Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood New York City November 10-12, 2010 Friday, November 12th 11:05 AM – 12:20 PM Track I: DHFi-11 Venture Funding, Investment & Mergers - Leadership in the Entertainment & Technology Space: Broadband, Social Networks, Mobile and Games The VC and strategic investment community has always led the way in recognizing the newest opportunities in the technology and entertainment space. In this era of economic flux, boom and bust, there are as many interpretations of value, opportunity and investment as there are investors and analysts in the industry. In this session, we bring together a number of the formative players in the Media, Entertainment, Technology finance world who have played a part in the investments, mergers, acquisitions and takeovers over the past few years. At the moment there is more money chasing fewer ready resources, but as the market predictably shakes out, how the relationship between the traditional and new media companies settles will create a fascinating foundation for the next step in growth for our industry. Are we building toward another bubble or are we laying the groundwork for a period of hypergrowth in the convergence space? Media companies are making nine and ten figure bets in this new arms race and what the future holds is anyone’s guess. Habib Kairouz, Managing Partner, Rho Capital Partners and Rho Ventures Ben Boissevain, Managing Partner, Agile Equity, LLC Richard Tullo, Director of Research, Albert Fried and Company LLC. Philip A. Palazzo, Jr., Founder and President, PALAZZO Advisory Paul Noglows, Managing Director, Mesa Jon Chait, Partner, Dace Ventures Steve Masur, Managing Partner, MasurLaw, Moderator Habib Kairouz, Managing Partner, Rho Capital Partners and Rho Ventures: as well as a member of the Investment Committees of Rho Canada and Rho Fund Investors. With nearly 20 years of experience in venture capital, Habib seeks to partner with entrepreneurs who are visionaries, hungry to build massive opportunities, confident enough to challenge established market leaders and charismatic enough to attract top-tier partners, customers and other business personnel. Habib joined Rho in 1993 and focuses on investments in new media, information technology and communication companies at various stages of development – from seed stage to growth equity. Prior to Rho, Habib worked in investment banking and leveraged buyouts in New York with Reich & Co. and Jesup & Lamont. His interests also extend internationally to the impact of the Internet on globalization and its disruption of geopolitical boundaries, as well as solutions to the Middle East conflict. A native of Lebanon, Habib is involved with a number of nonprofit organizations focused on reforms and economic development there. He is a co-founder and board member of Social & Economic Action for Lebanon, a nonprofit organization focusing on micro-grants for job development. He is also a board member of Lebanese International Finance Executives (LIFE), a global networking organization focused on connecting financial executives around the world for the benefit of assisting and promoting the interests of Lebanon and the next generation of Lebanese. Habib has a passion for skiing and tennis. He received a B.S. in engineering and a B.A. in economics from Cornell University and an M.B.A. in finance from Columbia University. Ben Boissevain, Managing Partner, Agile Equity, LLC: Ben Boissevain brings a broad background of acquisitions experience and technology expertise to Agile. Prior to founding Agile in 1996, Mr. Boissevain was an Assistant Director in the M&A department at Barclays Bank in New York from 1994 to 1996 where he executed numerous cross-border transactions. Prior to Barclays, he was Senior Manager at Erste Bank in Vienna from 1990 to 1994 where he executed the first IPO in the former Soviet Union. He began his career as a corporate attorney in White & Case in New York in 1987 where he negotiated, structured and documented significant M&A and IPO transactions. Mr. Boissevain frequently speaks at conferences, is quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the The New York Times, and has appeared on television for Fox News on business issues. He is a member of the New York Software Association and a Board Member and Chair for Programming for the New York chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum. Mr. Boissevain is fluent in German. Mr. Boissevain earned a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Economics from University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from New York University Law School. Philip A. Palazzo, Jr., Founder and President, PALAZZO Advisory: Phil Palazzo has a long and highly successful history in advertising, marketing services, and investment banking, where he occupied executive positions in a variety of companies, including: • AdMedia Partners, where for the past five years he served as Partner and Managing Director of the M & A advisory services firm. • MC2, where he was CEO of this national provider of corporate events, meetings, exhibits, and environments. • Ammirati Puris Lintas, the legendary advertising agency, where he joined the firm as CFO and ultimately served as President, International Operations and as a member of the worldwide board. As President, Phil was responsible for $600 million in revenue, 42 offices, and 5,000 employees. Reporting to the Chairman, he oversaw three regional presidents, plus worldwide M & A strategy, information technology, finance, human resources, and strategic planning. While at Ammirati, Phil negotiated the sale of that agency to Boase Massimi Pollitt, the eventual repurchase from parent company Omnicom, and the highly successful sale of the agency to The Interpublic Group of Companies, delivering a remarkable 25:1 return on equity to shareholders. Phil is often quoted in the press, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, where he is a recognized expert in developing practical strategies for creating and driving shareholder value, and in helping owners formulate succession and exit strategies. Paul Noglows, Managing Director, Mesa: Paul Noglows is Managing Director at MESA. He brings over 20 years’ experience covering media and entertainment companies, first as a journalist for Variety and Inter@ctive Week in the 1990s, and later as a prolific and high-profile Wall Street Internet and media analyst and research director. Previously, Noglows served as Managing Director and Director of Research at Lazard Capital Markets LLC. Under his leadership, stocks under coverage tripled to over 200, and the firm was able to emerge as a leading research-driven boutique firm in one of the most difficult operating environments in Wall Street’s history. Noglows was a founding member of the Internet Research Group of San Francisco tech bank Hambrecht & Quist, now part of JP Morgan Chase, responsible for the firm’s coverage of the Internet and digital media. He conceived and developed iWord, one of the first instances of equity research to be readily available and distributed online. During his tenure at H&Q, Noglows spearheaded more than 21 major financings, including numerous initial public offerings and private placements in Internet media startups. In July 2000, First Call/The Wall Street Journal recognized Noglows in its annual “Best on the Street” analyst rankings in both entertainment and Internet. Jon Chait, Partner at Dace Ventures: Jon Chait has over 25 years of experience in building high-growth technology, digital media and service companies as an investor, entrepreneur and former operating executive. Before teaming on founding Dace, Jon was a principal and partner-nominee at Pod Holding (now Pod Venture Partners) in Boston, MA and Stockholm, Sweden, investing in early-stage ICT convergence and consumer ventures. Jon was actively involved with Pod’s existing investments in Peppercoin (sold to Chockstone), ServiceFactory (sold to Birdstep), Corestreet, OzVision and others. Previously he served as managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, a VC seed fund and investment bank. Jon also was CEO and founder of Reality Bytes (sold to Lightpaths), a new media entertainment publisher and leading middleware solutions provider to multimedia PC and video graphics OEM’s. He earlier held engineering, marketing and management positions at Lotus Development Corp., (now IBM/Lotus). Jon currently serves on the boards of auctionPAL, LocaModa, Mall Networks and as board observer for EveryScape. Steve Masur, Managing Partner, MasurLaw: Steve has over 15 years of experience working with digital media and entertainment companies on their corporate and intellectual property transactions and day-to-day operations. He helps our clients with corporate finance and governance, M&A transactions, their most important intellectual property and business transactions, and business structuring questions. Since 1994, Steve has helped our clients create and define a wide array of new business models and licensing schemes in music, film, video games, mobile and wireless services, licensing, advertising, publishing, media delivery, software and hardware. Steve has helped clients organize, write contracts, work out complicated legal and business problems, and pursue mergers and other strategic opportunities in complicated competitive environments. Prior to MasurLaw, Steve was an attorney at Sabin, Bermant & Gould in New York practicing in the cable TV and corporate areas. He served such clients as Advance Publications, Conde Nast Publications, Newhouse Broadcasting Corp. and Eastern Microwave. Steve graduated from Colby College in 1984, received his J.D. in 1993 from American University in Washington, DC and is a member of the New York State and District of Columbia bar associations. He serves on a variety of industry associations and corporate boards and lectures regularly on entertainment technology law and corporate strategy issues..