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Make It or Break It: Why Hot Startups Fail

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Many entrepreneurs are at the "make it or break it" point right now. By year four or five, you’re no longer a hot startup; you’re a business that investors expect to make money and break out – or get gone. (Hello Google/Facebook acq-hire.) We'll talk to entrepreneurs who have been there and the investors who fund them about what companies are at the tipping point, and what the secret sauce is that lets some ventures thrive while others collapse. Expect war stories.

Presenters

Laurie Segall Tech reporter CNNMoney

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Megan Quinn Business Prod Mgr Google

Megan is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers where she focuses on consumer Internet investments. She specializes in designing, building and scaling transformative consumer products and companies.

Megan joined KPCB from Square, the company revolutionizing payments for buyers and sellers. As Square’s director of products she led strategy and development of the company’s products across merchant and consumer audiences.

Prior to that, Megan spent seven years at Google where she held various leadership positions in communications, business development and product management. She oversaw the development and marketing of some of the company’s most successful products, including Google Maps. Her team’s work continues to serve as the foundation for Google’s location-based consumer and advertising products.

Megan also previously worked at Genentech. She received her degree in political science and history from Stanford University.

Shervin Pishevar Managing Dir Menlo Ventures

Tristan Walker Entrepreneur in Residence at Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz