BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
June 24 2009
by John Backus
The Death of Newspapers: 5 Opportunities for Entrepreneurs
Declining circulation and declining advertising dollars in a down economy are accelerating the inevitable – the death of the local newspaper. Now I’m not saying that every newspaper will die, nor will they all fade away tomorrow. But when it looks like the New York Times may have to pay money to a buyer of ...
June 24 2009
by John Backus
Health Insurance is not Health Care
A recent article in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903583.html) and an investment we recently made in a new company, Qliance (www.qliance.com) prompted this post.Did you ever wonder why you have health insurance for ordinary everyday stuff? Like an annual physical. A flu shot. A vision test. Having your teeth cleaned twice a year. I did. Why? ...
June 23 2009
by John Backus
So, you have a meeting with a VC? Are you meeting for Dough or just for Show? 5 ways to find out
If you read the numbers from the NVCA, you know that venture dollar investments in the first quarter of 2009 were down by almost half. Logic would suggest that the number of companies receiving venture capital financing is down as well. Although you can still get a meeting with a VC – can you still ...
June 22 2009
by Scott Johnson
Local Search Is Getting Interesting
We are seeing a great many “local search” companies seeking investment these past few weeks. “Local search” in this context means companies that are using location-aware devices to find stuff – an appartment for rent, a person you know or would like to know, a deal on a cup of coffee or a slice of ...
June 18 2009
by Thanasis Delistathis
Good time to start a business? History is on your side
While many facts and figures are all doom and gloom about the economy in general, it may be a good time to start a business if you have a good opportunity to make a difference. I saw a new study by the Kaufman Foundation (http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/the-economic-future-just-happened.aspx) that found that “more than half of the companies on ...
June 17 2009
by John Backus
So you want to be a VC? 5 ways to find a VC job
I don’t think a week goes by that someone doesn’t ask me if we are hiring at New Atlantic Ventures. (No, we are not!). Seems that everyone wants to be a VC these days. So I thought that I would share a few thoughts on why a job in the VC industry is so hard ...
June 17 2009
by Todd Hixon
What makes a smart phone App a good business?
At a recent conference Rich Miner (to whom I always listen carefully) answered this question: “How many good companies will be created by the smart phone application market?” Rich answered: “There will be a few, as about as many as succeeded in the PC market.” [Rich, currently a GP with Google Ventures, has been head ...
June 15 2009
by John Backus
Coming soon: 1,000,000 iphone entrepreneurs
The smart phone as a platform is more important than the PC was as a platform. Why? Billions vs hundreds of millions. And those billions of smart phones (yes, soon every phone will be a “smart phone”) will be in hands and homes in every country of the world. Location aware through GPS. Aways connected ...
June 15 2009
by Scott Johnson
Bing – the next Huggies?
The search business reminds me a bit of the diaper business. Hugely profitable for the winner, you can’t live without it regardless of economic times, and once you pick a brand you pretty much stick with it. But incumbents are not 100% secure. Prior to 1978, there was no Huggies. Pampers ruled the disposable diaper ...
June 9 2009
by Todd Hixon
An “Inconvenient Truth”: Exceptional People Are Worth All That They Are Paid
We have entered into an era of reaction to the laissez-faire capitalism of the turn of the century, and particularly its excesses. President Obama is determined to create or preserve “middle class jobs” and redistribute income and probably wealth from the top 5 percent to everyone else. There is a lot of this that I agree ...
