Craigslist founder to speak at second annual Southeast Venture Conference
TYSONS CORNER, VA - Craig Newmark, who founded the online craigslist classifieds sites from his living room in 1995, should have plenty to tell entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who will descend at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner for the Second Annual Southeast Venture Conference (SEVC) February 27th-28th.
Newmark, who regularly turned down venture capitalists who wanted to back craigslist, advocates keeping the Internet free and neutral and trumpets the need for citizens to "speak truth to power." A software engineer with 30 years of experience at companies such as IBM and Bank of America, Newmark founded craigslist on the idea of "trust" between users. It grew to the leading classifieds site in any medium with 9 billion page views a month from 450 cities in 50 countries.
In the process, Newmark has become a genuine Internet icon who changed the media landscape by defining a new model for the classified market space, traditionally reserved for daily newspapers. All the while, he has remained involved intimately at craigslist, resisting the lure of big money offered for his creation.
Newmark, who will be speaking February 28, joins an illustrious list of other featured speakers at the SEVC, including former Apple and Pepsi CEO John Sculley, now a venture capitalist at RHO Capital Partners and active in the Southeast technology investment scene.
Other featured speakers at the SEVC include Salesforce.com's President Jim Steele, Sourcefire CEO Wayne Jackson and NEA co-founder Frank Bonsal, among the 35 speakers already confirmed for the event.
In addition to the featured speakers, informative panels and extensive networking opportunities, the SEVC will showcase approximately 40 high growth private companies before a regional and national audience of venture capitalists, private equity investors, angel investors, investment bankers and the technology service community.
About SEVC
The mission of the Southeast Venture Conference is to help support the innovation and entrepreneurial activity of emerging high growth technology companies from the southeast region and the resulting economic growth in the Southeast. As part of that goal, the SEVC understands the importance of investment capital to this equation and provides a key forum to facilitate the infusion of growth to the southeast high growth technology community.
The SEVC highlights both early stage and later stage investment opportunities from: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington DC.
The second annual SEVC will be held February 27 -28, 2008 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The first annual SEVC was sold out and was represented by over $56 billion in investment capital.
On the Web: www.seventure.org |
