CES 2012

CES 2012 set records for exhibitors, space and attendance.   More than 3100 exhibitors were spread out over 1.8M square feet.  A record 153,000 attended including 34,000 international visitors.
2012 began the same as the 2011 show – the crowd was huge and crawling over all the major booths on the show …

The Rear-View Mirror

 
One of the skills of good executives is pattern-recognition, formed through experience. When it’s working, a single event triggers a chain of experience that leads to an experience backed decision. 
A recent week was filled with face-to-face meetings with startup companies.  The best teams had done their homework and research on …

Entrepreneur Research

If you’re an experienced entrepreneur, investor or limited partner, please skip this posting as you’ll find it obvious.
What’s not obvious is a number of company founders and startups don’t research companies they are considering for investment. Today, I read another email about how we are the perfect investor for …

The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma

Simply stated, the Entrepreneur’s Dilemma is how to strike a balance between an exciting plan and one that is practicable.  This idea applies to the plan in its entirety as well as the constituent parts.  Failure to negotiate the razors-edge of the dilemma leads to dull or unrealistic expectations between …

The Business Plan

There are three forms of a start-up business plan, an executive summary, a presentation and the business plan itself. Each serves a unique purpose.
1) The Executive Summary. The summary should include the relevant points of the proposal, and be interesting enough to encourage a potential investor to seek more information …

On Reconnaissance

re·con·nais·sance re·con·nois·sance (rĭ-kŏn’ə-səns, -zəns)  n.
An inspection or exploration of an area, especially one made to gather military information.
[French, from Old French reconoissance, recognition, from reconoistre, reconoiss-, to recognize.]
Venture capital is best practiced in the field, not in the office. An investor can’t sit behind the desk and read business plans, analysts’ …

The Life and Death of a Trade Show

Trade shows run in life cycles, just slighty lagging their respective industry, technology or market.  Some observations about technology events that signal the maturity of the industry, and influence investor assessments.
1) Run by engineers, technologists and academia.  This is the formative stage where competing ideas and approaches are fighting to be the …

On Google’s Broadband for Communities Project

Google’s deadline for responses to the Broadband for Communities Project passed March 26th.  Over 1000 municipalities responded throughout the USA http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/.  They will announce the finalist communities by the end of the year.   Recently, a discussion started during coffee at CTIA – will they actually build it?
First, the naysayers speak up.  …

Springtime For Startups (D CEO, Jan. 2012)

The Top 10 Reasons Startups Fail (From Squidoo)

Venture Capital (From Wikipedia)

The National Venture Capital Association

WBT Showcase 2010 – Six Minute Presentation