BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Entrepreneurs’
January 27 2012
by Scott Johnson
2012: Smartphones are now a social necessity
My last post, outlined five things to be excited about as we enter 2012. Number one on this list was smartphone ubiquity. I am not sure on what day last year this occurred, but the smart phone went from luxury to social necessity. Has the smart phone eclipsed the television in our hierarchy of needs? ...
January 26 2012
by Scott Johnson
No Better Time, Ever, To Be An Entrepreneur
I am often asked “what is new and exciting” by pretty much anyone that knows what I do for a living. And it is a great question that I relish answering – usually. Of late, however, I have been responding in a way that needs polish. I will say “smartphones” or “Health IT” or “the ...
January 19 2012
by Thanasis Delistathis
Venture capital should not be a political punching bag
Venture capital has been in the news lately, thanks to the critics of Mitt Romney’s previous career as a CEO of Bain Capital. For those of you that have been in a cave over the last couple of weeks, the criticism from Romney opponents is that some of the companies that Bain Capital invested in ...
November 22 2011
by Todd Hixon
Down With The 1%! Whoever They Are …
Unless you live in a deep cave, you’ve probably heard that the “1%” (top 1% of U.S. households ranked by income) enjoys a large percentage of U.S. after tax income (about 20% in 2007), famously documented by the CBO* (link). The Occupy Wall Street protesters imply that the 1% is mostly Wall Street traders and ...
October 14 2011
by Todd Hixon
How Entrepreneurs Can Survive and Prosper In The Political Crisis
We’re in the midst of a political crisis that has been a century in the making: in the U.S. and Europe the bill has come due for a welfare state that demographic trends and escalating health costs make unaffordable, which has been financed with debt and future promises. The political system is mostly seeking ways to ...
September 27 2011
by Todd Hixon
What the Political Crisis Means For Entrepreneurs
The recent downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, and the ongoing debt crisis in Europe stem from a century-in-the-making political crisis, which is creating big economic uncertainty: inability to borrow could throw major countries into recession, and interest rates, tax rates, and government spending will see major change that is hard to predict. The crisis will ...
June 8 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Feature-Not-A-Company
I wrote a post yesterday about the general euphoria in the tech market. One of the signs of things are heating up is the large volume of startups that are pursuing niche product strategies. Consumer internet is a busy space and in a race to differentiate themselves, startups are positioning themselves in tighter product spaces. ...
June 7 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Pinch me: is it 1999?
I attended TechCrunch Disrupt a couple of weeks ago and the scene was abuzz with talk of a new tech bubble following the LinkedIn IPO, on the heels of privately traded Facebook shares at exorbitant valuations. The Groupon IPO filing last week helped reinforce the feeling that things are heating up. So, are we living ...
May 31 2011
by Scott Johnson
Way Too Early – On Market Timing
Market timing is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for venture success. Obvious, right? The problem is that timing is obvious only in retrospect. Predicting how markets will evolve is an art, and probably is the single most important job of a venture firm. Boiled down to its essence, our role is to help companies ...
May 12 2011
by John Backus
E-Commerce 2.0: The Birth of Companies Worth $50B in Market Value
A new wave of e-commerce is upon us, but most people do not yet understand it. No, I am not talking about fashion flash sales here (though Gilt, Moda Operandi and Zulily are building very valuable businesses here.) And no, I am not talking about the wave of discount group buying that Groupon, LivingSocial and ...
