Ronald Conway Headshot.

Investor shows how to find the right idea in tough times

By: Stephanie Vallejo

Posted: 2/23/09

A crowd of more than 250 people attended the "Investing in Turbulent Times" seminar with guest speaker Ronald Conway, an investor and SJSU alumnus.

"It was really informative. It opened my eyes how new businesses are made and formed," said Alejandro Cuadra, an alumnus who graduated last year with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Conway spoke to students, alumni and entrepreneurs about investing their money and the characteristics they should look for when deciding with whom to invest.

"If you don't have an idea, find an engineer who has an idea and become the business person and the product visionary for that idea," he said. "If you can't think of an idea, go hang out where there are people who are thinking about ideas. I would do it at the school of engineering."

After 45 minutes of speaking, Conway opened the seminar for questions. Student Huong Van Tran asked Conway how an entrepreneur can grow his or her business.

"(Conway) said the entrepreneur should look for ways to do the marketing without spending money, like word of mouth," the business administration graduate student said.

Bac Tran, a senior corporate financial management student, said he thought the speaker gave helpful tips for students about to graduate.

"He taught me about investment skills, the current financial crisis and more stuff I need to know as a student in finance," Tran said.

Andy Manoske, a senior economics and computer science double major, said most of what Conway said can be learned in an intermediate economics class. He said he went to the workshop to hear the opinions of students from different colleges.

"It's more about seeing what other students are thinking about what's going on in the economy and how that shapes what the actual market is for new ideas at San Jose State," Manoske said.

As an angel investor, who Conway said is a person who invests his or her money in early-stage companies, Conway said he puts down at least $50,000 to $100,000 of his own money into new companies.

"To be an angel you need to have a couple hundred thousand dollars to invest so you can invest it across four or five companies," he said. "Get a loan or try and find other angel investors who would invest in that. Then you give them a piece of the ownership of the company in exchange for them giving you some of their money."

Some of the companies Conway has invested in include Google, Facebook, Photobucket and PayPal.

Swati Jain, a business administration graduate student, said she does not plan to be an entrepreneur but still thinks the information Conway provided was helpful.

"I'd rather work for a company and have less headaches and less responsibility on my plate," she said. "But it's always good to know what entrepreneurs should have and what investors look for. Any knowledge is good knowledge."

Elizabeth Tseng, a business administration graduate student, said what she will take away from the seminar is choosing an entrepreneur who finds a practical solution to a practical need.

"It was interesting to hear an investor's perspective especially now since it's hard for everyone to find a job," she said. "The message that stood out to me most is cater to a need out there."

Conway also gave his views on the current state of the economy. He said that although he has seen four major recessions since he graduated in 1970, he has high hopes for Silicon Valley.

"I am an eternal optimist," he said. "We are absolutely going to come out of this economy. I think Silicon Valley is going to come out of the recession stronger than ever, just like we came out of the dot-com bust."

He encouraged students in the crowd to take an accounting class no matter their major.

"While there's a lot of things you learn in college that you don't use forever, there's a lot of business classes that you will use forever," said Conway, who graduated with a degree in political science.

Ali Hasan, a junior business major, said he liked the fact that the speaker was an SJSU alumnus.

"This workshop gave a lot of promise to those investors who want to be entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs not just business students," he said. "He opened my eyes to what the picture would look like for someone graduating from San Jose State and it helps he's alumnus himself."

Conway's last piece of advice: "Persistence pays."