Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which have demonstrated high growth. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing risky start-ups in the hopes that some of the firms they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. The start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are usually from the high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.
Silicon Alley is an area of high tech companies centered around southern Manhattan's Flatiron district in New York City. The term was coined in the 1990s during the dot-com boom, alluding to California's Silicon Valley tech center. The term has grown somewhat obsolete since 2003 as New York tech companies spread outside of Manhattan.
Silicon Glen is a nickname for the high tech sector of Scotland, the name inspired by Silicon Valley in California. It is applied to the Central Belt triangle between Dundee, Inverclyde and Edinburgh, which includes Fife, Glasgow and Stirling; although electronics facilities outside this area may also be included in the term. The term has been in use since the 1980s. It does not technically represent a glen as it covers a much wider area than just one valley.
Ross Mayfield is an American Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Pingpad. The former CEO of Socialtext, and former Vice President of Business Development of SlideShare. He is also a regular blogger and public speaker.
The Women's Technology Cluster or WTC was renamed, Astia in 2007. Astia is a global not-for-profit organization built on a community of experts whose goal is to ensure the success of women in high-growth start-ups.
Jerry Colonna is an American venture capitalist and professional coach who played a prominent part in the early development of Silicon Valley. He is the recipient of numerous awards and a speaker on topics ranging from leadership to starting businesses. Colonna has been named to Upside magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of the New Economy, Forbes ASAP's list of the best VCs in the country, and Worth's list of the 25 most generous young Americans. He is a co-founder and CEO of the executive coaching and leadership development company, Reboot. He is the host of the Reboot Podcast. He also serves as chairman on the Board of Trustees at Naropa University. Colonna is the author of Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up.
The Six Cities Design Festival is an international design festival that takes place simultaneously in Scotland's six cities: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and Stirling. 2007 is the Festival's inaugural year; a main festival period of over 300 public exhibitions and events ran from 17 May — 3 June. Two ongoing Six Cities Design Festival initiatives, Design into Business and Learning, continue to offer conferences, workshops and classes nationwide. The Six Cities Design Festival is delivered by The Lighthouse (Glasgow): Scotland's National Architecture and Design Centre. The 2007 festival was backed by £3 million from The Scottish Government.
The Edinburgh Stanford Link is a £6 million, 5 year initiative funded by Scottish Enterprise to foster collaborative research and commercialisation links between the Human Communication Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh and the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University. Starting in Feb 2002, the programme focuses on speech and language processing technology. There are two core parts to the Link, the commercial programme and the student programme. The former focuses on working with commercial companies and the latter focuses on fostering a culture of entrepreneurship within the University of Edinburgh. They are located in Level 8 in Appleton Tower, Crichton Street, Edinburgh.
Brian Solis is a digital analyst, speaker and author. He is a principal analyst studying disruptive technology and its impact on business at Altimeter Group, a research firm acquired by global brand management consultancy Prophet in 2015. Solis publishes annual industry reports that track technology and business trends and offer change management direction to companies. The author of several books discussing digital marketing, evolving business models, customer experience and brand innovation, Solis shares his research and insights as a frequent keynote speaker at technology, business and creativity events. His work is credited with influencing the early digital and social marketing landscape. Most notably, he is known for developing the Conversation Prism, “a visual map of the social media landscape,” in 2008 and revising/re-releasing it again in 2013.
Campus Party (CP) is a conference and hackathon.
The University of Silicon Valley (USV) is a private university in San Jose, California, the largest city of Silicon Valley. Founded in 1887 as Cogswell Polytechnical College, the first technical training institution in the West, the school is one of only two private universities, along with Stanford University, that are guaranteed a tax exemption in the Californian Constitution.
Girl Geek Dinners is an informal organisation that promotes women in the Information technology industry, with 64 established chapters in 23 countries. The organization was founded in London, United Kingdom, by Sarah Lamb, who realized how under-represented women are at information technology events after attending a Geek Dinner in 2005.
The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is a Pan-African training program, seed fund and incubator in Accra, Ghana. The three-phase school and incubator program were founded in 2008 by Jørn Lyseggen to provide training, investment, and mentoring for aspiring technology entrepreneurs with the goal of creating globally successful companies that create wealth and jobs locally in Africa.
The Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) is a student group at Stanford University focusing on business and entrepreneurial activities. One of the largest student-run entrepreneurship organizations in the world, BASES' mission is to promote entrepreneurship education at Stanford University and to empower student entrepreneurs by bringing together the worlds of entrepreneurship, academia, and industry. BASES organizes the flagship 150K Challenge, Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders' Seminar, the SVI Hackspace, E-Bootcamp, and the Freshman Battalion.
The Cape Silicon Initiative or Silicon Cape is a regional ICT business networking NPO and community in the Western Cape, South Africa.
East London Tech City is the term for a technology cluster of high-tech companies located in East London, England. Its main area lies broadly between St Luke's and Hackney Road, with an accelerator space for spinout companies at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Sarah Allen is an American software developer and entrepreneur. Allen attended Brown University in Rhode Island, where she majored in computer science and visual arts. Early in her career, she led the development of Adobe Shockwave Multiuser Server, Flash Media Server, and Flash video, and co-founded the company that created Adobe After Effects. In 2013, Allen was selected for the Presidential Innovation Fellows program working with the Smithsonian Institution.
Sumaya Kazi is an American entrepreneur. At the age of 23, Kazi founded her first company The CulturalConnect. She later founded and was the CEO of San Francisco-based technology company Sumazi, a social intelligence platform used by brands, celebrities and enterprises. Kazi held one of the first social media management positions at a Fortune 500 company leading social media at Sun Microsystems until its acquisition by Oracle.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is a technology executive and entrepreneur. Currently the president of StubHub, she has worked at various tech and media companies including Google, Amazon and News Corp, Yodlee (YODL), and Polyvore. In 2011, she founded JOYUS, the video shopping platform for women, and served as CEO then Chairman until 2017. Singh Cassidy is also Founder of theBoardlist.
Susan MacTavish Best is the founder and CEO of Living MacTavish, a lifestyle business. She was previously the founder of Best Public Relations. She has become known for hosting salon-style dinner parties in San Francisco and New York.
