BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Venture Capital’
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 23 2010
by Todd Hixon
The View From The Dark Side: #1, Why VCs Are Greedy
[This is the first of a series of posts that attempt to explain how the venture capital business looks from the VC side.] VCs are often characterized as greedy, eg: “vulture capitalists” or (the more contemporary phrase) “not founder friendly”. Like any broad characterization, there is truth and untruth here, and good and bad reasons ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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 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 ...
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 ...
