THINKING BIGGER: HOW TO BUILD AN ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM
11:30 – 12:00
Gold Room
Internet entrepreneur, investor and author Chris Schroeder has spent years researching the rise of
a new generation of start-ups and entrepreneurs across the Middle East. Ben Horowitz has seen many
generations of entrepreneurs, investors and companies from the front line: from his internship in
the 1980s at Silicon Graphics (the Google of its day) to co-founding Opsware (sold to HP to $1.6 billion)
to building US$2.7 billion venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Schroeder and Horowitz will
compare notes: what does it take to build a generation of entrepreneurs, investors and advisors that
will bring innovation and impact to a region?
CHRIS SCHROEDER is Co-Founder of healthcentral.com (sold in 2012); CEO of
washingtonpost.newsweek interactive; CEO of Legislate; writer on startups,
innovation, global entrepreneurship especially in the Middle East; father; husband;
mentor; investor; friend. Future CEO.
BEN HOROWITZ is Co-Founder and Partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen
Horowitz. Previously, Ben was Co-Founder and CEO of Opsware (formerly
Loudcloud), which was acquired by HP in 2007 for $1.6 billion. Before Opsware, he
was VP/GM of AOL's E-commerce Platform division and VP of Netscape's Directory
and Security product line. Ben has a BA in Computer Science from Columbia
University and an MS in Computer Science from UCLA. He serves on the board of
many companies including Foursquare, Jawbone, Okta and Rap Genius, and blogs
at www.bhorowitz.com.
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