Best Practices in Entrepreneurship Panel Discussion Thursday June 11th at 6:00pm

By: ninalubrano | Published: June 5, 2009 | Filed under: Announcements, Events, Networking, Sunshine Suites

Thursday, June 11th at 6pm

Sunshine Suites – TriBeCa West, 12 Desbrosses St. (1 block South of Canal St. BTW Greenwich & Hudson St.)

The five-member panel will include a venture capital investor, a principal from a business incubation firm and founders of several successful entrepreneurial ventures. Space is limited, so please reserve your spot today by emailing shiners@sunshineny.com

Jason Olim experienced just about every aspect of leading and operating a growth company. As the founder and CEO of CDNOW and as a member of public and private company boards, he raised venture, debt and public capital; he acquired and merged with other companies; and took his company private through a sale to Bertelsmann. Olim founded CDNOW in 1994, and became a highly recognized Internet entrepreneur, earning Entrepreneur of the Year awards from various organizations, including the Small Business Association and Arthur Andersen. Olim consults for startup companies on strategy, fundraising and organizational development. He is a frequent guest lecturer at business schools, and an instructor at The Wharton SBDC. His current project is www.freshmanfund.com .

Mark Davis is a Venture Capitalist at DFJ Gotham Ventures. Before DFJ, Mark was the Founder and CEO Zotspot, an internet search destination, and an advisor to numerous startups. Previously, Mark consulted Fortune 1000 and private equity clients on the strategic and financial attractiveness of acquisition targets at both Bain and KPMG. Mark leads the Blue Venture Community, a group he founded to serve Columbia University’s student and alumni entrepreneurs. Mark is also a member of the NY Tech Meetup’s Community Committee. Mark has a B.A. in Economics from Duke and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. Mark also has a blog (markpeterdavis.com) that addresses industry topics and offers guidance to entrepreneurs on how to raise venture capital.

Philip James founded Snooth in 2006. The company is the world’s largest and most comprehensive wine site, featuring millions of reviews and hundreds of thousands of wines. Formerly, Philip was Executive Vice President at the Wine Messenger, a leading national online wine retailer. Philip’s background includes three years in Technology Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch, as well as time in the Venture Capital industry. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Masters degree in Computational Chemistry from Oxford University.

Carlo Mantica is President of Mantica Ventures, which is an innovative group of service companies that helps companies unleash the power of imagination. Mantica Ventures Business Incubation group is an advisory/angel investing firm. The group helps companies and entrepreneurs grow, find investments or get their business ready to make the step change from start up to professionally managed business. Mr. Mantica was previously Director of Strategy with Omnicom Arnell Group, where he provided his advice in the area of new business ventures and strategic engagements. Prior to Omnicom, he spent several years at Booz Allen Hamilton. Mr. Mantica holds an MBA from Stern. He is a member of the Stern Alumni Board and serves as a judge in the Stern Business Plan competition.

Joseph Raby has served as President and Managing Partner of Sunshine Realty Management since July 2001. Prior to establishing Sunshine, Mr. Raby served as Senior Vice President as a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and has been a financial advisor for Prudential Securities. He has also worked as an auditor for Ernst & Young, Entrepreneurial Services division. He is also the co-founder and Managing Partner of AJ Realty, LLC, a residential real estate company. Mr. Raby graduated Lehigh University with a degree in Finance and Accounting.