EDACafe Editorial Peggy Aycinena
Peggy Aycinena is a contributing editor for EDACafe.Com EDAC: Let’s give thanks, then Cross the ChasmNovember 26th, 2015 by Peggy Aycinena
Following two successful events in as many months – the Patents Panel in October and the Kaufman Award Dinner in November – EDAC is now offering in December another installment of their ongoing ‘Jim Hogan Emerging Companies Series.’ And given that EDAC’s food and wine in October and November were great, it’s pretty much guaranteed that this next event will really be gourmet. [hope, hope …] But that’s not why EDAC’s December 9th event will be compelling; it’s the indefatigable Jim Hogan that will make it worth your while. Following a string of successful on-stage conversations over the last several years with seasoned EDA veterans such as Kathryn Kranen, Ravi Subramanian, and Joe Costello, the end-of-2015 edition will showcase Jim in conversation with Ansys GM & VP John Lee. According to EDAC, the Hogan-Lee conversation will “explore concepts and best practices for emerging companies.” This is a good idea, given that Lee brings a huge amount of experience to the stage. A distinguished career including leadership roles at Gear Design Solutions, Performance Signal Integrity, and Mojave Design, followed by a stint as GM at Magma: Lee is the real thing. So what does an EDA-centric audience expect to hear from the likes of Lee and Hogan? That startups are easy if you have an idea and the willingness to work hard? That translating novel technology into a revenue-generating enterprise is comprehensible and predictable, a process that succumbs to formulaic thinking? Of course, not. Creating a successful tech-organization takes smarts, diligence – due and otherwise – team, experience, nerve, leadership, and an excellent board of directors. And even with all of that, crossing the chasm is almost impossible because there are fire-breathing dragons below, lightning and flying monkeys overhead, and a suspension bridge spanning the abyss that’s missing every other strut. Only the lucky survive. Nonetheless, both Jim Hogan and John Lee have successfully crossed the chasm and on December 9th they’re going to talk about how it’s done. And that’s why we need to be thankful for EDAC. It’s the Consortium’s efforts that put these people in front of us, have them reveal the secrets of their success, and then allow us to cross-examine their points of view. It just doesn’t get any better than this. The networking, food and wine starts at 6 pm at the EDAC Headquarters on Zanker Road in San Jose, the Lee-Hogan chasm crossing starts at 7 pm, and follow-on Q&A gets underway at 8:30 pm. You can register here.
In case you didn’t know … John Lee is General Manager & Vice President of the Apache Business Unit at ANSYS. Previously he was CEO of Gear Design Solutions (acquired by ANSYS in 2015) and a co-founder of Performance Signal Integrity (founded in 1992; acquired by Avanti in 1994) which led to Star-RCXT, and Mojave Design which led to Quartz DRC (founded in 2002; acquired by Magma in 2004). Lee held the position of General Manager at Magma Design Automation, and has been a board member for technology and non-profit organizations. John received his undergraduate and graduates degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. Jim Hogan is currently the Managing Partner of Vista Ventures, LLC. Jim has worked in the semiconductor design and manufacturing industry for more than 40 years gaining experience as a senior executive and board director in electronic design automation, intellectual property, semiconductor equipment, material science and IT companies. Currently, Jim serves on several private companies’ board of directors. Additionally, Jim serves as a strategic advisor to several private and public companies.
Tags: Ansys, Apache Business Unit, EDA Consortium, Jim Hogan, John Lee, Vista Ventures |