I have dealt with dozens, if not hundreds of entrepreneurs, on five continents, during the course of my career. A disturbingly high number of them don’t really understand the basics of business, they have an idea for a product or service, or are maybe in a test stage, but there are some fundamentals not in… Continue reading An Inspirational Entrepreneur
Category: Venture Capital
Why Start-Ups Need Mentors
I first “landed” in Silicon Valley in 1998, at the beginning of the first bubble. I use the word “landed” literally, as I had just completed nearly ten years of running media, information, and news companies overseas, across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including four years on Mainland China. My colleagues, employees, and… Continue reading Why Start-Ups Need Mentors
Making a Case for Incubators
How to Make Incubators and Accelerators Work There have been some articles lately on the proliferation of incubators/accelerators and debates on whether or not they provide a worthwhile service, or in fact, actually help to launch companies. I can say unequivocally yes, they can be a valuable part of the start-up landscape if set up… Continue reading Making a Case for Incubators
The Mother of All Business Incubators/Accelerators
I’ve been involved in a lot of start-ups. No grand slams, but a few solid base hits and some spectacular strike-outs. My ex wife called me a “risk junkie,’ – I never agreed with that assessment, but I do enjoy the passion and energy of working with founders and employees of new ventures. I’ve also… Continue reading The Mother of All Business Incubators/Accelerators
More on Uber
More on WebVan, er Uber A few weeks ago, I opined on this forum that I thought “Uber,” the technology company in the peer to peer ride sharing space, was/is the equivalent of the current bubble’s “WebVan,” – overvalued, over invested, destined to either crash and burn spectacularly or be forced to completely reinvent itself.… Continue reading More on Uber
Is Uber This Bubble’s Webvan?
Did Uber Send Hailo Packing? Hailo, the taxi hailing app, started in London by a team of taxi drivers and tech entrepreneurs has pulled the plug on its North American operations, despite having raised more than $100 mil from some of the top venture firms. The company operates in more than thirty cities around the… Continue reading Is Uber This Bubble’s Webvan?
I, For One, Don’t Believe Most CEOs are Overpaid
A topic that gets a lot of press these days is the compensation packages awarded to some CEOs. Many people take umbrage to the size of these packages, for a variety of reasons including “disproportionate to rank and file,” “nobody is worth that much,” “(the company) could have used the same amount of money to… Continue reading I, For One, Don’t Believe Most CEOs are Overpaid
What Time Is It in the Bubble?
What’s a bubble? Wikipedia defined the dot-com bubble of the 90’s as: The dot-com bubble (also referred to as the dot-com boom, the Internet bubble and the information technology bubble) was a historic speculative bubble covering roughly 1997–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000, with the NASDAQ peaking at 5,408.60 in intraday trading before closing at… Continue reading What Time Is It in the Bubble?
Private Equity Deals Hurt Consumers
Private Equity, Part 3: Bad for Consumers In a previous discussions about the private equity industry, I’ve spoken mostly about their lack of contribution to growing the economy – since the function of a private equity deal is to provide a sky high ROI to the firm and “partners,” they have no interest in really… Continue reading Private Equity Deals Hurt Consumers