BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Author Archive
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 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 ...
September 4 2012
by John Backus
Find the Bubble
The NVCA released a new report today showing that half of all companies funded by VCs in 2011, and the first half of 2012, are early stage. This compares to an average of 38% or so funded companies being early stage over the last ten years. This is good news for entrepreneurs and angel funded ...
August 28 2012
by John Backus
The Angel Bubble (or why I would rather be a VC)
Much has been written over the last few years about the poor performance of the venture capital asset class since 2000. And on average, the performance has been terrible. Median returns according to Cambridge Associates for the 2000 vintage year were -3% “improving” to -1% for the 2001 vintage year. Top quartile returns kicked in ...
May 30 2012
by John Backus
A New Golden Age of Venture Capital
co-authored by John Backus & Todd Hixon The Venture Capital (“VC”) Model is dead (at least for LPs), proclaimed the Kauffman Foundation recently. Too much available money for the VC model to succeed added Union Square’s Fred Wilson. A blog out there details 25+ stories on why the VC model is broken. Sevin Rosen, a ...
March 18 2012
by John Backus
Pass the Jobs Act NOW!
This post is short and to the point. Coming before the Senate this week is a bill know as H.R. 3606, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. The Obama Administration has called on Congress to cut the red tape that prevents many rapidly growing startup companies from raising needed capital. It is time to ...
March 8 2012
by John Backus
Serendipity, not Search, Finds Top Apps
Much has been written about the explosive growth of smartphones and tablets, but apps are what make them useful and are driving their adoption. IDC estimates mobile app downloads will reach nearly 182.7 billion in 2015. There are now nearly one million apps, mostly for Apple and Android devices, and Gartner projected app revenue from ...
March 8 2012
by John Backus
Wake up DC!
I was proud and humbled to be honored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council this month with a “lifetime achievement” award – by the NVTC Entrepreneur Center – for helping entrepreneurs across more than a decade. While I think I have a decade or two left in me to help entrepreneurs, I gave some quick ...
January 12 2012
by John Backus
Re-Inventing Education for the 21st Century
The Internet is staring down the College Cartel. And the Internet will win. College costs cannot continue to rise at three times the rate of inflation, as they have for the last thirty-five years. My friend Jack Biddle, co-founder of VC firm Novak Biddle, and an early pioneer in online education companies (Blackboard, 2Tor, Fidelis ...
January 11 2012
by John Backus
Part 2 – Busting up the College Cartel
In my last piece, I pointed out how for more than a generation – 35 years and counting – that the costs of attending college have increased at three times the rate of inflation – almost twice the rate that health care costs have increased over the same period. Yet our children are receiving the ...
