?

As a premier community of entrepreneurs and investors in the Greater Seattle area, TiE Seattle is proud to organize a panel comprising a broad cross-section of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including traditional VCs, seed-stage VCs, and boutique investment bankers to explore these questions.

This is an excellent opportunity for technology entrepreneurs or anyone interested in entrepreneurship to learn firsthand from the experts in Seattle’s investment community about what these experts are thinking, observing, forecasting, and feeling excited or nervous about. You might just learn the one thing that will give you an edge over others in your pitch to investors. Or better yet, you might learn something which will lead you to improve your startup’s business model and increase its odds of success.

The topics of discussion include:
  • Factors that influence how investors choose startups and entrepreneurs to support.
  • Key learnings over the years that shaped these experts’ approach to investing.
  • Investment theses for 2018.

Mike Galgon,
Co-founder and Managing Director,
Pioneer Square Labs

Mike Galgon, Co-founder and Managing Director at Pioneer Square Labs, previously co-founded aQuantive, an Internet advertising firm that Microsoft acquired for $6 billion in 2007. He has been at PSL’s “start-up studio” since 2015 and currently sits on several boards including Ad lightening and Flexe.

Bill Owens
Retired Admiral of the United States Navy and later Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Bill Owens is a retired admiral of the United States Navy and later Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After leaving the military, he served as President, CEO and Vice Chairman of several corporations including Teledesic, Nortel networks, AEA Holdings Asia, Century Link and Intelius. He served on the Board of Directors of Polycom Inc., Daimler Chrysler AG, Embarq, Force 10 and Wipro. In 2009, he founded Amerilink Telecom Corp., a US telecommunications consultancy which partnered with China’s Huawei Technologies in an effort to win a major contract with Sprint for its multibillion-dollar network upgrade project. Admiral Owens is an active investor and advisor to startups in the Seattle area and globally.

James Newel
Partner, Voyager

James Newel, Partner, Voyager, James has been working with high growth technology companies as an adviser and investor since 2005 and focuses on early stage and seed investments in the Pacific Northwest. He has served as a board member or observer at Casper, DoubleVerify, General Assembly, Sauce Labs and Zerto, among others.

Firdous Pohowalla
Managing Director, Cascadia Capital

Firdous Pohowalla, Managing Director, Cascadia Capital; Firdous has over two decades of investment banking and strategic advisory expertise, As a Managing Director at Barclays, he co-led the Restructuring and Finance Group. Prior to Barclays, he was a Vice President at UBS Securities in Leveraged Finance / Restructuring Advisory. Throughout his career, Mr. Pohowalla has led and executed over 60 transactions totaling more than $90 billion in value.

We look forward to having you join us…

Moderated by: Gowri Shankar, Board Member at TiE Seattle, Lead for TiE Catalyst Fund.

Venue: Montlake Room, 15255 NE 40th St. Redmond, WA 98052
Date & Time: Thursday, Feb 8th 2018, 5 -9 PM

Tickets: Free for all

For details contact:
Yobi, Yobi@tieseattle.org

*We will be serving heavy appetizers at this event.