BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Startups’
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 ...
January 5 2012
by Thanasis Delistathis
Privacy matters
Mark Zuckerburg, founder of facebook, famously declared in one public appearance in 2010 that the age of privacy is over. As we all share more information over the internet, the world is becoming more transparent. So do people care about privacy, and does it matter? I saw some data recently from the work of one ...
September 19 2011
by Scott Johnson
Direct Marketing 3.0 – The Social Era
One place where there is growth aplenty thesedays is good old direct marketing, which search reinvented last decade. This decade, social media is reinventing it once again. Picture this: You’re playing a social game like Mafia Wars on Facebook and you want more “credits.” So you type “Drink Dr. Pepper” into a box, and then buy a ...
September 14 2011
by Todd Hixon
What the Downgrade Means for Entrepreneurs: Part 1, What’s Happening
A downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating has never happened before, so it’s worth examining what it means for entrepreneurs. This is the first of three posts, focused on what’s happening. Part 2 will look at the impact on entrepreneurs and the venture market, and Part 3 will suggest how entrepreneurs can survive and ...
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 ...
May 2 2011
by Scott Johnson
Waste = Opportunity
Waste is something I abhor. Waste of time, waste of resource, I love funding businesses that help others be more efficient and stop waste. Time wasters are fertile ground for new business ideas. If anyone is wasting your time, think about how that happened and create a solution for it. Resource wasters are also ...
