BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Startups’
November 17 2010
by Scott Johnson
Expanding “Opt In” to include “Claw Back.”
My partner Thanasis wrote a thoughtful piece about the trade-offs between privacy and convenience. Since I am a table pounding “opt-in” zealot, I felt compelled to weigh in. Opt-in is why Pontiflex is taking share so rapidly from legacy “email list brokers”. Opt-out is the reason Facebook got kicked in the gut when they launched Beacon, and how ...
October 20 2010
by Thanasis Delistathis
5 checklist items to raising money
I know this is a somewhat mandane subject, but yesterday someone sent me a one-pager “executive summary” of a business, and after reading it I couldn’t really tell what they do. So I read it again, and still couldn’t figure it out. The summary was fully buzzword-compliant: you know!, it had all those fancy words ...
October 19 2010
by Thanasis Delistathis
Why is it so hard to offer good service?
I have been pondering this question for some time and have had a few conversations about it with VCs and entrepreneurs. I think that offering great service will be an important strategy and opportunity for companies as more and more products are converted into service (e.g. cloud-based software). How many times have you dialed into ...
October 12 2010
by Scott Johnson
Why I Invested in Fashion Playtes (Again)
Fashion Playtes recently announced an oversubscribed up round led by our friends at Fairhaven Capital. The company has a platform enabling custom clothing design by tween girls (ages 6-12). It is a simple concept really. Girls can go on the web and choose different embellishments to be sewn onto dresses, shirts, pants, bags, etc. ...
July 14 2010
by Scott Johnson
The Six Step Venture Capital Investment Process
Every venture firm has pretty much the same six step process. It is not hard to understand, and every firm puts their own spin on it. But you can pretty much count on these six steps occurring in sequence before you will see any cash in your bank account.
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 19 2010
by Todd Hixon
Venture Lite
The “Cloud” and other forces have slashed the cost of starting an IT company and produced a surge in seed investing. We discussed this in a segment of our annual meeting last week, which was attended by professional limited partners (“LPs”), individual LPs, and entrepreneurs, as well as the NAV partners. There was strong energy ...
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 22 2010
by Thanasis Delistathis
Is Facebook trying to take over the internet? Implications for startups
Facebook announced some big initiatives at their developers’ conference yesterday and they have big implications for the internet and internet startups. Facebook has already surpassed 400 million users and is becoming the defacto social networking site for the world. It’s now the world’s virtual town square where we all get to hang out with our ...
