BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Startups’
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 ...
April 14 2010
by Todd Hixon
Three Ways To Sell A Business
Frequently entrepreneurs and investors come to the point where they want or need to find an M&A exit. Is the time right? What should they expect? Here’s a framework that I hope is helpful. Buyers pay for three things: strategic opportunity, growth, and earnings/cash flow. Which of these you have to offer will influence who’s ...
March 26 2010
by Scott Johnson
NEVCA Office Hours at the Venture Cafe in Cambridge
I hung out at the Venture Café (Alfa) at the Cambridge Innovation Center yesterday, and met some great people, saw old friends, and got pitched by a few very dedicated entrepreneurs in an “office hours” format. It was time well spent, and many thanks to the NEVCA for organizing the event. Skip Besthoff of Castille ...
March 16 2010
by Scott Johnson
Top 5 Presentation Mistakes
The presentations I see, for the most part, get a B. Not failing, but noticeably short of excellent. Only once in a blue moon do I encounter an A. It is surprising to me that I don’t see more “A” presentations because: The presenters are high achievers who got A’s in engineering classes at prestigious ...
March 12 2010
by Thanasis Delistathis
Pitching your business? Keep it simple!
Back in elementary school, we all had to buy these school notebooks with the school insignia in the front. On the back of the book there was a quote in three languages. It was a famous quote from Pascal Blaise that went something like: “I made this letter longer than usual because I did not ...
