BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
May 20 2013
by John Backus
Commentary: Creative destruction meets higher education
This piece first appeared in the Washington Post’s Business Section on May 20, 2013. I was invited to weigh in during the opening general session at the Education Technology Industry Summit in San Francisco this month, hosted by the Software & Information Industry Association. The topic: “What’s Next” in education. As a technology venture capital ...
May 13 2013
by Todd Hixon
Cultivate The Exceptional Individuals
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on Nov. 9, 2012. I spent last week (super-storm Sandy and the run-up to the election) in Australia, one of the world’s most fortunate countries. Australia is blessed with natural beauty, weather like California (and no hurricanes), and a huge stock of high quality natural resources to sell to hungry neighbors like China. Australia has not ...
May 10 2013
by Todd Hixon
In California, They’re Roasting Goose For Christmas This Year
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on 11/29/2012. More specifically, as befits the “Golden State”, they’re roasting the golden goose. Simpleton Finds The Golden Goose*; Source: Project Gutenburg via Wikipedia On November 6 California passed Proposition 30, which raises tax rates to increase funding for education. California education does need funding to reverse years ...
May 7 2013
by John Backus
Why I STILL use a Travel Agent
Call me a dinousaur. I use a travel agent to book all of my flights, my hotels, and my car rentals. Not a travel agency. A real person. I have her email, her mobile number, and her work number. And she takes her job seriously. Lets just call her Janice for now. As I write ...
May 3 2013
by Todd Hixon
It’s Easier To Start A Venture Than Finish It
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon We’ve seen a boom in U.S. angel funding of new ventures in recent years. A study performed by the University of New Hampshire Center for Venture Research (more) estimates that angels funded 66,000 companies with $22 billion (an average of $330k per company) in 2011. That’s up from 38,000 angel investments ...
April 30 2013
by Scott Johnson
Redefining Series A (and college education)
In the good old days, aka the mid ’90s, the venture world was quite orderly. Angel rounds were under $500K. Series A rounds were $3-$5 million for companies just getting their first customers, and “B rounds” happened 18 months later at $5-$15 million to scale up. Which firms did which type of investment was well ...
April 29 2013
by Todd Hixon
Sell-To, Sell-Through, Repeat!
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on October 31, 2012. One of my partners reminds us that, to be a success, a company must not only sell successfully to its immediate customers (“sell-to”), but also enable the customer to sell successfully to his/her end customers (“sell-through”), not just once, but repeatedly. Too often we (as venture ...
April 22 2013
by Todd Hixon
Google Is Failing To Market The Android Ecosystem
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on September 27, 2012. The Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) upgrade appeared on my phone yesterday. I had no idea when I might see it: it was pushed by some carriers to some phones three months ago, but must Android users won’t see it for a long time. There was ...
April 17 2013
by Todd Hixon
Verizon Makes Wireless Pricing Rational
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon Some customers and pundits have reacted negatively to new smartphone pricing plans that take away unlimited data, either explicitly or by “throttling” intensive users (e.g.: Fox News coverage). There’s a meme here that says unlimited data is an aspect of “Internet freedom”. This confuses two ideas: carriers discriminating against certain applications ...
April 16 2013
by Todd Hixon
Cracks In The Myth of iOS Superiority
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon in May 2012. Since then Android’s market share has been up and recently down relative to Apple, and Samsung has launched a huge brand-building campaign, so this deeper dive has continued relevance. Apple invented the smart phone. It has been building iOS and its ecosystem since the iPhone launched in ...
