BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
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 ...
June 2 2009
by John Backus
Top 5 Reasons No VC Will Read Your Email
Top 5 Reasons No VC Will Read Your Email
You start your email “Dear Investor.” At least pretend that you are only sending your idea to us!
In the “to” filed, you copy include 100’s of VCs. Again, make us feel special.
We are an early stage fund and you are trying to raise $50M. Know what size ...
June 1 2009
by Todd Hixon
The vital role of entrepreneurs and tech in the US economy
In this season when we hasten to bail out weak entities that are sinking, we need to keep in mind where the strength in our economy comes from. Trade patterns reveal competitive strength and weakness. While US trade balance overall is negative, the tech industry is the sector that shines.
The following analysis, from The Economist using ...
May 28 2009
by Todd Hixon
The Venture View from DC
I spent the last two days at the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) annual meeting. The contrast in the feeling at this meeting to similar gatherings in New England is noteworthy.The MAVA meeting was well attended: about 800 people, the same number as in May 2008. Many of the top VCs in the region were visible: ...
May 15 2009
by Scott Johnson
Why I Say “No” to a good opportunity
I have to say “no” very often to people I like with really good business opportunities. It is the nature of any buying job that you say “no” a lot more than “yes.” And often I can’t enumerate the reasons for my decision not to invest. I can list a few, but I try not ...
May 14 2009
by Thanasis Delistathis
Tip No 3: Send the deck, not the business plan or the one-pager
We get dozens of proposals for investment every month. The time to screen those is limited so entrepreneurs need to make that easy.The first screen for VCs is: Is this a business that is a good fit for our fund and that I should pay attention to? Sending the business plan requires a larger investment ...
May 13 2009
by Scott Johnson
The downturn feels different this time
Tonight is the MIT 100K finals. So I thought I would muse on why I feel so much better today than I did in the aftermath of the last downturn.
The 2001-2004 VC nuclear winter was brutal. Valuations fell so far so fast – it was like being on a bullet train that suddenly stopped. The ...
May 13 2009
by Scott Johnson
EU Competition Committee – Time for another tea party
I suspect that, at the heart of Intel’s terrible offense of paying for buying decisions in their favor, are a bunch of folks they hired on the ground in Europe who know that the best way to get something decided in your favor in a timely way in the EU is to pay an expediting ...
May 11 2009
by Thanasis Delistathis
Tip No 2: Financial models and projections : keep it simple
I had a discussion last week with a very successful entrepreneur which reminded me of some of the follies I have seen over the years with startups and financial models. Here is the basic idea: keep it simple! No one can predict the future. Adding pages and pages of assumptions and complicated calculations doesn’t provide ...
May 10 2009
by Todd Hixon
Mapping the Cleantech Opportunity: TLH notes from the Nantucket conference
Panelists:Nick d’Arbeloff, moderator (Pres of NE Clean Energy Council)Bill Davis, Ze-genMike Clary, CEO GMZ energyJim Matheson, FlagshipDavid Prend, RockportHemant Taneja, Catalyst – 3 teams at GC: clean energy, IT, and consumer/mediaPrend:
5 sectors of clean tech: generation, resource efficiency, green buildings, advanced materials, transportation (admittedly, this covers a lot of ground including things that have no ...
