BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
March 4 2013
by Todd Hixon
Clear Talk About The Budget
This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon The other day I had my first budget discussion with the CEO of a new portfolio company. It went well: our views aligned. That conversation underscored the value of the right framework for discussing the budget, and of laying out the framework at the start. Here’s how I think about ...
February 7 2013
by Scott Johnson
On Amazon Coins, In-App Purchase, and Mobile Advertising
It appears that the enigmatic “currency of the internet” will be figured out, finally, in the next few years. And it has been a really long time coming. I remember listening to a presentation at business school by Dan Lynch who founded CyberCash in 1996 to be the micro-currency of the web. But traffic tends ...
January 10 2013
by Scott Johnson
Is it time to look anew at Clean-Tech?
Is clean-tech the next eCommerce? Remember in 2003 how dead commerce investment was? The entire tech sector had entered the “trough of disillusionment” segment of the hype curve, and at the bottom of the barrel of tech refuse settled the consumer internet, with ecommerce flop pets.com as the poster-child of investment lunacy. Then, ...
December 3 2012
by Todd Hixon
Venture Capital Bounces Back
[This post first appeared at blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon] Venture capital has been getting a lot of support from politicians and the press recently, notably the passage of the JOBS (“Jump-start Our Business Start-ups”) Act. A key provision, much mentioned by President Obama, lets Joe Ordinary become a venture capital investor via legalization of Crowd Funding (more). Active Venture Funds & ...
November 7 2012
by Scott Johnson
App/Cloud Data Insurance – Someone Should Offer This
The big risk of apps that access the cloud is that when startups fail, all your cloud data disappears with them. This is a paricularly troubling issue for startups that do archiving. Photo apps fall squarely into the category, and there have been high profile losses for consumers on some of the web sites that ...
October 11 2012
by Scott Johnson
What to know when approaching a venture capital firm
General Assembly is launching in Boston at the Cambridge Innovation Center where we have our offices. They asked me to give a primer on venture capital, and I thought it would be much improved if I did it with a CEO I have backed. So I asked my friend Jim Schoonmaker to join me, and ...
September 27 2012
by Todd Hixon
Healthcare Needs Transparency
[First posted @ blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on Sept. 20, 2012.] The 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) triggered a wave of mergers among health care providers that is creating regional juggernauts. Customers urgently need increased price and quality transparency to buy smart and offset the growing market power of providers. In Massachusetts the hospitals are battling the state ...
September 27 2012
by Todd Hixon
Where The Market Approach To Health Care Completely Fails
[First posted @ blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on August 16, 2012.] Hospital Chain Inquiry Cited Unnecessary Cardiac Work – NYTimes.com. I have advocated for the potential of entrepreneurs and market forces to contribute to health care reform, and I believe there are many such opportunities (more). But there are limits, and the article cited above is a big ...
September 27 2012
by Todd Hixon
Health Cost Wars: Episode V (The Empire Strikes Back)
[First posted @ blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on July 26. 2012.] Health care reform is a bit like raising a child. Extending coverage is having the baby: tough at some points but overall pretty quick and gratifying. Paying for health care reform is like raising and educating the child: a long slog, seems impossible at times, and incredibly expensive. ...
September 27 2012
by Todd Hixon
Big Winners From The SCOTUS ObamaCare Ruling
[First posted @ blogs.forbes.com/toddhixon on July 6, 2012.] The dust is settling from last week’s landmark, and surprising ruling, and it’s time to think about what it means. To start that process I’ve done a bit of poking through stock market data to learn who the smart guys on Wall Street (virtually speaking) think were the winners ...
