Last time I spoke with Jim Hogan, a couple of months ago, he was excited about his investments in companies outside of EDA, clearly signaling that he believed that EDA had reached the end of the loving relationship with the venture capital group.

To be sure the opportunity to help create another Synopsys is non-existent, and even to reach an end of the investment road like Apache requires more work and time than most VC's are willing to spend.

So it is interesting that Steve Pollock who with great professional determination has nurtured the Emerging Companies group within EDAC could convince Jim to put together a series of seminars discussing the growth of startups in EDA. The series is introduced as "conversations exploring concepts and best practices for emerging companies".

"Conversations" means that the audience is expected to take an active role in the proceedings, and Jim is never short of answers, no matter what the subject is. So, if you happen to be in the Valley on May 31st, at 6:00 PM at the Silicon Valley Bank. The bank is located at 3005 Tasman Drive in Santa Clara. To get more details and to register go to http://www.edac.org/events12/ecc/spring2012.jsp.