December Venture Breakfast
Valuing the Opportunity & Building the Team: Bringing Major League Soccer to Seattle

December 14, 2007

When: Friday, December 14, 2007 7 - 9 am
Early-Bird Networking begins at 6:30 am

Where: Harbor Club , Bellevue

Speaker: Adrian Hanauer, Owner of the Seattle Sounders and Founder of Museum Quality Framing

What You Will Learn:
Adrian Hanauer is the owner of the Seattle Sounders (www.seattlesounders.net ), currently the only professional soccer team in Seattle. The Seattle Sounders are one of the oldest and most storied organizations in the United Soccer League (USL) First Division. In the season just concluded, the Sounders won the championship (their fourth), of the USL First Division. For some time Adrian has been working to bring the “big leagues” to Seattle by securing a Seattle franchise from Major League Soccer (MLS). To do this he has had to build an ownership group and lead that group in the process of valuing what the opportunity is for an MLS team in the Seattle market. Come hear Adrian talk about his experiences in getting the deal done, about how sports franchises are valued and what lessons were transferable from his other experiences building profitable businesses such as Museum Quality Framing, Curious Office and Pacific Coast Feather Company.

Adrian Hanauer
Adrian has over 15 years of business experience in a variety of industries. Mr. Hanauer has invested in numerous early stage technology companies in gaming, advertising, infrastructure, and wireless communications and was a seed stage investor in aQuantive Inc. (NASDAQ: AQNT), the largest interactive advertising company. He was also an early investor in Amazon.com. Hanauer also brings a great deal of “brick and mortar” business success. The Hanauer family owns the nation’s largest pillow and bedding product manufacturing company as well as a chain of picture framing stores that has grown to 60 stores and three divisions in the United States. In 2001, Adrian became co-owner and managing partner of the Seattle Sounders - a professional soccer franchise. Hanauer is involved in many organizations in Seattle and sits on the advisory board of The University of Washington Intercollegiate Sports Master’s Degree Program. He also is on the Board of Trustees for the Museum of History and Industry.


PRESENTATION SLIDES

Puget Sound Business Journal Write-up by Cheryl Isen