The INSEAD Alumni Association kindly invites you to the following event:

New York – Emerging hub for internet start-ups

6:30-8:30 p.m. March 16, 2010

The Global Classroom at the Levin Institute

116 East 55th Street

New York, NY 10022

Wine and cheese will be served

If you are serious about starting a tech company, you don’t need to go to Silicon Valley. New York is emerging as a hub, giving start-ups new options.

- Why has entrepreneurial activity increased in New York in the last years?

- What is the city offering to start-ups and to Venture Capital firms?

- How can entrepreneurs take advantage of this new situation?

Join us for a collaborative discussion, led by the following successful entrepreneurs and Venture Capital partners:

· Nick Beim, General Partner New York of Matrix Partners - www.matrixpartners.com

· Fabrice Grinda, Co-CEO, OLX, Inc. -  www.olx.com - One of the world's largest free on-line classified sites.

· Kevin Ryan, Chairman and Founder, Gilt Groupe,  - www.gilt.com - An exclusive, invitation only, luxury-brand ecommerce site.

· Albert Wenger, Partner, Union Square Ventures - www.unionsquareventures.com 

Presenter's bio:

· Nick Beim invests primarily in Internet and software startups at Matrix Partners.  His investments include the Gilt Groupe, TheLadders.com, Intent Media, Conductor, BuyWithMe and JBoss.  Nick joined Matrix in 2001 after working in the high tech investment banking group at Goldman Sachs & Co. and the technology and media group at McKinsey & Co. Nick studied at Stanford University and Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He serves on the board of directors of Endeavor, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs in developing countries.

· Fabrice Grinda has successfully transposed and adapted business ideas between the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. In March of 2006, Fabrice co-founded OLX, Inc. with business partner Alec Oxenford, in the hopes of building the largest free local classified site in the world. As co-founder and co-CEO, Fabrice drives the company’s business development, investor relations, M&A and product development efforts. OLX now has 140 employees and is present in 90 countries and 40 languages with over 100 million unique visitors per month. Previously Fabrice built Zingy, one of the US' largest ringtone companies which he sold for $80 million. Fabrice graduated Summa Cum Laude from Princeton University and was awarded the Halbert White prize, given to the most distinguished economics student, as well as The Wolfe Balleisen memorial prize, awarded for best thesis.

· Kevin Ryan is one of the leading Internet entrepreneurs in New York's Silicon Alley. Over the last three years, Kevin has started six New York-based businesses, including Gilt Groupe, Business Insider, ShopWiki and 10gen/mongoDB. Kevin helped build DoubleClick from 1996 to 2005, first as president and later as CEO. He fostered DoubleClick's growth from a 20-person startup to a global leader with over 1,500 employees.  Currently Kevin serves on the board of Human Right Watch, the NYC Investment Fund and INSEAD, and is a member of the Yale International Council and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has served in the past on the boards of the Direct Marketing Association, the Ad Council, Hotjobs and on the Advisory Board of Doctors Without Borders. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from INSEAD.

· Albert Wenger combines over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with an in-depth technology background. As an entrepreneur, he has founded or co-founded five companies, including a management consulting firm (in Germany), a hosted data analytics company, a technology subsidiary for Telebanc (now E*Tradebank), an early stage investment firm, and most recently (with his wife), DailyLit, a service for reading books by email or RSS. Albert also served as the president of del.icio.us through the company's sale to Yahoo. Albert graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in economics and computer science and holds a Ph.D. in Information Technology from MIT.