Investors

David Cowan

Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners

David Cowan is a Venture Partner at Bessemer Ventures, where he has helped to invest businesses in a variety of domains. David has invested in network technology (Ciena, P-Com), internet services (PSI-Net, Keynote, Flycast, Netli), and consumer internet (Hotjobs, Blue Nile). His successful track record placed him in the top 10 of the first Forbes Midas List, a ranking of the world's top venture investors. Prior to joining Bessemer Venture Partners, David invested in more than 20 startups that have since gone public.

In 1995, David co-founded the Bessemer-funded Verisign and served as VeriSign's initial chairman. While at Bessemer, David has invested in Counterpane (acquired by BT), ON (acquired by Symantec), Tripwire, and Postini (acquired by Google).

David holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and BA degrees in math and computer science from Harvard University. Currently, David's portfolio of companies includes Billshrink, Delivery Agent, Lifelock, LinkedIn, and Smule.

Krishna Kolluri

General Partner, New Enterprise Associates

Krishna 'Kittu' Kolluri currently serves as a General Partner at New Enterprise Associates, where he focuses on information technology and energy technology investments. He serves on the boards of RingCube, WeatherBill, Novatium, OANDA, VuClip, TechForward, Cirtas, Huddler, and Compass Labs. While at NEA, Kittu also served on the boards of SnapTell (acquired by Amazon), Teracent (acquired by Google), and Plusmo.

Prior to joining NEA, Kittu served as the President and CEO of Neoteris, the leading developer of SSL-based Application Security Gateways. After NetScreen acquired Neoteris, Kittu was appointed GM of NetScreen's Secure Access Products division. He eventually served as the Executive Vice President and General Manager for the Security Products Group at Juniper Networks.

Kolluri possesses a strong engineering background. He managed developer products at Silicon Graphics, Inc. and eventually moved into a management role at SGI, where he oversaw Interactive TV projects. Kittu co-founded Healtheon/WebMD, moving through key operational and management roles as the company grew. Kolluri is responsible for developing the secure router, firewall, VPN, and intrusion detection products.

He received an M.E. From the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, India, and an M.S. in Operations Research from SUNY, Buffalo, NY. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT, Madras in 2005, and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from SUNY, Buffalo in 2007. Kolluri's experience in engineering and management make him a valuable asset to the MashLogic board.

Scott Kurnit

Member, New York Angels

Scott Kurnit is an investor and advisor at the cross-section of media and technology. Scott founded About, Inc. (acquired by The New York Times Co.) and served as its chairman and CEO while it grew to a public market value of over $1.5 billion. About was the first among news, information, and entertainment sites during Scott's tenure.

Scott began his career in television when he was the youngest program director in the PBS system. He contributed to Qube, the world's first interactive cable system, as a program director, and he went on to serve as the President of Showtime Event Television when it aired the first rock concert in the former Soviet Union, generating the largest one night gross in the entertainment business. Scott worked at the highest levels of Warner, Viacom News Corporation, IBM, and MCI, either directly or through joint ventures.

Scott, a holder of four patents, also has a knack for invention. He initiated the first Pay Per View cable network and he contributed to the implementation of the first use of national caller ID.

Scott has been inducted into the American Advertising Federation's Hall of Achievement, and he was named one of "100 Superstars of U.S. Marketing" by Advertising Age, a news source for media and marketing companies. Scott also won an Emmy as a producer of a weekly television magazine. The Journal of Business Strategy named him a "strategist to watch" three times.

Scott received his B.A. degrees in sociology and communications from Hampshire College. Scott currently serves on the boards of Brightcove, Appssavvy, and BlackArrow.

Jeff Clavier

Managing Partner, SoftTech VC

Jeff is the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed stage investors in Web 2.0 startups. Since starting SoftTech VC in 2004, Jeff has invested in more than 70 consumer internet companies in areas such as social media, consumer infrastructure, gaming, and search. While at SoftTech VC, Jeff has sold five of his Web 2.0 startups to the likes of Yahoo, AOL, or Hearst Interactive. In September 2007, Jeff formed SoftTech VC II, L.P., a $15 million seed fund backed by a mix of institutional and private investors that will invest in 50+ consumer Internet companies over three years. During its first 24 months of activity, SoftTech VC II closed more than 40 investments.

Prior to founding SoftTech VC, Jeff spent more than 16 years in the enterprise software world as an entrepreneur, senior executive, and venture capitalist. In 2000, Jeff became President of RVC Capital, a firm managing the Reuters Greenhouse Fund with $600 million invested in 82 companies, including Yahoo!, Verisign, Phone.com, and Infoseek.

Jeff is well-known in the industry for the numerous accolades he has received. In 2007, Business 2.0 selected him as one of the 13 "Web 2.0 King Makers" and BusinessWeek named him one of the "Top 25 Most Influential People on the Web" in 2008. Jeff shares his passion for innovation entrepreneurship by participating in dozens of industry events per year as both a speaker and a moderator.

Jeff was educated in France, earning an M.S. in Computer Science and a research degree in Distributed Computing from Universite Rene Descartes.

Reid Hoffman

Partner, GreyLock Partners

Reid is an entrepreneur and serial investor, most recently serving as the CEO of LinkedIn. From 2003 to 2007, as the founding CEO of LinkedIn, Reid built the company to serve over 9 million members, making LinkedIn one of the most profitable social networking sites.

Reid began his career working at Apple and Fujitsu Software Corporation before he co-founded his first company, SocialNet.com, one of the first social networking services on the web. During his time at SocialNet.com, Reid served on the initial board at PayPal, eventually leaving SocialNet.com to join PayPal as the Executive Vice President. At PayPal, Reid was in charge of all business development, government and international relations, and banking/payments infrastructure. Reid was instrumental in securing PayPal's relationships with Intuit, Visa, MasterCard, and Wells Fargo.

In addition to serving as the Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, Reid also serves on the board of many successful businesses, including Mozilla, Six Apart, Tagged, and Kiva.org. Reid continues to be an active angel investor, helping to fund more than 80 companies. The long list of companies that Reid has funded includes Facebook, Flickr, Digg, Kongregate, and Last.fm.

Reid graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor's degree in Symbolic Systems. He also attained a Master's degree in Philosophy from Oxford University. Reid remains involved in the Venture Capital and Private Equity Industry as a Partner at GreyLock Partners.

Gil Penchina

CEO, Wikia, Inc.

Gil currently serves as the CEO of Wikia, Inc, a free web hosting service for wikis. Gil joined Wikia in 2006 and helped turn Wikia into a profitable company through advertising.

Prior to joining Wikia, Gil was a long-time employee of eBay, serving in a number of executive positions. As the Vice President of eBay.com's home and collectibles business, Gil was responsible for marketing, product development, seller outreach, and business development for several of the company's most popular shopping categories. As the Vice President of eBay International, Gil launched the websites in Hong Kong and Singapore, and he facilitated eBay's entrance into the markets of India, South Korea, and China. Gil was responsible for developing eBay's relationships with a number of top brands, including Microsoft, AOL, Disney, and Yahoo!.

Gil has invested in some of the web's leading brands, including LinkedIn, Become.com, and Evite. Gil, an angel investor, continues to seek out opportunities to promote startups.

A native of Amherst, Massachusetts, Gil holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business.