Larta Hosts VC Seminar and Tour
December 15, 2003

By James Klein, Larta VOX Editor

Larta conducted a seminar and tour on the California venture capital industry for the Japan Productivity Center Team, a delegation of Japanese bankers, businessmen, and MBA students. The program took place December 1 through December 5, 2003. Larta arranged for the team to visit Anthem Venture Partners and several IT companies in the Bay Area, including Peoplesoft.

The seminar covered the national venture capital community, and also focussed on Southern California. The course provided an overview of the national VC industry, including sources of funds, structure of VC firms, and financing of start-up ventures. The seminar was conducted by Dr. Darien T. Kadens, a business consultant and Larta University instructor.

"The seminar participants were asking all the right questions about the relationships between banks, venture capital, and emerging technology companies in the U.S.," said Dr. Kadens.

The group of seminar attendees spent time with eight venture capital and information technology companies and had a chance to ask questions with management representatives at each of the companies: PeopleSoft, Inc., Siebel Systems Inc., Softagon Corporation, Non-Stop Networks, Inc., and Anthem Venture Partners. The objective of the site visits was to understand the business and financial challenges facing IT companies.

The Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development (JPC-SED) is a non-profit organization (NPO) and non-governmental organization (NGO) established in 1955 to promote the Productivity Movement in Japan. The JPC-SED actively works to implement the latest management system based on cooperation between labor and management, introduce effective management renovation, train human resources, and also present public policy proposals for socio-economic reform in Japan. As the only institution of its kind in Japan, the JPC-SED is committed to making a significant contribution to socioeconomic development in Japan and throughout the world.

Darien T. Kadens is a Business Consultant with INNOFUTURES LLC, a Honolulu-based investment and strategic consulting firm he founded. Dr. Kadens has assisted early-stage companies with the development of achievable strategies for commercializing new products and services, and with attracting new capital. Dr. Kadens has broad experience in biomedical venture capital, research and development, and consulting.

For more information about Larta's Customized Training Programs, please contact Carlos Gutierrez, Director of Business Development, at 213 765-4833 or cgutierrez@old.larta.org

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