Making it through tough times

The Emerging Companies Committee of EDAC is organizing a panel to discuss how small companies can cope with challenging financial conditions. It will take place Wednesday, November 19 in the Kellogg Auditorium of Silicon Valley Bank at 3005 Tasman Drive in Santa Clara. The panel is scheduled for 5:30 PM.

As the effects of the credit crisis continue to bubble through the market, investors and consumers are becoming more cautious about opening their wallets. That leaves technology companies -- large and small -- forced to become more productive with fewer resources. Companies are downsizing, selling off business units, reducing capital expenditures and limiting product line expansion. The experience of the dot-com bust has proven that those who managed to continue to invest and improve their offerings not only came out ahead when the dust settled but managed to maintain more momentum than their competitors.

This panel -- with a mixture of experienced venture capitalists and CEO's will discuss the questions below and provide examples of why it is necessary to do less with more and tactics on how to set and achieve productivity goals in tough times and come out ahead.

• What's the best way to navigate these turbulent times without making cuts that will have a detrimental effect on companies in the long run?
• How can C-level executives successfully cut resources while still demanding productivity increases?
• What sorts of investments do companies need to make to increase productivity even when resources are frozen or reduced?

David Lin, VP of Marketing at Denali Software Inc. assembled the panel that consists of: Jacques Benkoski, Venture Executive at USVP, Jack Harding, President and CEO of eSilicon, Simon Napper, President and CEO of Synfora, Matt Rhodes, CEO of Teranetics, and Daniel Rubin, General Partner with Alloy Ventures. The discussion will be moderated by Sanjay Srivastava, CEO of Denali Software, Inc.