This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
If you have kids, you will often hear (or use) the phrase, “That is not age-appropriate behavior.” Young ventures need age-appropriate systems and processes, too. Too little process, and the venture descends into…
In part 1 of this series, we looked at the three big waves crashing down on the traditional book publishing business: Google Search, the Kindle and e-books, and print on demand. In this second part, we’ll try to wipe the muck from our crystal ball and see how this could play out in the future, specifically for the major players of book…
“Bits of destruction” is a phrase Fred Wilson uses to describe the destructive part of “creative destruction” brought on by digitization. We hear a lot about the destruction wrought on the newspaper business. A more interesting and nuanced wave is now hitting the book publishing business. Actually, it is three waves: the digitization of back…
According to ChubbyBrain, a New York based research company dedicated to democratizing startup and investor information, VCs invested a total $5.329 billion in Q2 2009. This represents a nearly 61% increase over the $3.314 billion of investment ChubbyBrain tracked in Q1 2009. This is partly a story about signs of recovery, which is very…
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
We added this chapter after reading a recent comment:
“Can you/anyone help me to find the best reading on “Building an A-Team”? I have a friend who has a problem relating to this title and can’t wait for the chapter…
John Hagel, perhaps best known for his book The Only Sustainable Edge, has been one of the leading strategic thinkers for decades. Recently, as Co-Chair of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, he unveiled the Shift Index. This is a fascinating way to look at the economy and goes well beyond the traditional GDP and employment measures. Have a strong…
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
In How to Be an Effective CEO, we noted three things that a CEO has to do. One of them is to hire and fire a top management team. One of the simplest rules to understand is:
Hire an A-Team and it will hire an A-Team…
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
First-time entrepreneurs are usually also first-time CEOs. When you look at your first business card that says CEO, don’t forget that it is not necessarily telling the truth. You earn the title of CEO through your…
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” means that nothing happens until you get the signature on the contract. That is when the money gets wired. Deals often get derailed. They drift, and then nothing happens. Or a…
At the Enterprise 2.0 Conference, I asked all of the vendors, “SaaS or on-premise?” The assumption, because this conference was all about modern 2.0 stuff, was that everyone would say, “SaaS, of course.”
Wrong. At least 50% of the vendors were deploying primarily on premise. Even some of the pure SaaS crowd would admit to an occasional…
Venrock has quite a history as a VC firm. In the 1930s, Laurance Rockefeller pioneered early-stage financing by investing in the entrepreneurs who started Eastern Airlines and McDonnell Aircraft. In 1969, Venrock was founded to continue this heritage of investing in and building entrepreneur-backed companies, beginning with Intel. You will find a…
Great bruising battles between powerful antagonists is good for media. It “sells papers,” as we used to say, or “generates clicks”, as we now say. When you mix in a love triangle and jilted lovers, well, the audience just goes wild. And Wired did a great job in its piece on Facebook, Google, and Microsoft: riveting stuff. But the thought that…
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
First, the good news: building a website today is ten times cheaper and faster than it was 10 years ago. Now, the bad news: building a website today is ten times cheaper and faster than it was 10 years ago.
You are…
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
This is possibly the most important strategic decision one can make for a Web tech venture. It is almost always a trade-off. There are those few magic ventures whose revenue scales from day one, without the need for…
In the debate on the future of journalism, bloggers say, “We have a better economic model. The future is digital, and we are the future, so whatever we do is right.” Traditional journalists, mourning a passing world, say, “We defined how journalism works, and everyone should adhere to that model, even if it won’t work economically.” This is a gross…
In our latest VC interview, we spoke with three of the four partners of XG Ventures: David Lee, Greg Lee, and Andrea Zurek (the other partner, Pietro Dova, could not make the call).
Yes, the G in “XG” stands for Google. The partners were early hires for strategic roles at Google — or, as one of them put it, they were on the “rocketship.” If you…
A few years ago, we spoke of the “AdSense Economy.” It was so simple. Create a website, slap on an AdSense widget, and voila: “Insta-biz.” Wow! Who knew business could be so simple? AdSense was proof of Google’s genius, having grown into a multi-billion dollar business in only a few years after its launch in 2003. Google’s search business continues…
Today, we spoke with Fred Destin, a Partner at Atlas Ventures in London. This interview has some great perspective on the success stories in Europe’s e-commerce and video markets. Here are the basics of Atlas Ventures:
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
Fear of VCs is a common problem for first time entrepreneurs. It is a natural fear. You are going to be negotiating with somebody who is older, richer, and way more experienced in this than you are. You have heard a…
On Monday, Wired held its first-ever business conference, titled “Disruptive By Design.” A stellar cast was on stage and, perhaps more interestingly, in the audience as well. The audience had people you would normally see on stage, like Mary Meeker and Tim O’Reilly. Conde Nast, the new owner of Wired, seems to be recognizing that the old prophecy…