BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Author Archive
January 19 2012
by Thanasis Delistathis
Venture capital should not be a political punching bag
Venture capital has been in the news lately, thanks to the critics of Mitt Romney’s previous career as a CEO of Bain Capital. For those of you that have been in a cave over the last couple of weeks, the criticism from Romney opponents is that some of the companies that Bain Capital invested in ...
January 5 2012
by Thanasis Delistathis
Privacy matters
Mark Zuckerburg, founder of facebook, famously declared in one public appearance in 2010 that the age of privacy is over. As we all share more information over the internet, the world is becoming more transparent. So do people care about privacy, and does it matter? I saw some data recently from the work of one ...
September 20 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Facebook launches “Subscribe” button: worlds collide
In a bid to stay ahead of competitors Twitter and Google+, Facebook quietly launched a new way to share and receive news on its network. It’s called the “Subscribe” button and allows me to follow “public” news updates of other Facebook users even if they are not friends in my network. That comes on the ...
July 7 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
What’s in it for Skype?
Facebook announced a new feature that allows users to communicate with their friends via video calls. The backbone of the service is powered by the skype network. I was curious to see how the service worked so I tested it with a couple of colleagues. To enable it, I had to click on a friend ...
June 15 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Think Different: Apple Retail Stores
A couple of months ago my Mac Air’s operating system was fried. The Finder was malfunctioning and I couldn’t get an anything done. I took it to the Apple store around the corner from our office. The rep at the Genius Bar hooked it up to a hard drive and asked me to come back ...
June 10 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
GroupOn: Amazing biz model or “ponzi scheme”?
Does GroupOn have a sustainable business model? Not a day goes by when I don’t have that debate with another VC or entrepreneur. They went from $0 to $2.5BN annual revenue run rate in less than 4 years. Arguably the fastest growing company in history. It almost sounds too good to be true. Can it ...
June 8 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Feature-Not-A-Company
I wrote a post yesterday about the general euphoria in the tech market. One of the signs of things are heating up is the large volume of startups that are pursuing niche product strategies. Consumer internet is a busy space and in a race to differentiate themselves, startups are positioning themselves in tighter product spaces. ...
June 7 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Pinch me: is it 1999?
I attended TechCrunch Disrupt a couple of weeks ago and the scene was abuzz with talk of a new tech bubble following the LinkedIn IPO, on the heels of privately traded Facebook shares at exorbitant valuations. The Groupon IPO filing last week helped reinforce the feeling that things are heating up. So, are we living ...
February 9 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Watch out for those “Groundhog Days”
“Groundhog Day” is a metaphor for lack of change an innovation. Companies need to watch out for market changes that may render their services obsolete or invalidate their current strategy.
December 16 2010
by Thanasis Delistathis
Golden age of e-commerce
The last four years have seen another resurgence of e-commerce companies. In fact, our last two deals have been e-commerce deals and we are looking at another one. While e-commerce has been around since the launch of Amazon in the late ’90s, there was a period starting after the collapse of the tech bubble in ...
