S4GEO 05.13.26 - Patrick Ennis "A Fireside Chat"

Speaker: Patrick Ennis Venture Partner, Madrona Venture In this fireside chat, we'll explore the international character of VC: where LP capital actually comes from, how funds think about investing overseas, and how investors model sovereign risk for portfolios and more. We'll also step back to ask how historically unusual the VC model is in the first place and contrast how venture functions in the US versus abroad. Patrick has decades of experience as a scientist, engineer, and venture capitalist. He currently is a Venture Partner at Madrona Ventures in Seattle. In the last two decades, Patrick has spent more than 2,000 days abroad developing relationships and conducting business in 31 countries. Previously, Patrick was at Intellectual Ventures (IV) where he lead global incubation and startup creation. Patrick was also the founding CTO of Xinova, an IV spinout that pioneered an international open-innovation network. Before IV, he was a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners where he funded and built startups emanating from universities and national labs. Prior to joining the venture capital industry as a Kauffman Fellow in 1998, he held several positions at Bell Labs and AT&T. Before joining Bell Labs, Patrick conducted research in Nuclear Physics in North America and Europe. He published many articles in scientific journals including The Physical Review and Zeitschrift für Physik. Patrick has served on many corporate, educational, and non-profit boards; current memberships include Wipro, Tangibly, Yoodli and the Lockheed Martin Technical Advisory Group. Patrick has a PhD in Physics from Yale, an MBA from Wharton, and a BS in Mathematics from the College of William and Mary where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.