Events
SVCE Event Calendar - Spring 2020
When: April 22, 2020
Topic: Entrepreneur's Survival Kit
Speaker: Adeo Ressi, Founder & CEO, TheFunded and The Founder Institute
When: February 24, 2020
Topic: Be the Next Disruptor
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater
Time: 6:00 – 7:15 pm
Registration: Register Here
Speaker: Samaira Mehta, Founder & CEO, CoderBunnyZ
Speaker bio:
Samaira Mehta has been featured on the Today Show & CNBC while gracing the pages of
Time Magazine & Vogue. She has won the Youth Entrepreneur Award and her initiative "Yes, One
Billion Kids Can Code" is taking Silicon Valley by storm!
Samaira's talk will focus on the power that each of us have, the power to be the next disruptor! She will remind all of us that technology is not the future, people are the future. Each of us have superpowers that can help bring change and create disruptions. A CEO at the age of 7, Samaira will talk about her journey, with successes and failures along the way, all of which are basic ingredients of learning and bringing out the best inside of us. Her talk ends with a very important message. Hear her and be inspired by Samaira Mehta, the 11-year-old Entrepreneur.
SVCE Event Calendar - Fall 2019
When: October 28, 2019
Topic: Fundraising Best Practices for Startups
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater
Time: 6:00 – 7:15 pm
Registration: Register Here
Speaker: Sam Heshmati, Senior Managing Director, First Republic Bank
Speaker bio:
Sam Heshmati has 17 years of experience in the technology ecosystem, serving clients
not only as a banker, but also as an advisor. He leads efforts for FRB’s early stage
startup team focused on providing programs to serve the tech community, cultivating
and managing relationships with some of the country’s top incubators, micro-VCs and
entrepreneurs. Over his career, he has worked with over 1000 early-stage tech companies
in addition to several hundred micro-VCs. Prior to joining First Republic in 2012,
he spent 10 years as a tech banker at Silicon Valley Bank and Square 1 Bank. He earned
a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University.
When: September 16, 2019
Topic: Words of Wisdom from Female Founders
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater
Time: 6:00 – 7:15 pm
Event Flyer
Panelists:
- Annette Finsterbusch, SJSU Alumna, is President & CEO of EnPower Inc, an early stage startup developing next generation Lithium-ion batteries. She has 25 years of operating, management, and venture capital, and extensive global corporate board experience.
- BJ Hardman, SJSU Alumna, is Chairman of the Board of Sanarus Technologies, an invasive breast therapy system helping women tackle breast cancer, where she was previously CEO. Her industry experience ranges from biomedical devices, financial services, manufacturing to distribution.
- Gwen Nguyen, SJSU Alumna, is the founder & CEO of Maven’s Creamery, a macaroon ice cream sandwich company that she started alongside her sister in 2014. She recently appeared on Shark Tank where she was able to land a deal with Barbara Corcoran!
- Neda Blocho has valuable insights into the startup ecosystem, based on several years of experience guiding and mentoring numerous startup founders. She also spent a few years as a venture capitalist. Today, she is the Program Manager at WeWork Labs, WeWork’s global innovation platform powering the next generation of transformative startups create the future.
Moderator:
- Melissa Dyrdahl, SJSU Alumna, is an accomplished entrepreneur, board member, and business adviser. Previously, Melissa was CEO of Ella Health and CMO of Adobe Systems. She currently sits on the board of the Dignity Health Foundation along with two early stage healthcare startups.
When: October 28, 2019
Topic: Startup Fundraising: Best Practices and Strategy
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater
Time: 6:00 – 7:15 pm
Registration: Will open soon.
Speaker: Sam Heshmati, Senior Managing Director, First Republic Bank & SJSU alumnus.
SVCE Event Calendar - Spring 2019
When: April 10, 2019
Topic: Global Sustainability & Entrepreneurship
Where: Campus Village Building 2, Multipurpose Room (1st floor of CV2)
Time: 4:00-5:30 pm
Speakers:
Christoph Frehsee (Amour Vert co-founder and Stanford sustainability lecturer)
Joyce Hu (Wildlife Works marketing director, Sustainable Fashion Alliance co-founder)
Andrea Plell (Ecologique Fashion consultant, Sustainable Fashion Alliance co-founder)
Event Flyer(PDF)
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/SustEntrep
When: February 25, 2019
Topic: From Founder to Funder: Pebble to YC
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7 pm
Speaker: Eric Migicovsky
Speaker's Bio:
Eric Migicovsky will share his journey from becoming founder and CEO of Pebble Technology, the company behind the Pebble smart watches, to joining Y Combinator as a Partner.
While studying engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada, Eric began building smartwatches alongside a group of friends. He founded Pebble Technology, which was accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator startup accelerator. In April 2012, Eric and his team launched Pebble on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, where it became the most successful crowdfunded project in Kickstarter’s history. In February 2015, they launched two more watches on Kickstarter, which became the fastest funded project in Kickstarter history. In late 2016, Pebble was shut down, and the IP acquired by Fitbit.
Since January 2018, Eric has been a Partner at Y Combinator, "focused on finding, funding, and helping great founders".
SVCE Event Calendar - Fall 2018
Access to Startup Capital Panel @SJSU in partnership with anewamerica, SBA, & the
City San Jose
When: Thursday, November 8, 2018
Where: MLK Library, Room 225
Time: 6-8 pm
When: October 22, 2018
Topic: VC101: Where & Why I'd Invest
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speaker: Angela Tran Kingyens
Speaker's Bio:
Dr. Angela Tran Kingyens is General Partner at Version One. She is a native Torontonian and newly naturalized US citizen who calls San Francisco home. Investing in the US and Canada, she has a unique perspective on both ecosystems. An engineer by training, Angela’s desire to help others and work with people who are bringing about positive transformational change led her to the world of VC, where she has quickly made a big impact.
Angela focuses on health/bio, AI/ML, social platforms and other startups leveraging network effects. While she loves data, she believes that good investing is both value- and data-driven.
Prior to Version One, Angela co-launched Insight Data Science, a YC-backed startup designed to help PhDs transition from academic research to careers in industry via a six-week training program. With this experience, she is uniquely poised to help startups accelerate data science as a key differentiator. She helps founders hire data scientists and grow their teams, and can be found as a data scientist in residence, working onsite at portfolio companies.
Angela received her PhD in Operations Research & Financial Engineering from the University of Toronto. She also leads the Computer History Museum’s NextGen advisory board and is involved with the Creative Destruction Lab in Vancouver.
When: September 17, 2018
Topic: Startups that Change People’s Lives
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speakers: Atiq Raza and Nandini Saraiya Raza
Speakers’ bios:
Atiq Raza is Chairman & CEO of Virsec, a next generation cybersecurity company, Chairman of the board at Peernova, a company using Blockchain technology for banking applications, and is on the board of ArterisIP, a company in the Network-on-a-Chip IP business.
Atiq is a semiconductor industry veteran, who has held senior management and leadership positions in numerous companies over the past 37 years. He founded Raza Microelectronics, which was acquired by NetLogic. He served as CTO of NetLogic, which was later acquired by Broadcom. Prior to that, he was President & COO of AMD, and served on its Board of Directors. Atiq has been on the boards of several successful startups including Magma and Mellanox (now both public companies), and Siara (acquired by Redback for $4 billion), SiByte (acquired by Broadcom for $2.2 billion), and VxTel (acquired by Intel for $500 million). He served on Stanford University’s School of Engineering Advisory Board for eight years until 2016. He holds a Master's degree in Material Sciences & Engineering from Stanford University, and Bachelor's degrees in Physics & Philosophy from Punjab University, Pakistan and a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Electrical Engineering from University of London, UK.
Nandini Saraiya is a jewelry designer and founder/owner of Reveti Jewelry. She studied at the Shriram
College of Commerce, a prestigious college in Delhi University, India, before moving
to the USA because of an arranged marriage. Nandini broke the shackles of an arranged
marriage to gain a degree in Computer Science from San Jose State University against
overwhelming odds. Upon successfully graduating from SJSU, she joined Hewlett Packard.
While building her career at HP, Nandini realized that her true passion was jewelry
design. Under the guidance of her mother, who had recently retired from a long career
in jewelry design at a famous European design store, Nandini began to explore her
creative artistry in designing jewelry. She studied the jewelry designs of royal families
in India as well as European traditions and the modern fashions of the US. Her designs
earned her international acclaim. She went on to start Reveti Jewelry, which has become
a trademark of taste and prestige.
SVCE Event Calendar - Spring 2018
Inclusive Innovation Summit @SJSU in partnership with Rutgers University
When: Friday, April 13, 2018
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 8:30am -1 pm
For Details & Registration: https://inclusiveinnovationsummit.eventbrite.com
When: Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Topic: Start Early and Don't Stop
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speaker: Blaine Vess
Speaker bio:
SJSU alumnus, Blaine Vess, is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Blaine
founded Student Brands as a freshman in college in 1999, when he saw an opportunity
to create a way for students
to share study materials online. Student Brands evolved
from a dorm room project to a multinational company that serves more than 90 million
visitors a month. The company was acquired by Barnes & Noble Education for $58.5 million
in August 2017. He co-founded another company called Solve, which was an airport concierge
business. Solve was backed by Y-Combinator (YC) and Blaine and his co-founders participated
in YC’s Summer 2017 batch. Solve was acquired by Blacklane, a global chauffeur service
in October 2017. In addition to being a founder, Blaine invests in late-stage startups
and films. He also serves as the chairman of Liberty in North Korea, a nonprofit that
helps rescue and resettle North Korean refugees. Blaine graduated from SJSU with a
degree in marketing.
When: Monday, February 26, 2018
Topic: My 5 steps to starting a business career after college, and reaching financial freedom
Where: BBC 032
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speaker: Rahim Fazal
Speaker bio: 
Rahim Fazal is a 4-time entrepreneur, and co-founder of SVAcademy, a career accelerator for students looking for business development jobs after college. Prior to that, Rahim was the co-founder of Involver (acquired by Oracle), a social media marketing platform used by more than one million companies and many Fortune 500 brands. Rahim was honored at The White House with an Empact 100 Award by Startup America and The Kauffman Foundation. He's been named one of the Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30 in America by Inc Magazine, one of the Top 40 Under 40 by the San Francisco Business Times, and one of the Top 25 Digital Thought-Leaders by iMedia.
When: Monday, February 19, 2018
Topic: Turning your product into a successful company: the importance of great UX Design
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speaker: Alfonso de la Nuez
Speaker bio: 
SJSU alumnus, Alfonso de la Nuez, is Founder and CEO of UserZoom. He has over 20 years
experience in the Digital Marketing industry, including Ecommerce, Web Design and
Development, Web Project Management, User Experience Design, and Usability Testing.
He has worked for leading brands such as Dell Computers and Icon Medialab. After 5
years with hands on experience in the Digital Marketing industry, he co-founded a
User Experience consultancy (Xperience Consulting) and in parallel, a SaaS business
(UserZoom) where he currently serves as CEO. UserZoom was bootstrapped out of Spain
10 years ago, received $34M in funding in 2015, and is targeting $25M in revenue in
2018.
Alfonso is passionate about his family, Entrepreneurship, Go-to-Market Strategy, beautifully designed products, Basketball and Formula 1 racing.
Alfonso was born in Milan, Italy, and grew up in Madrid, Spain. He earned a Bachelors degree in International Business from San Jose State University.
SVCE Event Calendar - Fall 2017
When: October 16, 2017
Topic: Innovating digital education: The simple habits that make math and science “geniuses”
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speaker: Sue Khim
Speaker bio:
Sue Khim is the Founder and CEO of Brilliant (brilliant.org). Brilliant helps you excel in math and science. On Brilliant, you can master concepts
through examples and problems contributed by a community of mathematicians, scientists,
and engineers. Over 1 million people use Brilliant every month. In 2012, Sue was named
one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 in education. In 2013, she gave a TEDx talk about how Brilliant
can change the world.
When: September 18, 2017
Topic: Innovation, Disruption, and Groundbreaking
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speaker: Raymond D. “Ray” Zinn
Speaker Bio: 
SJSU alumnus Raymond D. "Ray" Zinn is an inventor, entrepreneur, and Silicon Valley's
longest serving CEO.
Ray is best known for conceptualizing and inventing the Wafer Stepper and co-founding Micrel Corporation (acquired by Microchip in 2015). He served as Micrel's Chief Executive Officer, Chairman & President between 1978-2015. Ray holds over 20 patents for semiconductor design. He is a prolific writer of blog posts and journal articles, and author of Tough Things First, published by McGraw Hill Education in 2015.
Ray earned a BS in Industrial Management from Brigham Young University and an MS in Business Administration from San Jose State University.
SVCE Event Calendar – SPRING 2017
Values-Driven Leadership in Entrepreneurial Success
Monday, April 24 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Student Union Ballroom SJSU Campus
Speakers:
Richard Conniff, former President/CEO of Focus Business Bank, a community-based bank opened in 2007.
Previously, Mr. Coniff was President/COO of Heritage Commerce Corporation, a bank
holding company. He is a member of the Lucas College of Business Global Leadership
Council and former member of the Business Alumni Association as well as College of
Business Distinguished Alumnus, 2003. He received his BS in Business from CSU Long
Beach and his MBA from San José State. He and is wife, Sandi, are the founders of
the College of Business Alumni Association Speaker series.
Jay Fulcher, CEO of Zenefits. He has over 20 years of experience in leading both public and private
technology companies where he has built dynamic, successful organizations and created
new market segments. Previously, Jay served as President & CEO of Ooyala, President
& CEO of Agile Software, EVP at Peoplesoft and VP at SAP. Jay has co-founded and launched
many early stage start-ups. He is an alumnus of San Jose State University where he
is a member of the Global Leadership Council for the Lucas Graduate School and College
of Business.
Reshma Nigam, Founder & CEO, Markable Solutions, a digital marketing company. Prior to that, she
was co-founder and CEO of aMarketForce, a leader in B2B sales, marketing and lead
generation services. Ms. Nigam has worked with RightWorks Corporation, Xporta and
nthOrbit, when they were startups. She was also VP of Medical Market Research for
Frost and Sullivan. Ms. Nigam is an advisory board member of the Global Leadership
Council at Lucas Graduate School of Business, SJSU. She is also the Chairperson of
Art Forum at San Francisco, Bay Area. She holds MBA and BA degrees from San Jose State
University.
Moderator:
Dr. Anu Basu is Professor of Entrepreneurship in the School of Global Innovation & Leadership,
Lucas College & Graduate School of Business, and Director, Silicon Valley Center for
Entrepreneurship, at SJSU. Her research interests include entrepreneurship education,
immigrant and global entrepreneurship. She received MPhil and PhD degrees in Economics
from the University of Cambridge, UK, an MBA from IIM Calcutta, India, and a BA (Honors)
degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, India. Before
joining academia, Dr. Basu worked on the international management staff of Bank of
America in India and the UK.
Startup Nation Tech Fair - Co-hosted by the Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship
Tuesday March 14th
6:00pm-9:00pm
Student Union Ballroom
6:00pm-7:30pm: Panel discussion with Israeli entrepreneurs based in Silicon Valley.
Panelists include:
Zohar Alon, Founder & CEO, Dome 9 Security,
Lior Koriat, CEO, Quali
Doron Reuveni, co-founder & CEO, Applause
Moshik Raccah, co-founder and CEO of Silo
7:30-9:00pm: Tech Fair to connect entrepreneurs with students seeking internship opportunities.
Company Bios (PDF)
When: February 20, 2017
Topic: Five Lessons for Launching Your First Startup in Silicon Valley
Where: SJSU Student Union Theater (Ground Floor)
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Speaker: Rahim Fazal, serial entrepreneur
Speaker bio:
Rahim Fazal is a 4-time entrepreneur, and co-founder of SVAcademy, a career accelerator
for students looking for business development jobs after college. Prior to that, Rahim
was the co-founder of Involver (acquired by Oracle), a social media marketing platform
used by more than one million companies and many Fortune 500 brands. Rahim was honored
at The White House with an Empact 100 Award by Startup America and The Kauffman Foundation.
He's been named one of the Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30 in America by Inc Magazine,
one of the Top 40 Under 40 by the San Francisco Business Times, and one of the Top
25 Digital Thought-Leaders by iMedia.