BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Entrepreneurs’
June 11 2010
by Scott Johnson
Arrogant Companies
If there is one thing that success inexorably leads to in a company culture, it is arrogance. Arrogance in turn leads to complacency, blindness to threats and a loss of touch with reality. Further, it motivates your competitors to join forces against you. I believe arrogance is a big part of why it is so ...
May 26 2010
by Scott Johnson
Brand Advertisers: Not Stupid At All
On the face of it, when you look at old vs new media ad spend, the big dollars go to the old media while the bulk of the time and attention goes to new media. “The advertisers must be crazy or stupid or both” is the quick, logical conclusion to this paradox. Not true!
May 18 2010
by Geoff Mamlet
All You Need Are Jobs, Jobs, Jobs Are All You Need
All you need are jobs, all you need are jobs, All you need are jobs, jobs, jobs are all you need. My apologies to the Beatles, but the tune that the Congress is singing in Washington these days is really off. With the official unemployment rate verging on 10%, you would think that Congress would ...
April 1 2010
by John Backus
Virginia to Entrepreneurs: Start Your Business Here – And Pay No Capital Gains Tax!
Capital Gains taxes on high-tech entrepreneurial startups are going away in Virginia – at least for three years. Founders, Angel Investors, Venture Capital Fund Investors, Corporate Investors to benefit. On Tuesday, March 30th, newly elected Republican Governor Bob McDonnell signed into law House Bill 523 (Senate Bill 428), which provides a 100% capital gains tax ...
Read on and discuss (10)
March 17 2010
by Todd Hixon
Teeth versus Tail
In one of his radio chats, Governor Patrick of Massachusetts talked about increasing the number of government jobs in the Commonwealth as a means to increase employment. “After all [he remarked], government jobs are just as good a private sector jobs”. That troubled me, and here’s why. Gov. Patrick’s point, I infer, is that a ...
February 25 2010
by John Backus
VC Tips for Entrepreneurs: How to manage the VC on your Board
Venture Capitalists love giving advice to startup entrepreneurs. We especially love doing it while in the boardroom, before, during, and after that 40-slide powerpoint presentation that you and your management team spent a week preparing. With a VC on your board of directors, you never know if you are going to get The Good, The ...
February 25 2010
by John Backus
VC Tips for Entrepreneurs: Thoughts About Raising Money
Most entrepreneurs raise money to help their businesses get off the ground. Whether from angels or venture capitalists, I see most entrepreneurs making the same mistake. They raise money when they “have to.” There is a better way. With some advance planning, you can raise money, easier, at certain moments in time. Take advantage of ...
January 11 2010
by Scott Johnson
Follow-on Capital
I see seed stage investing happening all around me. Angels appear to me to be very active as individuals although I have nothing but anecdotal data to support that. Dedicated funds doing seed investing are gaining traction with LPs who want their piece of the next super-deal. We at NAV do the occasional seed deal, ...
November 24 2009
by Scott Johnson
Is the EU actually right about something?
> Update on 11/30. I spoke to several of my companies, and learned that MySQL from Sun is not something they can’t live without. They would prefer Oracle didn’t own it, but the premise that Oracle will harm startups as an owner of MySQL is not true. The argument that Sun/MySQL is the preferred vendor ...
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. ...
