BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Author Archive
October 29 2010
by Todd Hixon
The Chosin Few
Walking down the street last night in a blue-collar suburb of Boston, I passed a tough-looking older man wearing a baseball cap marked: “The Chosin Few”. I asked the person walking with me (not my wife) if she knew what that meant, and she replied, “Well, the guy can’t spell.” That saddened me. We spend ...
October 18 2010
by Todd Hixon
Europe Lags In Mobile
I’m just back from 12 days in Europe, visiting Positano and Rome, Italy and Munich and Frankfurt, Germany. I’m struck by how much Europe lags the U.S. in mobile. This is a small arbitrary sample: 3 major cities and an upscale beach resort in 2 countries. But, the visible difference is stark. 1. The data ...
September 24 2010
by Todd Hixon
Robots Romp at MIT: Notes From EmTech10
MIT held its annual Emerging Technologies conference this week. It’s an MIT conference rather than a venture conference: many of the the speakers were from major tech corporations (Qualcomm, Microsoft) or academics. Innovations from corporate labs, university labs, and start-ups had equal prominence. It was not about raising money: no explicit pitches, few VCs there. ...
September 14 2010
by Todd Hixon
Is Android The Next Windows?
Is history repeating itself? Recently the monthly connect rate for Android phones passed the iPhone in the U.S., and many analysts believe Android phones in use will outnumber iPhones early next year. Apple popularized the personal computer with the launch of the Apple II in 1977. Microsoft, IBM, and Intel followed in 1981 with what ...
July 14 2010
by Todd Hixon
The iPad Turns 6
In two weeks we have the six-month birthday of the iPad (announced January 27, 2010). A few things have become clear, some aligned with my expectations and some not [see the surprised /not-surprised postscript on each paragraph]: The tablet category is off to a strong start. Apple has sold ~3 million units. All the usual ...
June 11 2010
by Todd Hixon
The View From The Dark Side #2: Participating Preferred
Entrepreneurs often dislike participating preferred stock. It can be a contentious term at investment time, and I often sense resentment at exit time when investors “get $XX million off the top”. “Participating preferred” refers to convertible preferred stock with a special liquidation right: preferred stock holders receive return of their investment, and then they share ...
May 19 2010
by Todd Hixon
Venture Lite
The “Cloud” and other forces have slashed the cost of starting an IT company and produced a surge in seed investing. We discussed this in a segment of our annual meeting last week, which was attended by professional limited partners (“LPs”), individual LPs, and entrepreneurs, as well as the NAV partners. There was strong energy ...
April 23 2010
by Todd Hixon
The View From The Dark Side: #1, Why VCs Are Greedy
[This is the first of a series of posts that attempt to explain how the venture capital business looks from the VC side.] VCs are often characterized as greedy, eg: “vulture capitalists” or (the more contemporary phrase) “not founder friendly”. Like any broad characterization, there is truth and untruth here, and good and bad reasons ...
April 14 2010
by Todd Hixon
Three Ways To Sell A Business
Frequently entrepreneurs and investors come to the point where they want or need to find an M&A exit. Is the time right? What should they expect? Here’s a framework that I hope is helpful. Buyers pay for three things: strategic opportunity, growth, and earnings/cash flow. Which of these you have to offer will influence who’s ...
March 17 2010
by Todd Hixon
Teeth versus Tail
In one of his radio chats, Governor Patrick of Massachusetts talked about increasing the number of government jobs in the Commonwealth as a means to increase employment. “After all [he remarked], government jobs are just as good a private sector jobs”. That troubled me, and here’s why. Gov. Patrick’s point, I infer, is that a ...
