Speakers: Kirsten Leute and John Lee

Presentation Topic: Venture Capital and Founders’ Equity 101

Synopsis: Understanding how venture capital works is critical to raising money from VC investors. The speakers will take you through venture fund organization, due diligence factors, and pitch deck basics. Data will be presented to support the conversation around founders' equity, the right allocation between faculty and post docs and grad students, and how much equity one needs to give away to attract and keep your top talent.

About the speakers: Kirsten Leute and John Lee work for Osage University Partners (OUP), a venture capital fund that invests exclusively in startups that are commercializing university research.

Kirsten Leute is the Senior Vice President of University Relations. Prior to Osage, she worked for almost nineteen years at Stanford University's Office of Technology Licencing, where she became experienced in high technology inventions as well as software, trademark, and copyright licensing. Kirsten additionally serves as Vice President of Membership Development in the Western Hemisphere for the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). An active speaker, Kirsten has presented to audiences at BIO, LES, WIPO, ProTon, AUTM, and other meetings around the world. Kirsten’s education includes a Bachelor’s degree in biology from Wellesley College and a Masters in Business Administration from Santa Clara University concentrating in international business and management of technology and innovation. Kirsten is a registered U.S. Patent Agent (No. 55,375).

John Lee is a Principal at Osage where he focuses on infrastrucutre support, enterprise software, and hardware. Before working at Osage, John spent time at Lux Capital and was a manger in ivestments for Mahindira & Mahindra, one of Asia's largest congomerates, where he worked on diversified investments and in-house startups in technology. John holds a BS from Cornell University.

The Lunch & Learn event is an opportunity for subject matter experts to present informal talks and Q&As with the Cove community. The talks will cover such diverse topics as branding, marketing, pitching mistakes to avoid, investor relations, and prototyping.

Check-in 11:30 am Open to UCI students, staff & faculty, alumni, startups, spinoffs, Cove EiRs, and guests.