The Computer Science Colloquium

Jim Robinson IV
(RRE Ventures)

"When a venture capital company gets interested in a technology"

    RRE Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in new technologies, including software and communications companies. We will describe the process, including when a venture capital company gets interested in a technology and some of the reasons for failure and success. We will describe the NYC industry and the west coast industry and how the NYC industry can build itself. We will encourage all of you to become entrepreneurs.

Bio:
Mr. Robinson is a Managing Partner of RRE Ventures. He has been active within the technology community for over twenty years as a venture capital investor, banker and entrepreneur. Since co-founding RRE in late 1994, Mr. Robinson has been responsible for nearly thirty technology investments, and currently serves as Director of Enpirion (power systems semiconductors), iCrossing (online marketing technology), Mixed Signals (digital broadcast monitoring), OpenPeak (home control systems), Orchestria (enterprise compliance software), SmartPay Jieyin (mobile payments in China), Vocera (wireless communications systems), WisdomTree (developer of indexes/ETFs), and is Chairman of Vivre (luxury brand catalog and internet retailer).

While earning his dual degree in Computer Science and Business Administration at Antioch College during the early 1980's, Mr. Robinson worked as a programmer developing networking software for state government, and later founded and was President of IV Systems Inc., a firm that created custom applications for Unix workstations. In 1986, Mr. Robinson joined JP Morgan & Company, where he spent four years working on technology-related assignments, first within the Global Exposure Management group building risk management systems, and later as an investment banker in the Corporate Finance group. Mr. Robinson earned an MBA from Harvard in 1992, and subsequently joined Hambrecht& Quist Venture Capital in San Francisco. While at H & Q he led investments primarily within the software and communications sectors, and served as a General Partner in several investments for the firm.

Mr. Robinson is involved in several non-profit endeavors, serving on the Board of Directors of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, The New York Software Industry Association (NYSIA), the New York City Investment Fund's Information Technology Group, and as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Association on Drug Abuse Problems. Mr. Robinson joined the Young President's Organization in 1999, and is a member of the Economic Club of New York.

The Colloquium is supported by generous contributions from the Bloomberg, Information Builders, Inc., and Netlogic, Inc.