Eric Olson, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Portage Venture Partners, Tech Cocktail
Chicago New Media Summit : Monday, September 15th, 2008 : 11:30 am : Funding Technology
The Talk: Uncertainty and Startups
Bio: Eric Olson is Draper Fisher Jurvetson Portage Venture Partners' first Associate. His responsibilities include sourcing deals and working on due diligence. Prior to DFJ Portage Olson worked in Partner Development at Google and in Business Development for DFJ Portage backed startup FeedBurner which was acquired by Google in June 2007. Olson started his career as an analyst at Cambridge Associates in Boston, MA where he focused on alternative assets and particularly Venture Capital. In his spare time Olson is one half the founding duo of TECH cocktail, a quarterly networking event for technology people in Chicago and the Midwest, which draws in 500+ of the best Midwest entrepreneurs each quarter. Eric also volunteers at World Bicycle Relief where he advises on web strategy. Olson holds a B.S. in Finance with a minor in Information Technology from Bentley College (magna cum laude).
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Portage Venture Partners
On CNMS: My hope for the CNMS is that the summit will shine a light on all of the great new media goings on in Chicago. Chicago is absolutely a new media player and the summit will allow others to recognize that and will bring all of the new media talent in Chicago together.
On Eric: "The fact that DFJ Portage picked up Eric shouldn't be a good indicator of how brilliant and energetic and connected and driven Eric is. Not at all. I knew him wayyyy back in April 2006, when he was with the plucky startup, FeedBurner, and wiring up tons of relationships between content publishers and advertisers. Eric had a perfect ability to be humble, friendly, approachable, and yet business-savvy enough to sort the wheat from the chaff. Everything that has come between then and now all magically slots into Eric's powerful ability to transform passion for ideas and people into insight for business and future trends. What Eric watches, I look into as well. What he shares his passions about, I investigate. Watch this man. Stay close, and bring him into your world as soon as possible, because he's going all the way to the top." - Chris Brogan (new media superstar)