The VC/PE Interviews Blog

Thomas (Yong-il) Ahn is the founder and CEO of Mad Ventures, Inc. and directs the overall vision and operation of the company. He is an active entrepreneur, an expert in technology research and also in nurturing technology start-ups. Thomas has successfully incubated several IT companies in Korea including Mobile Culture, iCity and Acrotech. Prior to Mad Ventures, he was a venture capitalist with Hanmi Technology Investment and has taught various topics in entrepreneurship at the Korean Venture Capital Institute. He holds a B.Sc degree from POSTECH in Korea and a B.Com degree from the University of Victoria in Canada.

Yaron Bazaz: Hi Thomas, How did you find yourself involved with Venture Capital activities?

Thomas (Yong-il) Ahn: “During the B.Com program at UVic, students are required to have a industry internship of one year (co-op). I was fortunate to find a position at a small Korean conglomerate - Wonik Group which placed me into their newly opened division called the “Strategic Planning Team”. After starting from the absolute bottom of the corporate ladder (I got to know the photocopier very very well), I soon found myself flying around the world working on multi-million dollar negotiation deals for the company.

After my internship was over, I went back to UVic to graduate and I was offered a formal full time job at Wonik. Since I knew how much work was involved in taking a job at Wonik, I asked for an outrageous amount of money. I was surprised that Wonik accepted my pay increase of more than 2X what I was getting, but quickly found out that I was now getting a higher compensation than any of my own supervisors. Fortunately, Wonik had acquired a venture capital firm - Hanmi Technology Investment Co. and could place me where they could support my salary. The moral of the story? Sometimes GREED pays!”

Y.B: Based in Victoria, BC you are the owner and manager of an early stage fund called the MAD Ventures. What distinguish your fund from other early stage funds in the western Canada/ US Pacific Northwest area?     Read more »»

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Gadi Toren has been with Partech International for about a year, after spending 2 years in private investment activities and 6 years with Apax Partners & Co in Israel and London. After completing his military service as a helicopter pilot, Gadi worked at Elbit Systems as head of the product management group for 6 years. He has a BA in economics and management at Tel Aviv University and an MBA from INSEAD. Gadi and his wife have a 4.5 years old son and live in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Partech International     Gadi’s Linkedin Profile

Yaron Bazaz: Hi Gadi, You were the Head of the Product Management Group at Elbit. How did you find yourself involved with Venture Capital activities?

Gadi Toren:
“One of the reasons for leaving my position at Elbit was to branch out of the defense electronics world that, in a sense, was an extension of my army career. I decided to go to an international business school in order to open a wider playing field of options, both in terms of geography and sector.”

“VC offered at the time (and still does) a diverse and dynamic area that combined my interests in technology, on the one hand, and in business. I find VC to combine analytical, personal, technical and business skills in a unique blend.”

Y.B: What lead Partech international to establish local branch in Israel at 2002?

Gadi Toren: “Partech started its ‘life’ as an international organization, acting as the technology investment arm of a French bank in the US. Soon after Partech was bought out by its management team and became a ‘typical’ venture fund, it branched out and started investing in Europe by opening an office in Paris. The partners at Partech have all had international experience and as such, Jean Marc Patouillaud, the partner who set up the Paris office has had a very successful track record with investments in Israel.     Read more »»

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Bart Stuck is the Managing Director of Signal Lake, an early stage Venture Capital Fund which focuses on Broadband Telecom and Networking Infrastructure. Signal Lake, located in Boston MA & Westport CT, was founded in 1998. Prior to that, from 1984-1998 he served as the Managing Director of Business Strategies LLC, a consultancy involved with 450+ client engagements and over $60B+ in capital placements.
From 1993 to 1998, Bart Stuck invested in 24 companies over $350K and generated over $16M in return. first round investor in Ciena, Covad, Torrent Networks, Tegic, and moving Uniphase into telecoms to create JDSUniphase. From 1972-1984 he was with Bell Laboratories. He holds the degrees of ScD, SMEE, and SBEE, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA. He was on the Global Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, 2004-2006.

Yaron Bazaz: Hi Bart, how did you find yourself involved with venture capital activities?

Bart Stuck:
“While at MIT I was in Amar Bose’ group and offered job at Bose Corporation. MIT alumni have created many companies over the years, and were involved in the first venture capital fund after WWII - American Research and Development (Doriot). Bob Metcalfe, Co-Inventor of Ethernet, is a classmate of minewho founded 3COM; I reconnected with him when he and I were involved in Local Area Network Standards in the early eighties, and many companies were started up then that i was engages with.”

“While at Bell Labs I met with Wall Street analysts re industry trends and new IPOs. I advised many funds on investment opportunities during the period of 1984-1998.often I would be asked - “would you put your money in this deal?” so I asked “COULD I INVEST ?”, and from 1993-1998 I invested $350K into 24 companies that returned $16M+, 760% IRR per year, original investor in Ciena (with Sevin Rosen), in Covad (with Warburg Pincus), in Torrent Networks (with Columbia Capital) and many other funds and companies.”     Read more »»

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