Among the Redwoods..

Hello guys!

Long time not talk to you…life here is so busy and now I finally understand what they meant when, the first week spent in Silicon Valley, a guy from BAIA told us: Trust me, you will forget to eat and you won’t have enough time to sleep! Gaetano, did you remember? It was Giorgio and we were in the Redwood Room of one of the nicest hotel in San Francisco! Ok, he was right, but when I think to the future and to how I will remember this wonderful experience, I realize the importance of this blog…it will be great to read again these notes and the comments left by people met here. We’ll be missing all of them and this blog will be a way to retrace moments spent together and to keep in touch! Sometimes I love technology!!!

Inside a tree..

So, coming back to our daily activities…at present I am working as an Intern in the Business Development Unit of CoMentis (formerly Athenagen), a private held biotech company located in South San Francisco.

http://www.athenagen.com/

Every day I commute from San Jose, it takes about 50 minutes…it’s a long trip, but fortunately I don’t travel alone but I do carpool with my dear flat-mate Valentina, cause she works in the city as well, so we can talk during the trip and also take advantage of the carpool lane in the freeway (it goes much faster and it‘s funny to overtake other cars!). Btw, my daily schedule is from 8.30 to 3.30, because later I have to be in Santa Clara for our evening classes starting at 5 pm. So far, I have enjoyed very much my working activity at CoMentis: I mean, everything is pretty new for me…I have never worked before in the business field, dealing with finance and accounting stuff…but is so interesting to learn new things and in activities like competitive intelligence analysis or companies evaluation, I have the chance to use my scientific background to better understand the commercial landscape and to monitor competitors. What I hope is to keep on in this job and to learn as much as possible!

Moreover, we are going on writing our business plan through Mr Decitre class: it is very challenging, but the more you put in it, the more you will get from this exercise and I really hope to be able to capitalize on this work once come back to Italy!

Before saying goodbye, I’d like you to enjoy this wonderful picture taken by Micol last week end (thanks Micol for this wonderful reportage!). We were just outside San Francisco (Point Reyes), but the countryside was so quiet and beautiful that we felt like being miles away!!

The Lighthouse and the Ocean..... wonderful...

Among the Redwoods....

See you later,

Yours,

elizabeth

Hello folks,

Long time no write you…I am very sorry for it because this blog is going to be the diary of this amazing experience!!!

However, now we are in the middle of the second quarter and in the heart of the internship…and it lasts only 2 months before going back to Italy……….NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO….what a terrible thing to say…

Let me explain why we are so sad…it is not because we don’t want to go back to Italy (actually, we miss it a lot!!!) but because these months here were so exciting…and challenging…and busy…and funny…and…so on….that we haven’t really realized that the time was passing very fast and this program is going to end!!!!

By the way, today I am going to talk you about the company where I am performing my internship.

FivePrime Therapeutics, Inc. is a pre-clinical stage biotech company discovering and developing innovative protein and antibody therapeutics. FivePrime is using its world-class discovery platform to build a strong pipeline that currently includes products in development for cancer and diabetes and multiple leads in metabolic and immunologic diseases, oncology and regenerative medicine.

FivePrime is located in Mission Bay in San Francisco…

................yyyeeessss…it is exactly what now you are thinking….I

commute everyday from San Jose’ to the city…

.............fortunately, Elisabetta works in South San Francisco so we do carpool together and it makes the commute a little bit less heavy and boring!!!

I work with the business development team to figure out the potential market for a new protein the company is developing.

It is very interesting and stimulating working with the BDU team..I have always worked in the Academia and, in particular, in the lab, so you can image how everything is completely new and challenging for me!!!! I am really honoured and happy to have the possibility to join such a successful and competitive company!!!

Now, let me talk you about a party where we went a couple of weeks ago….the Yuri’s Night Party at the NASA research center…

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to go into space on April 12th, 1961. The US Space Shuttle first launched on April 12th, 1981. Yuri's Night is like the St Patricks Day or Cinco de Mayo for space. It is one day when all the world can come together and celebrate the power and beauty of space and what it means for each of us.

The BEST!!!!!!!

It was a really funny and amazing party and it lasted until late!!!

Ok…that’s enough for today…write to you soon

Besos

Vally

news fron California..

Hello Folks!

How are you doing?

Here everything is going very well!

There are several stuff that I would like to share with you and the matter is that I don’t know exactly where to start!
Last time I wrote you was before the Spring Break (end of march, beginning of april).
For that period we had a week off and we planned to move toward the South of California! Angela, a friend of mine from Italy (one of my best friends who "lived" with me the years of University overcoming together small and huge difficulties!!), joined Emanuele (my Sardinian flat mate) and me in this adventure!
We drove all along the coast on the “highway 1”. What’s wonderful view!!
We did the “17miles drive” a nice private road among unbelievable mansions, beaches, woods and golf courses.

We stopped also in san Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara where we rented a funny bike for driving on the path near the beach!

Then we moved to Santa Monica (where we got lost in the middle of a film set on the Pier), and to LA, where we met Miguel, Spaniard Fulbright scholar, known in march at the Fulbright seminar in San Francisco (thanks Miguel, you have been a really professional guide!!!!).

Finally we drove to San Diego(is pretty drive in the LA nearby!!!) where we met Elisabetta e Valentina (I was missing them so much!!) and Chiara,a friend of Elisabetta from Italy.

On Saturday night we flew back to San Jose, on Sunday Angela left and on Monday our”normal life” started again! I don’t think that we could define a really normal life the experience we are living here in these six months!
Anyway, we started the spring quarter and we are attending three courses. These are very interesting and focused on the reason why we are here! In fact, among these course(strategic marketing and accounting) we are attending a Business Planning course customize just for us! It’s both interesting and very challenging! First of all because we are only five students, that is to say that the professor could really help each one of us in our specific project (and also it means that you have to pay attention every single second!!!??). Moreover the final aim of this course is to create the business plan of our scientific project and to prepare ourselves for the famous Elevator Pitch!!!!

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator)

Concerning my internship, they keep me pretty busy and everyday there are new stuff to learn!!! It’s so great!

I think I’ve done for this time, trying to bring you up to date!!

See you soon
Cheers!!!!
Micol

BOOTING A NEW QUARTER UP!

Hi folks!

Good news from the Valley!

Spring Break has finished...

and the new quarter finally came and all of us are again fighting for the everyday life, while trying to meet all our commitments.

Moreover, compared to the previous quarter we are going deeper in our internships so it's getting harder and harder, guys!

But anyway we are pretty much happy with it because every day we can learn new things.

I'm getting to the hearth of my internship with BIOIDENT.

BIOIDENT Technologies is a technology leader in the development of printed semiconductor based photonic lab-on-a-chip solutions for the life science market. The company’s core technology utilizes the latest breakthroughs in science and nanotechnology to create the BIOIDENT PhotonicLab™ platform. The BIOIDENT platform is used to produce the world’s first disposable photonic lab-on-a-chip solution for next generation mobile analytics applications such as water and food analysis, chemical and biological agent detection, and point-of-care diagnostics.

Basically I'm asked to organize a business plan competition and to do market research in their field, namely organic semiconductor sensors.

How to Reduce Global Warming and Make Humans Omnipresent Using Virtual Worlds

Hi everybody,

I’m back, sorry to not have written a lot lately,
but I have had to fight hard to find and choose the best internship and finally I made it.
Did I miss You?
I hope so…in any case I’m now back…
On Thursday I went to one of the most interesting conference I’ve attended since I’m here titled:
- How to Reduce Global Warming and Make Humans Omnipresent Using Virtual Worlds -

PARC Forum: George E. Pake Auditorium, Palo Alto, CA , USA

The Forum was focus on Virtual Worlds, past, present, and future, it began with a live demo of a virtual world application to illustrate concepts and capabilities. Than David discuss the history and current state of applications based on virtual world technology. The discussion of the future presented a vision of how virtual worlds may develop, including how interconnected virtual worlds could someday evolve into a 3D Internet that will allow people to make a quantum leap in how they communicate and collaborate and will fundamentally change the nature of society, redefining the norm for human interaction. The Forum concluded with a presentation of technical challenges that must be resolved for this vision to be realized.

The speaker Dave Rolston has more than 35 years of experience in high tech. His experience spans a broad spectrum of industries, applications, and technologies including simulation and training, graphics applications, imagery, gaming, artificial intelligence, entertainment, and the early Internet. During his career, Dave has performed in various roles, including technical, business, operational, and general management assignments. Before Forterra, Dave served as VP of Engineering for ATI, responsible for design of graphics chips that drive many of the world's PC's and game consoles. Prior to joining ATI, Dave was CEO of MultiGen-Paradigm, which produces foundational software and content development for the visual simulation industry. After MultiGen-Paradigm was acquired by Computer Associates, Dave served as a Senior VP, managing MultiGen-Paradigm, Viewpoint, and other content-development organizations. Before MultiGen-Paradigm, he worked for Silicon Graphics, starting as the Director of Marketing and later serving as GM of the Advanced Graphics Division. Prior to SGI Dave was a divisional GM of TRW subsidiary ESL, developing applications mostly for the defense and intelligence community. Earlier in Dave's career, he was a Honeywell, Inc., engineering fellow, responsible for corporate activity in artificial intelligence. Dave has a BS in civil engineering, MS in industrial engineering, and PhD in computer science with emphasis in simulation and artificial intelligence. Dave is a registered professional engineer and has taught engineering at several universities and served with several engineering industry consortiums. He holds several patents, has published a large number of technical papers and a best-selling book on artificial intelligence.

We also have had an interesting conversation at the end of the event!!

Me and Divid

Me and Steve

Next Week we will have the finals Exams so now I must go to study!

C U soon
Abramo

BTW: On the way back I also found a new road sign, never seen before!!!!
Have you ever seen it before?

You must "cross the chasm"

Hello everybody!

Just wanted to say

to you all and to the old quarter that has almost gone away...

Now we have to cross the line and then, immediately we'll be starting a new competion, the next quarter!!!

We are going to attend three classes on the next quarter. Among these is a very customized (just five of us!) class that will be focused mainly on how to prepare an appealing business plan.

The classes will be taken by Mr. Guillaume Decitre.

He's French but he has been living in California together with his family in the next 9 years. He's a venture capitalist.

He's really a nice person. We had french/italian breakfast with him while going through the syllabus... Europe sweet Europe...

He suggested us that we should read the book "Crossing the chasm" [by Geoffrey Moore] before our classes start .

Moore's basic thesis works off this picture:

The area of each segment corresponds roughly to the number of people who fit its profile.

The technology enthusiasts are the sort of people who jigger the microwave so they can cook their hands to "see what it feels like". (I know someone who did that. He said it feels weird.)

Visionaries are less oriented to exploration, more to exploitation. They are people who see breakthrough potential in some technology and are willing to brave hell and high water to realize that potential. From the vendor's point of view, the nice thing about both groups is that they're not too bothered by the fact that the product doesn't work. They're willing to make it work.

Pragmatists want a product that works. They are not interested in debugging it. They want to be able to hire people who've used it. They want to find books about it in the bookstore. If there's customization that's needed, they want to find third parties who can do it. Better yet, they want to buy third-party packages written for people just like them. In short, they don't just want a product. They want a 100% solution to their business problem. If they get the 80% that delighted the visionary, they feel cheated, and they tell their pragmatist friends.

Conservatives buy products because they really have no choice. They want products that are cheap and do their job as unobtrusively as possible. They are not reassured by the existence of books about the product, because it implies the product isn't simple enough to use.
Skeptics are not going to buy, though they may talk other people out of buying.

Technology adoption is supposed to go from left to right. The technology enthusiasts fiddle with a technology to discover if it's real. If it is, they tell the visionaries. The visionaries then will pass the good word on to the pragmatists. When you're the market leader among the pragmatists, you're finally making the money you promised in your business plan. You also have enough volume and experience that your products are cheap enough and undemanding enough for the conservatives. The skeptics can remain in their cabins in the woods.
The problem dealt with in Crossing the Chasm is that the visionaries aren't in fact good references for the pragmatists. They provide tales of heroics - not stories of smooth, predictable adoption. Pragmatists want references from other pragmatists. (Think about it: if your goal in life, like mine, is to do as little lawn work as possible while avoiding the censure of your neighbors, who do you ask for advice? The person who's out there every weekend tending their gorgeous lawn, or the person you never see?) Pragmatists want a safe buy from the market leader - but there isn't one yet. Crossing the Chasm is about getting the first toehold in the pragmatist market.

Thanks Guillaume for such an interesting and stimulating reading!

See you on April 2nd!

Emanuele

my first week..

Hello guys,

how are you doing?

I'm good and I'm going to tell you about.....

MY FIRST WORKING WEEK!!!

I started my internship last monday at Panomics Inc., a biotech company located in Fremont.

I was so excited because is was not only my first working week but also my first work experience!!

As I told you the first time I posted this blog, I took my master degree last november and after that I moved here. I mean, I worked in the lab for one year performing my thesis project but I was still a student!

Now I entered the real working world!

When I was a kid(not a long time ago?!), I believed that this "strange place" in the world called "the Silicon Valley" was a sort of fictional world! I was not able to figure out what kind of place it could be! But now I'm here and I started working here, in this"strange place" and everything is real, everything exists!

I usually go to work at 8.00am by car and even if there's a lot of traffic on the freeway in the morning (it's the rush hour!) because everyone here in california has a car (at least one?!), is so nice drive early in the morning, listening to the radio and looking at the landscape around!

Before starting I'm getting into the habit of having a huge cup of American coffee, setting in my pretty cubical and then..let's the day start!

I'm having a great experience, both exciting and challenging and I'm learning a huge amount of things trying to do my best!

I met a lot of people during this week, people coming from all over the world, and everyone was so nice saying me "Welcome on board!". That feels nice!

First off all I think that for being able to do your best you have to feel good, and I'm feeling like this!

The week passed so fast!

Tomorrow is monday and another week is starting and I feel like starting!

Before saying you goodbye..

just a small gift to "Italy" and especially to Lu and Bella....from "Pierino la Peste"

See you soon guys!!

Micol

US capital and Italian heart: a successful story...

Hello folks!

welcome back..last night I didn't write my weekly part to this blog, because we went to the SVIEC event in Athenarton, at the Libraros' house.

It was one of the periodical events organized by Mr Jeff Capaccio for the SVIEC members. SVIEC is the Silicon Valley Italian Executive Council, a group of Italian and Italian-American technology executives,who meet together on an informal basis to network, socialize and stay current on issues relating to technology, the law, government and public policy.
http://www.carrferrell.com/about/sviec.html

As a special group of technology executives within the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), and for strengthening the ever increasing cultural and economic ties between Italy and the U.S., SVIEC hosts bi-monthly gatherings where its members can meet other Italian and Italian American technology executives from the San Francisco Bay area, as well as hear from highly-influential guest speakers on a variety of compelling topics.

Speaker invited yesterday was Mr Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO of Funambol, who held a very interesting presentation titled:

"Mobile Open Source and the Funambol Model: US Capital and Italian Heart"

Last January the editors of American Venture Magazine appointed Fabrizio Capobianco one of the top 40 technology executives, venture capitalists, inventors and philanthropists under the age of 40 who are driving new growth in the industry. Capobianco was recognized for his vision to put mobile email and other mobile data services on commodity phones by tapping a global community of developers. It has been a real pleasure to meet him and to know that a so young entrepreneur (and most of all an italian one) has been aknowledged by an american review!!!

And last, but not least, before listening to the presentation, we enjoyed a great dinner prepared by one of the most popular italian restaurant in Palo Alto, La Strada. Moreover, there was some great italian wine and coffee!!! Most of all, however, it has been a unique opportunity of networking, where we had the chance to know some of the most influential executives of the valley!

SVIEC meeting: with us, Mr Jeff Capaccio, SVIEC founder

...we hope to join next meeting as well, so that we can let you know about other challenging and successful ITALIAN stories....

See you soon...

Yours,

Elizabeth

Entrepreneurship Week at Stanford University: Opening Ceremony!!!

Hi guys,


today I would like to tell you about our visit at Stanford University!!!
The campus is very huge...and it would have been very nice to go around it...unfortunally Saturday was a raining day...so we couldn't have a trip around this wonderful campus!!!



On Saturday, February 24th, there was the "Opening Ceremony and Launch Party" of the

Speaker Line-Up:

* John Hennessy, President, Stanford University
* Carl Schramm, President CEO, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
* Steve Jurvetson, Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

The President of Stanford, Mr. Hennessy spoke about what makes Stanford University such a successful Entrepreneurhip center:

1) Develop the willingness to approach problems in a high innovative way!

2) Freedom to Pursue ideas and dreams!

3) Community that embraces change and challenge people!

4) Has a lot of young people who sees a glass half full and not half empty!

5) Willingness to take on challenge in building unique team of people, innovators and entrepreneurs!!

After the prsentations, they spoke about the Challenge Competition:

The challenge is to use an everyday object - A PAD OF 100 3"x3" POST-ITS - to create as much "value" as possible

"Value can be measured in many different ways... How will you measure it?
Tap into your entrepreneurial spirit... Get your creative juices flowing... And, create as much value as possible!
To be successful you will need to challenge assumptions, seize opportunities, and be creative!"

Unfortunately, we can't partecipate to this Competition because it is only for Stanford Students...but it will be interesting to see what they are going to create!!!!

I'll let you know....

The Fulbright Girls at Stanford in front of The Electrical Engineering Building

See you soon

Cheers,

Vally

HELLO EVERYBODY!
How are you?
I fell all right!
Last week I took my E-Commerce mid term exam and it was great to have the possibility to put myself through the hoops!!

But….after this labour of Hercules (?!?!?) we needed some days off ..as my room mates told you!
Anyway, even if hanging around in these beautiful places is so nice, on Thursday we started working again, attending classes and doing networking!

In fact yesterday we went to a seminar in Berkeley.

The seminar, managed by the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum and hosted by the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/forum.asp), was about:
"Your Brain in Ten Years—New Startups Advancing Technologies to Keep Your Brain Healthy and Happy, and to Enhance its Abilities"
The speakers invited belong to different companies involved in Neurotechnology that is to say that their aim is to create drugs, devices and therapies to help ensure your “brain’s future health”.
These speaker were:
John Doback, M.D., Founder of Innercool therapies, the technology leader in temperature control therapy.
Zack Lynch, Founder of Neurotechnology Industry Organization, a non-profit trade organization that represents a broad spectrum of companies involved in Neurotechnology.
David Summa, CEO of Acumen Pharmaceuticals, a pre-clinical drug development company that is developing the first effective therapeutics and diagnostics that prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Jeff Zimman, CEO of Posit Science Corporation which provides “Brain Fitness Program”, a series of computer-based exercises that are scientifically proven to improve important brain functions.
And finally the Moderator Jim Glasheen who joined Technology Partners from CIT Venture Capital, where he served as Managing Director, leading the Group's efforts in Life Science investing.

This seminar was very useful to better understand the relevance of this field of study, investment requirements, research and development challenges and regulatory milestones, the Neurotechnology industry should face.

After the seminar since fitness isn’t just about your body but is also about your brain and your heart we were invited from some friends of us for dinner! Max is a really good cook and he prepared for us a delicious Italian pasta!!!thanks Max and Ale..we felt at home!!

See you later guys!!
Micol

On the crest of a wave...

Hello guys!

welcome back...today is a sad rainy day...we don't feel like being in California :-(

Anyway last week end we went to Capitola, an intimate beach village tucked in a river valley in Santa Cruz County on the Monterey Bay. The City’s wharf and riverside areas remind one of a village in France or perhaps a Mediterranean coast in Italy...we really met a piece of our beloved country over there..and actually it was so sunny that people were on the beach just tanning and surfing..and it's only February!!!

A surf board on every car...
Then, after the longer week end due to the President's Day, lessons started again on Tuesday: we have received results of the mid-term exams and we are pretty satisfied! Yesterday, we attended a seminar of the SC leadership lecture series.
www.scu.edu/business/sc-leadership-lectures
It was held by Ms Peg Wynn, senior vice president of Human Resources at Adobe Systems Incorporated. She manages the recruitment, development, compensation and benefits programs for more than 5000 emplyees wordwide!!! She's super! Moreover, before joining Adobe, she had several experiences in consulting, strategic planning and management. Starting from her background she focused on 10 main principles which describe leaders virtues....and that I want to share with you..

1) Change and adapt..or you'll rust!
2) You can weather any storm with a good team!
3) What you have in your mind will shape your future!
4) Build a portfolio of skills
5) Get outside your comfort zone
6)Be hold or go home. Be willing to upset the status quo
7)Challenge people to be their best
8)Know when it's time to leave
9) Figure out a way to have it all!
10)Pursue your dream!

I have really appreciated these suggestions, I found them so interesting and concrete, mostly because for each of them, she told us about a related personal experience she faced. I am sure you will enjoy them as well...

Now I have to run because Kevin (http://www.scu.edu/business/cie/about/mngmnt/)
is waiting for us for our weekly meeting!!!


See you all later,


Yours



Elizabeth