Venture Capital

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  • TheFunded.com News: The Funded's Top Startup Investors of 2011: Awards Announced

    TheFunded.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:38 pm
    | Posted by jonnystartupAt last week's 9th Founder Showcase, we celebrated the best investors of 2011 with TheFunded.com's Entrepreneur Investor Awards. Anthony Ha of TechCrunch covered the awards here (including a video of the ceremony). Here are the winners of the 2011 Awards; Most Disruptive Ben Horowitz, General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz modeled their fund off of the modern talent agencies to provide a big network of value to their portfolio companies, reinventing the VC firm. Top Rated in the Americas George Zachary, General Partner, Charles River…

  • Greed is Good: Start-Up Version

    Babbling VC
    Paul Jozefak
    20 Dec 2011 | 4:40 am
    If you haven't seen this scene, you've been under a rock but if not, watch it anyway.    This is Gordon Gekko from the 80's movie Wall Street. This was an awesome movie but I think what he is saying is basically a crock of shit. It's banker-speak and how unfortunate that this movie foreshadowed so much of the mess we are currently in.  Yet, I am going to address greed in terms of start-ups. In a sense, greed is good in a start-up, specifically for two reasons. First, it makes people do crazy shit. Second, it allows you to pay people with equity instead of cash. There are many other things…

  • The Psychology of Influence in Online Startups

    VC Cafe
    Eze Vidra
    22 Jan 2012 | 6:53 pm
    Hello smart entrepreneur. I know you’re a busy person, so I’ll be brief. Read this post NOW, if your startup involves convincing someone to do something. Your friends and competitors are reading it already. Years of research into human behavior and influence went into these insights by Prof Robert Cialdini, so read actively, and try to apply these lessons on your business. In the process of acquiring new customers, startups need to persuade, convince or enchant the potential customer to sacrifice a resource, let it be time, money, access to their stream of information, in order…

  • Zach Nelson: A Decade in the Clouds

    deal architect
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:20 pm
    Zach Nelson is a really interesting tech executive. He has a wide rolodex (over 20 pages in my last book, The New Polymath came from interviews with Zach and several others he introduced me to), diverse interests (numerous relationships with...

  • How crowdfunding could impact the venture capital industry

    Taylor Davidson » Perspective
    taylor
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:11 am
    What happens when everybody’s a venture capitalist? The crowd is waiting to disrupt yet another industry, and the time is now for the venture industry to take advantage of it. Thoughts about crowdfunding and its potential impact on the venture capital industry. Outside The In Crowd, New York, NY, 2011 A couple weeks ago I wrote about how the crowd is disrupting the photojournalism industry. Put a camera in everyone’s hand, and it’s not a surprise that the photography industry has to adapt a bit. As the crowdfunding bill winds its way into Congress, the venture capital…
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    TechCrunch

  • Ron Paul, Mitt Romney Leading On Facebook Ahead Of Florida Primary

    Eric Eldon
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:49 pm
    The Republican presidential candidacy is still far from decided, based on the split primaries and mixed polls so far. So here’s another source for trying to figure who’s really pulling ahead — the number of new Facebook fans that each candidate is getting, according to the Inside Facebook Election Tracker. Mitt Romney is finally making some strong gains this month, in contrast to his Facebook performance over December. By “strong gains” I mean he’s been attracting a roughly similar number of fans to Ron Paul, the candidate who normally dominates on the web…

  • Harvard Gets Its First VC Firm: The Experiment Fund

    Greg Kumparak
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:05 pm
    As just about everyone should know by now, the seeds of what grew into Facebook were planted at Harvard. Might there be a bunch of mini-Zucks lurking in the dorms of Cambridge? If so, a new venture capital firm — the first housed right on the Harvard campus — wants to find them. Dubbed The Experiment Fund, the firm describes itself as “a bridge between America’s oldest universities and storied venture capital firms.” Backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the firm is made up of Hugo Van Vurren, NEA co-head Patrick Chung, and NEA General Partner Harry Weller — all…

  • Secret Windows 8 Weapon: Kinect Built Into Your Laptop

    Devin Coldewey
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:39 pm
    The Windows release of Kinect is coming up in a couple days, but for most people that won’t be a major event: the Kinect they have is sitting on their TV or in a drawer, waiting to be taken out for an impromptu Dance Central 2 party. Of the 10 million Kinects out there, the only ones connected to computers are the ones being fiddled with by the various hackers and students making science projects out the things. But according to the Daily, Microsoft is hoping to remedy this particular situation by building Kinect sensors right into your laptops. TechCrunch alum Matt Hickey got to handle…

  • Twitter Puts Its DMCA Takedown Requests Up For All To See

    Devin Coldewey
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:30 pm
    Yesterday’s announcement that Twitter would be selectively censoring tweets based on country was not well-received. But part of that announcement was the assurance that the process would at least be transparent. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. They also mentioned that they were working with Chilling Effects to make notices and orders sent to Twitter publicly available. At the time of the post yesterday, the site wasn’t up yet, but you can now browse it at chillingeffects.org/twitter. It’s a good thing, certainly, though not quite a successful saving throw…

  • Y Combinator Names Seasoned Entrepreneur Geoff Ralston As Its Newest Partner

    Jason Kincaid
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:15 pm
    Y Combinator has just announced the newest partner to join the prestigious firm: Geoff Ralston. Ralston’s previous credentials include founding Four11, which was acquired by Yahoo back in 1997 for $96 million and served as the foundation for Yahoo Mail. Ralston spent eight years at Yahoo, eventually becoming Yahoo’s Chief Product Officer. Several years after leaving Yahoo he was named CEO of Lala, before it was acquired by Apple in 2009. Most recently he cofounded Imagine K12, a tech incubator for education-related startups, which presented at TechCrunch Disrupt SF (you can find…
 
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    DEMO Conference Blog

  • DEMO Spring 2012: Call for Launch Applications

    DEMO Conference Team
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:44 am
    The nationwide DEMO Innovation tour is back! DEMO Executive Producer Matt Marshall and the DEMO team will travel around the country to hold meetings in key VC offices with entrepreneurs considering a product for the DEMO Spring 2012 event. Tour stops in February include Palo Alto, Boston, Austin and Boulder. Learn more and apply for a meeting spot today!         Read more

  • DEMO Enterprise Disruption is coming Jan 5

    DEMO Conference Team
    19 Dec 2011 | 2:55 pm
    DEMO Enterprise Disruption Event- 1/5/2012 | Final Weeks to Apply to Demonstrate or Register to Attend Read more

  • College students (and other tech startup addicts): We want you!

    Matt Marshall
    12 Dec 2011 | 1:50 pm
    VentureBeat, as mentioned, is kicking off 2012 by co-hosting a special event in San Francisco on January 5, focused on disruption in the enterprise. Read more

  • NYC companies: Get feedback from VentureBeat and RRE Ventures

    Matt Marshall
    23 Nov 2011 | 10:26 am
    If you’re based in New York and looking to launch your next big tech product, join us for a private feedback session on December 13 with one of the city’s most respected venture capital groups, RRE Ventures. Read more

  • Celebrate DEMO Enterprise: a blowout evening with Woz and more

    Matt Marshall
    22 Nov 2011 | 4:23 pm
    We are thrilled to announce that VentureBeat will be kicking off 2012 by co-hosting a special event in San Francisco on January 5, focused ostensibly on disruption in the enterprise. But one of the real reasons we’re doing this is to throw a massive holiday party. Read more
 
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    Both Sides of the Table

  • How to Develop Your Fund Raising Strategy

    Mark Suster
    17 Jan 2012 | 12:28 am
    Raising money is hard. And when you’re relatively new to the process it’s easy to be confused by the process. There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. Of course much of it is conflicting. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. I’ve raised seed rounds and A-D rounds. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies.

  • Interesting New Tech Blog for your Radar Screen

    Mark Suster
    5 Jan 2012 | 3:34 pm
    Over the holiday I became aware of a new tech blog that aims to have deep insights into the next generation of technology, which they call The Hypernet. Why should you care? Well, it is established by some of the industries more successful investors – Mike Maples and Roger McNamee. My favorite post was this one (image above) in which they talked about their 10 hypothesis for technology investing. It maps to a lot of my own views so I was interested to learn more. If you click through to Roger & Mike’s blog you’ll see that this blog post then links to a detailed…

  • Spend 2012 on the Right Side of the Haimish Line

    Mark Suster
    1 Jan 2012 | 1:44 pm
    Occasionally on this blog I break away from industry commentary and write more broadly. The first day of 2012 seems the perfect day to do so. One of the most important articles I read during the entire year was David Brook’s op-ed article on “The Haimish Line.” In it Brooks talks about his recent trip to Africa with his 12-year-old son. They stayed in some nice camps with showers & swimming pools and in some very basic camps without electricity or running water. At the simpler camps his family interacted with all of the other guests – there was a certain bond…

  • Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?

    Mark Suster
    27 Dec 2011 | 7:45 am
    There are certain topics that even some of the best journalists can’t fully grok. One of them is profitability. I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. There is a healthy tension between profits & growth. To grow…

  • Getting to Know Maker Studios

    Mark Suster
    25 Dec 2011 | 2:51 pm
    A year ago I invested, along with Dana Settle at Greycroft Partners, in a startup company called Maker Studios. What excited me was that they had an immensely talented team that understood how to produce & distribute low-cost videos, initially via YouTube. It was founded by Danny Zappin, Lisa Donovan & Ben Donovan (along with several creative talent like Shaycarl, KassemG and others). They know this model of YouTube production & distribution better than anybody else that I’ve met in my 5 years in Los Angeles. And anybody who follows this blog knows that I believe…
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    VatorNews.tv

  • Twitter announces 'culturally defined' restrictions

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:47 pm
    Twitter will now comply with international governments to remove Tweets, some cry censorshipThe good people at Twitter made a significant announcement on their blog recently, which figures for the alteration of two aspects of their widely popular micro-blogging service. First, they announced a new policy of compliance with countries wishing to censor content on Twitter, "for historical or cultural reasons." The culturally defined reasons cited by Twitter were how the federal governments in France and Germany, understandably, prohibit pro-Nazi rhetoric in public forums. However, people in the…

  • Facebook 'Likes,' what are they good for?

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:03 pm
    Study shows only 1% of Facebook fans of a given brand engage with that brand in the real worldYou often hear companies bragging over how many "likes" on Facebook they've managed to rack up, as if operating under the assumption that social network popularity translates to brand monetization. However, an AdWeek report citing new research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute calls foul on this thinking, claiming that only 1% of Facebook fans of a given brand actually engage with that brand in the real world. Researchers collected data by watching one of Facebook's own metrics called "People Talking…

  • Facebook IPO anticipated next week

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:25 pm
    After halting secondary trading, Facebook IPO paperwork expected WednesdayThe world may soon get a peek at all the nitty gritty financials of Facebook -- perhaps even by Friday. Facebook may be filing for IPO as soon as Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sources close to Facebook are looking at a valuation between $75 billion and $100 billion as it raises up to $10 billion for a market debut. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs look to be involved in the significant undertaking in what would be the biggest Internet tech IPO since Google. This talk comes shortly after…

  • Google spent $1.9B acquiring 79 companies in 2011

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:19 pm
    Google spent double the amount in acquisitions in 2011 as in 2010, and that's not counting MotorolaWith 79 company acquisitions during 2011, Google could be considered the most acquisitive company last year. And that pace isn't expected to let up.   The company filed its annual10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, showing that the company spent $1.9 billion in cash and stock acquiring 79 different companies during the course of 2011.  While this amount is almost double that spent in 2010, when the company spent over $1 billion for 48 acquisitions, this isn't…

  • Twitter Brand pages to be upgraded for major spenders

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:06 pm
    As soon as Feb. 1, we could see more brand pages, gaming, shopping on Twitter siteNo one can claim that Twitter is resting on its laurels when it comes to getting brands to work with them. Reports are coming out that next week Twitter will expand who, what and how brands advertise on the popular microblogging platform. While Twitter introduced a limited selection of brand pages in December, which 20+ companies got invitations to start, Feb.1 could mark the day that more companies roll out brand pages and new functions as long as they've already commited $25,000, according to AdAge. Currently,…
 
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    VentureBeat

  • Symantec may have identified a botnet string of Android apps

    Meghan Kelly
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:12 pm
    Symantec claims to have found a string of “malicious” applications in the Android app store that resemble botnets. According to a blog post by the company, these applications are pushing out a type of malware called Android.Counterclank, which is said to be related to a botnet-like virus called Android.Tonclank. Botnets generally extend from a commanding device, which then takes control of other devices via spam messages. On mobile, this control can be achieved through malicious applications. Symantec says that Android.Counterclank has already affected 1000′s and considers…

  • Amazon’s Kindle Fire driving accelerated growth of Android tablet category

    Jennifer Van Grove
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:40 pm
    Good sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet led to significant gains for Google’s Android operating system in tablet market share during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new data from mobile analytics firm Flurry. Flurry, which purports to measure application sessions on more than 90 percent of all Android devices, found that Android tablets gained 10 percent share from Q4 2010 to Q4 2011 and now represent 39 percent of the overall tablet market. The Kindle Fire, which only just debuted this past November, has managed to best Samsung’s Galaxy Tab in terms of…

  • Macworld finds its footing as a “hardcore consumer lifestyle event”

    Heather Kelly
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pm
    Macworld Expo, a once powerful Mac tradeshow, is getting new life as smaller event for Apple consumers and fans. The revamped three-day event, now called Macworld | iWorld, is taking place this week in San Francisco. “We took a little Comic Con, we took a little South by Southwest, and then added our own kind of special flavors,” said general manager Paul Kent. “It’s product discovery on the show floor, learning in our tech talks, and then there’s this concept of inspiration. People come here to see what cool stuff people are doing with this technology.”…

  • Why we need to put the “run” back into Java

    Scott Sellers
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:58 pm
    Let’s say you’re an NFL running back. When the quarterback hands you the ball, what do you do? You run. You run hard, and you run fast. If you hesitate for just a second, you immediately get demolished by a bunch of defenders. In football or business, the last thing you want to do is freeze up in a critical situation. Yet every holiday season, the e-commerce systems of retailers across America are failing companies and end-users alike, leading to mass frustration and millions of dollars of lost revenue. What’s the problem? Well, as user loads increase, their Java-based…

  • Nintendo Network will replace Nintendo’s current online infrastructure

    Jacob Siegal
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:34 pm
    Nintendo has officially unveiled its new Nintendo Network, a collection of services that will include personal user accounts on the Wii U, downloadable content on both the Wii U and the 3DS, and digital distribution of retail products. Although we have known about Nintendo Network ever since the logo appeared on Theatrhythm Final Fantasy’s box art, there was no clear indication of exactly what the service would offer. During Nintendo’s third quarter financial results briefing, it was specifically outlined how Nintendo Network is going to be integrated into the two big Nintendo…
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    A VC : Venture Capital and Technology

  • The Academy For Software Engineering

    Fred
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:39 am
    A number of years ago, I wrote a blog post talking about the need to teach middle school and high school students how to write software. In the comments (where the good stuff happens), a Google engineer told me to go down to Stuyvesant High School and meet a teacher named Mike Zamansky who had taught him to write code in high school. So I did that and thus begun my education into the world of computer science education in the NYC public high school system. What I learned was that other than Mike's program at Stuyvesant and a few other small programs, there wasn't much. So began…

  • Shapeways and 3D Printing

    Fred
    11 Jan 2012 | 5:03 am
    Last week, in the thread on Herky Jerky Investing, the AVC community forked into an incredible discussion about 3D printing and our portfolio company Shapeways. If you click on this link, you'll see that the conversation just goes on and on and on. Clearly 3D printing is something that has captured the imagination of many members of the AVC community. We are huge believers in the power of technology to feed creativity and new kinds of businesses. 3D printing in general and Shapeways in particular is exactly that kind of transformative technology. It is still not on the radar of most…

  • Fredsquare

    Fred
    7 Jan 2012 | 6:29 am
    Our very own Kid Mercury has built a learning community (and game) called Fredsquare. The following is a guest post he has written to introduce all of you to it. I hope you'll visit Fredsquare, play the game, and learn a bit about startups too. I am sure the Kid will love to get your feedback on Fredsquare in the comments too. FredSquare is an application I’ve hacked together for the AVC community. Its mission statement is to help startups learn. Here’s how it works: Articles and videos from around the web that help startups learn are imported the site. Comments on AVC tagged #fs are also…

  • Herky Jerky Investing

    Fred
    5 Jan 2012 | 4:36 am
    The WSJ says some venture funds hit pause on big deals. The Journal describes a group of venture capitalists dialing back on certain deals after a breathless year of venture investing that had some comparing 2011 to the late 1990s dot-com bubble. Many venture capitalists said they now are increasingly passing on companies seeking frothy valuations, and some are trying to get off the beaten path to find cheaper deals. I am not a fan of this start and stop style of investing. Nobody can time markets. You can't deliver great returns to your investors by being a momentum investor during some…

  • 2012: The Year That Movements Go Mainstream?

    Fred
    29 Dec 2011 | 9:10 am
    I returned from ten days of skiing with my family last night. I'm on mountain time and plan to stay there until the new year. Staying up late and sleeping late seems to be a good way to bring in the New Year. But even so, my version of sleeping late is getting up at 8am. My family's version of sleeping late is getting up at noon. That leaves a fair bit of time to read and think. And so that's what I did this morning. And here is what I am reading and thinking about: 1) Ron Paul is likely to win the Iowa Republican Caucus. Newt Gingrich says "I think Ron Paul's views are…
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    Xconomy

  • Tableau’s 10th Year: CEO Christian Chabot Remembers the Lean Years

    Curt Woodward
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:40 pm
    Curt Woodward Earlier this week, Seattle’s Tableau Software announced a big jump in annual sales and major hiring plans—something that’s becoming almost routine for those watching the Stanford-bred data-analysis software company’s growth. Now entering its tenth year, Tableau recently opened a London office and has started to expand into the Asia-Pacific region. By the end of the year, Tableau’s data-visualization software should be available in nearly a half-dozen more languages, from Portuguese to Korean. And, after years of offering its products as downloadable software, Tableau…

  • Amylin, Alkermes Win FDA Approval of Once-Weekly Diabetes Drug

    Luke Timmerman
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:57 pm
    Luke Timmerman [Updated: 3:47 pm] Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Alkermes have gone to the FDA twice before to seek approval of their new diabetes drug, and been turned back, but now the persistence has paid off. The FDA has cleared their once-weekly injectable diabetes drug for sale in the U.S. San Diego-based Amylin (NASDAQ: AMLN) and Dublin- and Waltham, MA-based Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) today won clearance to start selling exenatide once-weekly (Bydureon) in the U.S., according to a letter posted on the FDA website. The approval came after the agency held up the application twice…

  • Apple Textbook Controversy Isn’t About Books—It’s About Teaching

    Wade Roush
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:23 pm
    Wade Roush I don’t think there’s ever been a textbook that made it this easy to be a good student. —Roger Rosner, vice president of productivity applications, Apple Whenever a company as powerful as Apple, Facebook, or Google announces a big new product push, it evokes wonder and acclaim from some observers, head-scratching and horror from others, and the usual FUD from competitors. So I wasn’t surprised when Apple’s press event last week at the Guggenheim Museum—where it said it will sell low-priced iPad textbooks to high-schoolers through its iBooks store and give away the…

  • Infinity Drug Fails in Pancreatic Cancer Trial, Shares Fall

    Luke Timmerman
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:58 am
    Luke Timmerman Bad news out today from Infinity Pharmaceuticals. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech company said it is halting a mid-stage clinical trial of its drug for pancreatic cancer early after learning that patients were living longer in the placebo comparison group. Infinity (NASDAQ: INFI) shares fell more than 30 percent after the news. The trial of 122 patients showed that when patients got Infinity’s saridegib (IPI-926) in addition to gemcitabine chemotherapy, they were living less than the six months they were expected to based on historical studies with the chemo drug alone. No…

  • The Other 99 Percent: Entrepreneurs

    Sramana Mitra
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:30 am
    Sramana Mitra In my recent piece Reengineering Capitalism I highlighted a phenomenon that the global entrepreneurship ecosystem is paying very little attention to: Over 99 percent of entrepreneurs who seek funding get rejected. Yet, the entire world is focused on the 1 percent that is “fundable.” The media, when pitched a startup story, is interested in who funded the venture. They seldom ask how much revenue the company has or if it  is profitable. Incubators take pride in how exclusive they are and how many “deals” they “reject.” Angels and VCs, of course, discard most of their…
 
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    Web 2.0 Venture Capital Update : Internet & New Media

  • Trada Raises $9 M of Series D Funding

    brian@longest.com (Brian Longest)
    10 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm
    Trada C Round: $5,750,000D Round: $9,000,000 Founded: 09/2008 Industry: eCommerce More Here Boulder, Colorado – Trada, a PPC marketplace that allows agencies and in-house advertisers to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • DailyWorth Raises $2M of Series A Funding

    brian@longest.com (Brian Longest)
    6 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm
    DailyWorth A Round: $850,000A Round: $2,000,000 Founded: 2009 Industry: eCommerce More Here New York, New York – DailyWorth, a community of women who talk money has raised $2 million of series... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • NumberFire Raises $750k of Seed Funding

    brian@longest.com (Brian Longest)
    29 Nov 1999 | 3:00 pm
    numberFire Seed: $750 Founded: 04/2010 Industry: Community More Here New York, New York – NumberFire, an analytics framework that empowers sports consumers to make smarter decision has raised... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Xeround Rounds Up $9.3 M of Series C Funding

    brian@longest.com (Brian Longest)
    29 Nov 1999 | 3:00 pm
    Xeround C Round: $9,300,000 Founded: 2010 Industry: Data Management More Here Mountain View, California – Xeround, a service that replaces your existing MySQL database and provides seamless... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Prezi Raises $14M of Series B Funding

    brian@longest.com (Brian Longest)
    29 Nov 1999 | 3:00 pm
    Prezi B Round: $14,000,000 Founded: 05/2009 Industry: Mobile More Here San Francisco, California – Prezi, a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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    Venture Capital Access Online: Website Updates

  • VCPro Database 2012 ***NEW Edition***

    15 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    VCPro Database 2012 (15th Edition) is a downloadable venture capital and private equity directory with complete profiles of over 4,800 venture capital firms worldwide. Compiled by a veteran VC researcher, VCPro Venture Capital Database is available in both Windows and Macintosh formats. (includes a FREE mid-year update in July 2012) Updated January 2012 Features >> Profiles of over 4,820 venture capital and private equity firms >> Searchable by all the data fields including contact information (company name and executive names) and investment criteria (stage, geographic, industry preferences,…

  • A New Addition to Advisor Directory

    12 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Healthcare Growth Partners Click the above link to view the firm profile.

  • A New Addition to Entrepreneur Showcase

    12 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Venture ID: 700 N.B. The above and other venture listings are reserved for members (accredited investors) only. Register for free membership (Accredited Investors Only) http://www.vcaonline.com/showcase/register Login to Entrepreneur Showcase http://www.vcaonline.com/showcase/login Showcase Your Business Plan or Executive Summary to Accredited Investors Entrepreneur Showcase provides a fast, simple and cost-effective way to showcase your business plan or executive summary to every accredited investor of our network. This is the best way for accredited investors to see your venture. Post Your…

  • Sample Private Placement Memorandum

    12 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    A Private Placement is an extremely complex document. The primary purpose of a PPM is to give the entrepreneur the opportunity to present all potential risks to the investor. The PPM protects the entrepreneur in the event that the investment goes sour! That's why it's so important that the private placement memorandum be accurate and complete. Click the above link to learn more.

  • Sample Venture Capital Pitch

    12 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    This is a PowerPoint presentation for firms that are looking to begin pitching for angel investment or venture capital. Whether it be venture capitalists, angels or strategic investors, the pitch must follow certain criteria within certain time constraints. This presentation was developed over the course of over 50 pitches to venture capital institutions and angel investors all over the country.  This investment pitch raised over $9 million in venture financing for my company and is used as a template in my consulting practice for other startup companies seeking to raise capital. Click the…
 
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    VentureWoods

  • APPLE - Mind Blowing Facts

    GPS
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:42 pm
    • Apple reclaimed the title of the world’s most valuable company $415B vs Exxon Mobil’s $413B (Yahoo Finance) • The $97.6 billion in cash that $AAPL has is higher than the market value of 448 of the companies in the S&P 500. (Capital IQ) • This was the 2nd highest profit quarter of any company ever. ExxonMobil’s Q3 08 profit of $14.8 billion needed $147 barrel oil and $140 billion in revenue. (WSJ) • Sales rose 73% to $46.3 billion — so much for the law of big numbers working against them (CNN/Money) • In 2009, Apple sold more iPhones than it did in 2007 and 2008…

  • ETNow Venture Capital outlook for 2012

    Alok Mittal
    16 Jan 2012 | 9:24 pm
    Interesting panel moderated by Sudhir, Discusses 2011 and the emergence of ecommerce, other investment themes in tech enabled businesses, exit expectations and where we are headed.

  • Acquisition of an online bus booking site

    vikasshah
    15 Jan 2012 | 8:12 am
    If anyone wants to dilute majority stake in a revenue earning online bus booking site please get in touch vikaschandrashah@yahoo.com .Acquirer wants the target entrepreneur to continue run the business.Acquirer has other bigger plans to club bus booking with airline tickets and prepaid mode of selling.

  • Co-working Space in Gurgaon

    Ravi
    10 Jan 2012 | 7:18 am
    Is there anyone in the startup community in gurgaon - having co-working space for a 2-5 member team? Couldnt get much information elsewhere, but hoping to get a response on venturewoods. You can reach me at theravishankar@gmail.com. Thanks a ton and a wish a very happy new year 2012 for the startup community!!

  • Canaan announces fund IX

    Alok Mittal
    9 Jan 2012 | 11:29 pm
    Canaan is pleased to announce its ninth fund - a $600M global early stage tech oriented fund. We will continue to invest in healthcare and IT, and across US, Israel and India. Details here.
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    VCCircle Feeds

  • Top Picks From Techcircle.in

    bhawna
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:55 am
    iYogi Expands To Middle East, Ties Up With Al-Futtaim Group Vodafone India Launches Zoozoo Online Comics On Facebook Rediff Q3 Revenue Down 4% Sequentially, 23% Y-o-Y; One-time Gain Helps Cut Losses read more

  • Jyothy Labs Borrows Rs 550Cr From Axis Bank

    bhawna
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:32 am
    Indian consumer products maker Jyothy Laboratories has raised Rs 5.5 billion ($110 million) through a 5-year-loan from Axis Bank to refinance part of the debt it incurred to acquire a controlling stake in the Indian unit of Henkel AG, Managing Director Ullas Kamath said. Jyothy acquired a 51 per cent stake in Henkel India last year for Rs 5.7 billion, including debt. "The fundraising is largely to meet our short-term debt requirement," Kamath told Reuters on Friday. read more

  • Pfizer, Teva Pharma & PE Firms Eye Micro Labs Buyout

    bhawna
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:20 am
    After Ranbaxy Labs and Piramal Healthcare, another billion-dollar-plus deal might be in the works in the Indian pharmaceutical space. Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the world’s largest generic drug-maker, and Pfizer, the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company,as well as other private equity buyout firms, are eyeing Bangalore-based privately held Micro Labs Ltd, sources close to the development told VCCircle. read more

  • Social Media Product Start-up InRev Raises Series A Funding

    bhawna
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:14 am
    Bangalore-based technology start-up InRev Systems Pvt Ltd has raised an undisclosed series A funding from a Kolkata-based investor. Although the name of the investor cannot be obtained till the time of filing the article, it has been learnt that it is a fairly new firm which has made a couple of investments before. However, it is the first IT-centric funding for the new player in the market. Following the investment, Raj Mishra, a representative of the investor group, has joined the board of InRev. read more

  • Rupee Hits 2.5 Month High

    bhawna
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:20 am
    The rupee touched a two-and-a-half month high on Friday, aided by firm local shares, as demand for riskier assets was spurred by hopes Greece will soon reach an agreement on restructuring its debt. At 10:15 a.m., the rupee was at 49.72/73 to the dollar, after touching 49.65, its highest since November 9, and firmer than 50.09/10 at close on Wednesday. The market was closed on Thursday for a local holiday. read more
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    Seeing Both Sides

  • A Democrat's Defense of Romney

    bussgang
    14 Jan 2012 | 11:58 am
    I am a card-carrying Democrat and supporter of President Obama.  I will vote for him again in November. But the attacks against Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital - by both his Republican brethren and Democrats - and the demonization of the private equity industry are really starting to annoy me.  I won't vote for him for president based on his policies and the policies of the party he represents, but I believe Mitt Romney's business track record at Bain Capital, and the private equity industry as a whole, is deserving of a full-throated defense. First, Bain Capital is a…

  • Scaling is Hard

    bussgang
    4 Jan 2012 | 9:30 am
    At the onset of 2012, many start-up executives around the world are sticking their copy of Lean Start-Up on the shelf, leaning back, and bemoaning the fact that they have a new set of challenges ahead of them.  Although there is a plethora of advice now being given about how to find product-market fit for your fledging start-up, there's a dirty little secret out there:  once you've achieved product-market fit, the hard work really begins.  Scaling is hard. After three or four years of jamming on your start-up, you've finally crossed a few million in revenue, gotten north of…

  • Go Vertical

    bussgang
    5 Dec 2011 | 3:37 pm
    Start ups are great barometers for the future.  Those of us who spend our time immersed in the world of young companies are priviledged to get a glimpse of what's coming around the corner by meeting with entrepreneurs who are trying to bring the future forward. In that context, I enjoyed USV's Christina Cacioppo's blog post, What Comes Next, where she summarized a few trends that are coming out of some of the start up incubators.  I have also seen the componentization of software and the shift to independent work agents, the latter of which has interesting policy implications…

  • Europe’s Autumn (or, Why You Can’t Outrun Big Debt Forever)

    bussgang
    16 Nov 2011 | 4:45 am
    "I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the President or the Pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everyone." --James Carville The news out of Europe just goes from bad to worse.  With debt levels so high and confidence in government so low, the bond market has come a knocking and is intimidating the heck out of European governments.  Interest rates on sovereign debt soar (see chart below) when the trust in the sanctity of that debt, and the country’s ability to tighten their belt while…

  • Top 5 Scaling Lessons From Superhero CEOs

    bussgang
    1 Nov 2011 | 5:45 am
    Scott Kirsner of The Boston Globe called them the startup equivalent of the Justice League of America. Seven superhero CEOs gathered on Friday afternoon at the Mass TLC Unconference to discuss the challenges of scaling their young companies. The CEOs on the panel were (from left to right): Michael Simon, CEO/founder of LogMeIn (2009 IPO)  Scott Griffith, CEO ZipCar (2010 IPO) Gail Goodman, CEO Constant Contact (2007 IPO) Niraj Shah, CEO/cofounder of Wayfair ($500m revenue) Colin Angle, CEO/cofounder of iRobot (2005 IPO) Paul English, CTO/cofounder of Kayak ($200m revenue, S-1 filed) Matt…
 
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    PE Hub Blog

  • Top 10 Posts Feature Hot IPO Prospects, Fund Performance and Promotions at Carlyle and TA

    Lawrence Aragon
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:18 pm
    Today’s big news is that Facebook is reportedly planning to register to go public next week. It should come as no surprise, then, that our most popular post this week was about prime IPO candidates for this year. Other hot topics included the above-average performance of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System’s PE portfolio, a surge in VC investing and promotions at Carlyle and TA Associates. Here are the top 10 posts peHUB’s regular readers found most compelling from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27 1. Slideshow: Bring on the 2012 IPO Candidates - by Joanna Glasner 2.

  • New Mexico’s Sovereign Fund Lays Out Long-Range PE Plan

    Gregory Roth
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:40 pm
    The New Mexico State Investment Council, manager of the state’s $14.4 billion sovereign wealth fund, released a new long-range strategy for its private equity portfolio that envisions committing around $400 million per year through 2016, according to a copy of the strategy released at the Council’s Jan. 24 meeting. The strategy was prepared by the Council’s private equity consultant, LP Capital Advisors. New Mexico’s private equity program has $1.7 billion in private equity capital as of Nov. 30th, about 12 percent of the portfolio. That is slightly above the state’s private equity…

  • Atlanta Startups Seek Silicon Valley Cash

    Joanna Glasner
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:33 pm
    As someone who spends more time reading venture funding data than any human should, one trend that’s long stood out is the comparative paucity of capital going to companies in the Southeastern U.S., and in particular, Atlanta. Last year, companies in the Atlanta metro area raised $374 million in venture funding, according to Thomson Reuters. On the face of it, that doesn’t sound like a bad chunk of change. However, it’s still less than 4% of the $11.6 billion that went into companies in Silicon Valley – a region that, setting borders generously, might have about 6 million people,…

  • Chris Bulger: Who’s Really Atop the IPO BCS?

    peHUBlogger Network
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:39 pm
    The Wall St. Journal reported recently that Morgan Stanley was king of the tech IPO world and they had topped the underwriter charts with $115 million in revenue. That’s good news? Is this a sign of health in the Tech IPO world? I spent many years leading many IPOs at Robertson Stephens, we were a small firm compared to Morgan Stanley, but $115m would have been a bad year. Put in more current perspective, if Morgan’s tech group were a college football team, they would have about tied University Texas for the top spot on the 2011 revenue chart. They can take some comfort that the…

  • peHUB Second Opinion 1.27

    Luisa Beltran
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Apple Cares, Really: Tim Cook responds to claims of factory worker mistreatment. A Tribute: Here’s every Dr. Who story since 1963 in a 9 minute video and the Daleks haven’t changed at all. Celebration: Happy national Chocolate Cake Day! And here’s 10 recipes. Updated Policies: Twitter will censor tweets deemed illegal or harmful in other countries. We’ve done Trailmix for the Cloud: Sh*t startup people say. Still Impartial? Page rage escalates as Google cancels Twitter Android meeting. Who Wins: Peter Thiel and Accel among investors to make fortunes off the Facebook…
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    Technosailor.com

  • Congratulations, Internet. We Won the Day.

    Aaron
    19 Jan 2012 | 2:05 pm
    Today, I feel like a proud poppa. I don’t want to get too celebratory and put out some kind of aura that our battle against SOPA and PIPA are over. In fact, neither are over. But I’ll get to that in a minute, because yesterday was AMAZING! Yesterday, we saw the Internet come of age. We’ve seen the trend. The Internet has played a crucial role in the Arab Spring, political activism and fundraising as seen in the Obama election campaign in 2008, news reporting as seen in the incident of the US Airways jet in the Hudson River. We’ve seen a definite maturation process on…

  • Open Letter to Congressman Lamar Smith Regarding SOPA Championing

    Aaron
    18 Jan 2012 | 1:55 pm
    An email sent to the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who insists on pushing the SOPA bill through committee. Dear Mr. Smith- This is an open letter which will be published online, and promoted on Facebook, Twitter and other networks. As a Texas resident, I find it egregious that you have decided to sell out so uniformly to the entertainment industry. It is so transparent, in fact, that federal records show that your biggest donor are from the holding company for Clear Channel and your biggest campaign contributions come from the entertainment industry itself.

  • PSA: If You Pitch Me, I Will Blog It

    Aaron
    6 Jan 2012 | 12:38 pm
    I get far too many pitches from PR companies. If anyone has paid any attention to this blog, they would know I never cover products, books or anything else along those lines. I don’t break tech news. So embargoed information is useless. I don’t do product reviews, so trying to get me to review a product shows complete ignorance. Going forward, let this post serve notice, I very well may blog your pitches in an attempt to embarass and humiliate you. It could have the bonus effect of making sure your firm loses business because your clients and potential clients are actually reading…

  • Your Fiefdom Doesn’t Matter (Or Get your Head out of Your Regional Startup Ass)

    Aaron
    5 Jan 2012 | 2:58 pm
    Photo used under Creative Commons. Taken by Fellowship of the Rich There’s this thing called Protectionism. Protectionism is largely a political word used to describe the retreat to self-isolationism for the sake of preserving well-being. It was a word tossed around in late 2008 and 2009 after the market crash when the international community joined together to try to stave off a global economic failure. There were some who believed the United States had their own issues and shouldn’t be worrying about bailing out Europe. This mentality still exists, for better or for worse. But…

  • Dude, Shut Your Effing Social Media Mouth.

    Aaron
    4 Jan 2012 | 1:24 pm
    Honey Badger don't care! (Photo used under Creative Commons. Taken by Bruce McAdam) It’s been awhile since I ranted. Like really ranted. I’m about to change that. <rant> It’s no secret that social media marketing has turned largely douchey. Self-important blowhards show up at SXSW, Blog World Expo and many other industry events every year with the sole purpose of being socialites and schmoozing with their peers and getting into the hottest parties. I’ve done it. We’ve all done it. But there’s no authenticity in any of it. We call those…
 
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    GigaOM

  • 15 things successful CEOs want you to know

    Peter Corbett, iStrategyLabs
    28 Jan 2012 | 2:01 am
    As a young CEO of a growing company, I find that the most valuable insight I’m gaining these days has been from other CEOs. Certainly this realization isn’t revolutionary – YPO, EO, Mindshare and a host of other organizations are set up just for this kind of knowledge exchange. But who has time for that? This is a social media world. We’re live in 140-character sound bites. So I decided to ping my favorite CEOs via Twitter to see what kind of wisdom they could drop on me. Here’s the great advice they shared. Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify Figure out what the top five most important…

  • 7 stories to read this weekend

    Om Malik
    28 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    There is a lot of talk about data, 3D printing, innovation, design and user interaction and curation. So this week’s theme is a collection of writing that questions conventional wisdom about these aforementioned themes. Most of them are long — so better get a cup of tea now. Data trumps opinion, especially when it comes to design, argues Adapative Path’s Brandon Schauer. He outlines four examples in his post. The myth of the new brand new innovation myth: Is that headline giving you a headache? If you look beyond it, the article is a great treatise on innovation, the…

  • Causecast takes corporate philanthropy beyond the Fortune 500

    Colleen Taylor
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:16 pm
    For big companies like Google, Salesforce and Microsoft, being active in charitable causes is practically a must-do. Companies of this size often have entire teams of employees focused on philanthropic initiatives and organizing company-wide volunteering events. But at smaller companies that don’t have the same infrastructure in place, employees often don’t have the same opportunities to give back, on-the-job. Screenshot of Causecast for Employees (click to enlarge) That’s where a new software platform built by Los Angeles-based startup Causecastcomes in. This week Causecast…

  • Gaiman: SOPA and PIPA are on the wrong side of history

    Mathew Ingram
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 pm
    Author Neil Gaiman The twin anti-piracy threats that were being considered by Congress — the SOPA bill in the House and the PIPA legislation in the Senate — have been put aside due to the storm of controversy and criticism they sparked. But the media and entertainment industries are unlikely to give up their battle so easily, author Neil Gaiman said in an interview this week, even though what they’re trying to do amounts to “trying to put genies back in bottles.” Gaiman, who recently signed an open letter protesting SOPA with over a dozen other prominent artists,…

  • Would you cut Facebook a privacy pass if it paid you?

    Derrick Harris
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:40 pm
    Rightly or wrongly, Facebook catches a lot of flak for impeding on privacy by selling user information to advertisers and generally enabling too much sharing. But would users care so much if Facebook gave them a cut of the profits it generates by selling their data? Think about it like Plink’s new loyalty program that rewards consumers with Facebook Credits for eating at certain restaurants, only in reverse. I suggested this Thursday as a possibility for empowering users across the web, generally, but Facebook (and maybe Google) actually seems like the perfect company to pull it off.
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    The VC Experts' Buzz

  • The Case Against Conversion Discounts for Convertible Debt

    25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Entrepreneurs often turn to economic development organizations or angels for pre-seed or seed funding for start-ups when they're not yet ready for institutional venture capital. A large proportion of these pre-seed or seed financings are structured as convertible debt which is, at first glance, surprising. Looking deeper into this market anomaly provides understanding of why debt is used for early round financings, and also of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.

  • Buyout Nomenclature

    24 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    The typical "buyout" is a noncontroversial device to descend the ownership of certain assets (held in corporate form) from one set of proprietors to another - a "plain vanilla" deal in today's jargon. The more celebrated transactions are denominated "trophy deals," honoring the heroic risks that the heroically egoed promoters take (albeit with other people's money).

  • Whether Or Not To Go Public

    23 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    There are two major issues facing a start-up considering an IPO: how to do it most effectively, and, secondly, whether to do it at all. The second is the threshold question. Will the issuer be able to raise capital cheaply and more efficiently on the wings of an IPO than with any other method, taking into account the long-range consequences of becoming a public company (going public)?

  • Dodd-Frank Act Rulemaking: Form PF Inaugurates Era Of Detailed Reporting By Managers Of Private Fund

    18 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Newly adopted Form PF caps a banner year for investment adviser rulemaking and, at least for larger hedge fund managers, promises a burdensome quarterly filing exercise in which extensive enterprise-wide and fund-by-fund reporting will be disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form responds to a Dodd-Frank Act information collection mandate and underpins an SEC effort to aid the Financial Stability Oversight Council in assessing systemic risk. Unlike information requested of those advisers on the SEC's amended Form ADV, the Form PF information will be non-public.

  • Advisers That Only Manage VC Funds Will Be Exempt From Dodd-Frank Registration Requirements

    17 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Investment advisers that manage only venture capital funds will be exempt from the new registration requirements imposed upon private fund advisers under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the Advisers Act), as it was recently amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act").
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    the Frank Peters Show

  • Austin Bike Ride Announced [UPDATED]

    frank@theFrankPetersShow.com (Frank Peters)
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:49 pm
    This morning’s email from Tony Clarke got me motivated: Hope you’re keeping well. Just to let you know that I will be in Austin in early March and look forward to the Bike Tour. My girlfriend Susan, too, joining the Bike Tour with me if OK. So I just paid a deposit with Austin’s Barton Springs Bike Rentals who will be our guide and outfitter for the 2nd Annual Summit Bike Ride. As you make plans to attend the ACA Annual Summit, come a day early for the bike ride. Like last year, the outfitter will supply the bike and helmet, make sure everything fits well, then lead us on a…

  • Venture Capital vs. Angel Investing

    frank@theFrankPetersShow.com (Frank Peters)
    20 Jan 2012 | 1:07 am
    John Taylor The NVCA‘s Head of Research, John Taylor, joins Tech Coast Angels Chairman Emeritus, Dave Berkus, for a lively discussion about the latest trends in early stage investing. During Dave’s introduction he mentions 87 investments, so I have to digress to talk about the latest startup he sent into Screening, AdventureLink. One feature of this funding candidate, they claim to be a small investment away from cash-flow-break-even which implies modest venture capital requirements, if any. Dave Berkus That sets the stage for a lively discussion about angel investing and its…

  • David Verrill, Boston’s Hub Angels

    frank@theFrankPetersShow.com (Frank Peters)
    11 Jan 2012 | 10:19 pm
    Quick! Can you think up some fishing analogies for angel investing? David Verrill, founder of the Hub Angels Investment Group, can. You can’t go to the Hub Angels website and apply; so how do entrepreneurs get evaluated? They must network through one of the members, to come in through a trusted source. That’s different! David says it acts as a great filter and reduces administrative effort looking at deals that aren’t a good fit. He’s got a fund to work with so he can afford to be optimistic: “I really have a good feeling about this environment, there’s a…

  • Austin’s Seed-Stage Scene, Joshua Baer

    frank@theFrankPetersShow.com (Frank Peters)
    30 Dec 2011 | 1:08 pm
    Joshua Baer Could your startup use $20,000 in seed capital? Mind spending 10 weeks in Austin? If so, Joshua Baer is someone you’re gonna want to know better! Joshua’s the Managing Director of Austin’s Capital Factory, a seed-stage mentoring program. Startups must apply and out of the hundreds that do, 5 are selected. Each receives $20,000 in cash, $20,000 in stuff and, best of all, the attentions of 20 mentors over the 10 week program. Since angel fundings are down, wouldn’t most investors be suited to returning to the roots of what it means to be an angel? Can you…

  • Champagne Corks Pop

    frank@theFrankPetersShow.com (Frank Peters)
    29 Dec 2011 | 5:14 pm
    Mike Napoli Outgoing Chairman Mike Napoli sent around a summary of the investing year at Tech Coast Angels. His email described a lot of good news. Season’s greetings to all TCA members. As 2011 comes to a close I would like to provide you with some TCA highlights from this past year. We have increased our metrics by all measures! At the beginning of the year we had 257 members. We are closing the year out with approximately 304 members. That’s an amazing increase. I must note that the San Diego Network has 104 members of that total. Congratulations San Diego for crossing the…
 
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    Feld Thoughts

  • Creative Construction

    Brad Feld
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:40 am
    After a long really fun day yesterday at TechStars and StartLabs I wandered over to 34-101 to be on a panel for Joost Bonsen and Joe Hadzima‘s IAP class 15.S21: The Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans. It’s not really a class about business plans rather a class about starting a business and has been regularly modernized by Joost and Joe. On the panel were the two founders of Super Mechanical (creators of Twine) which is an awesome project that used Kickstarter for its initial financing (and that I’m an excited supporter / customer of.) I had a fun day and wish I had found…

  • I’m In Cambridge, Not Boston

    Brad Feld
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:27 am
    Over the last three weeks I’ve had numerous people ask me how my trip to Boston has been going. For a while I corrected them and said “I’m mostly in Cambridge” but gave up. Tonight, after hanging out at the TechStars Boston Mentor evening and program kickoff, I got into a long discussion with a Bill Warner and Ken Zolot about Cambridge, Boston, and startup communities. At some point in the conversation I blurted out “I have no idea why we call this program TechStars Boston instead of TechStars Cambridge.” And then something that I thought was important…

  • Resegment If You Aren’t In The Top Three

    Brad Feld
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:21 am
    Six months ago I wrote a post about how I think about competition which included a list of topics that summarizes my philosophy. I covered the first item, Be The First Mover, but then went on to other things, like thinking about competitors every single day. I’m back today with the second topic, “Resegment If You Aren’t In The Top Three.” If you look at the Foundry Group portfolio, you’ll notice a lot of market leaders. Zynga is the obvious one, but I’ll assert that there are many others, including AdMeld (now part of Google), Cheezburger, Fitbit, Gnip,…

  • A Few Last Thoughts On SOPA/PIPA From Last Week

    Brad Feld
    22 Jan 2012 | 1:35 pm
    After sleeping 13 hours on Friday night and then 14 hours last night it’s pretty clear that a week like last week isn’t sustainable for me. At brunch today, Amy guessed that I worked 80 hours between Monday and Friday, ran three days (after coming off a double long weekend where I did two 10 mile runs), travelled from Boston to NY and then NY to Boston late at night, and generally wore myself out. I’m heading out for a 15 mile run in Boston and expect I’ll be garbage collecting all the random thoughts from the week. The backdrop in my world was dealing with SOPA/PIPA,…

  • My World Is A Network

    Brad Feld
    20 Jan 2012 | 9:20 am
    This post should be sung to the tune of The World Is A Vampire by the Smashing Pumpkins “the world is a vampire, sent to drain secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames and what do i get, for my pain betrayed desires, and a piece of the game even though i know-i suppose i’ll show all my cool and cold-like old job despite all my rage i am still just a rat in a cage despite all my rage i am still just a rat in a cage then someone will say what is lost can never be saved despite all my rage i am still just a rat in a cage” Some VCs like rap, but I’m old school…
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    Ask the VC

  • Wenger: Presenting Option Grants to Boards

    Brad
    13 Jan 2012 | 7:15 am
    Today’s VC post of the day is from Albert Wenger (USV) and titled Presenting Option Grants to Boards. This is feedback I give to CEOs 98% of the time after my first board meeting. While there is no standard for how to present option grants, Albert lays out a very clear set of eight pieces of data he likes to see. The first four are the the columns in the spreadsheet and each employee / option grant are the rows. The next two are footnotes for options grants that aren’t standard. And the last two are contextual data that should always be included since board members are on…

  • MacLeod: The Model Board Package

    Brad
    11 Jan 2012 | 10:56 am
    Today’s post of the day is from Mark MacLeod (Real Ventures) titled The Model Board Package. Mark shares my intense frustration with the structure of most board meetings and offers up some great suggestions along with a solid template for a board presentation. As some of you may know, I’m working on a book on Startup Boards with Mahendra Ramsinghani - if this is a topic that is interesting to you do us a favor and fill out our survey on startup boards. Model board package View more presentations from Mark MacLeod

  • Ehrenberg: Letting Go

    Brad
    8 Jan 2012 | 7:20 pm
    Today’s VC post is from Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures) titled Letting Go. Roger makes a strong set of points about how a founder/CEO needs to learn how to let go. I have a specific nuance that I see often where I think VCs regularly screw up that I bring up in the comments. I’d encourage you to go take a look and weigh in on the comments – this is a good and important one. There are two runner up posts - Primum Non Nocere from Fred Wilson (USV) and How to Create an Early-Stage Pitch Deck from Ryan Spoon (Polaris). Both good extra food for thought on this wild card weekend.

  • What Does A VC Mean When He Says Your Product Is “A Feature And Not A Company”?

    Jason
    7 Jan 2012 | 9:15 am
    Question: What does a VC mean when he says your product is “a feature and not a company”? This (usually) means that the VC believes the opportunity you are pursuing isn’t a big enough opportunity for them to invest in.  In other words, what you are building should be a feature to something else already out there, instead of a stand-alone company that will generate the type of returns that the VC is looking for.  For instance, assume you are building something that fits inside an email client that does X.  (Perhaps “X” translates languages).  While super…

  • Wilson: Herky Jerky Investing

    Brad
    5 Jan 2012 | 10:47 am
    Fred Wilson (USV) has today’s VC Post of the day titled Herky Jerky Investing. In it he refers to a WSJ article where several very prominent VCs have recently said they are backing off investing at frothy valuations and now going and looking off the beaten path. Fred – as usual – has very a very focused reaction to this: “I am not a fan of this start and stop style of investing. Nobody can time markets. You can’t deliver great returns to your investors by being a momentum investor during some periods and a value investor in others. I believe the only way to be a…
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    How to Change the World

  • Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:46 pm
    Over the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe. Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs “Our projections are…

  • Design a Sam Adams beer

    GuyKawasaki
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:24 am
    Now this is a fun project. I’m helping Sam Adams “tap” the knowledge of beer drinkers and crowd source its next brew. Join the party by getting the app and designing your beer: The final brew will be released in Austin in the first week of March. #sponsored

  • How to Create an Enchanting Financial Forecast #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    17 Jan 2012 | 3:52 pm
    This is the third post in my Microsoft partnership, and it’s all about numbers. The topic is crafting your financial forecast to include in your pitch. Bill Reichert, my partner at Garage Technology Ventures, created an Excel model and wrote this blog post. There’s a lesson in this too: Get the best person for the job. His grasp of financial models and how to present them exceeds mine by two orders of magnitude. The Purpose of Financial Projections When it comes to financial projections, there are two types of entrepreneurs: first, the “visionary entrepreneur” who…

  • How to Create an Enchanting Business Plan #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    12 Jan 2012 | 10:16 am
    Here is the second post in my series about planning, pitching, and launching a new business venture. In partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve created a Word document that outlines a good business plan. It’s saved to my SkyDrive folder here. Feel free to download it and use it as inspiration. And if you’re working with a partner, you can use the free Word Web App to stay in sync. I provided the PowerPoint document before the Word document because a good business plan is an elaboration of a good pitch as opposed to a good pitch being a distillation of good business plan.

  • How to Create an Enchanting Pitch #OfficeandGuyK

    GuyKawasaki
    9 Jan 2012 | 10:01 am
    Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts I’ll be doing as part of a partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps. Over the next two weeks, I’ll cover everything a budding entrepreneur needs to turn an idea into an enchanting investment opportunity—from the perfect pitch to a killer business plan to financial forecasts. I’m going to start with a little dissertation on creating effective PowerPoint pitches for your company. I embedded the sample deck for you to click through by using the PowerPoint Web App. When you’re ready to get started, you can download the…
 
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    deal architect

  • More Innovation

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:35 pm
    on the New Florence blog SpaceX and spacecraft reusability The Virtual Sky Turn wood into sugar The OnLive Desktop: MS Office on iPads

  • The new benchmarks

    26 Jan 2012 | 3:47 pm
    I am helping review for a client competing proposals from several consortia of software vendors and systems integrators/outsourcing firms. The range of on-premise versus SaaS, onshore versus offshore talent, opex, capex, EBITDA calculations of license, hosting, maintenance, implementation etc. is...

  • Zach Nelson: A Decade in the Clouds

    25 Jan 2012 | 6:20 pm
    Zach Nelson is a really interesting tech executive. He has a wide rolodex (over 20 pages in my last book, The New Polymath came from interviews with Zach and several others he introduced me to), diverse interests (numerous relationships with...

  • More New Renaissance

    24 Jan 2012 | 12:32 pm
    on the innovation blog Click first, Focus later Electronic Noses The future of war Next-gen Cruise Life Boats

  • The technology news supply chain

    23 Jan 2012 | 10:09 pm
    My friend Brian Sommer recently pointed out “On 5/14/2012, SAP, NetSuite, Plex Online, Host Analytics and other vendors(?) are all having their user conferences.” Clearly, that will be a busy news week. But it made me think about the news...
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    Southeast VC

  • Triangle Startup Factory Re-Launched

    Jason Caplain
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:10 am
    The RTP area got another boost with last night's announcement that Triangle Startup Factory will be re-launched. The North Carolina-based accelerator will be run by Chris Heivly and Dave Neal. Chris is a good friend, is very passionate about startups running both Triangle Tech Talk and Big Top. He is also no stranger to the accelerator model being the former Director of LaunchBox Digital here in North Carolina. Startups get 50k once accepted into the program and $20K-$150K as a convertible note once they complete it. The first session will begin this March and interested entrepreneurs…

  • Entrepreneurial Resources

    Jason Caplain
    16 Jan 2012 | 10:36 pm
    We've been handing out our list of Entreprneurial Resources during our Entrepreneur's Breakfasts that we've hosted at our office. But I am including it here -> Download SCV Entrepreneurial Resources - Jan 2012. It lists out regional events, funding sources and news sites to keep an eye on. I hope it helps.

  • Venture Outlook 2012

    Jason Caplain
    20 Dec 2011 | 10:33 am
    My partner David Jones and I launched Entrepreneur's Series earlier this year and based on its initial success, we ended up hosting 7 events throughout the year. Topics and speakers varied. We brought in some of the region's most successful entrepreneurs to share their success stories, we had VCs fly in from all over the country and heard from bankers and analysts. We covered topics like SaaS, Heath IT, bootstrapping and M&A/IPOs. Based on the feedback from our regular survey, attendees are getting a lot out of Entrepreneur's Series. But I have to say that we're having fun…

  • Build a Software Company Without Capital. These Guys Will Tell You How

    Jason Caplain
    20 Nov 2011 | 7:15 pm
    Good article in today's News & Observer titled Good Time to Start a Software Company. I enjoyed participating. With all the celebration by the press and blogs around companies that raise piles of cash, its great to see attention on those that are successful and creatively found ways to start and build a thriving business without outside capital.  To talk more and expand on this column, we asked David Ranii, Business Reporter at the News & Observer to come moderate the next Entrepreneur's Series on Monday morning December 12. One of the goals is we have in hosting…

  • Monster Week in the Triangle

    Jason Caplain
    11 Nov 2011 | 9:48 am
    Next week is one of the most packed weeks I have seen for the entrepreneurial and tech community in the Triangle. And I'm really looking forward to it. I know there is more going on than this, but here are some of the highlights & events I'll be at: Internet Summit - held again downtown Raleigh. SCV is a founding sponsor. The conference launched a few years ago with about 800 people. Every year it gets bigger. This year join 2,000 people. Awesome lineup of speakers. Includes a demo room and fast pitch sessions with VCs. Use SCV50 and save $50, but buy your ticket asap. Almost sold…
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    Israel Venture Capital 2.0

  • IL Tech Talks

    Daniel Cohen
    18 Jan 2012 | 4:24 am
    Today Gemini hosted another Meetup for IL Tech Talks. If you are not familiar – IL Tech Talks is a program started by Ori Lahav from Outbrain (Gemini portfolio company) with the idea to share technology-related knowledge between Israeli founder & startups. The problem is quite obvious: Many of the companies in Israel face similar technology companies, but have a hard time reaching the right (and relevant) advice that is local. As Ori says – a Meetup on the topic in Palo Alto is not really helpful for a startup in downtown Tel-Aviv. IL Tech Talks was launched about 18 months ago and…

  • 5 Predictions for 2012 – The Israeli Version

    Daniel Cohen
    16 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    I did the predictions thing for 2009 and 2010, and then skipped 2011. Now I think it's worthwhile to go at it again (Yes, joining many others). In the past 2 attempts I listed 7 predictions. This time, I will focus on 5 – 3 Positives, and 2 negatives. I even tried to have a very clear score card to measure in a year from now. So here it goes: 3 Positives Israeli VCs will raise money. There are several funds out there raising money. It may be "wishful thinking", but I am positive that Pitango, Magma, and others will raise money. Some will finalize in 2012, others in 2013. At least 3 large…

  • Mercedes Band – Live in Tel-Aviv (Barby)!

    Daniel Cohen
    15 Jan 2012 | 2:25 pm
    Another 2.5 years since my previous "Rock Concert" category blog. Not that we rested during that time. A few concerts around the globe (PJ20) and some many local concerts. Somehow, I got a bit tired from seeing the same old Israeli shows (Shalom Hanoch et al.). I needed something different, something fresh. Giraffes was a bit of that, and so were Assaf Amdursky and Red Band, but nothing beats Mercedes Band. 2 Hours of pure, amazing, energetic rock. World class rock show, 20 minutes away from my house. When Shlomi Bracha went on stage to play a Mashina song together with the Mercedes, it was…

  • Ad Tech IPOs

    Daniel Cohen
    11 Jan 2012 | 3:23 am
    Last week, Millenial Media filed for an IPO. There has been a lot of waiting in the market for an ad-tech IPO, with rumors around App Nexus, Tremor Video and others. With so many companies operating in the advertising technology world (Seems the LUMAscapes are updated on a daily basis), it's critical that the market opens up for some ad-tech IPOs. Since Google is dominating the M&A market in this segment, it will be great to have the IPO route as an alternative, in addition to the fact that such new public companies will create liquidity options for some of the smaller players in the…

  • Israeli tech – 2011 Summary

    Daniel Cohen
    3 Jan 2012 | 2:42 am
    2012 is already here, and it's time to list some of the more important events that happened in Israel during the past 12 months. Since my memory is somewhat limited, this cannot be a full list, and I am sure there is at least one major major event that I forgot as I compiled this list. So, to be precise, here are SOME of the important events that happened in our local industry in 2011. They are listed in random order. Waze raises money from Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner has always been the most difficult fund for Israeli startups. Sequoia, Benchmark, Greylock were always very active here, but KPCB…
 
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    Sarah Tavel / Adventurista

  • The Developer Renaissance

    4 Jan 2012 | 5:20 pm
    What an exciting time to be in this business.  The “post PC era” and cloud computing are colliding to create a perfect storm. First, thanks to the post PC era, demand for software is exploding. Second, thanks to cloud computing, software development is becoming increasingly accessible.There's an interesting positive externality to these trends: The developer "citizenship" is exploding.  Consequently, developers are finally a large enough community with enough purchasing power that you can actually build a company just by selling to developers.  I'd love to invest in…

  • Holding your hand to the fire

    23 Nov 2011 | 6:47 am
    Several months ago, I wrote a post about the four stages of learning.  Implicit in the transition out of stage 1, the "enthusiastic beginner", is the fact that to really learn something, you need to try to do it, and inevitably, do it wrong.  Given the wealth of fantastic content out there in the blogosphere, especially when it comes to starting a company, raising capital, building a product, etc., it can be tempting to try to read blogs and hope that they'll help you navigate potential road mines. But if you are brand new to any one of these domains, most of what you read won't…

  • Can product "disruption" become a new paradigm?

    16 Oct 2011 | 7:12 pm
    Facebook is an incredible company, and it’s incredible for many, many reasons. But one of the things that most impresses and amazes me is Facebook’s relentless reinvention. The company has disrupted its product, and therefore its users, on multiple occasions. I’m sure everyone remembers the backlash Facebook weathered when it launched its newsfeed. And of course, we’re still less than a month into Facebook’s newest disruption, this time to its profile page. Facebook is in rare company. Microsoft, to its credit, disrupted its Office product suite by introducing the ribbon (which was…

  • Are you a vitamin, a painkiller… or a drug?

    20 Jul 2011 | 12:17 pm
    It’s become commonplace to describe products as either painkillers (“need to have”) or vitamins (“nice to have”). Painkillers are products that address existing needs/pain points. Companies selling painkillers harvest customer demand; the prospects are already searching for someone to fix their problem and take their money. Vitamins on the other hand don’t really address an immediately apparent need. Instead, the vitamin company must sell a prospect on how their solution will make the prospect’s life better. The problem with vitamins is that it’s hard to get people to pay for…

  • 2011 is the year entrepreneurship went global

    23 Jun 2011 | 8:58 pm
    Entrepreneurship is flourishing everywhere. Not just in the US, not just Israel, not just China. Everywhere. The world wide web always held the promise of a flat world, but the startup world is finally flat. An idea is seeded in Chicago, and it very quickly blooms across the world. The result of this new generation of entrepreneurs is that local companies must race to be global. Groupon couldn’t just launch in the US, hone its product, and then launch internationally in a measured roll-out (much like Yelp has been doing). It has had to race to plant a flag in countless countries around the…
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    Babbling VC

  • German Venture Ecosystem Needs an "Old Boy's Network"

    Paul Jozefak
    8 Jan 2012 | 1:18 am
    Technically I shouldn't be writing this. "Old Boy's Networks" aren't things you write about, especially if you're part of one. At the same time, I really don't have much to fear in Germany. You just don't have much in this regard. The Valley sure does and we're constantly going to be compared to or comparing ourselves to them.  Like it or not, that's not the point of this post. One thing though which works wonders in the Valley is the "network" of connections you have there amongst VC's. There are very clearly cliques of funds which tend to work together on a regular basis and there are…

  • Know Thy Customer

    Paul Jozefak
    29 Dec 2011 | 2:10 am
    Yesterday we picked up a new car at Audi in Ingolstadt, their headquarters. For those of you who don't know, Audi offers the option to pick up your car directly at the source. There's a lot of fanfare associated with this. Germans love their cars "long time"! (Slovaks too!) Anyway, what you basically do is show up (usually in a rental car) and get your car handed over to you in their customer center. They invite you to spend a couple hours there by offering you a tour of their factory floor, access to the Audi Museum and free food and drink. All in all, it's a fun way to start off your…

  • Hell Yeah It's Personal

    Paul Jozefak
    26 Dec 2011 | 3:59 am
    "Don't take this personally!" Man do I hate that quote. You usually hear it as someone is about to stab you in the back, steal your win or generally screw you over in some way. I know we're suppossed to seperate our private lives from our work lives so that we have some sense of "balance" in our lives. I'm calling bullshit on this once and for all. I just don't buy it although I used to think I was able to keep my private life seperate from work. After some reflection on this during a time when I am about to embark on something new, I've decided not to even sweat it anymore. From now on, hell…

  • Greed is Good: Start-Up Version

    Paul Jozefak
    20 Dec 2011 | 4:40 am
    If you haven't seen this scene, you've been under a rock but if not, watch it anyway.    This is Gordon Gekko from the 80's movie Wall Street. This was an awesome movie but I think what he is saying is basically a crock of shit. It's banker-speak and how unfortunate that this movie foreshadowed so much of the mess we are currently in.  Yet, I am going to address greed in terms of start-ups. In a sense, greed is good in a start-up, specifically for two reasons. First, it makes people do crazy shit. Second, it allows you to pay people with equity instead of cash. There are many other things…

  • Should VC's Be Blogging?

    Paul Jozefak
    14 Dec 2011 | 11:36 pm
    Chris Dixon started my thinking about whether VC's need to be blogging. He posted a quote from Marc Andreessen, which is actually quite good, but not relevant to this post. What is relevant is Chris's quote at the end: "Man, I wish Marc still blogged!" I, too, miss Marc's regular blogging. He wrote great things and although he wasn't consistent in his regularity, they were always really good. His partner Ben has taken up the reigns in terms of writing blog posts but he too is writing less and less. Is this a trend? Well, yes & no, if you look at it from multiple perspectives. There are…
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    DealBook

  • F.T.C. Sues to Block Omnicare's Bid for PharMerica

    By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:15 pm
    The Federal Trade Commission sued Omnicare, seeking to block the pharmacy service provider's hostile $441 million bid for PharMerica.

  • Perelman Loses Court Battle Over $16 Million Suit

    By WILLIAM ALDEN and SUSANNE CRAIG
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:00 pm
    Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire financier, lost a bitter legal battle as a federal jury decided that his company must pay $16 million to Donald Drapkin, a former business associate.

  • Delta Explores Possible Bid for US Airways

    By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED and JAD MOUAWAD
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:30 pm
    Delta is exploring a possible bid to purchase US Airways, according to a person familiar with the matter. But Delta has not yet approached its smaller rival and it may decide against making an offer.

  • S.&P. Lowers Outlook on Jefferies and Cantor

    By KEVIN ROOSE
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:34 pm
    Standard & Poors lowered its outlook on the Jefferies Group and Cantor Fitzgerald to negative from stable, saying the European debt crisis could weigh on their profits.

  • Buzz on a Facebook I.P.O. Grows Louder

    By EVELYN M. RUSLI
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:59 pm
    Facebook may file a prospectus as early as next week, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who demanded anonymity because discussions are private. But the company is still hammering out a final date.
 
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    Jeff Nolan - Venture Chronicles

  • Link Post (weekly)

    Jeff
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am
    » Consumers are social, Customers are personal ProjectVRM the gist… stop treating customers like demographic groups. Customers are people first, their behaviors map not to trends but unique traits that exist at the intersection of values and needs. tags: blog The Secret To Pinterest’s Astounding Success: A Brilliant Sign-Up Process You Should Copy tags: blog What newsrooms should learn from Kodak | yelvington.comLot’s of experts like to point to Kodak as a case study for business disruption, what is missed in the analysis is that Kodak did exactly the right thing, they…

  • Gadgets – Cuisinart Soup Maker and Blender

    Jeff
    22 Jan 2012 | 9:51 pm
    Despite having a well documented affection for the kitchen, and being a geek at heart, I do not have much of a gadget streak when it comes to kitchen appliances. In fact, it’s safe to say that I am a skeptic when it comes to kitchen appliances and have a pretty high bar to overcome in order for something to show up in my kitchen. I have had the same blender for about 15 years and decided it was time to retire it while upgrading my capabilities. I wanted something with more capacity primarily and when I took my wife shopping yesterday I made a trip into Bloomingdale’s appliance…

  • The Creeping Utility of Camera Phones

    Jeff
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:17 am
    I remember the first time I saw someone take a picture of a whiteboard, thinking at the time how clever it was but also how it rendered the expensive whiteboard printing devices we had utterly useless by comparison. Over the years the creeping utility of the camera phone has permeated so many aspects of my day to day life that it’s hard to imagine life without one. Tonight I was involved in an accident, the driver of the other car ran into me at a stoplight, while I was stopped, and did some pretty significant damage to my vehicle. Almost immediately I began snapping off pictures of the…

  • Flash Sale Sites On a Roll in Retail

    Jeff
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:10 am
    Gilt Groupe was one of the pioneers… the concept is simple, create scarcity for highly desirable merchandise in a time or unit limited online sale that relied on social channels for promotion. Wham. Slam dunk. It’s been all the rage in online retail and shows no sign of abating. Gilt has expanded into multiple categories… HauteLook quickly followed (and then got acquired). Amazon launched their MyHabit site with sales starting at 9am PST every day and quickly selling out of the most popular sizes. American Express launched VentePrivee, which is probably better described as a…

  • When Fraud Detection Hinders Rather Than Helps

    Jeff
    9 Jan 2012 | 11:22 am
    I’ve had a long relationship with Patelco Credit Union, they were the first financial services company I became a customer of when I first entered the work force and even though my needs have exceeded the services they offer I do rely on them for a credit card that I use almost exclusively. I like the idea of community banks and have tried to support them over the years. A few months ago I started having problems with my credit card where transactions were being declined and only after calling the bank did I learn that a fraud block had been placed on my credit card. After having this…
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    Fred Destin

  • Should Angels break free from angel groups ?

    FredDestin
    18 Jan 2012 | 10:11 am
    I hear a lot of commentary in the Boston area about how VC's have needed to replace angels in seed rounds.  In an area with some much technology wealth created over the years I always found this puzzling. Angel groups in the Boston area are a force.  My simple question today is : do they work or are they de facto doing a disservice to the ecosystem ? Entrepreneurs complain loudly about angel groups.  It seems that the typical process involves endless due diligence and months of process for check sizes that often end up being disappointing.  The experience leaves a sour taste for many, and…

  • Dustin Dolginow for President !

    FredDestin
    11 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    He's young, he's hungry, he's lean.  Here is the all new 2012 model of the Atlas Venture tech principal: Dustin "Double D" Doooolginow. Dustin joined us almost two years ago.  It's not that we care much about titles, but when entrepreneurs reliably come in and tell you about how great the guy is, how they seek him out for advice and how they trust his judgement, you know there is something good going on.  Promoting Dustin to principal is simply reflecting what entrepreneurs think of him and recognizing what he brings to the team. Proof that Midwesterners do it better, Kansas City's very…

  • Five reasons why SOPA is luddite legislation

    FredDestin
    7 Dec 2011 | 1:15 am
    SOPA may not pass.  What it tells you about the policymakers outlook on how to defend against piracy and copyright infringement is extremely scary.  I don't think I have ever read proposed legislation that was such a clear backward looking move that fundamentally ignores how the web is reshaping our lives.  Forget censorship and job creation for a moment: it's unfair, badly written and ignores the sense of history. From Wikipedia for background: The bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling…

  • #OWS 2: Hubris in the face of risk and a culture of entitlement

    FredDestin
    4 Nov 2011 | 1:05 pm
    Insider view on the investment banking mayhem, take two.  My friend Sean Park (read Park Paradigm) dropped this excellent comment / beautiful rant on my previous "how banking lost its way" post.  Another guy who lived inside the belly of the beast.  You may wonder what Algorithms have to do with #OccupyWallStreet.  The answer is: everything.  You don't want them to rule your world.  Here we go: [Banking] went off the rails when a toxic combination of Industrial Age (ie Baby Boom) HS Varsity Quarterbacks and early Information Age nerds came together to dominate the ranks of wholesale…

  • The f.ounders conference: Paddy Cosgrave's spectacularly successful connective tissue engine

    FredDestin
    30 Oct 2011 | 9:30 pm
    In the last few days if you're a a twitter user you've probably been saturated with raving comments about this conference called f.ounders.  Whilst as a hashtag it does not exactly work, man, what a success it was. Whether it's Davos for geeks I don't know (and don't care), but it's certainly the best conference I remember attending. Keeping audience low, keeping VC presence spare, keeping average quality of attendees very high, mixing it up with "unproven" up and comers, Paddy Cosgrave and team achieved greatness.  Whatever the echo chamber debates that keep trying to show that this…
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    GenuineVC » GenuineVC

  • Start Your Marketplace Engines

    David Beisel
    23 Jan 2012 | 1:36 pm
    At NextView Ventures, we have a number of companies in our portfolio which are “marketplace” businesses, where buyers and sellers meet to exchange a good or service.  And along the way we’ve met with or observed a larger number of seed-stage startups attempting to start them. All of these companies face the challenge of the marketplace cold-start problem: simultaneously attracting both sellers and buyers to generate enough liquidity so that meaningful transactions can result. Without enough buyers in the system, it’s not worth it for the sellers to show up; without…

  • Your Office Space is the Face of Your Startup

    David Beisel
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:11 am
    Your office space is the face of your startup.Not only does it communicate an outward message, but like a face, a startup office provides insight into what’s going on underneath the surface.A startup’s space tells a story to everyone who is involved with a company spending time there: founders, employees, investors, and (potential) customers. The physical environment in which startup employees work (should) match the company’s story and culture. It starts at the beginning of a startup’s life, when both the company and the space it resides is extremely early & raw… a sparse space…

  • Super Pro-Rata Rights Aren’t Super

    David Beisel
    10 Jan 2012 | 1:47 pm
    I recently received a email from an entrepreneur who I know with a genuine question about terms of his financing: “How do you guys at NextView feel about one of our investors holding super prorata rights for the next round?”  We at NextView Ventures have more recently seen super pro-rata rights introduced by other investors in a couple of the rounds which we’ve participated, and have started to see a pattern emerge of the consequences of this insertion.On the subject of super pro-rata rights, a couple months ago Brad Feld wrote a blog post “Just Say…

  • Our Investment in CustomMade: Riding the Next Wave of E-Commerce in High-Consideration Shopping

    David Beisel
    18 Nov 2011 | 7:37 am
    Over the past fifteen years on the internet we’ve seen a few waves of e-commerce innovation.  From the initial humble beginnings of simply selling books online, to shopping/pricing comparison engines for electronic and other feature-laden items, to this current wave of “social commerce” which includes local merchants’ deals propagated by friends’ recommendation-driven purchases.  We’re now at a point where the average consumer is not only comfortable buying all sorts of things over the web – they’re happy to tell their friends about it…

  • Time & Money – Fundraising for VC When It’s Natural

    David Beisel
    1 Nov 2011 | 11:41 am
    When is the right time of the year to fundraise for a venture round?  There’s a lot of conventional wisdom disguised as insight which entrepreneurs follow about optimizing the timing of their fundraising.  It’s correct in principle, but in reality should be used as a guide rather than as a rule.I hear all of the time that “you shouldn’t fundraise in the summer (especially August) because VCs are all on vacation.”  Or that “you shouldn’t begin fundraising prior to the winter holidays because they interrupt the flow too much that the…
 
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    Get Venture: Venture Made Transparent

  • #SOPA / #PIPA Explained

    Mark Davis
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:21 am
    For techies who are nestled in their startup caves some of the major web properties (Google, Wikipedia, etc) protested SOPA/PIPA yesterday by either shutting down their sites or changing some of the content on their homepages.   While we have a smaller reach at this point, Kohort participated in this movement by replacing the product overview video on our homepage with a video about the issue.  You can check out the video & take action here. For those who haven't been following the issue or don't fully understand what it's about - check out the video below - the Khan Academy does a…

  • Why We Brainstorm

    Mark Davis
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:57 am
    Once a company starts operating, brainstorming often falls by the wayside. But there's a cost to that—big ideas get missed and, unexpectedly, your team's morale may lag. So every week I huddle with the team at Kohort for a brainstorming session. The group and I meet every Wednesday at 5PM. If we don't have a topic we need to address, we brainstorm one. Sometimes we brainstorm about the future, working through how we want the company to operate years down the road. While at first glance, this might seem like a waste of time, I know it's not. While it does consume the attention of everyone on…

  • How We Brainstorm

    Mark Davis
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:14 am
    During my first week at Columbia Business School in the fall of 2007, class was interrupted to do an exercise with an improv troop. Not being much of a thespian, I scowled thinking that my time was about to be wasted. I was totally wrong. While the leaders of this exercise were actors by trade, they came to Columbia to teach us how to brainstorm. Improv is a unique cross-section of theater and comedy. What's special about it is the absence of a script. With no plans, preparation, or choreography a group of people can create a story on the fly, and do so seamlessly. The key to the technique I…

  • High Peaks Launches Seedlet Program

    Mark Davis
    12 Jan 2012 | 8:03 am
    The cultural norms in the venture capital industry change. What I mean is that deal terms – valuation, control rights and beyond – change over time. A sweetheart deal last year is an outrage this year. A few years back a typical Series A round was characterized by a $1-5 million investment. As capital requirements for tech startups took a noise dive, entrepreneurs began to seek smaller rounds of capital – they could prove milestones and potentially reduce their total dilution by raising less money initially. Entrepreneurs demanded and investors listened – seed investments came into…

  • Social Media Makes Us Happy...Chemically?

    Mark Davis
    10 Jan 2012 | 8:19 am
    There's some very interesting research presented in this TED talk about how our biochemistry drives our happiness & good intentions.   Interestingly his studies have shown the engaging people in our lives through social media also triggers the biochemistry that makes us happy. Check it out.
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    Will Price

  • Moving to Tumblr

    Will Price
    10 Jan 2012 | 5:52 pm
    After almost seven years on Blogger, I am moving to Tumblr.My new Tumblr URL is http://processanditeration.tumblr.com/Please plan to read me there from now on!Will

  • Reinventing the Banner Ad: Sweepstakes

    Will Price
    6 Jan 2012 | 6:53 pm
    Flite video of the week. How do easily add sweepstakes to display advertising using FliteHub.

  • Nominate Flite!

    Will Price
    9 Dec 2011 | 4:18 pm

  • Managing Expectations

    Will Price
    18 Nov 2011 | 1:31 pm
    How happy are you at work?  On a scale of 1-100, how would you rate your marriage, your friendships, your relationship with your children, your career satisfaction?Imagine for a minute that you are happy in your marriage 90% of the time. Is that good? 90% sounds pretty good to me. How about at work, happy 80% of the time? Is that good?Another way to think through the scores is to translate the numbers into days. For example, if you have a great marriage and are happy 90% of the time, mathematically there are 36.5 days a year that you are not happy.  36.5 days, or more than entire…

  • Agile Marketing

    Will Price
    15 Nov 2011 | 5:34 pm
    I write to share an article we published today on iMedia, Why You Need to Consider Daily Marketing Messages.The article introduces best practices, including a look at Gatorade's command center, for agile brand marketing. Agile marketing allows brands to become more iterative, relevant, and responsive to the lives, interests, and trends impacting the customer.
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    Jason Ball's TechBytes

  • Favorite Apps from 2011 – iOS and Android

    Jason Ball
    10 Jan 2012 | 2:33 pm
    Here they are, in no particular order… Day One Day One offers a well designed journal app. Twitter and Facebook are great for shouting to the world, but sometimes you’d like to keep your thoughts to yourself. Day One is a great app that lets you do that. You can set a reminder for any given period – I have it set weekly, and I type a few lines about what’s happening. Available for both iOS and Mac OS X. Strava I’m a cyclist. Strava is hands down the easiest to use app I’ve come across. It works on your iPhone, your Android device and also can handle data…

  • If you can’t take it with you, it’s not yours

    Jason Ball
    14 Oct 2011 | 1:00 pm
    I picked up an Android device earlier in the year – I’ve been watching the platform and app ecosystem develop, and decided it was time to make the jump… That’s a huge deal for me, the Apple Fan Boy, bought a non-Apple piece of hardware. Turns out, the hardware switch wasn’t as critical as the software switch. And I don’t mean the OS. I stopped buying any content from Apple a long time ago. Sure, I used iBooks to test it out, but that’s all. No Apple content lived on my iPhone. When you buy digital content from Apple, you don’t actually own it,…

  • The European start-up scene. It’s finally working.

    Jason Ball
    10 May 2011 | 1:42 pm
    What a difference a year makes. Last April, I posted that: Europe has always had problems gaining start-up momentum – there’s no epicenter, there’s no critical mass- and there are no Heros. The Wired 100 list has gone a long way towards making 100 heroes visibile. Big applause for the Wired team. This year’s Wired 100 is on stands now – one person I was happy to see on the “bubbling list” – John Taysom. He’s an awesome guy. I’ve got a few other personal favorites that aren’t on the list yet, but I’ll cheer for them in silence……

  • hot or not?

    Jason Ball
    11 Apr 2011 | 4:05 pm
    Facebook is going to be irrelevant in 10 years time. Google has lost the search war. Microsoft has lost the desktop war. We live in exciting times. Change is in many ways the only constant we have. I started the post with what many would consider heresy- if you don’t believe me, or disagree, you have forgotten the rise and fall of all tech companies. Altavista. Yahoo! – these were the kings of the search engine mountains before a little company called Google arrived. Google was the king of search on the web, and I would argue they still are. But they’ve already lost the…

  • Think Small

    Jason Ball
    1 Feb 2011 | 1:55 pm
    Ok, you’ve finished the Thoughts on Entreprenurship series and you’re thinking: “This doesn’t really work for me.” I’d say you’re probably right. Thinking big and shooting to be the next Twitter isn’t for everyone. So, Think Small. Don’t raise external money- bootstrap. Don’t hire A-team players (don’t hire anybody for that matter). Don’t go to a hub – work from home. Don’t do any of those things. It’s OK. Worry only about launching, making the best product you can with limited resources and get…
 
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    Redeye VC

  • Good Luck Charlie

    First Round Capital
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:45 am
    After two years at First Round Capital, today Charlie O’Donnell announced he was leaving to launch his own seed-stage venture fund, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures - the first venture capital fund based in Brooklyn.  I’m really very excited for Charlie and can’t wait to see the impact his firm makes on the Brooklyn tech community.  When Charlie initially joined First Round Capital, we had both agreed that it would be for a one-year term.  After witnessing Charlie’s hustle and energy firsthand, we extended his position for a second year.  During his time at First Round, Charlie made a…

  • We, We, We so excited for our annual holiday video

    First Round Capital
    20 Dec 2011 | 11:37 am
    Over the last few years, one of my favorite holiday traditions has been putting together First Round Capital's annual holiday video.  In the past we have used song, dance and our impressive physiques to work our way into your hearts over the holiday season. This year has gone by fast and we have added a whole new cast of remarkable characters to our community.  We are really inspired by our talented portfolio and lucky to be able to roll our sleeves up and deliver the 2011 edition of the First Round Holiday Video.   While it's not yet Friday…we hope it brings you a little holiday cheer.

  • Saving Time vs. Killing Time

    First Round Capital
    2 Dec 2011 | 2:57 pm
    Over the years, we've met with thousands of entrepreneurs who were starting consumer Internet businesses.  And as we listen to them describe their business, I find myself categorizing the opportunity.  One of categorizations I've found most helpful has been to determine whether the company is looking to help people "save time" or help people "kill time".   Companies like Youtube and Zynga entertain people (and help them kill time)  -- while companies like Google, LinkedIn and Mint.com are great utilities and help people save time (but users rarely visit them for without intent or for for…

  • Fun Fact of The Week: Path to Revenues

    First Round Capital
    16 Nov 2011 | 7:45 pm
    Last week I posted some data from our portfolio about the pace of seed-stage financings.   And it sure looked like things are speeding up. This week, I thought we'd take a look at the speed at which our companies generate revenue.   Specifically, we took a look at the 14 investments we made in our first fund (which was a 2005 vintage)...and wanted to know how many of them generated at least $250K in revenue in the 18 month period post-investment.  (I recognize that $250K and 18 months are arbitrary thresholds - but hey, we had to choose something).   And it turns out that just three of…

  • Save The Internet

    First Round Capital
    16 Nov 2011 | 10:22 am
    I rarely (or never) post about politics here.  However, today Congress holds hearings on a bill that would create the "first American Internet censorship system".  This bill is being rushed through Congress without any input from the technology industry -- yet it poses major risks to free speech online...  And could prevent the next Youtube, Facebook, or Tumblr from getting off the ground. Please watch the video below, read more about the proposed law (Brad Burnham has a wonderful blog post about this today), and make your voice heard by visiting American Censorship Day today.   UPDATE: …
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    Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

  • Twitter Digest: 2012-01-27

    Paul Kedrosky
    28 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    What the fk is a "stealth data investment fund", & why is that not as stupid an idea as it sounds? http://t.co/I1A52Prl -> Rick Bookstaber: The Twilight of the Leisure Class http://t.co/fvDXm1PN -> Took this yesterday in BC: What happens when I'm in a hurry to get to fresh powder – http://t.co/yKZjckUk -> Whoa, best recruiting video ever: At Twitter, The Future is You! http://t.co/46MHEoHk /via @elunt -> Video: High-marking snowmobiler caught by avalanche, and dug out – http://t.co/q0rluD4r ->

  • Twitter Digest: 2012-01-26

    Paul Kedrosky
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Today went through my annual exercise of unsuccessfully signing up for lunches at upcoming TED. Zero luck. Again. -> IRT @TreeHugger: What happens when a man tries to live solely on those foods advertised on television? http://t.co/DqeLVOr1 -> Vancouver showing off today in vertiginous mid-winter fashion : the Lions loom like volcanic, white sno-cones. Damn you George Vancouver. -> Powder powder: 10 inches new http://t.co/46olq9nm -> Nadal / Federer. Again that outcome. Tragic. ->

  • Twitter Digest: 2012-01-24

    Paul Kedrosky
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Gaddis, Pynchon, and Mistaken Identity – http://t.co/grt2mvBx -> I'm so damn helpful that sometimes I just want to kiss me. -> Mostly for the title: Econophysics of a religious cult: the Antoinists in Belgium [1920-2000] http://t.co/lkndYLKA -> Photo set: Salvaging the TK Bremen – http://t.co/oiB7U1rj -> "Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work." http://t.co/guPozSdi ->

  • Twitter Digest: 2012-01-23

    Paul Kedrosky
    24 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Favorite anagram for new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins: Shit Enthrones. -> Traveling. Volunteers? RT @jholston: Can @pkedrosky read this and please translate for humanity? TIA. http://t.co/TlAQrvK5 -> Didier's finish at Kitzbuhel this weekend. Such a great moment. http://t.co/d2zG4qH6 -> Retiring Didier Cuche Sets Record at Kitzbühel – http://t.co/V9PwuZm2 -> Imagine if drastic change required. Whew. RT @emilychangtv: RIM closes down 8.65% after new CEO says no "drastic change" is necessary -> Vegas in the rain … ♫ soundtracking "Half Light II (No…
 
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    BeyondVC

  • What entrepreneurs can learn from Jeff Spicoli

    Ed Sim
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:28 am
    I know I may be dating myself here, but over the past few weeks I couldn't help but think about the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High and one of the standout characters, Jeff Spicoli.  When asked by Mr. Hand, his teacher, why he keeps coming late and wasting his time, Spicoli answers, "I don't know." I Don't Know Fast Times at Ridgemont High at MOVIECLIPS.com In several meetings with entrepreneurs during the past few weeks, they would have been better off answering like Spicoli rather than giving me some hollow bull shit answer.  I want to make it very clear that I don't expect…

  • Never give up but move on quickly

    Ed Sim
    21 Oct 2011 | 9:24 am
    As a young kid, I was always taught the valuable lesson of never giving up or quitting.  No matter how many times you get knocked down, you have to stand up and keep moving.  That is the same trait that I also admire in many of the entrepreneurs that I have funded over the years.  This mentality is what carries many great entrepreneurs from near death experiences to ultimate success.  However, I do caution that entrepreneurs should temper this "never give up" attitude with a "move on quickly" one as well.  Let me explain.  Many entrepreneurs will take this same…

  • Startups getting caught in No Man’s Land

    Ed Sim
    29 Sep 2011 | 9:29 am
    "No Man's Land" is traditionally known as the area between two trenches.  This is a reference to World War I and the vicious trench warfare and hand-to-hand combat that characterized that war. In "No Man's Land" lay a wasteland of dead bodies and other debris and shrapnel.  Increasingly I am seeing many startups who were ably seed funded get caught in "No Man's Land" between the seed round and a true Series A round led by a venture capitalist.   This is happening because there are way too many companies raising seed capital but not enough executing their way to a Series A.

  • The New York Startup Market Rocks and is REAL

    Ed Sim
    15 Apr 2011 | 7:02 am
    OK, I may be biased having been an early stage VC based out of New York since 1996, but I must say that the vibe, energy, and people at the Techstars NYC Demo Day event yesterday was simply awesome.  Dave Tisch and team simply did a fantastic job guiding the startups, recruiting the mentors, and organizing the event.  I was quite honored to have been a mentor and to have had a chance to interact with so many high quality teams.  The audience was awesome as well bringing together many rock stars of the past with those of the future.  In addition, over 750 investors came in…

  • Reflecting on passed investments

    Ed Sim
    5 Apr 2011 | 10:46 am
    Every 3 months I dig through my "passed company" folder to look at what investment opportunities we passed on and why.  Inevitably, there are a few companies that are near-misses, but we end up passing on for whatever reason.  Did we pass because we didn't think the team was great or because we didn't believe that they could get a product launched?  Did we pass because of lack of traction in the beta release or because of concerns on valuation?  Looking at my "passed company" folder gives me an opportunity to test our reasons on passing and to see 3 months later if the…
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    alarm:clock

  • Brought to You By:

    Pheedo
    2 Jan 2012 | 11:18 pm

  • Kleiner Perkins Leads $50M Round in SoundCloud

    jgb
    2 Jan 2012 | 10:59 pm
    Sometimes it's the minor technical choices that make a difference between the winners and losers. In the case of Soundcloud the minor difference that sets it apart may just be that it allows sound distributors to have their own URL. That difference compares to MySpace where musicians could upload music but it was on the Facebook URL. With SoundCloud, musicians can share their music clips easily on Twitter and Facebook. SoundCloud has just raised a $50M round. It had raised series A, 2009 where it raised €2.5M from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. Then it raised $10M in Series B in…

  • China Sunergy Ships 1.59 MW Of Solar Panels To Scotland

    jgb
    22 Dec 2011 | 12:03 pm
    With a stock price that is off over 87 percent over the last year, China Sunergy (CSUND :NASDAQ) is hitting the public relations trail two days before Christmas in attempt to gain some "Yule Tide spirit" for its shares by announcing they have shipped 1.59 megawatts of solar panels to Scotland. The panels are part of a program that addresses people living in "fuel poverty" in the United Kingdom. "Fuel poverty" is defined as people who need to spend more than 10 percent of their household income on electricity for their household. The tenants of the buildings will receive electricity free of…

  • Solar Industry Can't Be All Bad: Soltec Opens 200 MW Plant In San Diego

    jgb
    21 Dec 2011 | 10:39 pm
    Despite the recent crash in solar stocks, Germany's Soltec held a grand opening ceremony for its 200 megawatt (MW) plant in San Diego. Soltec has a valid reason to open the plant as they will be supplying over 300 MW of concentration photovoltaic modules to San Diego Gas & Electric. Last month the California Public Utilities Commission approved 155 MW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) and Tenaska Solar Ventures is developing another 150 MW that will be delivered to San Diego Gas & Electric under a power purchase agreement. While dark clouds hover over the solar companies, today's…

  • Brought to You By:

    Pheedo
    20 Dec 2011 | 7:04 pm
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    VC Cafe

  • Israeli Startups Raised $2.14 Billion in 2011

    Eze Vidra
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:22 am
    Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don’t tell the whole story. The latest IVC report reveals that in 2011, 546 Israeli high-tech companies raised $2.14 billion in VC funding, representing a 70% increase compared to the $1.26 billion raised in 2010 and almost double from the $1.12 billion raised in 2009. How can we explain such a big increase? Let’s take a look at how VC money was deployed in Israel 2011. In “What next for the start-up nation?” the Economist observed that there has been a change in the Israeli startup landscape. Companies have shifted…

  • The Psychology of Influence in Online Startups

    Eze Vidra
    22 Jan 2012 | 6:53 pm
    Hello smart entrepreneur. I know you’re a busy person, so I’ll be brief. Read this post NOW, if your startup involves convincing someone to do something. Your friends and competitors are reading it already. Years of research into human behavior and influence went into these insights by Prof Robert Cialdini, so read actively, and try to apply these lessons on your business. In the process of acquiring new customers, startups need to persuade, convince or enchant the potential customer to sacrifice a resource, let it be time, money, access to their stream of information, in order…

  • Thoughts on LeanCamp Unconference in London

    Eze Vidra
    15 Jan 2012 | 7:47 am
    I’m currently at LeanCamp, the unconference that aspires to help people both learn and teach evrerything Lean Startup related. I must admit, I’ve been to my fair share of conferences in the past few years, some were exclusive and expensive events to produce, some were humble gatherings (maybe too humble at times). LeanCamp strikes the perfect balance between a well-organized event and a community meetup or gathering. The agenda for the conference was completely crowd-sourced from the participants, with the exception of a few marquee speakers including John Mullins (my London…

  • Invest in Israel Newsletter January 2012

    Eze Vidra
    3 Jan 2012 | 9:45 am
    As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors.  For the Invest in Israel archive, click here. Below are the headlines for January 2012: ESTIMATES SHOW ISRAELI GDP ROSE 4.8% IN 2011 According to preliminary estimates, Israel’s gross domestic product grew by 4.8% in 2011, following a similar rise in 2010, and a 0.8% rise in 2009, when Israel crawled back out of the recession. GDP per capita is…

  • Israeli Startup Outbrain Raises $35 Million to Rule the Recommendations Space

    Eze Vidra
    15 Dec 2011 | 4:43 am
    In a world that suffers from content overload, personal recommendations are a bare necessity. Israeli startup Outbrain,  one of the leading companies in the recommendations space, has completed a $35 million in Series D led by Index Ventures and joined by previous investors Carmel Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. This brings Outbrain’s funding to $64 million total since its inception in 2007. Outbrain has been showing solid progress on its content recommendation plugins (also visible on VC Cafe). Outbrain’s plugins enable content publishers to provide related content…
 
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    SAI

  • Google: Users Are 'Delighted' With Our Search Changes (GOOG)

    Matt Rosoff
    28 Jan 2012 | 12:36 am
    A couple weeks ago, Google started blending social information from Google+ into search results. The blogosphere's reaction to this change, which Google called Search Plus Your World, was swift, loud, and mostly negative. Twitter complained that Google was unfairly favoring its own social network over competitors, then a programmer at Facebook seemed to prove it. Worse yet, the results seemed to be less relevant in a lot of cases, leading a number of people to declare Bing the better search engine. But in all the noise, what do users think? According to Google search fellow Amit Singhal, who…

  • 15 Silicon Valley Homes To Drool Over Ahead Of Facebook's IPO Filing Next Week

    Meredith Galante
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:15 pm
    When Facebook finally goes public in a few months, the company will create more than 1,000 millionaires. And the company is expected to move a step closer to that goal next week: it's apparently filing for an IPO Wednesday. While the newly minted millionaires won't have their hands on the money for a few months, we thought it would be a good time to check out some of the real estate available in the Silicon Valley area. These homes may or may not still be available in the spring, but it pays to know what's out there.This $2.3 million house is very cozy 2615 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94306 Beds:…

  • Say Goodbye To The Nation's First CTO, Aneesh Chopra

    Julie Bort
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:56 pm
    The first ever Federal CTO, Aneesh Chopra, has left the job, the White House says. He was hired in 2009 with the task of bringing the federal government's aging IT systems into the modern age. He also helped the President draft plans for seeding technology startups. During his three years, Chopra worked on the President’s National Wireless Initiative, established Internet policies, called for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, and led an "open government" strategy intended to  fund new technologies that solved federal IT problems. Chopra is striking for his exuberance. During…

  • Email Shows How Steve Jobs Got A Google Employee Fired (GOOG, AAPL)

    Julie Bort
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:33 pm
    How's this for ugly? One CEO tells another to stop poaching employees, so the other agrees, fires the recruiter, and then apologizes ... to the CEO.  The men involved were Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt. This is one of the stories revealed from a class action suit between employees and the power players in Silicon Valley. An email was upturned in the case that shows a conversation between Jobs and Schmidt, reports Reuters. It documents a situation in 2007 where an Apple employee was fielding a job offer that came from a Google employee. Jobs found out about it, e-mailed Eric Schmidt (who…

  • Zynga Finally Sneaks Above Its IPO Price (ZNGA)

    Matt Lynley
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:54 pm
    Zynga closed at $10.05 today — just a hair above its IPO price of $10 — for the first time since its trading debut after shooting up more than 6 percent in trading today. A flurry of buy ratings (including one today from BTIG) and the prospect of Zynga expanding into online gambling have propelled it back to its starting point. A new note from BTIG's Richard Greenfield said Zynga's strategy of creating a ton of games with the hope of players liking at least one game will work. Here's what he said: We expect Zynga’s increasingly aggressive game roll-out pace in 2012 and…
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    The VC Experts' Buzz

  • The Case Against Conversion Discounts for Convertible Debt

    25 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Entrepreneurs often turn to economic development organizations or angels for pre-seed or seed funding for start-ups when they're not yet ready for institutional venture capital. A large proportion of these pre-seed or seed financings are structured as convertible debt which is, at first glance, surprising. Looking deeper into this market anomaly provides understanding of why debt is used for early round financings, and also of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.

  • Buyout Nomenclature

    24 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    The typical "buyout" is a noncontroversial device to descend the ownership of certain assets (held in corporate form) from one set of proprietors to another - a "plain vanilla" deal in today's jargon. The more celebrated transactions are denominated "trophy deals," honoring the heroic risks that the heroically egoed promoters take (albeit with other people's money).

  • Whether Or Not To Go Public

    23 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    There are two major issues facing a start-up considering an IPO: how to do it most effectively, and, secondly, whether to do it at all. The second is the threshold question. Will the issuer be able to raise capital cheaply and more efficiently on the wings of an IPO than with any other method, taking into account the long-range consequences of becoming a public company (going public)?

  • Dodd-Frank Act Rulemaking: Form PF Inaugurates Era Of Detailed Reporting By Managers Of Private Fund

    18 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Newly adopted Form PF caps a banner year for investment adviser rulemaking and, at least for larger hedge fund managers, promises a burdensome quarterly filing exercise in which extensive enterprise-wide and fund-by-fund reporting will be disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form responds to a Dodd-Frank Act information collection mandate and underpins an SEC effort to aid the Financial Stability Oversight Council in assessing systemic risk. Unlike information requested of those advisers on the SEC's amended Form ADV, the Form PF information will be non-public.

  • Advisers That Only Manage VC Funds Will Be Exempt From Dodd-Frank Registration Requirements

    17 Jan 2012 | 6:00 pm
    Investment advisers that manage only venture capital funds will be exempt from the new registration requirements imposed upon private fund advisers under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the Advisers Act), as it was recently amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act").
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    DubaiBeat.com

  • UK fund acquired its third real estate asset to lure Middle East investors

    25 Jan 2012 | 6:26 am
    UK-based Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME) has acquired a third logistics asset in northwest England for a fund aimed at Middle East investors looking to diversify outside London prime - according to Investments and Pensions Europe Magazine. Bank of London and The Middle East, the London based wholesale Sharia'a compliant bank whose main shareholders are Boubyan Bank, National Bank of Kuwait, had announced the launch of its Light Industrial Building Fund (LIBF), a Sharia'a compliant UK real estate fund last year. Bank of London and The Middle East is listed in the Middle East…

  • Abu Dhabi's Qannas Investments to list on AIM and raise $50 million

    17 Jan 2012 | 5:33 am
    Abu Dhabi Capital Management, an Abu-Dhabi based investment firm, announces the intention to launch Qannas Investments on AIM and to raise up to $50 million. The company said Qannas will seek to generate a target IRR of at least 20 per cent and its investments will be held for 3-5 years. ADCM currently manages more than $100 million in assets for institutional and high net worth investors. Back in July 2011 we reported the first closing of ADCM fund raising. Abu Dhabi Capital Management is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SINX2 More details follows

  • Abu Dhabi Masdar Capital to launch a renewable energy fund with Japan's DBJ

    16 Jan 2012 | 9:16 am
    Abu Dhabi private equity firm Masdar Capital announced plans to form a renewable energy project platform, in partnership with Development Bank of Japan for investments in North America and Europe. Masdar Capital currently has over $540 million invested across the Masdar Clean Tech Fund and DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund, jointly managed with partners. Masdar Fund is listed in the Middle East Investors Directory with the code SIN38 More details follows

  • Kuwait firm Alshaya acquired La Senza UK out of administration

    10 Jan 2012 | 1:21 am
    Kuwaiti firm Alshaya has acquired 60 La Senza UK stores from the administrators of the lingerie chain. Alshaya said it planned to invest about 100 million pounds in the business. It acquired the company from Lion Capital, a private equity firm. To see a list of investment firms from the Middle East similar to Alshaya check our Middle East Investors Directory More details follows from the Reuters

  • Dubai film investors in $200 million deal with US firm Eternal Mind

    9 Jan 2012 | 10:41 am
    The New York-based firm Eternal Mind Productions said it has signed a deal worth $200 million with Dubai film investors. Al Muhaymin Film Fund is the establishment providing the funding. Eternal Mind Productions is started by Nagendra Karri and Peter James Elias in 2008. To see a list of investment firms from the Middle East similar to Al Muhaymin Film Fund check our Middle East Investors Directory More details follows from their release
 
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    Taylor Davidson » Perspective

  • How crowdfunding could impact the venture capital industry

    taylor
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:11 am
    What happens when everybody’s a venture capitalist? The crowd is waiting to disrupt yet another industry, and the time is now for the venture industry to take advantage of it. Thoughts about crowdfunding and its potential impact on the venture capital industry. Outside The In Crowd, New York, NY, 2011 A couple weeks ago I wrote about how the crowd is disrupting the photojournalism industry. Put a camera in everyone’s hand, and it’s not a surprise that the photography industry has to adapt a bit. As the crowdfunding bill winds its way into Congress, the venture capital…

  • Why digital intent matters

    taylor
    17 Jan 2012 | 1:52 pm
    A glimpse into why we’re going to hear a lot more about “intent” in digital marketing. Glimpse, Lisbon, Portugal, Dec 2011   The opportunity of digital intent. Best one-line comment about the report that Facebook is due to launch a broader set of applications based on Open Graph: This new release is an effort to decrease the friction in sharing, but it will be seen by most users as intrusive for two months before everyone decides they can’t live without it. And will be sure to kick off yet another round of debates about information overload, privacy, the value of…

  • It’s not Life’s responsibility to make our lives great. That’s up to us.

    taylor
    10 Jan 2012 | 9:22 am
    It’s not Life’s responsibility to make our lives great. That’s up to us. Life’s a party, New Orleans, LA, Oct 2011 It’s not Life’s responsibility to make our lives great, happy, meaningful, fulfilling, enjoyable, adventurous. That’s our responsibility, and it comes from every choice we make and and every action we take responsibility for. Life isn’t against us or for us, it’s there for us to shape and mold into the life we want for ourselves. Is it a puddle or a sinkhole, a playground or a battlefield? That’s not Life’s choice,…

  • The best technology fades into the background

    taylor
    9 Jan 2012 | 10:17 am
    The best technology fades into the background, because people don’t care about tech, they care about what it does. Here and There, New York City, NY, Dec 2011 From a bitly announcement the other day: “Bitly has an office?” she asked her father. “I thought it was, you know, just part of the Internet.” Technology can disappear. And once it does, that’s when it’s truly valuable, because that’s when we stop worrying about the technology itself, but about what it actually does. Interestingly, the same goes with data. Roger Ehrenberg, Data is the new .com:…

  • Dream Amplifying

    taylor
    6 Jan 2012 | 7:40 am
    Put your ideas out there. Dream Amplifyer, Lisbon, Portugal David Hoffman, Put your ideas to paper, talking about his experiences during college in revolution.is: When I bought new notebooks, I would draw a line down the center of each page. The left side was for lecture notes and the right side was for website and business ideas. Every time I’d study for a final, I’d review my notes and notice that the ideas always far outnumbered the class notes. I used to “take notes” during classes by drawing boxes, and then filling in the boxes with different patterns, instead of…
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    Continuations

  • Thinking About Alternatives to SOPA/PIPA

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:08 am
    With SOPA and PIPA shelved at least for the moment, it is time to start thinking about alternatives.  It would be a shame if we limited our collective thinking here to slightly different versions of those bills instead of exploring what a different approach to copyright could be that doesn’t try to fight the characteristics of the Internet but rather embraces them, providing value for rights creators/holders, technology companies and endusers. One interesting entry here is Ian Rogers (from Topspin Media) proposal for a rights and media registry.  It’s worth reading the entire post and…

  • Apple Is Slow Boiling Developers

    26 Jan 2012 | 2:25 pm
    How do you boil a frog?  Slowly.  Apparently the same is true for endusers and even software developers.  That at least is what Apple seems to believe.  And while this has been debunked for frogs (they do jump out as the water gets too warm), it’s not clear that the same is true for humans.  We seem all too willing to trade off having a shiny device for accepting ever more restrictions on what we can do with that device. I wonder how long it will take before people realize how much they are losing when instead of a general purpose computer they have a locked down device controlled by a…

  • Supermodularity And Service Bundling

    25 Jan 2012 | 1:00 pm
    This will be a bit of a wonky and short post with a longer and less technical one to follow some time soon.  Google has just announced a coming update to their privacy policy which will essentially make it possible for Google to integrate all the information it has about a user across its many different services.  This comes at the same time as the revelation that Larry Page apparently explicitly stated the goal of building “a single unified, ‘beautiful’ product across everything.” While one can come up with many possible verbal explanations for why Google might want to go this…

  • Tech Tuesday: DNS

    24 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Today we are continuing with the web cycle that I outlined two weeks ago.  After a URL has been parsed in Step 1, the browser needs to determine the IP address for the domain as Step 2.  Reprising the previous example, let’s consider the domain name dailylit.com.  How does the browser determine that in order to retrieve information from this domain it should access a server at IP address 72.32.133.224?  This is accomplished via a system called DNS, which stands for Domain Name System, and provides essentially the equivalent of a telephone book which provides IP addresses (telephone…

  • Why Software As A Service (A Personal Reminder)

    23 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    I am in the process of migrating a bunch of stuff off an ancient server which has been up continuously for 5 years and is being sunset (the hardware is tired and RedHat is ending support for RHEL4).  The migration process has been a potent reminder as to the many hidden costs of installed software.  For instance, at the time that the old machine was set up I used Subversion for version control and Trac for documentation and ticketing.  Once these were working nicely for my purposes, I stopped upgrading them.  Now you could say that’s a pretty stupid thing to do, but when you have very…
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    VentureDen's Funding For StartUps

  • 4 Tips For Attracting Venture Capital Interest

    Daniel Cimera
    18 Jan 2012 | 5:37 pm
    It is the job of an entrepreneur with a great business idea to find start up business capital, and venture capital companies are the prime targets for these success-driven entrepreneurs. However, it is the job of the venture capital firm to turn away and reject about 98% of the proposals they receive in order to find the “diamonds in the rough.” Attracting the attention of venture capital firms is not an easy task, especially considering the rejection rate in the industry.What can you do to attract VC interest? Here are four helpful tips that come straight from top venture capital firms.

  • How Your Startup Can Avoid Equity Dilution After VC Funding

    Daniel Cimera
    23 Nov 2011 | 1:05 pm
    If you have viewed the Oscar Best Picture nominated film, The Social Network, you may remember the powerful scene when Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg’s friend, Eduardo learned he was practically ‘diluted’ out of any substantial ownership of the new company. This was after a number of rounds of venture capital start up financing. The scene is powerful because Eduardo knew that with every stage of new investment, the founders’ equity in the company got smaller and smaller. Ultimately, his ownership share was diluted to less than 1%. What is dilution and how can you avoid getting…

  • How To Slant Your Market ’Opportunity’ To Venture Capital

    Daniel Cimera
    18 Jul 2011 | 7:15 pm
    It is essential for venture capital firms to believe that your small or startup business is hitting the right and size of market. While a management team or new product can be created, a market opportunity cannot, as it must exist.And if a sizable market does exist, then venture capital firms start salivating. However, don’t get over-zealous and lay down unrealistic market opportunities. Venture capital firms want to see a sizable market, but it must be realistic. Avoid Overstating Your Intended Market It is very tempting to say you are entering a “300-billion a year” software industry.

  • 4 Critical Mistakes To Avoid in Your Executive Summary

    Daniel Cimera
    6 Jul 2011 | 8:15 am
    Entrepreneurs looking for venture funding for their small business or start up are often approaching venture capital firms. And there is no wonder - venture capital firms can offer a staggering amount of money for expansion, marketing, and even IPO preparation. Venture capital firms are often contacted first through an introduction letter and an executive summary. If the venture capital firm wants to know more, they will usually ask to see the full business plan and set up a meeting if the plan is attractive. However, getting that first executive summary past the initial contact stage is…

  • Prequalifying Your Potential Venture Capitalists

    Daniel Cimera
    18 May 2011 | 9:58 am
    You’ve spent hours, weeks, months, preparing and hammering out your winning business plan, getting your financial records in order, and assembling your dream team to lead your new company to the big time. Now it’s time to get in front of venture capital firms. But which business investors do you start with? It is tempting to use a “shotgun” approach to finding venture capital firms by shooting your business plan to every VC firm in every directory. But you would do better for your new fledgling company by researching and prequalifying venture capital firms before you send them your…
 
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    OpenView Blog

  • A Way With Words? Why Writing Still Matters to Your Bottom Line

    Kevin Cain
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:39 am
    As a kid, my father would sometimes put on his best British accent and tell me that one of the keys to success in life is mastering the “King’s English.” What he meant is that being able to write clearly, accurately and succinctly is an essential skill. Fast forward 20 years and that simple piece of advice still rings true. You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”  — Lee Iacocca image provided by: freedigitalphotos.net Writing and editing have been a fundamental part of my career since I began as a…

  • The Future of Personal Computing: Converged Converged Devices

    Nick Petri
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:32 am
    First, there was the land-line. As wireless technology became increasingly more efficient and compact, it started to make sense for people to carry around cell phones. By 2002, mobile phones eclipsed land-lines in total number of call minutes, and by 2010, there were more cell phones in the US than people. Increasingly, young people (myself included) are foregoing land-lines entirely. Why deal with two phone numbers and two voicemail boxes if you don’t have to? Image provided by: William Hook's Photostream At some point in the mid 2000s, cell phones began gobbling up other handheld…

  • Resumes: Are We Going Cold — Or Efficient?

    Katy Smigowski
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:42 pm
    image provided by www.freedigitalphotos.net I recently read an article from the Wall Street Journal that discussed how some firms are requesting a hold on resumes. Instead of resumes, they prefer a candidate to send links showcasing their “web presence” or even an elevator pitch via a short video. When I was reading through the article I couldn’t help but think how awesome it would be to receive links and videos from candidates rather than mining through resumes submitted online. But then I started thinking about the other side of things — the candidate side. A lot of people want…

  • Market Research Interview: Respondent Recruitment Tips

    Brandon Hickie
    26 Jan 2012 | 2:07 pm
    Image provided by: mojofieldwork.com Over the last few weeks, I have written a series of blog posts on how to design a targeted and unbiased market research interview script and how to plan out the data collection process for a market research interview project.  This week, I will share 5 market research respondent recruitment tips to improve your team’s success rate in recruiting interviewees for your market research interview projects. Securing a sufficient number of qualified respondents to participate in your research process is often times one of the most frustrating aspects of a…

  • Market Research Interview Tips: Data Collection Methods

    Brandon Hickie
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Image provided by: cartoonstock.com Over the last two weeks, I have written a series of blog posts regarding how to design an effective market research interviewing script and how to choose the right question style for your market research interview questions.  This week, I will be covering how to plan out the data collection process of a market research interview project. This is a very important phase of the research that must be planned out prior to beginning the first market research interview, as poorly organized data collection will almost always result in corrupted, incomplete and/or…
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    EZebis

  • Women 2.0 PITCH Conference & Competition 2012 Discount

    pemo
    16 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Women 2.0 PITCH Conference & Competition (February 14, 2012 in Mountain View, CA) is a full day conference – Learn from product innovation leaders who built Flickr, Facebook, Zipcar, TaskRabbit, LARK and more. Both men and women working in technology (from early-stage startup to corporate) as they share best practices, growth strategies and stories of disruptive product development at their ventures. Hear about launching products from concept to cash and customers!  [ Read More ]
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    Openview Labs

  • Secret to Better Sales: Believing in Your Price

    Contributing Author
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:52 pm
    Image Credit: xrrr In a post for the Sales Hunter, Mark Hunter explains how salespeople destroy profits by not truly believing in their price. “Too many salespeople roll over and play dead when the customer even hints at not being willing to pay full-price,” he writes. He cites an example of a recent exchange between a customer and a salesperson where the salesperson — even before putting the offer on the table — told the customer they were going to give them a lower price. (See Sales: Here Are Some Myths) “As if offering a discount right up front wasn’t a big enough mistake, the…

  • Salvaging Those ‘Lost Sales’

    Contributing Author
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:51 pm
    Image Credit: jan.drasnar In a post for Eye on Sales, Richard Libin highlights the difference between selling and selling now, explaining that the former may be the best way. “Traditional sales methods have always focused on closing the sale, NOW,” he writes. “As a result, many opportunities feel pressured and uncomfortable with the salesperson, and by default, with the business or store, and they leave.” Libin says the ultimate goal for a business should be to build clientele that will return and shop repeatedly, not simply to close a quick sale now. (See The Secret Sauce of the…

  • Tailor Lead Generation for Better Hits

    Contributing Author
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:07 pm
    Image Credit: seo_kid In a post for the Customer Collective, Jonathan Farrington highlights the importance of lead generation. Farrington points out that very few organizations have a formal plan, strategy or methodology in place to manage leads, preferring the “scatter-gun” approach. “Generating leads is an important sales activity that plants the seeds of growth for sustainable business development,” he writes. “When deciding upon which lead generation methods work best for you and your organization, it helps to have clarity on the type of customers that you’d like to…

  • Hiring: Finding Former Failures, Current Winners

    Contributing Author
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:06 pm
    Image Credit: Aragga In a post for ERE, John Zappe suggests when interviewing job candidates, they focus on self-control and grit. Zappe says recruiters are on the look out for winners who have the character strength to learn why they failed, what to do next time to succeed, and who will then get back up on the horse. Citing a New York Times article on Prof. Angela Duckworth, Zappe says that Duckworth noticed that people who accomplished great things often combined a passion for a single mission with an unswerving dedication to achieve that mission, whatever the obstacles and however long it…

  • Managing Negative Social Media Feedback

    Contributing Author
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:04 pm
    Image Credit: linkedmediagrp In a post for Return Customer, Jacelyn Thomas outlines some best practices when managing negative feedback in social media. Since consumers can reach out to the product marketers and voice their opinions with social media, it can e a beneficial thing and a destructive thing, she writes. (See Creating Social Media Guidelines for Employees) The first step in managing negative feedback, she says, is being able to distinguish what type of feedback you’re receiving. Genuine Problems Thomas says sometimes the negative remarks made about your company, product, or…
 
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    Matt Crowe

  • Hello world!

    admin
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:55 am
    Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
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    Mendelson's Musings

  • A Recipe for Disaster – Killing Law Schools in Favor of an Undergraduate Education

    Jason Mendelson
    17 Jan 2012 | 10:11 am
    The Wall Street Journal published an article today called “First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Law Schools.”  The basic premise is that the costs are outweighing the benefits.  The authors claim that the total cost of going to law school is around $275,000 which leads to higher legal fees to citizens as it constrains supply of lawyers and those who do graduate must charge high hourly rates to repay their student loans.  The solution according to the article?  Kill all the law schools and make it an undergraduate level program. While I agree that the costs of law school…

  • Learning Entrepreneurship – Boulder Digital Works

    Jason Mendelson
    11 Dec 2011 | 10:34 am
    I’m excited to announce a Boulder Digital Works course that will be open to the public in the Spring of 2012, StartUp: Learning Entrepreneurship. This is the first BDW course inviting community members to join  graduate students and engage in the graduate curriculum.  StartUp is immersive and transformational––both theoretical and practical. It begins with the premise that entrepreneurship, rather than being the result of genius and magic, can be learned;  Startup then proves this premise through the actual conception, build, and launch of an original product or service by…

  • I’m Hanging in Fort Collins, where are you?

    Jason Mendelson
    2 Dec 2011 | 7:37 pm
    As part of the Startup Colorado initiative, my colleague Mike Weiner and I are spending December 7th in Fort Collins.  Our goal is to meet as many people involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and figure out if there are better ways to tie what we are doing in Boulder with Fort Collins. As part of our trip, we are going to hang out for an hour or so and would like to meet with anyone who wants to come hang. We’ll be at the Advisors-in-Residence which is 320 East Vine Drive, Suite 120 starting at 11am.  If you want to come talk startups, you know where we are.  

  • University of Colorado Law School is Hiring

    Jason Mendelson
    2 Dec 2011 | 9:24 am
    As Dean Phil Weiser develops Colorado Law and meets the opportunities and challenges ahead for legal education, he is building his team with a number of positions open.  If you are interested, or know great candidates who are, they can reach out to Phil directly (phil.weiser@colorado.edu) and read more below: An Academic Entrepreneur to Build New Programs  – Director of Special Projects (www.jobsatcu.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=66002) The position of Director of Strategy and Special Projects is established to oversee and execute a variety of projects designed to support the Dean…

  • Ann Arbor – The Potential Sleeping Giant for Entrepreneurism

    Jason Mendelson
    21 Nov 2011 | 2:05 pm
    Every couple / few years, I head back to Ann Arbor, Michigan to spend a few days reconnecting with my alma mater and to check out the startup ecosystem.  My visit usually includes meeting with entrepreneurs, spending time with the different organizations that support entrepreneurs and guest lecturing. I’ve always thought that Ann Arbor has all of the raw materials to become a hot bed for startup activity.  The University of Michigan is a great anchor tenant university, there are excellent students, professors and researchers and it’s a place where people want to live.  To date,…
 
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    eWallstreeter

  • Google: Users Are 'Delighted' With Our Search Changes (GOOG)

    28 Jan 2012 | 12:36 am
    A couple weeks ago, Google started blending social information from Google+ into search results. The blogosphere's reaction to this change, which Google called Search Plus Your World, was swift, loud, and mostly negative. Twitter complained that Google was unfairly favoring its own social network over competitors, then a programmer at Facebook seemed to prove it. Worse yet, the results seemed to be less relevant in a lot of cases, leading a number of people to declare Bing the better search engine. But in all the noise, what do users think? According to Google search fellow Amit Singhal, who…

  • Actis: Disappointing. I Wouldn't Work with Them Again

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:55 pm
    | Fund Rated 2.6 | 582 Chars in Private - Selected by eWallstreeter.com -

  • Photo Startup Makes It Easy to Create Albums With Friends

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:02 pm
    The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your st… - Selected by eWallstreeter.com -

  • Symantec may have identified a botnet string of Android apps

    27 Jan 2012 | 8:12 pm
    Symantec claims to have found a string of “malicious” applications in the Android app store that resemble botnets. According to a blog post by the company, these applications are pushing out a type of malware called Android.Counterclank, which is said … - Selected by eWallstreeter.com -

  • 15 Silicon Valley Homes To Drool Over Ahead Of Facebook's IPO Filing Next Week

    27 Jan 2012 | 7:15 pm
    When Facebook finally goes public in a few months, the company will create more than 1,000 millionaires. And the company is expected to move a step closer to that goal next week: it's apparently filing for an IPO Wednesday. While the newly minted millionaires won't have their hands on the money for a few months, we thought it would be a good time to check out some of the real estate available in the Silicon Valley area. These homes may or may not still be available in the spring, but it pays to know what's out there.This $2.3 million house is very cozy 2615 Cowper St Palo Alto, CA 94306 Beds:…
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