NEW YORK, March 3, 2011 – Goodwin Procter LLP, a national Am Law 50 firm, will host “MESA Presents: Social Commerce,” a forum featuring a panel discussion by CEOs, founders and top executives of five successful social commerce companies on Tuesday, March 15 at Goodwin’s New York offices. The event will bring together more than 100 start-up executives, angel investors and venture capitalists to debate and discuss the impact of social media interaction and user contributions on the future of e-commerce. The panel will be moderated by Paul Noglows, managing director of MESA, a leading strategic and financial advisory firm specializing in media and entertainment finance. This is the second conference in the “MESA Presents” series.
Panel participants are:
- John Bax, CFO, LivingSocial
- Andrew Ferenci, CEO, Spinback
- Manish Goyal, CEO, Friendbuy
- Cecilia Pagkalinawan, CEO, StyleTrek
- Vinicius Vacanti, CEO, Yipit
Goodwin partner Stephen Davis will also speak at the event. Davis, a partner in the firm’s Technologies Practice Group, has represented clients in transactions ranging from start-up financings to billion-dollar-plus transactions. Located in Goodwin’s New York City office, Davis has advised technology and life science clients in sectors including software, Internet infrastructure, web applications and services, wireless technologies, biotech, energy and clean tech.
Venture capital firm Maveron is also a sponsor of the event.
The Social Commerce forum is by invitation only and will be held at the offices of Goodwin Procter, The New York Times Building, 620 Eighth Avenue, 26th Floor, New York City on March 15 from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, followed by a cocktail networking hour.
Founded in 2003, MESA is a leading boutique merchant bank focused exclusively on media and entertainment industry transactions. Leveraging experience across investment banking, entertainment and content financing, and strategy consulting, MESA is uniquely positioned to help companies navigate the rapidly evolving industry landscape and achieve their financial and strategic goals. With expertise in all areas of media and entertainment, MESA advises a broad range of traditional and digital media companies involved in the creation and distribution of content. Led by founding partners Jerome Levy, Mark Patricof and Brian Richards, MESA has advised on more than $2 billion of transactions since its inception and has offices in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. For more information about MESA, visit www.mesaglobal.com.
Maveron is a leading venture capital firm founded by Dan Levitan and Howard Schultz with offices in Seattle and San Francisco. Maveron’s mission is to help exceptional entrepreneurs build great consumer businesses. Current representative Maveron investments include fast-growing consumer companies, such as Potbelly Sandwich Works, zulily, Kwedit, Altius Education, Pinkberry and Livemocha, and powering technology companies, such as VideoEgg. Monetized investments include eBay, Capella Education Company, Shutterfly, Cranium (acquired by Hasbro), Qsent (acquired by TransUnion), Good Technology (acquired by Motorola) and lucy activewear (acquired by VF Corporation). Maveron has approximately $750 million under management and 23 active portfolio companies nationwide. For more information about Maveron, visit www.maveron.com.
About Goodwin Procter
Goodwin Procter LLP is one of the nation’s leading law firms, with offices in Boston, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The firm provides corporate law and litigation services, with a focus on matters involving real estate, REITs and real estate capital markets; private equity; technology companies; financial services; intellectual property; products liability and mass torts; and securities litigation and white collar defense. Information may be found at www.goodwinprocter.com.