BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
November 11 2009
by John Backus
Venture Capital: 5 tips on how to navigate the VC gauntlet
Early-Stage venture capital firms see every imaginable type of business idea. Since we are the first institutional fundraising “gate” that entrepreneurs have to pass through, the variety of business plans which we see fill the spectrum from awful to terrific. Over the years I have seen lots of bad ideas: Bad ideas for big businesses. ...
November 10 2009
by Thanasis Delistathis
5 things to know about creating a financial model for your business
When pitching your business to venture investors, sharing a well designed financial model is very important! Why? Because how a financial model is designed helps investors learn some things about you and your business: it provides insights into how you think about your business, helps clarify what are the main assumptions that drive it and ...
November 6 2009
by Stephen Marcus
navfund.com, Part Deux
We did it! The new NAV website went live 11-02-09 at 8:30pm EST. I searched for the word that somehow characterizes the change–a regeneration of sorts–yet more dramatic and more than a simple renewal. This was pure metamorphosis and a digression from the typical venture fund website. We began by asking our portfolio company entrepreneurs ...
November 3 2009
by Tim Rowe
MIT $100K Elevator Pitch Competition
This past Thursday was the Grand Finale of the MIT $100K Competition’s precursor competition, known as the EPC or Elevator Pitch Competition. Over 350 entrants had made their 60-second pitches over the past several days to persevering judges. The resulting twelve finalists did not yet know who they were, however everyone who was in the ...
November 3 2009
by Todd Hixon
How We Survived 2009
The CEO of one of my portfolio companies, which I will call “Ajax” (not the real name), wrote this as part of his regular report to the senior team, board, and investors. It’s pretty typical of what it’s been like out there this year, and what CEOs, management teams, and boards did to manage through. ...
October 27 2009
by Todd Hixon
Notes from the October 21 Xconomy Forum
The title of the forum was “A Global Vision of Venture Capital and Private Equity”. This grandiose-sounding title was chosen, I suspect, to honor one of the panelists, Peter Brooke, who is indeed a pioneer of Global VC and PE. The other panelist was Terry McGuire, a long-time and successful Boston VC who is a ...
October 27 2009
by Thanasis Delistathis
Why is it hard to monetize ad-driven businesses? Answer: it’s not if you have the right people.
About a month ago, I was talking to Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Ventures about the state of the advertising market. Many of our portfolio companies have a free, ad-supported business model. So the ability to get revenue is correlated to the ability to sell the advertising inventory at attractive rates. We both marveled at how ...
October 27 2009
by Thanasis Delistathis
YES on net neutrality!
The debate is raging on the merits and pitfalls of “net neutrality”. The lobbyists are working overtime. Both sides have employed semantics to try to appeal to the average citizen who may not be as versed on the nuances of policy in this area: according to supporters it’s about innovation; about according to critics it is ...
October 23 2009
by John Backus
Executive Compensation
Today I turn the blog over to Walt Shill, a CEO of one of our portfolio companies many years ago, and now a very senior executive at Accenture. I love the way Walt thinks and writes – and post this below with his permission. The topic is executive compensation, but at the end he has ...
October 23 2009
by Todd Hixon
Players, Stayers, and Payers
Last month, Intuit, the leader in personal finance software, announced it would acquire Mint.com for $170m (5.3x paid-in capital two years after first funding). High fives all around! Mint offers a unique, far-easier way for consumers to organize personal finances and budgets on the web, bringing in information from numerous accounts. People adopted it and ...
