Ossama Hassanein, Senior Managing Director, Newbury Ventures

Ossama is a passionate entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Over the last 35 years, he managed over $1 billion of international technology funds in diverse leadership roles as EVP of Berkeley International in San Francisco, Chairman of Technocom Ventures in Paris, President of Newbridge Networks Holding in Canada, Senior Managing Director of Newbury Ventures, and Chairman of the Rising Tide Fund in Silicon Valley. He was chairman or co-founder of eight successful startups including ACC in Santa Barbara (acquired by Ericsson), Algety in France (acquired by Corvis), HighDeal in France (acquired by SAP), Highwave Optical Technologies (Listed on Euronext), NetCentrex (acquired by Comverse), nCipher in Cambridge (listed on LSE), BDNA in Mountain View, and Echovox in Geneva. He served on the Boards of Advisors of Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies and of UCSF Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine in San Francisco, and lectured on international business at UC Berkeley, the University of San Diego, Santa Clara University, and the American University in Cairo. He also served on the Board of Directors of Relief International, a non-profit, focusing his efforts on social entrepreneurship and women development in the Middle-East. Ossama received his B.Sc. in electrical engineering (distinctions, first class honors) from the University of Alexandria, his M.Sc. in electrical engineering and M.B.A. from the University of British Columbia. He completed his Ph.D. requirements in electrical engineering at the University of British Columbia, and his Ph.D. in Business Administration at California Coast University. Ossama was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt were he still maintains close family ties and enduring friendships. He is an avowed fan of Mediterranean history and culture. He is married, has two children, and splits his time equally between California and Paris.

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Clint Chao, General Partner, Formative Ventures

Clint Chao is a founding general partner at Formative Ventures. Clint invests in emerging technologies start-ups in areas such as communications, wireless, and next-generation Internet solutions. Clint is an experienced technology executive who brings more than 20 years of start-up operating experience including marketing, sales and business development to Formative Ventures. His investments and board leadership include Mashery, Marketocracy, Silicon Clocks, Smalltown, SOASTA, and Zyray Wireless (acquired by Broadcom in 2004). Prior to co-founding Formative Ventures, Clint served as vice president of marketing, sales, and business development at SkyStream Networks (acquired by Tandberg TV), a leading provider of video routing equipment. Under his leadership, SkyStream formed partnerships with industry leaders such as AOL Time Warner, HP, Microsoft, RealNetworks, Lucent Technologies, Mitsubishi, and Philips. Prior to joining SkyStream, Clint served as senior director of marketing at C-Cube Microsystems where he was responsible for marketing for the PC Division, a group he co-founded and grew to run rates exceeding $50M in sales annually. Clint began his tenure at C-Cube as the first salesperson for the company, where he created the company’s sales representation network around the country. Before joining C-Cube in 1990, Clint held numerous sales and sales management positions at Motorola Semiconductor, where he was recognized as one of the company’s top salespeople. Clint earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. On entrepreneurs:  “Company founders are usually singularly focused on the technology behind their company, but truly successful start-ups need to also be focused on how their technology gets adopted by the marketplace – converging their offerings with the actual needs of their early-adopter customers.  Entrepreneurs should look to partner with investors who have a seasoned business background to help position their company for market leadership.”

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