Startups

Riding in the fight against cancer

It has been some time since I’ve posted. And this post is not about technology but about life. Each year thousands and thousands of people are affected by cancer. Some are survivors. Some are caregivers. And yet too many are lost. The statistics are numbing. But the names are not. Grandpa Angie Bob Aunt Rose Bud David’s Brother in Law Mauricio’s... [Read more of this post]

Startup 131: Term Sheet Dilution Calculator

Well, it’s been a little long since my last post and I apologize.  Life sometimes has a way of getting busy but it’s been great.  Anyway, given all the interest and posts about Startup Term sheets, I thought it would be useful to share a tool that Charlie Fortenbach, Vontu’s head of finance and operations extraordinaire, created... [Read more of this post]

Startup 130: 10 Questions for Ray Rothrock of Venrock

This post is an “email interview” I did with Ray Rothrock of Venrock.   I sent Ray 10 questions on venture capital, what he looks for in his investments and the people he backs, as well as what are his favorite iPhone apps.  Enjoy. On Venture Capital 1.  Venrock is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary this year.  That’s a long time... [Read more of this post]

Startup 129: Term Sheet – Board of Directors

This post is a continuation of the series about venture capital term sheets.  If you have not yet read the previous posts on Valuation and Dilution, Liquidation Preferences, Anti-Dilution, and Voting Rights and Protective Provisions, you might want to start with them.  In particular, when thinking about the Board it’s important to understand investors... [Read more of this post]

Startup 128: An Interview with Bill Gurley of Benchmark

This post is an email interview with Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital.  I sent Bill 10 questions on what he looks for in his investments, the people he backs, the state of the venture capital business and why Benchmark invested in Twitter.  Enjoy. On Venture Capital investing today 1.  What are your top investment areas going forward? We don’t... [Read more of this post]

Startup 127: Term Sheet – Voting Rights and Protective Provisions

This is the latest in a continuing series of posts about venture capital term sheets.  The first three dealt with term sheet issues around ownership, dilution and the impact of Valuation, Liquidation Preferences, and Anti-dilution.   You might want to start with those three posts before diving into this latest which covers Voting Rights and Protective... [Read more of this post]

Startup 126: Term Sheet – Anti-Dilution

This is the third post in a series attempting to demystify venture capital term sheets.  The first two posts are on Valuation and Liquidation Preferences and are a good place to start. Delusional on Dilution As mentioned in the previous posts, a venture capital (VC) term sheet is a non-binding letter of intent that outlines a potential investment in... [Read more of this post]

Startup 125: Term Sheet – Liquidation Preferences

This is the second post in a series attempting to demystify venture capital term sheets.  If you have not read the first post about Valuation, you can find it here. Talking Stock As mentioned in the previous post, a venture capital term sheet is a letter of intent that outlines a potential investment in a startup.  The first and usually most debated... [Read more of this post]

Startup 124: Term Sheet – Valuation and Dilution

Lots of folks have asked a very common question about startups: “What is a Venture Capital Term Sheet and what do all the terms mean?”  Since there are lots of terms to discuss, I will break the answers into multiple posts to get the content out more quickly and in smaller digestible chunks. What’s the Big Idea? Before jumping into... [Read more of this post]

Startup 123: Another Reason Startups Kick Corporate Butt

As a previous post discussed, some of the reasons startups win are people, freedom and failure.  In addition to these cultural differences, there are some inherent challenges for “entrenched” companies which startups often exploit to ensure their success.  One of the challenges (among others…) is that entrenched companies have a... [Read more of this post]

Startup 122: Speech – The Final Frontier

OK, I’ll admit it.  I am psyched to see the new Star Trek Movie.  Check out the new preview.  This is clearly not your Father’s Star Trek… But what does Star Trek have to do with startups?  It turns out that Star Trek has successfully “predicted” quite a few modern day inventions.   The most famous being the... [Read more of this post]

Startup 121: Lessons for the Recession from Rice Krispies

The past few months have been, how shall I say, pretty crappy and have caused lots of cut backs for most startups (and companies of every size).  Mostly, this has meant laying people off, cutting expenses, and generally “battening down the hatches to weather the storm”. I randomly had several conversations with people on the topic of what a startup... [Read more of this post]

Econ 120: What Taxes and Splitting the Restaurant Bill Have in Common

Since it’s tax day and all, I figured why not post something that I am sure will spur lots of conversation (or maybe controversy?) There are so many (mis?)perceptions on the tax system, I decided to get some facts about how it all works, or at least, to see what of the rhetoric is true.   In particular, in most of the press and political speak... [Read more of this post]

Startup 119: Why Startup Innovation Kicks Corporate Booty

I recently had coffee with David, a friend from college that was an advisor at Trio Development and an early employee at Connectify.  As he now works in the incubation group of a large enterprise software company, he was lamenting about how hard it is for large corporations to innovate.  That got me thinking about what it is about startups that leads... [Read more of this post]

Control Freaks Are Us

Let’s face it, startup entrepreneurs tend to be “control freaks”.  I certainly have that tendency (Yes, that’s right, I admit I can be a control freak!). The fact is that when you start something, sweating the details is important.  By sweating the details, you establish a culture that important details matter and also that... [Read more of this post]

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