This is a past event. Registration is closed. View other YCP Silicon Valley events.
Duke Powers
Founder of PARAGON TechnicalDuke was born in1960 in Summit New Jersey. He was one of five children at the time and the family later grew to 8. At age 6 months he and the family move to Kailua Hawaii. Duke attended grammar school St John Vianney and later went on to attend Punahou High School in Honolulu.
Duke earned 3 varsity football letters and 2 varsity letters as a track pole vaulter. Duke graduated from St Mary’s College of California with a degree in accounting. Back in 1982 Duke decided to leave the accounting world and try his hand in Silicon Valley at the Semiconductor sales. His 3 older brothers were in that business and doing very well.
On the family front, Duke married wife Cathy in 1989 and they remained happily married to this date. They were blessed with 3 children Allie, Luke and John.
At a very early age of 24 years old Duke decided to become a semiconductor manufactures Rep. The 100% commission stakes were very high and the payoff if you were smart and extremely hardworking. After 13 years with one of the leading Reps in Silicon Valley he decided to leave that company to start a competing rep company called PARAGON Technical with 2 other partners. Within 3 years PARAGON Technical became one of the top five reps in all of No California. Today PARAGON employs 18 employees and remains a private company with topline sales > 500 Million.
Over the past 15 years Duke has been very involved with the works of the Order of Malta (annual pilgrimages to Lourdes or Guadalupe, soup kitchens, member leadership), St Simon’s Parish and Legionary Cupertino retreat center facilities project management, Eucharistic Ministry at El Camino Hospital and prison ministry at San Quinten State Prison and young adult career and goal mentoring.
Rodrigo Sánchez Servitje
Managing Partner at B37 VenturesRodrigo is a Managing Partner at B37 Ventures. B37 partners with multinational corporations to invest in Silicon Valley and Implement Innovation into their operations. B37 currently manages USD $130 Million having deployed capital successfully for the past 10 years.
Rodrigo is passionate about innovation and how it can positively change people’s lives. Having been an investment professional for the last 20 years he has invested on behalf of and represent some of the world’s most recognized business leaders. He considers that being a bridge between pioneering entrepreneurs and smart money is both a privilege and a great responsibility.
Having worked in many fields, including Venture Capital, Investment Banking and Marketing, in projects both in the United States and Mexico, Rodrigo’s functional experience has been building and managing an investment pipeline, coordinating analysis and due diligence processes, as well as strategy development and implementation for Small and Medium Enterprises.
Rodrigo is a UT Austin MBA, Anahuac University Economist and a Kauffman Fellow.