December 2011
17 posts
Thanks...
…to those who read and contribute to the dialogue on Information Arbitrage. I have learned a ton from the process of writing and from the interaction I’ve had with my readers and commenters.
…to my portfolio companies. While I do my best to work hard for you and to help in your quest to achieve your missions, I can safely say that I am learning more from you than you are from...
betashop: Behind the Scenes: How Fab Raised $40... →
betashop:
Let’s face it, fundraising can be a real pain in the ass for the entrepreneur.
It takes up a ton of time that can be otherwise spent managing the business.
Sure, it’s a necessary evil, but it’s also typically a big distraction.
It’s also a lot like dating. You have to go on a lot of first dates…
Winning the talent war
Let’s face it: the hardest thing about building a great company is attracting and retaining great people. But once great people are attracted by pursuit of an exciting mission, a complex and interesting engineering problem and, yes, compensation, how to you keep them?
The problem is that truly great people stick out like a sore thumb. Some of them are even members of “The Guild”...
Invisible Children
This is a guest post from my son, Andrew.
Have you heard of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)? Have you heard of Joseph Kony? If you have, that’s awesome. But if you haven’t - and many people haven’t - it’s upsetting to know that a lot of people in America don’t even know about the longest running war in Africa and one of the longest wars running in the entire world. I am Andrew...
Start-up dilemma: to sell or not to sell
There is almost nothing more exciting - or debilitating - than the acquisition offer received by an early-stage company. It is generally the single most polarizing event in a start-ups young life, often pitting acquirer vs. investors, founders vs. investors and founders vs. founders. It is an event that must be handled with great care or else the process can leave lasting scars on an organization,...
On being a leader
I’m a Midwestern guy and I was raised to be polite. And while 18 years in the markets put some dents in the veneer, I will say that being blunt, straight-forward and honest is a quality I appreciate in others. There was a very good post today titled On Honesty in Startupland, where this notion of being able to receive tough feedback (hopefully delivered in a respectful way) versus hearing...
Andy Swan: 7 rules for pitching to investors that... →
andyswan:
So you want an investor in your business. Here are some rules that I, as both an angel investor and entrepreneur have found valuable:
Don’t pitch to strangers: People very rarely invest in an idea. They invest in people with ideas. If you don’t know anyone, get started now. Investors are more…
“India is able to claim the high and mighty democracy road when it compares...”
– NYT, 12/9/2011
“When ideas are blocked, information deleted, conversations stifled and people...”
– NYT, 12/9/2011
“The survey revealed that the explosion of digital data created by mobile...”
– Enterprise Applications News, 12/6/2011 RE: a recent EMC survey
“What’s different in the Valley is that we’ve found a quasi-scientific method for...”
– NYT, 12/6/2011
“Over 70 years, this Valley has developed a culture that does not personalize...”
– New York Times, 12/6/2011
Tough love
For me, investing in seed stage companies has never been about making money: it has been about passion. Passion for the mission. Passion for the founders. Passion for those in and around the company. Yes, making money is always the hope but not the objective function I’m solving for. In my experience if I get the passion right, the money often (but not always) follows. I can honestly say...
"Taking stock" of Wall Street
The recently outing by Bloomberg of the breadth of the Fed’s support of the largest US banks during the financial crisis together with the likelihood of substantial option grants to bolster compensation in 2011 brought me right back to 2008. The hypocrisy and irony of these two stories is not lost on me. During the financial crisis I strenuously argued that bank balance sheets should be...
“China’s economic success is colored by its opaque political system, repressive...”
– Steve Rattner, NYT Op-Ed 12/3/2011
“At many firms, a lot of investment bankers have been convinced that we are...”
– NYT DealBook, 12/2/2011
“Building a durable, multi-billion dollar business takes time, and Founders Fund...”
– peHUB’s announcement of Founders Fund’s $625 million closing of Fund IV