In this Series of Ignite Your Venture, we are partnering with Intrepid Equity to bring you insights & discussions from industry experts. Whether you are a new start up, established business or a business simply looking at new areas of opportunity – we will be chatting about what it means to become successful from start to end. Hosted by Angie Lim, Channel Audience Manager for Microsoft Canada Partner Network.

Join us in this LIVE webcast as we will be presenting & answering your questions in real-time. To do so, please be sure to have Live Meeting installed on your computer prior to attending to ensure a seamless connection. Install a free version of Live Meeting here.

This series will specifically focus on the following areas in these webcasts:

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Topic 1: Bring Your Ideas to Life with a Venture Capitalist
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 – 2-3 PM (EST)

Venture capital plays a key part in enabling entrepreneurs to help accelerate their businesses. At the same time, raising funds can be a laborious and intimidating task. In this session, you will gain insight into the capabilities and approaches that venture capitalists value the most. You will learn how to prepare a comprehensive growth plan, and how to approach and engage diverse sources of finance. You will hear a variety of views from key business leaders on how to best help you get the outcome you deserve – the funding you need and an ecosystem of support to help you make the most of it.

Firas Raouf

Firas Raouf is a Venture Partner at OpenView, and is part of its founding team. He is on the Board of Directors of four of OpenView's portfolio companies - AtTask, Exinda, Reality Digital and Zmags. Firas the OpenView team when it was still part of Insight Venture Partners and helped found the firm in late 2006. When he joined the team at Insight in 2005, he was a member of the team that invested in Platespin, was a board member of that company. Firas was on the board of Platespin through its acquisition by Novell. Prior to Insight, Firas was one of the principles of eEye Digital Security and acted as COO of the company. He joined eEye pre-revenue and left on a $15M annual run rate. In that role, he experienced all the possible ups and downs of a startup, and the challenges of the expansion stage. Prior to eEye, Firas was a senior consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton, in the Operations Management Group. Firas has a BS in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University and a Master of Engineering Management from Dartmouth College. He is husband to a pediatrician and father to two wonderful children. His family is from Iraq; he was born in New York and lived in Baghdad, Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Hanover NH, Indianapolis, New York, New Orleans, Laguna Beach CA and Boston. And he's an avid fan of Manchester United.

Alkarim Jivraj

Alkarim Jivraj is the founder of Intrepid Equity Finance and also a general partner of the Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund LP (IBAF). Intrepid assists early and expansion stage IT companies to access growth capital and help accelerate sales. IBAF provides equity funding and bridge loans to early stage software companies. Alkarim was the lead IBAF partner on the board of Streamlogics (acquired by Thomson Reuters) and is currently a board advisor to SCI Ltd. and Axia Software Corporation.

Prior to founding Intrepid Alkarim was a senior technology investment banker. Alkarim has raised over $1 billion in growth capital and completed over 100 financing transactions during his career.

Ian Gilbert

Ian Gilbert is a venture partner of the Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund LP (IBAF). IBAF provides equity funding and bridge loans to early stage software companies. Prior to joining Intrepid, Ian founded Third Core, a sales acceleration services company specializing in the software, software services and telecom services markets. Ian has assisted numerous established organizations, as well as venture stage companies, including Streamlogics, Distil Interactive and Objectworld.

Prior to Third Core, Ian held sales leadership positions at Telus, Cable & Wireless and Parametric Technology Corporation. Ian currently serves on the Board of Directors of Digital Wyzdom, an independent security consulting firm. He is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Degroote School of Business.

Submit your questions for this webcast.

This series will specifically focus on the following areas in these webcasts:

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Topic 2: Finding the Right People to Make the Right Team with Randy Street
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 – 2-3 PM (EST)

In business, you are who you hire. Randy Street, co-author of "Who: The A Method for Hiring", a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek best seller, offers a ground-breaking solution to your #1 business problem - hiring mistakes. In this webinar you will discover a simple 4-step method for hiring the right people that has helped its practitioners to achieve a 90% success rate, gain insights from exclusive interviews with more than 20 billionaires, 60 CEOs, numerous investors, and other thought leaders on the subject of hiring, and also learn the secrets of success for over 300 CEOs who participated in a University of Chicago study.

Randy Street

Randy Street is the President of ghSMART, a Partner with the company and co-author of "Who: The A Method for Hiring", a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek best seller. Randy has served as a leadership advisor to boards, CEOs, and executive teams for over 15 years. He is also a popular keynote speaker with a dynamic and energetic style that routinely generates the highest audience satisfaction scores possible. Prior to joining ghSMART, Randy was the EVP of Sales & Marketing and EVP of Corporate Development & Strategy for a software firm that was named the fastest growing company in Atlanta during his tenure. Before that, Randy was a strategy consultant with Bain & Company where he led projects and advised senior executives of Global 1000 companies in a wide range of industries. Randy earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University.

Alkarim Jivraj

Alkarim Jivraj is the founder of Intrepid Equity Finance and also a general partner of the Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund LP (IBAF). Intrepid assists early and expansion stage IT companies to access growth capital and help accelerate sales. IBAF provides equity funding and bridge loans to early stage software companies. Alkarim was the lead IBAF partner on the board of Streamlogics (acquired by Thomson Reuters) and is currently a board advisor to SCI Ltd. and Axia Software Corporation.

Prior to founding Intrepid Alkarim was a senior technology investment banker. Alkarim has raised over $1 billion in growth capital and completed over 100 financing transactions during his career.

Ian Gilbert

Ian Gilbert is a venture partner of the Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund LP (IBAF). IBAF provides equity funding and bridge loans to early stage software companies. Prior to joining Intrepid, Ian founded Third Core, a sales acceleration services company specializing in the software, software services and telecom services markets. Ian has assisted numerous established organizations, as well as venture stage companies, including Streamlogics, Distil Interactive and Objectworld.

Prior to Third Core, Ian held sales leadership positions at Telus, Cable & Wireless and Parametric Technology Corporation. Ian currently serves on the Board of Directors of Digital Wyzdom, an independent security consulting firm. He is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Degroote School of Business.

Submit your questions for this webcast.

This series will specifically focus on the following areas in these webcasts:

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Topic 3: Helping to Increase Profits with Focus on Channel Engagement & Helping to Accelerate Your Sales
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 – 2-3 PM (EST)

Channel selection, deployment and execution represent a strategic minefield for many companies. This session will focus attention on the critical components of an effective channel engagement strategy. You will learn approaches that help you make the most of every dollar you spend in accessing and engaging customers. You will gain insight into effective methods for assessing which channels to use, and how best to use them. You will hear views from experienced entrepreneurs and channel builders about the most effective ways to drive deal velocity and scale – helping to contribute to the accelerated growth of your business.

Shane Davies

Partner Manager, Independent Software Vendors, Microsoft Canada. As an ISV Manager, Shane manages a wide range of different ISVs across vertical and horizontal markets, including some of Microsoft Canada's most strategic ISV relationships. His role is to help recruit, enable, and drives opportunities through the ISV community and grow the overall ecosystem. He also focuses on helping ISVs increase their revenue, decrease costs, and generate new opportunities. Joining Microsoft in 2008 he has been instrumental in driving Microsoft's ISV strategy in Canada, Globally, and in vertical markets. He has also led Microsoft's competitive effort against top competitors such as Oracle, IBM and MYSQL.

Previous to Microsoft, Shane spent 8 years at Oracle where he managed some of Oracle largest ISV & OEM partnerships for Canada & the United States. He was one of the first people on Oracle's North American ISV team, and was instrumental in their ISV strategy. Prior to Oracle, for 4 years Shane was held both Partner and Direct Sales roles at DataMirror Corporation (now IBM). His various business experiences in both partner & in direct sales roles for some of the world's largest software companies, has given him a unique perspective on different partnering approaches and best practices. In can be daunting working with large companies, but he understands what makes a successful partner.

Ian Gilbert

Ian Gilbert is a venture partner of the Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund LP (IBAF). IBAF provides equity funding and bridge loans to early stage software companies. Prior to joining Intrepid, Ian founded Third Core, a sales acceleration services company specializing in the software, software services and telecom services markets. Ian has assisted numerous established organizations, as well as venture stage companies, including Streamlogics, Distil Interactive and Objectworld.

Prior to Third Core, Ian held sales leadership positions at Telus, Cable & Wireless and Parametric Technology Corporation. Ian currently serves on the Board of Directors of Digital Wyzdom, an independent security consulting firm. He is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Degroote School of Business.

Steve Leightell

Steve Leightell specializes in defining channel and partnering strategy, and helping clients identify, secure and operationalize partnerships.. Most recently, Steve led a global team at IBM responsible for over $100 million in revenue through major systems integrators. Steve previously led the channels and alliances team at DWL, a successful Toronto-based start-up acquired by IBM. At DWL, Steve was responsible for driving $85 million in revenue, and also played an instrumental role in developing DWL’s strategic relationships. Steve’s extensive sales & channels experience includes progressive roles at AT&T/Allstream, Netcom and PSINet.

Submit your questions for this webcast.

This series will specifically focus on the following areas in these webcasts:

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Topic 4: Business Lead Generation that Really Delivers
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 – 2-3 PM (EST)

Generating and effectively managing leads, especially when resources are scarce, can be a real business roadblock. In this session, you will learn how to establish a strategic lead generation and management process that accelerates performance and that utilizes resources effectively, particularly in an entrepreneurial environment. You will also discover how to measure the real effectiveness of your lead generation efforts – so that you can ensure every dollar you spend contributes to revenue creation.

Cadman Chui

Cadman has held numerous senior marketing positions over the last 10 years at IT companies focusing on the enterprise data center. Cadman was VP of Marketing at PlateSpin Ltd., a virtualization software vendor that was acquired by Novell in 2008. Prior to his role at PlateSpin, Cadman led the product marketing and product management teams at Cybermation Inc. (acquired by CA), a leader in enterprise job scheduling and software change management. He also held senior product management and product marketing positions at DataMirror Corporation (acquired by IBM), managing their flagship cross-platform database integration solutions. Cadman co-founded several start-ups including: Marlin Gear Ltd (makers of ZipCut Pro), FigDig.com creative network, and CrispAds.com blog advertising network (acquired by Intela LLC). He holds an MBA degree from the Schulich School of Business and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo.

Alkarim Jivraj

Alkarim Jivraj is the founder of Intrepid Equity Finance and also a general partner of the Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund LP (IBAF). Intrepid assists early and expansion stage IT companies to access growth capital and help accelerate sales. IBAF provides equity funding and bridge loans to early stage software companies. Alkarim was the lead IBAF partner on the board of Streamlogics (acquired by Thomson Reuters) and is currently a board advisor to SCI Ltd. and Axia Software Corporation.

Prior to founding Intrepid Alkarim was a senior technology investment banker. Alkarim has raised over $1 billion in growth capital and completed over 100 financing transactions during his career.

Ian Gilbert

Ian Gilbert is a venture partner of the Intrepid Business Acceleration Fund LP (IBAF). IBAF provides equity funding and bridge loans to early stage software companies. Prior to joining Intrepid, Ian founded Third Core, a sales acceleration services company specializing in the software, software services and telecom services markets. Ian has assisted numerous established organizations, as well as venture stage companies, including Streamlogics, Distil Interactive and Objectworld.

Prior to Third Core, Ian held sales leadership positions at Telus, Cable & Wireless and Parametric Technology Corporation. Ian currently serves on the Board of Directors of Digital Wyzdom, an independent security consulting firm. He is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Degroote School of Business.

Submit your questions for this webcast.

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