Written by Hannah Miller, Membership and Marketing Coordinator, Churchill Club

“How can the extraordinary benefits of the innovation revolution be shared more equitably among all of society?” This question, which is so politically and economically central to our age, is addressed in Vijay Vaitheeswaran’s new book Need, Speed, and Greed. At the Churchill Club’s Breakfast Event on March 30, Vaitheeswaran (Global Correspondent for The Economist and Author) sat down with Paul Saffo (Managing Director of Foresight at Discern Analytics) and expanded upon the future of Silicon Valley’s innovative environment in relation to his latest release.

The True Meaning of “Innovation”

Conversation commenced with Saffo’s articulate description of the roles science and technologies have played in American society and how these crucial elements have been growing and progressing since World War II. But then the first question became: “Is innovation going to save us?” Vaitheeswaran, an expert in this area, considers innovation to be “the most abused word in the English language.” He explained that the word “innovation” is primarily tied to “invention,” when innovation is not strictly technical – although it may appear so in Silicon Valley. Vaitheeswaran defines innovation as “fresh thinking that creates value,” and that “creating value is the hardest part of the equation.”

Another powerful component of the “innovation equation” is, in fact, an extrinsic motivator: Prizes. Vaitheeswaran said, “Prizes spur innovation…but it’s only one tool in the tool case.” Today, although technology is so closely associated with innovation (and rightfully so), some of the best and brightest ideas stem, not only from completely original thought, but also catch on due to their creative value, use, and even extrinsic motivators.

The End of Cheap China

With foreign influences creating a noticeable presence in Silicon Valley, Saffo then inquired: “Will Silicon Valley survive?” In response, Vaitheeswaran said that Silicon Valley may appear to be heading in the direction of extinction mainly due to the number of companies from China and India moving into the Valley. “But China up doesn’t have to mean America out,” said Vaitheeswaran. “People say we don’t trust foreigners, but we don’t trust each other either.” While he doesn’t believe the rise of China’s middle class is a “bubble,” Vaitheeswaran said that he sees China headed towards a future with more participation in Silicon Valley, which could generate “more ambitious, democratic innovation.”

Yet, Vaitheeswaran also admits that “we are at the end of cheap China, and from now on we’re going to be stuck with more expensive China,” which means that each product at Wal-Mart will be increasing a couple bucks over the next few years. Fortunately, the reason Vaitheeswaran believes Silicon Valley will survive is because we live in an “ideas economy” where “our GDP doesn’t come from brawn, rather it comes from brain.” Essentially, democratic innovation will only succeed through open communication with global competition and intelligent alternations to our economic system.

“Need, Speed, and Greed”

Inarguably, innovation in technology over the last few decades has shrunk the world to fit in the palm of our hand. With compact devices and our data storage “clouds,” connecting with others on a global scale is achieved with the touch of a finger. Yet, in his new book Need, Speed, and Greed, Vaitheeswaran discusses how the benefits to all this progress are not equally distributed. Essentially, the world’s elite classes – from Mumbai to Manhattan – who have mastered the new rules of global innovation are growing wealthier, while the hard-working salary men of the developed world are not. Even as the Internet and mobile phones have transformed the lives of women in rural Africa and Asia, the middle class and blue-collared workers in prosperous countries everywhere are still being squeezed by these new global realities.

Of the three umbrella topics covering this prevalent issue, “need” was discussed most over breakfast. Vaitheeswaran began by listing America’s biggest issues over the last few decades, such as the War on Terror and “our financial mess.” While these issues deserve our attention, Vaitheeswaran calls these our “easy problems” because every generation has to deal with capitalism and crisis. However, the future will remember our decade, our generation, for lifting one billion people out of poverty – this is an overarching issue that deserves valiant recognition in the distant future. Although this puts pressure on valuable resources, such as fresh water, our need for oil, and climate change. Vaitheeswaran said, “Even Americans can’t live like Americans in the future,” pointing to a further need for sustainability. Fortunately, according to Vaitheeswaran, “the rules of innovation are changing rapidly…and are, in fact, becoming more democratic.” While this is not entirely “reverse innovation,” as Saffo suggested, the promise of equalizing the spread of future innovation is tangible.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Marketing and Membership Coordinator, Churchill Club

A panel of the Valley’s most informed venture capitalists and VC experts lined the Churchill Club stage on March 28, with each opinion and word of advice as innovative and promising as the hyper-growth startups discussed. Led by moderator Eric Savitz (San Francisco Bureau Chief at Forbes), conversation began with each panelist’s general bias toward startups, and then moved into specific philosophies and steps taken by successful startups in a variety of tech industries inside and out of Silicon Valley.

The Line-Up on Start-Ups

When asked what their general bias was toward startups, the general consensus was positive. Dan’l Lewin, the Corporate VP in Strategic and Emerging Business Development at Microsoft, stated the point: “I have a bias toward start-ups.” Don MacAskill, Co-Founder, CEO and “Chief Geek” at SmugMug agreed that starting a startup was a “rollercoaster of fun,” and Jeff Clavier, Founder and Managing Partner at SoftTech VC said that his company is “the Go-To guy for entrepreneurs.” On the other hand, Heidi Roizen, Venture Partner at Draper Fisher Jurveston, a professor at Stanford University, said: “I’m the one who talks people out of venture capital.” (More on that later.) While Paul Kedrosky, a Senior Fellow at Kauffman Foundation, gave the best film references all night, with the first, “It takes a lot of dead bodies to fill a swamp. I feel that way about startups.”

The Reality of Creating a Startup

“Reality” rarely holds good news for dreamers. Fortunately, our panelists gave honest responses, including answers to the growth in today’s entrepreneur programs and setting the proper expectations when creating a startup.

There was general agreement toward Lewin, regarding “the important structural realignment going on in Silicon Valley” and how cloud services and ceaseless connection to smart devices gives advantage and opportunity to startups. Although this shifting structure has caused much collateral damage, MacAskill pointed out that “failure can be a good thing” considering the damage is only localized, and that entrepreneurs have the freedom to throw out ideas more rapidly than in the past – “If magic happens and your startup grows or joins another team, that’s great!” Within our practically consequence-free environment of innovation, the likelihood of “small companies with huge footprints, like Pinterest” increases tenfold, said Clavier. From the perspective of a VC, Clavier looks for the startups with potential “hyper-growth.”

Then Kedrosky mapped out the reality of venture capitalism, explaining how the number of entrepreneurship programs in the United States has increased by roughly a factor of six, which in turn actually declined on a per capita basis. Therefore, according to Kedrosky, “The growth of entrepreneurship programs in the United States is inversely correlated with the number of startups we produce, which suggests that the fastest way to build more startups is to kill all the entrepreneurship programs...but obviously that doesn’t make any sense! That’s can’t possibly be true!”

Roizen concluded the question with a valuable and practical mindset toward startups. She said that while it is pleasing that not much money is needed to start a startup, you must understand that not all startups will turn into Facebook. The crucial question to answer before any other is: “What do you want to be? Are you building a restaurant, or are you building a McDonalds?” said Roizen. She explained, this is why she talks people out of VC; because expectations are typically off for starry-eyed entrepreneurs starting startups. Essentially, it boils down to creating a business whose size matches your expectations.

Are Startups “Easy”?

Beyond the obvious (that no, starting and running a successful business is not “easy”), there are many elements that contribute to advancing a startup. Clavier mentioned that, technically, it is easy to start a startup, but the key to long-term growth falls under “figuring out how to organize your engineers, and where you find your resources.” While MacAskill placed designers on the same level as engineers – impressing that both are valuable talents, and neither easy to find – Kedrosky argued, “But shouldn’t it be hard to find the best?” Essentially, the most difficult aspect in building an idea into a hyper-growth startup is the cost of talent: talent is expensive.

Then Roizen posed a question to the audience: “How many of you have worked somewhere for free because you were super excited about what they are doing?” Of course, practically everyone in the room had at one point or another. “We are not a coin operated society,” said Roizen. “You can still win in this market if you have passion for something, but it’s challenging to find those people…I don’t think it’s about the money at all.”

Yet, when it comes to seeking out future partners, VCs, and employees, Kedrosky looks at the population of startups: “Think of it in ‘urbanism’ terms.” Neighborhoods! According to Kedrosky, neighborhoods are the “atomic unit of entrepreneurships, not because they’re lovely to look at, but because they’re dense. Ideas spread rapidly when people start to collide in dense neighborhoods.”

Where VCs Look to Invest

The first thing to keep in mind, according to Roizen, is that “VCs are not philanthropists or entrepreneurs.” As a startup founder, your products and services are ultimately judged by cash-on-cash returns. “VCs look in the rearview mirror,” said Roizen. Success in the past gives promise to new ideas and your company’s future. Tesla became the panel’s prime example: “You don’t build a car with a lean startup. You have to see where these investments are going to pay off.”

On the other hand, Kedrosky urged that we not disregard an opportunity simply because its affects are not immediate. “‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ Well, the roads and the infrastructure…just because something is not immediate doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of our money and attention.” Lewin expanded these potentials beyond the tech industry, encouraging a look into health services or new genetics.

Visit Churchill Club's YouTube channel for video of this program.

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Written by Hannah Miller, Marketing and Membership Coordinator, Churchill Club

Two of the world’s leaders, one in energy and the other in innovative journalism, came together on the Churchill Club stage on March 21, 2012. Peter Voser, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, gave valuable insights into the future of energy in a candid conversation with Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine and cofounder of the Churchill Club. While the topics were hot, the conversation was  cool, collected, and factual.

Karlgaard and Voser covered extensive topics ranging from  energy issues in China, Voser’s professional journey to CEO, and the future of energy -- given the expected rise in global population to 9 billion by 2050.

China’s energy needs

The conversation kicked off with a discussion on China’s surging socioeconomic position  and associated energy needs. According to Voser, China puts energy first. “They know they cannot improve living standards or pull people out of poverty without energy… food and water too, of course, but energy is on the top of their mind…In fact, China, above any nation on earth, is desperately striving for energy efficiency because there will not be enough supply to meet their demands.”

When Karlgaard inquired about projected  automobile growth  in China, Voser replied with a startling fact: today there are 190 million automobiles in China, but over the next 15 years (by 2027) China’s roads will be carrying 600 million automobiles.

The journey to Shell CEO

Karlgaard then asked Voser to share his professional journey from CFO to CEO of Shell. Voser said he initially declined the opportunity, saying the job was “too technology driven.” Yet, with his strong background in economics, as well as his ideas for the future of Shell, Voser did take the position of CEO on July 1, 2009.

Two of the most impactful changes Voser has since made to Shell’s operations are a faster  decision-making pace and an altered global structure. In comparison to The ABB Group, where he worked before Shell, Voser noted the following difference:  “At ABB, a decision was a decision, it wasn’t a starting point for argument, it was a starting point to implement a decision; this  is different than Shell, at least how it was in the past, where someone would make a decision, and then people would discuss whether the decision was really right.  You can’t have a fast-moving company if you do that.” As far as Shell’s structure, Voser emphasized the need for a nimble organization. “We need structures that will change with the world, which will fit the globe, especially in the energy industry.”

 “And is your job fun?” asked Karlgaard. Without hesitation, Voser said, “Yes. It’s not always easy. You’ll scratch your head from time to time, but it’s always fun. I felt support from the first day. That actually drives you as a CEO.”

How to meet future energy demands

 Karlgaard asked Voser about where the future of energy is headed, given.  “Tthe population is only going to grow from here…so how are we going to meet energy demand without burning up the planet?” Voser’s response was  that we will need to use all sources of energy from fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) to renewable energies (wind, solar). In addition, faster innovations and breakthroughs are needed. . The statement was backed by hard evidence: Energy demands will double from now until 2050; even today energy demand is climbing in  in Asia. Over the next 20-25 years, people around the world will be moving out of  “energy poverty.” So combined with population growth to 9 billion, fossil fuels will be in even greater demand.

“Do you think we have hit peak oil?” asked Karlgaard. “I think that’s not the issue,” said Voser. “I think we have hit the cheap oil peak. So the cheap oil is over. It’s going to be more expensive; energy in general is going to be more expensive.”

Voser went on to talk about the complicated relationships between water, food, and energy – and the shift to a more urban population. “Today, 50% of the world’s population lives in cities, and this will go up to 75%. Every 30 years, there will be another 100-million-person city being formed. Eighty percent of the CO₂ today comes from cities. So how we provide cities with water, energy, and food is an important issue going forward. How we then provide them with essential needs is going to be a key innovation area where Silicon Valley, and a lot of other companies (not just Shell), can provide solutions.”

By 2030, if current water consumption trends continue,  the world could face a 30% shortfall between global freshwater demand and supply, said Voser. So not only are innovative technologies needed for energy, but also, for example,  to desalinate water and preserve our limited supply of natural resources. “We are always responsible for what we do, and for the people around us,” Voser said.

Appeal to Silicon Valley

Voser closed the evening by presenting Silicon Valley with a challenge to cut the typical 30 years of development time for energy technology in half. “One of the biggest challenges is how we work together. The second one, and the biggest challenge to Shell’s own scientists, and to you, is to reduce the deployment time of new technologies.”

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Written by Ritu Malhotra, Churchill Club Volunteer

The date was March 15, 2012. The venue was Qualcomm’s Sunnyvale headquarters which employ greater than 1,700 employees in Silicon Valley as Churchill Club CEO Karen explained during her introduction. 

The club held an animated panel discussion on “The Future of Commerce: how will we pay?” with leaders from the top global companies at the front and center of the current global commerce transformation. The panelists discussed critical issues facing the $50 Trillion global commerce markets as it transforms in response to the confluence of mobile commerce, increasing smart phone use, near field communication initiatives, and consumer protection issues – both at home and globally.

The panelists were Bill Gajda: Head of Global Mobile Product at Visa, Doug Bergeron: CEO at VeriFone, Bryan Lamkin: CEO at Clover, Mark Lavelle: Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at PayPal, and Harshul Sanghi: Managing Partner of Enterprise Growth Ventures at American Express. The panel was ably moderated by Martin Giles: US Technology Correspondent at The Economist.

Big Trends in Commerce

Bill Gajda said that the accumulation of larger and larger amounts of mobile data is a strong trend in commerce. This is the combined result of increasing consumer adoption, enterprise data, and games on smart phones. This data relates to rich smart phone apps which is sky rocketing smart phone use by Americans. Internationally the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) is a strong trend. Using NFC consumers can execute commerce transactions by tapping their phone with the counterparty. NFC has the potential to be a leap frog in technology for international customers across smart phones and all mobile phones.

Bryan Lamkin said that the shift to online commerce and NFC is expected to result in 80% growth in mobile commerce. Currently excluding Amazon and Apple less than 2% transactions happen online and this is poised to change as smart phones take over consumer markets.

Mark Lavalle said that Payments innovations follow Commerce innovations. As a result of commerce innovations internetworked connectivity is becoming a part of consumers’ lifestyle throughout the day. Consumers are connected with both the desktop and mobile device at home and with the mobile device wherever they go. Consumer’s social recommendations to each other are driving the purchase decision. The traditional advantages retailers had are fading away.  Retailers have no option but to redefine their interaction with customers in order to stay relevant in a world where all information is perfectly available and there is perfect transparency of enterprise and inventory.

Transforming Landscape for Retailers and Revenues

Doug Bergeron said that retailers want a clear ecosystem to emerge as a de facto standard before they jump into further investments and resulting benefits. The hurdle for retailers is the confusing proliferation of a myriad different technologies and offerings. Having invested in a host of new technologies recently like, SEC compliance, PCI, EMV, and smartcard technology,. Unlike Visa and PayPal who have 60% margins and Doug Bergeron who has 25% margins, retailer’s margins are thin, often around 10%. Retailers can gain revenues by taking advantage of the convergence of mobile and physical point of sale. The global GDP is $70 Trillion of which $50 Trillion is commerce. This is split about 50-50 into cash and electronic transactions. Credit cards process about $10-12.5 Trillion of this amount. Mobile is now 8-8.5% of it, and it has the potential to grow larger.

Harshul Sanghi said that the balance between online, mobile and offline commerce is changing. This is resulting in changes in each stage of consumer commerce: discovery, analysis, transaction, post sale loyalty, and ongoing customer engagement. In the old offline world consumers discovered things they wanted to buy by window shopping. They conducted one on one price negotiation in the store. The transaction occurred at the point of sale. Things are now changing. Consumers may go to a store like BestBuy, discover a product in the store, Amazon’s Price Check app while physically inside BestBuy, and place an order on Amazon to buy the product. Consumers are looking for the best experience wherever they are when they discover the product. There is an online social graph and consumers are willingly providing breadcrumbs about where they are and what they are doing – this data can be combined with transaction history to provide a differentiated experience. This is how retailers can translate emerging trends into revenue for their businesses.

Mark Lavalle said that retailers are under pressure and they have no option but to provide payment and ecommerce experiences the way consumers want it. Retailers have to move towards making SKUs shippable the same day, thus providing additional value to customers as compared with online purchase options. Currently retailers don’t know who individual customers are while online businesses have that information. Mobile apps like Four Square allow users to tap their phone, rate, and publish location notifications to Twitter and Facebook. NFC: broader than enabling transactions. That’s where mobile can help retailers. Retailers can use apps to get to know their customers when they step into a store and while they are in the store, combine customer information with the in store experience, and promote loyalty at the point of sale.

Consumer Benefits and Consumer Protection: Risks, Security, and Privacy

Doug Bergeron said that security has taken a back seat during innovation. This is dangerous because things like security and well being drive consumer confidence. Privacy, which is even more important, has fallen by the wayside. Consumers are always in, always on, always visible, they have no way to turn off being tracked at any moment of the day. This is ankle bracelet technology which tinkles wherever you go and whatever you do, which is scary. Most consumers click “I agree” to Terms and Conditions of apps without reading or understanding them because all apps require agreement. The only alternative consumers have currently is to go to the local retailer store instead, which may or may not be convenient.

Mark Lavelle said that no consumer wants to have financial information stored in his or her phone. Users don’t want their phone to be their bank, they don’t care whether they are doing an online or mobile transaction, they simply want to execute transactions. The future holds a commerce model where customers have a cloud based wallet and an identity that is stored securely in the cloud. This identity can then be utilized in various contexts, gain access to the wallet, and execute transactions.

Bill Gajda said that some consumer protection issues could be mitigated by better consumer education. Credit card companies like Visa have built their brand throughout the world with a model of trust. Consumers don’t understand how to navigate the risks, security, and privacy implications of using online and mobile apps. They are putting all their credentials on thousands of online sites and on phone.

Bryan Lamkin said that convenience and delivering delight trumps security. For example, Starbucks app users can pre-order the coffee and when they get there they can pick it up instead of standing in line, saving time. This is an example of how retailers can provide a value added experience to consumers using mobile. Consumers mistakenly assume the home desktop is secure however in actual fact smart phones are more secure. There is one smart phone per customer and every smart phone has a unique identifier. It is equivalent to your identity. It is always with them and usually takes just 30-45 minutes for a user to realize that their smart phone is lost or stolen. With a credit card it can take several hours.

Harshul Sanghi said that American Express is a 100 year old brand built up on the foundations of customer privacy and security. Consumers “Opt-in” and tell American Express what they like on Twitter, Four Square check in, and Facebook. In American Express’s experience, consumers are ready and willing to provide their location and activity tracking information. American Express is combining this information with consumers’ transaction history in order to generate a richer experience for them.

Retailer Benefits: if not lower fees, what else? 

Mark Lavelle said that cost of executing transactions is important for retailers but the more important issue is that their customers are spending most of their time in the digital world. When consumers are ready to buy retailers need to pick up the signal and close that transaction otherwise someone else will capture the sale. Whether the consumer is at home, in a social interaction, or in store when he or she is ready to buy, that’s the moment when sellers need to connect, offer, and execute. Retailers need to be concerned about being there and aware, providing value add to customers, and completing customer sales rather than worry about the 1-2 basis points they pay to payment networks.

Doug Bergeron said that we talk to retailer executives about NFC, they go and talk at home with their teens and the teens don’t have it yet. As a result the retailers are reluctant to invest in the technology. It is a chicken and egg problem. Doug Bergeron estimates NFC to be more available around late 2013.

Bill Gajda said that retailers have less control on the consumer than ever before because of how consumers are using mobile smart phones and social networks. Retailers and merchants don’t have a choice but to provide consumers what they want in order to stay in the game.

Brewing battle for who owns the data and who owns the customers: phone companies, banks, credit cards, PayPal, VeriFone, Google, Facebook – a long list

Bill Gajda said that Banks who underwrite the credit, and payment networks who provide the execution and clearing infrastructure for payments, add value. They enable PayPal and big retailers even though these companies often say that they are being overcharged on fees. There is an opportunity for innovations in the home market to provide transformative consumer experience, combine that with payment mechanisms, and bring new categories of merchants into the ecosystem. There is an opportunity for innovations in emerging markets to leapfrog technology, transform GDP in those markets, and be a socioeconomic catalyst.

Harshul Sanghi said that the value lies in being able to extend credit and transfer cash for consumers and retailers in a ubiquitous way wherever you go worldwide. This is not a zero sum game and there are many players that can innovate and capture value on the fringe. Examples are loyalty cards, apps combining structured and unstructured data, etc. Smart phones and apps provide rich experience. Unlike home customers international customers don’t use smart phones pervasively. American Express owns a lot of data. However aside from ownership it is more important what insights we glean from it and also how we refrain from using that data.

Doug Bergeron said that big retailers have valuable data however they are not going to be handing it over for free to Google and other providers. Small retailers have data that may not be valuable in and of by itself however it is powerful when aggregated at the SKU level. Retailers have an opportunity to better use data and insights to value add to consumers. They could do things like recommend relevant next door retailers to customers at the point of sale.

Mark Lavelle said that the innovation in payments is not enough. New consumer experiences combined with new payments experiences can produce the leapfrog in technology in US markets just the same way as NFC is initiating leapfrog technology in international markets. NFC can be used to add much more value around immersive customer acquisition, targeting, loyalty, and engagement rather than being limited to being a transaction enabler.

Insights from other markets

Bill Gajda said that we should watch intently as Singapore turns on NFC in June 2012. We should be watching Canada, Australia, Japan, and the Japan / Korea trade. The US will not lead in NFC because of the technology leapfrog factor however we will be fast followers

Harshul Sanghi said that America is not a homogeneous market. We compare customer segments in US to corresponding customers in other countries rather than compare insights at a macro level from country to country. In America just as in Japan, India and China, there are unbanked, under-banked, and millennial customers. American Express created prepaid cards for unbanked and under-banked American customers. American Express compares its insights among millennial customers in different countries.

Doug Bergeron said that there are different insights to be gained in different markets. For example in Tokyo it takes time to get cash, in London it takes time to process credit cards, and in India people frequently spend time transferring money in and out of multiple bank accounts.

What will payments look like in 2050: will there be Credit cards?

Mark Lavelle said that in 2050 our personally identity will become synonymous with credit worthiness and currency, once we work out current privacy issues. We will remember wonderingly about the times when we used to pay by plastic aka credit cards and use paper coupons.

Bryan Lamkin said that checkouts will take less than 5 seconds in 2050.

Harshul Sanghi said that 35 years from now American Express will continue its stature as a trusted brand as it has been in the past for over 100 years. 35 years ago American Express provided Travelers Checks. Today it provides credit cards and payment methods. Similarly in 2050 it will provide a new consumer and payment experience. Perhaps in 2050 we will look each other in the eyes, shake hands, and the transaction will be executed without the need for cards or mobile phones.

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Written by: Hannah Miller, Membership and Marketing Coordinator

How do you spot a baby Google? Are there certain qualities in young start-ups that indicate the potential to make billions? Or is investment based on a gut feeling?

On Thursday evening, through the collaborative efforts of the Churchill Club and HYSTA, Stewart Alsop, a partner in Alsop Louis Partners, sat down with David Cheriton, serial entrepreneur, Stanford professor, and early investor in Google, and Ken Xie, founder and CEO of Fortinet and serial entrepreneur, to discuss their perspectives on innovation and entrepreneurship.

The night began with a short vocabulary lesson from Alsop, who asked each speaker to define “innovation” and “entrepreneurship.” Xie defined innovation as “drive,” or perhaps more bluntly as the desire to make money, while Cheriton pronounced a more literal definition: doing things in a different way. “Innovation is valuable because it is the opposite of monotony,” said Cheriton. “Did you know that Neanderthals lived in the same way, and followed the same routines for 200,000 years? Luckily we’ve been gifted with innovation and, especially in the last few years, we’ve been creating change more rapidly than ever.”

“Entrepreneurship” evoked equally unique responses. Cheriton took an abstract perspective and said, “Everyone should be an entrepreneur. We all have value to bring to society, and we live in a society that rewards people for their contributions…. Yet a true entrepreneur has the ability to bring, not only themselves, but a group of people and all their values into society.” Xie tied innovation and entrepreneurship together by offering his two-part answer: to build something, and then to sell it.

A highly anticipated question on many audience members’ minds was addressed near the end: What makes one start-up stand out from another? Essentially, what are the key qualities to look for when investing? Cheriton answered the question with three key qualities:

1.    Passion: If the start-up founders are clearly passionate about what they’re creating, then that’s a solid green light signal.

2.    Drive: Similar to Xie’s definition of innovation, a start-up must be driven. They must know how their vision fits into the world and, furthermore, must be prepared to make a lasting impact on society.

3.    Involved: A start-up should have a “friends network”; basically, a strong network of connections. If your start-up founders can “win friends and influence people,” then they are worth your investment. “You can tell because they will or will not have already persuaded you at that point.”

One of the last issues discussed concerned all three speaker’s predictions of today’s top trends. Xie focused on the speed in which we connect with each other today, while Cheriton and Alsop came to the same conclusion: back-tracking along the rapid sequence of technical innovation to improve and fine-tune previous steps. Alsop called this sequence of innovation the “Evernet,” which describes the convergence of wireless, broadband, and Internet telephony technologies that result in the ability to be continuously connected to the web using virtually any information device.

“Technology is cyclical; and a completed cycle happens every 10-15 years,” said Alsop. “Now we’re building companies that are going back to previous steps and improving more from there.”

Thank you to our event sponsor Silicon Valley Bank and co-host HYSTA.

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Written by: Emily Pan Moro, Churchill Club Volunteer

He does not want you to think he is a hero.  A little less than a year ago, he did not even want you to know his name and identity.  Yet Wael Ghonim, who was head of marketing at Google, Middle East & North Africa, has been a catalyst for change, utilizing one of today’s most widely used social media tools—Facebook—to bring on a revolution in Egypt.  Born in Egypt, Ghonim, who attended Cairo University and later on American University in Cairo for his MBA, shared his inside story of how he came to lead the Egyptian uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in January 2011.  Laura Sydell, NPR Correspondent, guided the conversation while the activist’s story captivated guests’ attention.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Accidental Revolutionary

Frustrated with the turmoil developing in Egypt and with how the regime was “violating human rights,” Ghonim assumed the identity of Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian diplomat who became the key opposition leader against then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.  Ghonim created ElBaradei’s official Facebook page and used the page as a springboard to promote democratic reform.

Soon after Ghonim saw a photo of a young middleclass Egyptian, Khaled Said, who police had beaten and killed.  He decided to put the spotlight on the police and expose their brutality.  He created another Facebook page titled “We Are All Khaled Said” anonymously, frequently making video posts and updates, quoting from news sources.  The page eventually became a center for protest planning and communication.  

During the interview, Ghonim emphasized to the audience that there was no real strategy or plan to his actions; it was coincidental he became one of the leaders of this “leaderless movement.”  The Facebook page he created for Khaled Said is apolitical, just like Ghonim himself, and followers responded positively to the page because of its mainstream purpose and content.  Ghonim focused on organizing based on what the people wanted to do and looked forward to reader feedback.  “Red lines” for the revolution came naturally from the people’s input.  “Every revolution is a people revolution” Ghonim states. 

January 25, 2011

On January 13^th, Ghonim saw the strength of the people’s power when Tunisia’s dictatorship fell.  This sparked Ghonim to start discussing if Egyptians should follow suit and plan its own revolution.  On January 25, 2011 and working with a trusted group of people, Ghonim gathered activists and protesters to mobilize people on the ground, starting from the poorest neighborhoods to gain critical mass and leading to Tahrir Square.

The following day, authorities detained Ghonim and questioned him on his role in the protests.  During this time, Google started a large campaign to determine the activist’s whereabouts.  The campaign notified hospitals, police stations, and other organizations that their employee was missing and urged these institutions to protect him.  He was released on Feb. 7 after 12 days of arrest. 

A Humble and Mature Leader

Ghonim spoke modestly on stage as he recounted his experiences from the past year and shared his thoughts of Egypt’s social climate going forward.  In self-reflection, Ghonim realized he has become more patient as a result of organizing the protests, acknowledging that results take time.  When an audience member asked how he would respond to critics, Ghonim answered with the reply “I agree with them,” stating that his intention was never to become famous and he takes the bad with the good.  Given the choice a year ago, he would have remained anonymous. 

Ghonim believes Egypt’s revolution is still unfinished.   Going forward, he will fight against dictatorship and be the first to support causes that he believes in whole-heartedly using any tools that are available (“in a good way”) to communicate with people.  However, as much as he supports social media in promoting a cause, he firmly states:

“The first spark of a revolution is still within the power of the people, not in the power of social media.  Revolution starts on the streets, not online.  The people will bring change through collaboration and visions will mature in the next several years.”

Wael Ghonim is currently on sabbatical from his role at Google to start his own NGO supporting education and technology in Egypt.  His first book, Revolution 2.0 was released in January 2012. 

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Written by: Ann Germany, Churchill Club Volunteer

Privacy was the topic of discussion this past Tuesday evening as guests gathered at the Parc 55 Wyndham Hotel in San Francisco to participate in a discussion on “The Online Collection of Consumer Data: The Good, The Bad, and the Unknown” sponsored by Microsoft.

In honor of Data Privacy Day, the Churchill Club featured a panel of thought leaders with deep expertise on the topic.  The panelists were Jim Adler, Chief Privacy Officer & General Manager, Data Systems, Intelius; Nick Bicanic, CEO and Founder, echoecho; Jules Cohen, Director of Online Privacy, Microsoft; Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Policy Director, ACLU of Northern California; and Paul Schwartz, Faculty Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, UC Berkeley.  The panel was moderated by Jules Polonetsky, Co-Chair and Director, Future of Privacy Forum.

Letting the Government in to Keep Everyone Else Out

According to Microsoft, fifty six percent of adults surveyed don’t actively think about the consequences of their online activities. So the question stands, who should be protecting the data that consumers share in their online activities?  Polonetsky asked whether the government should play this role. The speakers agreed that it is the government’s job to protect its citizens, but when it comes to online privacy, the government’s role is fuzzy. Do we really want regulatory agencies to have access to all of our private data? Or would we rather give the government access to it, in order to keep it from getting into someone else’s hands? These questions are not easily answered. Privacy is a guaranteed right in the United States, but who gets to decide what information is too private? Schwartz suggested there is an important need for government access in order to prevent potential harm to citizens, including threats posed by cyber bullying or stalking. But Ozer pointed out that those needs shouldn’t give government agencies (or anyone else) the right to share that information.

Privacy Statements: Does Anyone Actually Read Them?

Consumers are actively downloading various apps and programs and registering for new services on a daily basis. Most of these come with a privacy statement. But who actually reads them. According to Ozer, it would take an average person 200 hours to read all of the privacy statements for the technologies they use. The desire to understand our privacy rights takes a back seat to the desire to get on with using our new social media accounts or smartphone apps. Adler emphasized the need of consumers to be more aware of what is happening with their smartphones – Which apps are recording or broadcasting your location? How much of your Facebook data can be provided to third parties? Is Google archiving every Web page you visit? Simple awareness can make a big difference in how much information consumers consent to sharing, and how they go about shaping their online personas for more accurate targeting.

Members of the audience posed questions to the panel revealing their insight into the topic:

One member of the audience asked the panelists to elaborate on the issue of accountability. Cohen conveyed the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing group’s perspective and distinguished between how you are going to be accountable versus what you are going to be accountable for.  Further clarifying Microsoft’s position, he referred to their corporate governance program which establishes standards and the role of a Chief Privacy Officer.

A question was posed to Schwartz in reference to his mention of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  “Has he ever seen a reputation index in which people could obtain personal information other than financial?”  Schwartz’ response outlined two of the main challenges facing the availability of such an index:  1) collection of the personal data which remain scattered and 2) arguments against the centralization of this data.

Consumer Data – A Steam Engine?

Schwartz nicely framed the issue at hand by drawing an analogy between consumer data available online to the introduction of steam engines. The ensuing period was marked by a national discourse which was necessary to identify and understand the consequences resulting from this new mode of transportation. Adler readily agreed with Schwartz’ analogy and reminded the audience that as a society we must engage in a dialogue to address the tensions arising from the economic opportunities of mining personal data and balance those against the consumer’s desire to protect their privacy.  Adler’s position was that the basis of this dialogue must rest on an educated and informed consumer.  Judging from tonight’s audience and panel discussion, the steam engine has left the round house and is chugging up mountains, ducking around passes and is well on track.

Watch the complete program ‘The Collection of Online Consumer Data’ on Churchill Club’s YouTube channel.

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Written by: Kimberly Badtke, Churchill Club Volunteer

Admit it.  You caught the buzzword fever at some point in your career.  Maybe it started slowly with a “game changer” thrown in here and “state-of-the-art” or “innovative, strategic partnership” tossed in for good measure.  It’s time for a reboot.

“It takes courage to speak simply,” shared Carmine Gallo at Churchill Club’s ‘Say Something That Matters’ program on January 18, 2012 sponsored by Aviat Networks.    “Fear stifles inspiring communications.  You may be afraid of what the boss might say.  But remember, your senior executives want you to be seen as an inspiring manager.”

The Churchill Club program featured a panel discussion to help attendees present with authenticity and effectively use body language to get the right message across while truly capturing the essence of the individual.  The panelists were Forbes reporter Kym McNicholas, top-selling author and presentation coach Carmine Gallo, body language expert Carol Goman, and the School For the Well Spoken Woman's KC Baker.

“The key is getting rid of the buzzwords,” advised McNicholas, “Words to erase: the cloud, revolutionary, game changer, consumerization of IT, innovative, drinking the kool-aid and eating our own dogfood, ground breaking, strategic partnership, state-of-the-art, leading, next generation and solutions”.

Instead learn to speak with feeling—when feeling comes through that resonates with others. Baker cited the example of Apple vs. HP.

“I remember a street post at an Apple presentation showing the intersection of technology and liberal arts.  They were in the business of liberal arts and technology was a tool,” informed Baker.  “Apple created an emotional connection.  In comparison, HP said ‘we make a great computer.’  There wasn’t the same emotional tie.”

How Do You Communicate Your Message?

Step 1:  Find your passion
 “It starts with a serious inquiry into the heart and why of what you’re doing,” told Baker.  “Get rooted first in what you want to say and own it.  It is the feeling that comes through then.”  

An exercise to find where passion lies is to have employees write down: “I believe…..” and complete the sentence.  Goman encouraged attendees to use a video to show what your passion is about.  

Step 2:  Create a twitter-friendly headline
Gallo explained “Tell what you do or what your product does in 140 characters.  Remember to start with the big picture before details.  An example is Steve Jobs’ description of the MacBook® Air as ‘the world’s thinnest notebook’.”

Step 3:  Stick with the rule of  three
Forget the product feature list of 22 points, and focus on three.  Gallo reminded the audience that Goldilocks only had three bears and the well-known phrase in the US Declaration of Independence “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Gallo further explained that with a presentation, break it into three sections.  When introducing a product, start with the big picture, that Twitter headline, and support with three points.    

A final thought from panelists on this topic: be different. “It’s all about speeds and feeds in the Valley,” cited Gallo.  “I suggest telling a story to convey your message.”  McNicholas encouraged the audience to “tell me something I don’t know.  Be direct and give an example with impact.”

McNicholas stated that you shouldn’t just tell your marketing message but share how your marketing message came to be.

Adding the Power of Non-Verbal Body Language

Having zeroed in on our buzzword-free verbal message, Goman shared insights on how body language can help or hinder your authenticity.  “Most executives are trained in body language from the waist up.  Therefore, the truth can be found in the telltale movements of legs and feet.”

She recalled a CEO presentation humming along smoothly until the question of CEO compensation was raised.  “Then his feet started flopping and tapping.  And remember, we believe what we see, not what we say.”

The audience was introduced to her tool for predicting the presidential winner:  the counter.  “As an author, I love words.  But boy, the power of body language,” quipped Goman.  “I use the counter to track the blink rate of presidential candidates during a debate.  Blink rates indicate how stressed you are and the higher blink rate candidate loses!”

You can use the power of non-verbal communication to trick your brain too.  “Stand up straight with your feet slight apart and your arms outstretched for a minute or two,”  informed Goman, “This will lower your stress levels and help you feel more confident.  A second trick is what method actors do.  Go back in time and draw on a memory of the feeling you want to convey."

In the age of webinars, where communicators are not seen, body language still plays a role.  “Similar to how you mimic body language, you can mimic voice patterns and talk with a smile in your voice,” said Goman.  “Stand up if you can because it will give you more energy in your voice.”  Baker offered the tip to “perch” and sit on the edge of the chair.  The position can make a big difference in being able to communicate clearly and connect.      

The audience asked the panelists who, in their opinion, is a stellar example of a communicator to watch.  Responses from the panelists included Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO; Marc Benioff,  Salesforce CEO; Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group;  John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, and Gary Vaynerchuk, The Wine Guy; and of course, there are hours of Steve Jobs’ presentations online.

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Everyone has a story to tell. Some people are better than others at telling the story. But anyone can inspire, motivate, and persuade if they learn three simple techniques. I learned these techniques as a financial journalist for CNN. Each day I interviewed CEOs, leaders and money experts. Most were dull, boring and convoluted. But some were so captivating our producers would invite them back time and time again.

When I left television journalism to start my own business, The Gallo Communications Group, I applied journalistic principles to corporate storytelling. I discovered that the techniques were equally effective in preparing spokespeople for media interviews (media-training), creating messages, or crafting and delivering PowerPoint presentations.

Step One: Find Your Passion. Passion is everything. You cannot inspire anyone unless you’re inspired yourself. It’s important to discover your passion and to share that passion in all of your professional communications. Most spokespeople neglect this crucial step but it makes all the difference. For example, when I interviewed Starbucks founder Howard Schultz he used the word ‘passion’ in nearly every sentence. But I soon discovered that he wasn’t passionate about coffee, the product he sells. He was passionate about treating employees with dignity and respect. Happy employees would deliver better customer service and better customer service would attract customers. Schultz described it this way—coffee is what we sell as a product but it’s not what Starbucks stands for.

One way to discover your passion is to ask yourself, “What does my company [brand, product, service] stand for? Remember, it might not be the obvious. Dig deep to identify what you are truly passionate about and once you do, share that message with your employees and your stakeholders.

Step Two: Create a Twitter-Friendly Headline. Check out the articles on The Huffington Post or USA Today. Popular blogs and newspapers write catchy headlines that grab your attention. More interestingly, the catchiest headlines can fit easily within a Twitter post of 140 characters. Now apply the same philosophy to your product or service. Why not create a headline to describe it? You should because the human brain craves meaning before details.

John Medina is a research scientist at the University of Washington. He wrote a wonderful book called Brain Rules. He once told me that the human brain needs to see the big picture before details. “When primitive man ran into a saber-toothed tiger, he did not ask ‘how many teeth does the tiger have? Instead he asked, ‘will it eat me?’” Big picture before details.

Now think about Steve Jobs introduced the first MacBook Air in 2008. “In a sentence, it’s the world’s thinnest notebook.” The world’s thinnest notebook. If that’s all you know about the computer, it tells you a lot. It’s also just 31 characters. The four-word description of the MacBook Air was consistently communicated by Steve Jobs in his presentation, in the press release, on the Apple Web site, and in all in-store marketing material. If you can’t describe your product or service in 140 characters or less, go back to the drawing board.

Step Three: Follow the Rule of Three. The human brain can only consume about three or four chunks of information in short term memory. Since that’s the case why try to cram twenty points in your five-minute interview? It doesn’t make sense. You’re simply overloading your listener. Great writers understand and follow this principle. The Declaration of Independence guarantees us the right to three things—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Goldilocks only saw three bears, not four. The same approach applies to effective corporate messaging. What’s the iPad 2? It’s three things—“thinner, lighter, and faster” than the original. Stick to the rule of three. It works for great writers. It will work for you.

Do not underestimate the power of story told simply. These three techniques will help you craft and deliver a corporate message that educates, informs, and inspires your audience.

By Carmine Gallo, President, Gallo Communications Group

Carmine Gallo will be speaking at the Churchill Club’s ‘Say Something That Matters’ program on January 18, 2012. Gallo is the communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. He is a keynote speaker, bestselling author, and columnist. His company, Gallo Communications Group, is based in Pleasanton, California. He can be reached at www.carminegallo.com

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Churchill Club’s 8th Annual Gadgets Program: “What's Hot and What's Not in Consumer Technology” at Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto this past Tuesday helped us evaluate the usefulness of things before we click “Buy”. It showcased some cool gizmos the tech world has conjured up this season for consumers, and helped those of us who are composing our wish lists for self and gift lists for loved ones, to jazz up our lists.

The gizmo gurus on stage were: Kara Swisher, Co-Executive Editor at AllThingsD.com; John Lilly, Partner at Greylock Partners, former CEO of Mozilla; Reid Hoffman, Partner at Greylock Partners; Walt Mossberg, Columnist at the Wall Street Journal; and Greg Harper, President at Harpervision Associates.

Kara, John, and Reid each presented 5-6 gizmos and Greg pulled out 20-25 gadgets from his magic hat.. er.. jacket. The gadgets ranged from $1 all the way to $1200. They were a mix of toys, digital media apps, cameras, music machines, and accessories most people were seeing for the first time. Toys remote controlled by smart phones, next gen digital cameras, and quantified self apps were common highlights among the presenters.

A full list of all gadgets presented by the gizmo gurus is below.   

Written by: Ritu Malhotra 

Thank you to the sponsors of the 8^th Annual Gadgets Program: Plantronics and Speck Products!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Kara Swisher: have a ball – a Sphero ball

Sphero is a translucent white ball with a light inside it. It is controlled by an iPhone app. You can ask questions in the app and you get the response from the ball – which flashes green and red, for yes and no

Goop is a website setup by Gwyneth Paltrow on the scoop of the day

Angry Birds Bag

Touchfire is a tactile keyboard that fits right on top of the virtual on screen tablet keyboard. Touchfire has $150,000 crowd source commitments

Rat lights in different colors that glow on your fingers, $1 each

Hat with a bat mascot goes with the rat lights

Instagram is a digital photo app that you can use to send a picture message to your friends

Hipswap is an e-commerce photo app that you can use to post photos and prices of items you have for sale, and get bids on them

John Lilly: how to build a circuit board before you learn to read – Little Bits

Little Bits is a circuit board assembly kit for 6 year olds that retails for $89. Each time you connect a component correctly it lights up. The setup includes a finger sensor and buzzer

Ness is the iPod of thermostats. It learns your living pattern, knows when you are saving energy, and can tell how many minutes it will take to get the temperature you want. It is currently in alpha mode and has some issues like, installation is not easy and you may need to pay for someone to set it up. It does not know whether you are home or not, so it may be over controlling the temperature when it is not required.

NEX 5 is a high quality camera which is lightweight and retails for $699 with the 18-55 and $599 without. You can focus and view the image simultaneously. The NEX 7 is the higher end version and has a 7 mega pixel sensor.

Up is a “quantified self” application like Fitbit Ultra. It has an open model so you can collect all kinds of data about yourself and use it later. Some of them were recalled by Javon however the one on stage worked just fine.

Reid Hoffman: snap now, focus later – Lytro light field camera

Lytro is the next generation of camera that captures the full light field of its vision when you take a picture. Using the Lytro app you can change the focus on different subjects in the “photograph”. You can also convert it from a plain two dimensional image to a three dimensional image. I talked to xyz who is a Director of Photography at Lytro, and he explained how Lytro works efficiently to record and interpret light paths efficiently and manages to record one picture with approx 16MB, much lower than a more simplistic implementation might do. $799 for the demo model and $399 for another model.

Yama is a coffee maker .. no .. coffee syphon that will satisfy anyone who used to do chemistry labs in their spare time, and are sentimental enough about it to pay $80 for the syphon which may or may not work as efficiently as the Braun or Gevalia in everyone else’s kitchen. For those who value the experience even more – you can spend $300 on the higher end Kona

Romotive is a $100 chassis which is remote controlled by a smart phone app. This is the kind of innovative toy that will make you buy an iPhone for your 3 year old.

Projected keyboard has optical sensors so you don’t need to use the on screen keyboard and can dispense with the load of a physical keyboard. Works best on a metallic surface

Flying shark is a flying balloon toy that you can remote control using a smart phone app

Capacitive gloves allow you to use your touch screen device without having to take off the gloves when it’s cold

Fitbit ultra is the quantified self application you can use to record your fitness and daily activity data and store it historically. It has an open API / ecosystem

Walt Mossberg: untangle your ear buds and zip up your quality of life

Sol Republic Ear Buds are tangle resistant and retail for $100

Zipbuds Ear Buds don’t tangle because they zip and up-zip for your use. Retails for $40

Intoxicase is an iPhone case with a built in beer bottle opener. It comes with an Intoxicase App that tracks your count and gallons of beer consumed

Lenovo U300S Ultrabook Copper is the PC answer to Mac Book Air. It has a 13” screen, and at under 3 lb it is lighter than Mac Book Air. It has a solid state drive instead of a hard disk, and sells for around $1000, which is cheaper than the $1299-1399 that the Mac Book Air sells for. It has an Intel Core 5i processor

Airstash is a wireless USB drive that is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and Android. It acts as an automatic wifi router and streams data over wifi to the devices you want. Using Airstash you can stream photos and movies at super speed to your devices

Greg Harper: bloom music in your Sony NS 500 vase

Sony NS 500 is a concert quality sound speaker system in the shape of a vase that works with DLNA compatible devices. The large version is listed at $400 and is available at $250 at a discount. It may be a bit more difficult to use with AirPlay than with other devices

Qumi is a pocket projector with great brightness. It is HDMI compatible, works with an SD card. It retails for $450 and you can use speakers with it that retail for $150-200

Set of 6 Programmable Game Cubes that are remote controlled by the Siftrunner app. You can program them with word games and other games.

ZipShot folding tripod from Tamrac – convenient for carrying on the plane, sells for $60

GoPro 3D Camera has a suction base that you can do cool things with like stick it on the car front and take pictures in 3D and 2D. It has a viewfinder add on if you need it. Retails for around $200

Contour GPS records exactly where you go in full HD. For example if you were skiing you could stick it on the helmet and see what trail you blazed, at what speed, etc

Sony HDR – TD10 aspires to the gold standard for consumers wanting to record the best video. It has a 3D viewfinder at the back. It can record and playback in 3D and 2D. It is lightweight, has great picture quality and surround-sound. Retails for around $1200

iPhone Holder has a cradle for the iPhone and handles on both sides of it that makes it more stable to hold and play games on. Retails for $30

3D Headset gives you an image equivalent of phenomenal 150” screen. It would be very handy to see Avatar on an airplane if you can figure out a way to convert its voltage supply (maybe you have a personal jet that does it?) You do have to put it over your eyes so you have to not care about strangers thinking you are a bit freaky

Fileton active noise canceling headphones – battery operated

Samsung Blue Ray Player

Titanium Straw to sip in the soda through the movie without mishaps

Canon S100 Camera is terrific with its great performance in low lighting, fast lens, and 5x zoom all in a handy lightweight case. Retails for $400

Owl has a bigger lens that you can overlay on your camera. Makes it easy to hold steady and take great pictures

20 MHz Probe attaches to your iPhone and tells you whether that turkey in the oven is ready for the table

iGrill is also a probe that tells you whether that turkey in the oven is ready for the table

Brookstone Rover is an infrared camera that you would have to find an application for

Dream CheekyArmor is a toy that can be remote controlled by an app called iLaunch

Plantranco is a helium balloon that you can remote control using iPhone

Motorola Monitor is a quantified self kind of application the size of an iPod Nano that remotely records your heart rate, Fit Bit statistics, and chooses music for you based on the current activity you are doing

iCufflinx are cufflinks that pulse with your Apple device

Body Media is a cool gadget that communicates your physiological vital statistics to your TV. But it will stay there for a while – so make sure you erase it if you are using someone else’s TV!

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On Friday, September 16th, Churchill Club presented Igniting Innovation & Mastering Change: A Day-long Conversation in Three Acts, a series of discussions presenting new perspectives and examining opportunities for advancing information locally, nationally, and around the world. As the final event of Churchill Club’s 25^th anniversary celebration year, the conference focused on discussions throughout the day in three segments.

• Shubber Ali, Innovation Lead - Silicon Valley, Accenture
• Dave Blakely, Head, Technology Strategy Practice, IDEO
• Curt Carlson, CEO, SRI International 
• Russ Conser, Head of Game Changer Program, Shell 
• Gordon K. Davidson, Firm Chairman & Partner, Corporate Group, Fenwick & West
• Richard Dickson, Partner, Fenwick & West LLP
• Ricardo dos Santos, Senior Director, Business Development, Qualcomm
• Steve Hoover, CEO, PARC
• Ujjal Kohli, CEO, Rhythm NewMedia
• Randy Komisar, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
• Geoffrey Moore, Author, Speaker, Advisor
• Will Price, CEO, Flite
• Sudhakar Ramakrishna, EVP & GM of Unified Communications Solutions, and Chief Development Officer, Polycom
• Roy Rosin, VP Innovation, Intuit
• Paul Saffo, Managing Director of Foresight, Discern Analytics
• John Seely Brown, Visiting Scholar, USC; Independent Co-director, Deloitte Center for the Edge
• Vivek Wadhwa, Visiting Scholar, UC-Berkeley and Columnist for the Washington Post and BusinessWeek
• Ann Winblad, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
• Eric Young, Partner, Canaan Partners

The morning began with ACT I: Here: Innovation in Silicon Valley, discussing a local focus.  The afternoon sessions included ACT II: There: Innovation in America and Around the World, and ACT III: & Then: Inventing the Future. Attendees and speakers alike were encouraged to ignite conversation through engagement and interaction on stage and in smaller groups.

Visual Insight captured visual images of the conversations taking place during each keynote, panel and breakout session.  Enjoy this eye-appealing look at the takeaways from the day! 

Silicon Valley Innovation - An Endless Frontier?
Speakers: Paul Saffo, Discern Analytics; and Geoffrey Moore, Author, Speaker Advisor

Missed the conference?  Watch all sessions on-demand at http://fora.tv/conference/igniting_innovation. 

Photo credit: Ed Jay Photography

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The stage was set and as the room lights dimmed this past Thursday evening, 9.15.11, focus was centered on The Churchills, four hand-crafted bronze bowlers being presented to the 2011 honorees at the Churchill Club Awards.  Guests enjoyed opening entertainment with video clips of historic moments during Churchill Club’s 25 years and a special message from Jonathan Churchill-Sandys, great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill.

The Game Changer award was presented to Facebook for indispensable technology and business innovation.Katie Mitic (Director of Platform Marketing, Facebook) accepted the award on behalf of Facebook.  On stage with Margit Wennmachers (Partner, Andreessen Horowitz), Katie said Facebook "fundamentally changed the Internet experience for all of us.”

Elon Musk (CEO, Tesla; CEO, Space X; Chairman, SolarCity) said to interviewer Steve Jurvetson (Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson), “When trying to attract world’s best talent, it helps to have challenge that’s world-changing.”

Todd Holmdahl (Corporate VP of Hardware, Microsoft) and Mihai Budiu (Researcher, Microsoft Research) accepted the award on behalf of Microsoft.  Interviewer Geoffrey Moore (Author, Speaker, Advisor) asked how the Kinect product was orchestrated considering there were an array of different teams and components.  Holmdahl said “focus was not on PowerPoint” but used “initial experiences to show what we were trying to do.”  With that, team members came together voluntarily because of passion for the product. 

The Global Benefactor Award was presented to Salman Khan for irrepressible vision and positive impact on society.

The evening concluded with a standing ovation from the audience for Salman Khan.

Thank you to the Churchill Club Awards sponsors!

Innovation Champion Sponsor: Shell
Game Changer Presenting Award Sponsor: KPMG
Magical Team Presenting Award Sponsor: Nair & Co.
Legendary Leader Presenting Award Sponsor: Accenture
Inspiration Leader Sponsors: Fenwick & West LLP, Silicon Valley Bank, SRI International, and Studio 22 Design

Photo credit: Ed Jay Photography

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In anticipation of Churchill Club's 25th anniversary and our two upcoming premier events to celebrate, we hosted a Twitterview (#CHCview) yesterday, Thursday Sept. 8, featuring Churchill Club CEO Karen Tucker. Thanks to all who tuned in and joined the conversation!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Twitterviews, they are interviews conducted on Twitter where the community can interview a special guest about a specific topic. We’re gearing up fast for our Awards ceremony and Igniting Innovation event next week, and we wanted to provide the Churchill community on Twitter a chance to chat with Karen about Churchill Club over the past 25 years.

If you missed the Twitterview, or are just hungry for more, you can find the complete transcript below. If you have additional questions, feel free to send them to @Churchill Club and we’ll be happy to get them answered. Also be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates on all things Churchill Club.

[View the story "Twitterview with Churchill Club CEO Karen Tucker" on Storify]

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Hollywood and Silicon Valley converged at a Churchill Club  Premier event in Santa Clara on July 18 to discuss the growing connection between talent, technology, and opportunity.

Ari Emanuel (co-CEO and Director of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, talent agent, and inspiration for the popular television personality Ari Gold from Entourage) sat in between Jeff Weiner (CEO of LinkedIn) and moderator Kara Swisher (Co-Executive Editor of AllThingsD.com). While the meat of the discussion focused primarily on talent, conversation was buttered with business anecdotes, personal jokes, Taylor Lautner references, and the occasional high-five.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The Economics of Talent:

“Economics has changed the relationship between money and talent,” said Emanuel. “For example, if you take a celebrity’s webpage, like—” “Taylor Lautner” chimed Swisher. “Let’s say his website gets 47,000 hits, but his eight different Facebook pages get over a million hits total. We can program his social presence by identifying where he is most popular—namely Facebook—and then combining all those pages into one for maximum efficiency as a fan and as an agent.”

Weiner said that social presence is based on the “platforms,” or basically the medium chosen to showcase one’s talents. “It’s not surprising that people become famous on YouTube or Facebook, because that’s what those platforms are intended to do,” he said.

Just as sites like YouTube showcase talent, LinkedIn provides a powerful platform for networking opportunity. Weiner shared a story about a female college film student who sent him a personal thank you note because her entire senior project was funded by one of her LinkedIn connections. “What its purpose comes down to is connecting, networking, ultimately sharing,” said Weiner.

Best Advice:

“‘Stay in traffic’ and ‘Great ideas and great voices are more important than ever,’” said Emanuel.

Weiner added: “Imagination is the only thing that cannot be commoditized. And, everything that can be converted to the web will be.”

Measuring Talent:

Perhaps the ultimate difference between talent and technology is the inability to measure and identify talent through a set system; essentially, there is no algorithm for talent.

“Identify or predict talent through data? I don’t think you can,” said Emanuel. “I don’t think you can predict Larry David…No, I don’t think you can.”

Of the evaluation list in searching for talent, Emanuel put data last. Weiner, on the other hand, said that in his process for recognizing aptitude, he puts data first and talent second. “There is a little difference between Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but at the end of the day, we both need, and our work involves, talent,” said Weiner.

Emanuel agreed and added that if talent could ever be measured, then a more rigorous process is required for the “algorithm of talent.”

“But that’s the magic of it all! We can’t predict talent,” said Weiner. “Who said we needed another singing competition on television? Wasn’t American Idol enough? But now we have The Sing-Off and The Voice and The Glee Project. There are not enough television talent shows to contain the amount of unbridled, immeasurable talent out there!”

The Aggressive Talent World:

Business can be cut-throat…especially showbiz. Emanuel and Weiner wrapped up on the topic of their “aggressive career strategies.”

“I don’t know what my mother fed me, or my brothers, but I love what I do,” said Emanuel. “Every time I start a project or a movie, it’s like starting a business, and I love both. The reason I’m so aggressive is because I love it… You gotta go into something that you love.”

Weiner shared his key to success as well: “Ultimately knowing what you want to accomplish. It’s surprising how often people nowadays don’t know what they want to accomplish.”

written by Hannah Miller

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Four of Silicon Valley’s top tech executives sat on Microsoft’s stage on Wednesday, July 13 for the Churchill Club’s Roundtable panel; all four of them powerful, all successful, all women.

Ann Winblad (Co-Founder of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners) moderated as Shahla Aly (VP Solutions Delivery of Microsoft IT), Robyn Denholm (CFO of Juniper Networks), Lori Goler (VP of Human Resources and Recruiting at Facebook), and Barbara Holzapfel (Managing Director of SAP Labs North America) spoke on their current perspectives of the Tech industry, the progress on the diversity challenge, the keys to their success, and the balance between work and motherhood. 

Perspective on the Industry Today:

“Innovation is the most exciting thing on the planet!” said Denholm, who was thoroughly enthusiastic about the current state of the tech industry. “We’re only at the beginning of what can be done. The global and national perspective is alive and well. I see no reason not to be optimistic.”

Goler described today’s tech industry as “a diverse and robust ecosystem,” and Holzapfel added how innovation is at a “game changing stage at the moment.”

In terms of working with people, as VP of human resources and recruiting at the world’s biggest social network site, Goler commented how, in the job market, there is high competition for the best people. “Competition is intense; I expect it to get worse,” she said. “There is a lot of pressure in the short term. We’ve seen a lot of start-ups. Technology doesn’t drive innovation; it’s the people who drive innovation and change.”

“At the end of the day, innovation is created by people and then the companies are what allow it to happen,” said Denholm. “Leadership is definitely part of that equation.”

Identifying Rising Talent:

Winblad asked: “What do you look at on résumés? How is your career shaped by the people you choose to have on your team?”

“I ask myself: Will these people work to drive change? Are they willing to take risks? Are they open minded about change that will come their way?” said Holzapfel.

Aly gave an anecdote about how she landed her position at Microsoft. Aly said that she flew up to Seattle for her Microsoft interview, and, to say the least, she was given the “royal treatment.” Yet, amidst all the luxury and reverence bestowed upon her, Aly said that the day after her interview, Microsoft called her and offered her the job; it was Microsoft’s decisiveness in hiring a new executive that prompted her to take the job. 

Denholm said that Juniper Networks looks for people who are “phenomenal at what they do, passionate, enthusiastic, and knows where the company is going.”

Goler agreed and added, “We’re looking for someone who can say, ‘This looks great, but we can take it a step further.’ We want someone who is looking ahead and willing to try something different.”

Progress on Diversity Challenge:

The topic of gender diversity would not likely emerge on a panel of male executives; yet for women, the issue of gender balance in these top tech roles is a hot one.

“I thought we’d be in a slightly better position today than what I thought from the 1980’s. We still don’t have all the tools,” said Aly. “We hear things like, ‘women don’t ask for things’ or ‘women need to be more ambitious,’ but I say: We need to stop trying to fix the women! We need to fix the system! Sure, some women are not ambitious, and there are a lot of men who are not ambitious, but we need to stop ‘fixing the women’ and instead focus on the system.”

Goler posed a possible solution: “We need more women in engineering; the numbers have dropped significantly.” Holzapfel agreed and said that we need to reach out more because it has become increasingly more important to raise awareness on dialogue for getting women in more technology roles.

Winblad agreed and noted that start-ups need engineering talent. “They’re looking for six-packs of engineers!” Essentially, the front of the bus needs a lot of engineering talents, and right now we’re lacking.

Yet, Aly posed and answered an excellent question: Do students need a degree in tech to get a job in tech? “I look for business and liberal arts as well.” Holzapfel agreed, “It’s really more about the skill sets.”

A Key to Success:

“As successful tech executives, how do you help people be successful, and how do you pick out rising stars?” asked Winblad.

Goler listed off a number of key qualities, “Impact, flexibility, and autonomy. On the first day of the job, we tell our starting employees, ‘We expect you to have an impact…you can’t take a few quarters to figure it out.’”

Winblad picked out the one overarching characteristic mentioned by all the panelists: communication. “You are all great communicators. How did that come about? Were you coached? Is it natural capability?”

Aly said that she started young. Her mother put her in elocution contests, and encouraged her to go into public debating—in which she became a national champion. “It’s nerve-wracking and exhilarating, but I developed those skills to think on my feet,” said Aly. “In the end, what you are is what is represented by your words.”

Denholm’s experience was completely opposite. “I was really shy as a kid—still am a little today,” she said. “No matter what the skill set, the first step to success is to know what you need improvement on and then working to improve it. As they say in Australia, they must have ‘the gift of the gab,’ basically people who can still communicate well underwater. In reality, most people who are good at public speaking are actually terrified.”

“My mentality has always been ‘Practice makes perfect,’” said Goler. “If someone needs help speaking, then I make them speak. I sit in the front row and watch with a smile on my face, while I take careful mental notes and then I give them pointers on how they can improve.”

“I use the ‘Sink or swim’ approach. It’s all about the experience and the feedback,” said Holzapfel. “You can’t be a managing consultant if you can’t communicate; the goal is to keep it short and simple.”

Parting Advice:

Before turning to audience questions, Winblad asked for any last message they wished to share.

Aly began: “Think very carefully about what success means to you. Is it making a lot of money? Is it owning a very nice car? Maybe your definition of success does align with society’s. Ok, but what does success mean to you?! Once you have figured it out, then align all your tasks to meet this goal.”

Holzapfel said: “What are you passionate about? What excites you in the morning? And does your job allow you to do that?”

Denholm finished with, “Live life to the fullest. You’ve only got one to live.”

Balancing Work and Family:

The final, and probably most lingering question to be asked regarded the balance between work life and motherhood.

Aly’s daughter, 27, was seated in the front row and offered a child’s perspective. “When it was really important, Mom was always there. Of course, she did travel a lot and she couldn’t be there for everything, but for the important things she was.”

“Any working mom knows that balancing work life and family life isn’t easy, but the key to success is to prioritize what’s important, and don’t sweat the small stuff,” said Goler. “I’ll admit, sometimes I pull the kids’ outfits out of the hamper in the morning, and there’s nothing wrong with cereal for dinner once in a while if it has substantial nutritional value! Those are the small things. The time I do get to spend with my kids, I want it to be about them, not logistics.”

In the end, every mother on the panel agreed that time was precious and nannies help. “Outsource everything, except love.”

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The delicate tea candles placed at the center of the round white linen-covered tables contributed to the soft golden glow of the humming dining room at the Four Seasons Hotel. Wednesday evening’s event was extravagant: the entry hall and the dining room were filled with cheerful faces, vibrant drinks, and the warm waft of mushroom stuffed chicken and tiramisu. Yet, the most impressive element of the Churchill Club’s Premier Event—topping even the gorgeous aesthetics—was the honored speakers: Ursula Burns and George Colony.                      

Ursula Burns serves as chairwoman and CEO of Xerox. Burns is the first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company, and was rated by Forbes in 2009 as the 14^th most powerful woman in the world. George Colony is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Forrester Research, and has become a trusted advisor to leaders of top global companies, such as Fortune 100 and Fortune 500, and retail companies like Best Buy, Condé Nast, and Cisco.

These two prominent thought leaders sat on stage and, according to Karen Tucker, were allowed “to talk about whatever they want.” Of the many insightful stories and honest quips from Burns, her striking remarks and passionate demeanor made a lasting impression on her captivated audience.

GC: What have you found to be most surprising about being CEO?

UB: “Being CEO is a lot like being President of the United States; people want to help you. You have 100,000 people working for you, helping you. You become the biggest server, and you actually end up doing.”

GC: How would you convince John Chambers to change services?

UB: “Every large tech company has to pay attention to their customers. The real questions we need to ask are, ‘What is it that we do?’ ‘Well, we copy things.’ ‘No, we help customers get to the next step in their processes, whether that be creating duplicates or reformatting,’ and only then do we ask how do we create those duplicates.”

When it comes to Xerox, Burns said, “We have a great company brand, which took me a long time to understand, and one that is permission rich… We have people everywhere in the world doing things we can do anywhere, the same way in Germany or in the U.S. We actually invent solutions; we don’t get nervous throwing money into research and the government.”

GC: “We’re climbing a wall of glory while slowly crawling out of a recession. Have you seen this to be true?”

UB: “We’re definitely in a recovery mode. Do you remember 2009? 2009 was awful. I thought we were going to close down—I don’t mean Xerox, I mean the world! I mean, 2009 was that terrible, and we’re definitely still recovering from that.”

Burns said that Germany was the only country still growing in that time, while the United Kingdom left millions unemployed (“close to ten percent”). “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about though. Not worry, reality.”

When Colony confessed he was not impressed with the U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, Burns said, “I find him very impressive. I don’t think he’s a very good politician at all—maybe that’s why I like him—but he thinks macro, not micro. He has a different perspective on things; I’m more micro, maybe that’s why I like him so much.”

Then Colony brought up Wall Street, at which point Burns stood up and started pacing on stage with fists dug firmly into her hips. “This subject gets me crazy!” she said. After she sat back down, Burns said, “I’ve never been a banker or a lawyer. I work with bankers and lawyers and I must say…I…like…them.” When the audience laughter died down, Burns proceeded with an anecdote. She said that her mother was “a visionary woman” who raised her and her siblings on a foundation with given expectations. “Children of my generation were raised a certain way; over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve thrown that philosophy in the garbage. Now, it’s about making as much money as you can as fast as you can.”

As a lecturer at MIT, Burns shared a recent and memorable moment she had when speaking in one of her stepson’s engineering classes. “I called on this one young man in his junior year, whom I recognized as being one of the brightest leaders in his class. I asked him where he was planning on working after graduation, and he said, ‘I’m going to JP Morgan Chase.’ I asked him what he was studying, and he said, ‘Computer Science.’ When I asked him why an engineer would want to work in a bank right after college, he said, ‘$170,000’ and this is starting salary. Then, when I asked how many other students were working on Wall Street after graduation, more than half the classroom raised their hands.”

GC: “What’s wrong with money?”

UB: “There’s nothing wrong with money. I only wonder why they aren’t going to help countries in need of clean water with their engineering skills. My mother told me, ‘Find something you love to do.’ I doubt that’s where those students are going to end up…. I also say, poverty sucks; but there’s a point where it doesn’t matter how much money you make. Would you change your life to make one million dollars two? I don’t want people to think I don’t like more than less, but there comes to a point where it’s too much.”

GC: How is innovation practically employed?

UB: “It really comes down to ‘Do we have the wherewithal, the engine, to make it happen.’ I’m very concerned about ours.”

Burns continued to say that a vast majority of young people live in cities or rural impoverished areas, and that they are incapable of competing with themselves and others. By not addressing this social truth, “we are creating a fundamental underclass,” said Burns.

Burns conveyed her philosophy on work ethic and competition through a story about her 5’2” daughter making a volleyball team. Speaking of both life and business, Burns said, “This is truly a game.” Burns said that the volleyball coach “wanted everyone to play and feel like a winner.” “Well, what the hell’s that about?!” said Burns. “They’re creating this alternate reality and I say no. We can’t have that. Performance matters. Your best effort matters. We’re making ‘okay’ just good enough. You can’t take shortcuts. Work requires energy. It won’t be fun and easy all the time.”

GC: “Hard fun, like playing the piano. You have to work work work, then fun. Is that what you consider innovation?”

UB: “I am 100 percent convinced that not everything we create can be successfully turned into business. I mean, hey, look at clean tech.”

GC: What is your vision of the next 10 years?

UB: “How ridiculous it is for you to ask a question like that! I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow! But I do believe we are on the cusp of solving a big problem in the next 20 years.”

GC: “So you’re pessimistic about 10 years, but optimistic about 20 years.”

UB: “I’m fairly hopeful.”

For complete video coverage, please visit the Churchill Club's YouTube channel.

written by Hannah Miller

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Bites of cantaloupe and coffeecake were enjoyed in between handshakes at the Churchill Breakfast Club’s “The Fully Social Networked Enterprise” on the morning of June 21^st at the Crowne Plaza Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto. Nothing like detention in the 1985 John Hughes’ film, the Churchill Breakfast Club was bustling with hungry entrepreneurs and business folk of generations young and old interested in advancing their professional connectivity.

At each table setting was a copy of Tuesday’s moderator Larry Weber’s newly released book Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy for the Social Media Era. Joining Weber (Chairman of Racepoint Group and W2 Group, Bostonian, Author, and former Rolling Stones roadie) on stage for the program was Michael Chui (Senior Fellow & Principal of McKinsey Global Institute), Jeanette Gibson (Director of Social Media Marketing at Cisco), and Simon Segars (Director and EVP/GM of the Physical IP Division at ARM).

Weber kicked off the program with an anecdote from the night before, “I was leaving the dinner table and said that I was going online for a while to check my email. Then my daughter started laughing at me and I said, ‘What’s so funny? You go online all the time!’ and she said, ‘Dad, I don’t go online, I just am.’”

The Role of Social Media

Evident from the comment by Weber’s daughter, there is a striking digital divide between generations and the growing role social media plays in our daily and professional lives. Despite this gap, companies are working to bridge this divide and ensure that everyone is involved in social networking.

“We want social media to be a part of everyone’s job,” said Gibson. “We want to take the newsroom and shift it on its head; find a solitary way to keep everyone connected and talking. That’s what we’re looking for: how to drive conversation.”

Addressing the digital divide specifically, Segars added that businesses are working to “take away barriers” that may interfere with bridging the gap, such as physical access to the technology as well as education and “intellectual access.”

Chui focused on the “here and now” when he said, “We’ve seen continuing adoption of social media.” Then he looked out into the audience and asked, “What percent of workers do you think use a social networking site on a day-to-day basis?” A member in the audience volunteered that only “two percent do not use.” The correct answer: 90 percent of today’s workers are active on sites like Facebook and Twitter every day.

“Companies use social technologies for internal and external use,” said Chui. “Whether you’re working within B2B [business-to-business] or B2C [business-to-consumer] relations, social technologies are becoming a mainstream form of communication.”

What Are Some Of the Best Emerging Practices?

“Really allowing everyone to have a seat at the table,” said Gibson. Essentially, every department in a company should have a say about the public: what to inform the public about and which opinions your company should address. If every department is involved, then this inclusion allows your company to be a “fully social networked enterprise.”

Gibson continued to explain how “crowdsourcing,” (the act of outsourcing tasks, which are traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or a community (a “crowd”), through an open call) through social networking has become a new practice. For example, Cisco’s I-Prize campaign reached out to the global community, “the Human Network,” asking teams to submit a realistic and creative business plan that contributes to the sustainable energy issue. Three students from Mexico were the winners of the I-Prize title and $250,000.

Chui agreed that using contests and crowdsourcing are powerful methods and exceptional for one reason: people are interacting in one way, through one medium, the social network. “Formal mechanisms [like email] don’t seem to work well all the time,” he said.

“We don’t expect you to write three novels,” said Segars. “Keeping communication casual can, more often than not, lead to greater productivity and accomplishment.”

How Social Networking Is Like Starbucks…

Starbucks Coffee doesn’t just sell your ever so loved (integral) and decorated (fluffed up, everlasting titled) cup of Joe; it sells the experience. According to Segars, Starbucks, more than any other company, has created a culture—some would argue a “cult”—around their brand.

“Personally, I like to think about ‘My Starbucks Idea,’” said Gibson. “I find it interesting to see how user generated mediums succeed, like they did for Starbucks.”

According to Weber, building a cultural brand is just as much work as building a fully social networked enterprise. “When I was younger, my coach would always say this to my team, and ever since I’ve always taken it to heart; he said, ‘Boys, we didn’t go to sleep in the Renaissance and wake up in the Baroque,’” he said.

While Chui agreed that both required much skill and discipline, he said that how you integrate is where you find most success. “Adding ‘Visit us on Facebook’ at the end of your 30 second advertisement is not going to cut it anymore,” he said.

“Now we want that same sense of cultural connectedness on television, like we see for Pepsi and Coca-Cola,” said Gibson. “There’s been a shift in thinking about where the power is now. Today, it’s got to be a mix because the younger generation is so much more involved.”

Measurements of Social Networking

“When it comes to measuring social networking, it’s no longer about the activity, but rather about the engagement,” said Gibson. “Instead of remaining independent online, employees are using communities to rally across the country. It’s nice to participate, to feel engaged, and to see those online communities affecting offline communities.”

Chui agreed and said that social media is “an amplifier of human effort,” and people are studying how to drive social change. “While there are a lot of ways to amplify change, online connections are one of the most prominent now,” he said.

“Social media allows us to actually see change in that way,” said Segars. “If that change is big enough for the untrained eye or the general public to see, then it must be working.”

Audience Questions

Of the many enthusiastic questions from the well-fed crowd, a few that stood out as particularly relevant were:

1.     We’ve been seeing older people (people in their 20s, that is) migrating off Facebook. What do you think of that?

“Those of the younger generation are our pioneers. They are an important part of the bridge in between the age groups that have and don’t have those tech skills, and some of them don’t finish the bridge and instead just drop off,” said Weber. “Today, for the young people who choose to stay online, they are seeing Facebook as being no different than NBC, which I find to be frightening.”

2.     So far it’s been pretty hit and miss in terms of formal training and education on social networking. Do you think we’re doing well, and is formal training necessary?

“Just as E=MC², every company becomes a media brand,” said Chui. Essentially, because our professional atmosphere immerses us in social media, experience naturally becomes a major factor in networking education.

3.     At least for my company, internal collaboration tools are vital. What is your advice to sustain email?

“We’re working on trying different styles for different emails; trying to keep it organized and up to date,” said Segars. “Quite honestly, we don’t like getting email, but we do if it relates to something we do every day.”

4.     Social networking has received the reputation of being a “time suck.” Have you seen this affect employee productivity?

“I’ve actually seen social networking increase productivity and increase the employee retention rate because employees are not just on Facebook or Twitter, they could be on Kiva or GroupOn, expanding their social network,” said Gibson.

A passage from Weber’s Everywhere sums up the optimistic future of business and social networking, “Social media engagement improves companies, empowers employees, and wins customers. It creates highly efficient enterprises, able to reallocate inventory, capital, and talent on a real-time rather than quarterly basis. The social media age is upon us. Implement your digital strategy now, and your company will thrive in this new reality.”

written by Hannah Miller

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Five prominent venture capitalists were seated on stage in front of the sky blue Churchill Club banners and spoke to a packed house of 250 aspiring and working entrepreneurs on June 14th at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus.

Conversation was lively as VCs Howard Hartenbaum (Partner at August Capital), Josh Kopelman (Managing Partner at First Round Capital), Bill Maris (Managing Partner at Google Ventures), Ray Rothrock (Partner at Venrock), and Aydin Senkut (Founder and Managing Director at Felicis Ventures), with moderator Steve Bengston (Managing Director at Emerging Company Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, as well as the Chairman of the Churchill Club’s Board of Directors), all contributed invaluable advice about the future of venture capitalism and how to successfully raise money for any entrepreneurial effort.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about finance,” said Rothrock. “It’s about people and opportunity, and if you see it coming, go get it.”

The Future of Venture Capitalism:

The evening began by launching into one of the biggest questions on its audience’s mind: In what direction is venture capitalism heading, and how can we succeed? Like most anything these days, the answer boiled down to smaller and faster.

“VCs measure entrepreneurs in shorter time frames now. It’s the nature of the business to expect results faster,” said Rothrock. “What used to take ten years is now expected in three. And, generally, smaller is better.”

Maris agreed and added that venture capitalism follows the same business “pendulum,” and is one that “completes every swing, every cycle, but breaks through the drywalls on both sides.”

Senkut emphasized the transition venture capitalism has made from experimental to incremental thinking; with the extraordinary amount of opportunity available today, the future of venture capitalism is shifting its preferences toward baby-steps, as opposed to larger hypotheses.

The concluding remark on the future of venture capitalism landed on the importance of social networking. According to Senkut, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are playing a big part in venture capitalism. “Social networking is bringing the world closer every day,” he said. “If your idea has greater recognition, then this boosts your chances for VC funding.”

Tips for Raising Money:

Every VC and entrepreneur can mutually agree upon the importance of finance when it comes to materializing any business idea. As Rothrock mentioned earlier, “At the end of the day, it’s all about finance.”

The next piece of advice Rothrock offered was to know who you’re pitching to. “Before your pitch, you should know everything there is to know about your VC; know where they live, know who their children are, know the name of their dog—” “Just don’t visit us,” said Bengston.

Aydin followed with his take on the value of “positive bias,” and questioning for yourself which investor will offer the best opportunity cost. “Usually these investors are found through personal connections,” he said.

All of the VC panelists encouraged their entrepreneurs to examine square one, to really evaluate their initial business model, and most importantly to have faith in their ideas. “If you can’t convince yourself to give money, then you should think twice about who you’re pitching to,” said Hartenbaum.

“One of the best words of advice I ever received as an entrepreneur myself was: What would you tell your fifteenth or twenty-seventh employee? Is what you tell them inspirational enough to last for many years after your startup?” said Kopelman.

In response, Maris nodded his head and said, “Be sure to question your comfort with risk.” He continued by comparing the different levels of risk required for different task areas, like skydiving. “When you’re skydiving, you want no risk involved; and like in business, you want to make sure your parachute inflates.”

“For me, any entrepreneur has to be a good storyteller,” said Kopelman. “Being a good entrepreneur means conveying this great idea in your head, creating the fiction into the nonfiction. Illustrating your idea with words convinces investors and customers. Stories are seductive.”

Audience Questions:

Of the many questions taken from the eager audience, a few stood out as particularly relevant to both the new and experienced entrepreneurs.

One of the first questions was: I was told not to trust VCs, they’re like pirates (at which point Bengston interjected with “Arrrrrg!”). What do you think of that?

Aydin took the first stab at the question. “You can’t screw over an entrepreneur more than once. If you get a bad rep that way, then you’re basically shooting yourself in the foot.” Then Kopelman added, “Everything is tweeted now. So if you screw an entrepreneur, everyone will know in five minutes.”

Another question brought up a practical concern related to the confines and struggles of obtaining VC funding: Is there a bubble?

“Doesn’t it depend what side of the ‘pop’ you’re on?” said Kopelman. He went on to explain how he is from Maryland and how his commute to work on the train is similar to the process of building one’s company from the ground up. “Essentially, we’re all aiming for the same thing, the principle goal: Penn Station. I may choose to get off earlier, but I don’t buy a ticket for Trenton..." "At least not twice,” said Bengston.

The final resounding question came from a new entrepreneur looking for a bit of confidence in the beginning stages of her grand endeavor.

Rothrock’s reply was an encouraging reality check. “Opportunity is everywhere,” he said. “People are copying us everywhere and perhaps even cheating us everywhere, but what’s even bigger than, and even within, all that is opportunity. Opportunity is everywhere. And, quite honestly, I’m placing my bets on HealthCare.”

written by Hannah Miller

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Here are the trends presented at the Churchill Club’s 13^th Annual Top 10 Tech Trends Debate.  They were developed by an amazing team of brainiacs at SRI International, specifically for the Churchill Club audience of business and technology executives and professionals, investors, entrepreneurs, students, and media.  The criteria were that the trends be provocative, plausible, debatable, and that it will be clear within the next 1-3 years whether or not they will actually become trends. 

L-R Tony Perkins, Steve Jurvetson, Ajay Royan, Paul Saffo, Aneesh Chopra, Curt Carlson

Prompted by master of ceremonies extraordinaire Tony Perkins of AlwaysOn (and co-founder of the Churchill Club), the trends were presented at the event by SRI International CEO Curt Carlson.  Panelists Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Ajay Royan of Clarium Capital, Paul Saffo of Discern Analytics, and Aneesh Chopra, US CTO weighed in with votes and comments. Then the audience weighed in as well.  See voting results at the end of each trend and participant demographics at the end of the post.

 
Trend 1.  Age Before Beauty.  
Technology is designed for—and disproportionately used by—the young.  But the young are getting fewer.  The big market will be older people.  The aging generation has grown up with, and is comfortable with, most technology—but not with today’s latest technology products.  Technology product designers will discover the Baby Boomer’s technology comfort zone and will leverage it in the design of new devices.  One example today is the Jitterbug cell phone with a large keypad for easy dialing and powerful speakers for clear sound.  The trend is for Baby Boomers to dictate the technology products of the future.  
The trend is for Baby Boomers to dictate the technology products of the future.  
 

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Disagree
     Ajay Royan: Disagree
     Steve Jurvetson: Agree
Audience Results: 44% of audience members agree

Trend 2.  The Doctor Is In.  
Some of our political leaders say that we have "the best medical care system in the world".  Think what it must be like in the rest of the world!  There are many problems, but one is the high cost of delivering expert advice.  With the development of practical virtual personal assistants, powered by artificial intelligence and pervasive low-cost sensors, “the doctor will be in”—online—for people around the world.  Instead of the current Web paradigm: “fill out this form, and we’ll show you information about what might be ailing you”, this will be true diagnosis—supporting, and in some cases replacing—human medical practitioners.  We were sending X-rays to India to be read; now India is connecting to doctors here for diagnosis in India.  We see the idea in websites that now offer online videoconference interaction with a doctor.  The next step is automation.  The trend is toward complete automation: a combination of artificial intelligence, the Internet, and very low-cost medical instrumentation to provide high-quality diagnostics and advice—including answering patient questions—online to a worldwide audience.  
The trend is toward complete automation: a combination of artificial intelligence, the Internet, and very low-cost medical instrumentation to provide high-quality diagnostics and advice—including answering patient questions—online to a worldwide audience.  

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Mixed
     Ajay Royan: Agree
     Steve Jurvetson: Disagree
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 40% of audience members agree

Trend 3.  Made for Me. 
Manufacturing is undergoing a revolution.  It is becoming technically and economically possible to create products that are unique to the specific needs of individuals.  For example, a cell phone that has only the hardware you need to support the features you want—making it lighter, thinner, more efficient, much cheaper, and easier to use.  This level of customization is being made possible by converging technical advances: new 3D printing technology is well documented, and networked micro-robotics is following.  3D printing now includes applications in jewelry, industrial design, and dentistry.  While all of us may not be good product designers, we have different needs, and we know what we want.  The trend is toward practical, one-off production of physical goods in widely distributed micro-factories: the ultimate customization of products.
The trend is toward practical, one-off production of physical goods in widely distributed micro-factories: the ultimate customization of products.

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Disagree
     Ajay Royan: Agree
     Steve Jurvetson: Disagree
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 46% of audience members agree

Trend 4.  Pay Me Now.  
Information about our personal behavior and characteristics is exploited regularly for commercial purposes, often returning little or no value to us, and sometimes without our knowledge.  This knowledge is becoming a key asset and a major competitive advantage for the companies that gather it.  Think of your supermarket club card.  These knowledge-gatherers will need to get smarter and more aggressive in convincing us to share our information with them and not with their competitors.  If TV advertisers could know who the viewers are, the value of the commercials would go up enormously.  The trend is technology and business models based on attracting consumers to share large amounts of information exclusively with service providers.
The trend is technology and business models based on attracting consumers to share large amounts of information exclusively with service providers.

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Mixed
     Ajay Royan: Mixed
     Steve Jurvetson: Agree
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 69% of audience members agree

Trend 5.  Rosie, At Last.  
We’ve been waiting a long time for robots to live in and run our homes, like Rosie in the Jetsons’ household.  It’s happening a little now: robots are finally starting to leave the manufacturing floor and enter people's homes, offices, and highways.  Robots can climb walls, fly, and run.  We all know the Roomba for cleaning floors—and now there’s the Verro for your pool.  Real-time vision and other sensors, and affordable precise manipulation, are enabling robots to assist in our care, drive our cars, and protect our homes and property.  We need to broaden our view of robots and the forms they will take—think of a self-loading robot-compliant dishwasher or a self-protecting house.  The trend is robots becoming embedded in our environments, and taking advantage of the cloud, to understand and fulfill our needs.
The trend is robots becoming embedded in our environments, and taking advantage of the cloud, to understand and fulfill our needs.

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Agree
     Ajay Royan: Agree
     Steve Jurvetson: Disagree
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 60% of audience members agree

Trend 6.  Social, Really.  
The rise of social networks is well documented, but they're not really social networks.  They're a mix of friends, strangers, organizations, hucksters—it’s more like walking through a rowdy crowd in Times Square at night with a group of friends.  There is a growing need for social networks that reflect the fundamental nature of human relationships: known identities, mutual trust, controlled levels of intimacy, and boundaries of shared information.  The trend is the rise of true social networks, designed to maintain real, respectful relationships online.  
The trend is the rise of true social networks, designed to maintain real, respectful relationships online.  

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Agree
     Ajay Royan: Agree
     Steve Jurvetson: Agree
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 80% of audience members agree

Trend 7.  In-Your-Face Augmented Reality.  
With ever-cheaper computation and advances in computer vision technology, augmented reality is becoming practical, even in mobile devices.  We will move beyond expensive telepresence environments and virtual reality games to fully immersive environments—in the office, on the factory floor, in medical care facilities, and in new entertainment venues.  I once did an experiment where a person came into a room and sat down at a desk against a large, 3D, high-definition TV display.  The projected image showed a room with a similar desk up against the screen.  The person would put on 3D glasses, and then a projected person would enter and sit down at the other table.  After talking for 5 to 10 minutes, the projected person would stand up and put their hand out.  Most of the time, the first person would also stand up and put their hand into the screen—they had quickly adapted and forgotten that the other person was not in the room.  Augmented reality will become indistinguishable from reality.  The trend is an enchanted world—a world where augmented reality and hyper-accurate, artificial people and objects will fundamentally enhance people's experience of the world.  
The trend is hyper-resolution augmented reality and hyper-accurate artificial people and objects that fundamentally enhance people's experience of the world. 

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Agree
     Ajay Royan: Disagree
     Steve Jurvetson: Disagree
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 58% of audience members agree

Trend 8.  Engineering by Biologists.  
Biologists and engineers are different kinds of people—unless they are working on synthetic biology.  We know about genetically engineered foods and creatures, such as gold fish in multiple other colors.  Next we’ll have biologically engineered circuits and devices.  Evolution has created adaptive processing and system resiliency that is much more advanced than anything we’ve been able to design.  We are learning how to tap into that natural expertise, designing devices using the mechanisms of biology.  We have already seen simple biological circuits in the laboratory.  The trend is practical, engineered artifacts, devices, and computers based on biology rather than just on silicon.  
The trend is practical, engineered artifacts, devices, and computers based on biology rather than just on silicon.  

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Agree
     Ajay Royan: Disagree
     Steve Jurvetson: Mixed
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 51% of audience members agree

Trend 9.  ‘Tis a Gift to be Simple.  
Cyber attacks are ever more frequent and effective.  Most attacks exploit holes that are inevitable given the complexity of the software products we use every day.  Cyber researchers really understand this.  To avoid these vulnerabilities, some cyber researchers are beginning to use only simple infrastructure and applications that are throwbacks to the computing world of two decades ago.  As simplicity is shown to be an effective approach for avoiding attack, it will become the guiding principle of software design.  The trend is cyber defense through widespread adoption of simple, low-feature software for consumers and businesses.
The trend is cyber defense through widespread adoption of simple, low-feature software for consumers and businesses.

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Agree
     Ajay Royan: Disagree
     Steve Jurvetson: Disagree
     Aneesh Chopra: Mixed
Audience Results: 29% of audience members agree

Trend 10.  Reverse Innovation.  
Mobile communication is proliferating at an astonishing rate in developing countries as price-points drop and wireless infrastructure improves.  As developing countries leapfrog the need for physical infrastructure and brokers, using mobile apps to conduct micro-scale business and to improve quality of life, they are innovating new applications.  The developing world is quickly becoming the largest market we’ve ever seen—for mobile computing and much more.  The trend is for developing countries to turn around the flow of innovation: Silicon Valley will begin to learn more from them about innovative applications than they need to learn from us about the underlying technology.
The trend is for developing countries to turn around the flow of innovation:  Silicon Valley will begin to learn more from them about innovative applications than they need to learn from us about the underlying technology.

Panelists Results:
     Paul Saffo: Agree
     Ajay Royan: Disagree
     Steve Jurvetson: Agree
     Aneesh Chopra: Agree
Audience Results: 71% of audience members agree

Recap of Results:
The audience agreed most with Trend 6 (Social, Really) and Trend 10 (Reverse Innovation).
The panelists agreed most with Trend 5 (Rosie, At Last) and Trend 6 (Social, Really).

Demographics of Audience:
Gender: 33% Female
              67% Male
Age:  10% < 30
          20% < 40
          35% < 50
          26% < 60
          8%   60+
Role:
19% C-level
20% EVP/VP
26% Director
12% Manager
9%   Staff
14% Other

Thanks to Chris Bui and the American Focus for his spectacular audience response system.

Thank you to our sponsors:

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Just days after Ursula Burns assumed the role of chairman of Xerox, Forrester CEO George Colony interviewed her as part of the May 2010 Forrester IT Forum.  Onstage the two CEOs spoke candidly about U.S. competitiveness, leadership and innovation and the business technology strategies needed to accelerate change.

To both CEOs business transformation was more than a buzzword. Burns had just led Xerox through the acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services, in a move to transform the company once known for copiers into the world’s leading enterprise for business process and document management. And Colony had tasked Forrester with leading the shift from IT to BT (business technology), challenging its customers and bringing the concept down from “ether into reality.”

The Churchill Club has asked Burns and Colony to pick up where their previous discussion left off, on the evening of Wednesday, June 29 in Palo Alto, CA.  How have their individual perspectives on leadership, innovation, and the global markets changed over the past year? What key business and technology opportunities and challenges do they see driving economic resurgence?

We hope you will attend this unscripted, candid conversation between two powerful global business leaders about topics that matter to our economic success as a nation, as companies, and as individuals. Find more information here.

More on the distinguished Churchill Club speakers:

Ursula Burns leads one of America’s oldest companies that today is a $22B global business. 

Burns was raised in a housing project by a single mother. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Polytechnic Institute of NYU in mechanical engineering and a master’s from Columbia University.

She started at Xerox as a summer intern and over a 30-year period, worked her way to become the first female African American CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

She serves on boards such as American Express, National Association of Manufacturers, University of Rochester, and the MIT Corporation.

She helps lead Obama’s national program on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), and serves as vice chair of his Export Council.

In 2009, this impressive woman ranked ninth in Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.  Yet she is known as of the most down-to-earth CEOs you will ever meet.

George Colony leads Forrester Research, a company he founded in 1983. 

He has grown Forrester into one of the most respected and successful global research and advisory firms, e arning awards from Forbes and Fortune, as well as twice being named one of the top places to work in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe.  

Colony is a Harvard graduate. He received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2006. He is consumed with supporting the success of other worthy CEOs and is a valued advisor to CEOs globally. 

He is regularly invited to share his thoughts to media and at conferences worldwide, from media investors in New York to leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  

He blogs and tweets. He values directness and honesty. He is known as an intelligent questioner with his own unique and deep insights, not a follower—“the counterintuitive CEO.”

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