Wayne Sutton has been asking venture-capital investors and Silicon Valley executives a question that's not often broached here in the epicenter of the technology industry:
Among the 18,000 attendees who descended on Austin this week for the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive gathering were hundreds of venture capitalists and angel investors, prowling through the city in search of the next breakout tech invention.
Lost in the excitement over the news this week that BMW is starting a new sub-brand for electric cars was the disclosure that it is getting into the venture capital business at the same time. The BMW Group has launched a $100 million fund, BMW i Ventures, based in New York City. Its mission: to expand BMW's range of sustainable and mobile technologies by making selective investments in young companies.
On any given day at Grey Dog, a small restaurant in downtown New York, you'll find clusters of engineers and entrepreneurs crowded around tiny wooden tables discussing their startups' latest creations.
More than 150 tech veterans and aspiring entrepreneurs gathered Wednesday night at AOL's offices to witness an unusual sight: Venture capitalists explaining to startups why founders should pick their fund to work with. Those with the ideas usually chase those with the money -- not the other way around. But "VC Demo Day" flipped around the roles, asking some of New York's leading investors to make the kind of elevator pitch they're typically on the other end of.
This is going to be a hectic week for followers of initial public offerings. Ten companies are currently on tap to make their debut.
For promising companies looking for capital, the once-dead IPO market is becoming attractive again -- especially for those backed by investors eager to cash out.
Twitter is planning to raise $100 million in its second round of funding this year, which would put the company's valuation at $1 billion, according to media reports citing sources familiar with the deal.
Ben Horowitz was toiling as an unheralded product strategist at Netscape Communications when he opened a scathing e-mail from his boss, Marc Andreessen. It was the winter of 1996; Netscape's public offering, several months earlier, had ignited the dotcom craze, and co-founder Andreessen had just appeared on Time's cover, sitting on a throne, feet bare -- the very portrait of a cocky 24-year-old tech wunderkind.
California's current three-year water shortage is visible all across its increasingly parched, brown landscape. Silicon Valley-based venture capitalists are facing another kind of drought entirely.
If you're looking for signs that the market and economy are slowly returning to normal, it is somewhat encouraging that demand for new stocks is finally perking up again.
Two successful venture capital-backed initial public offerings in as many days have created a buzz that the IPO market is opening up.
Matt Douglas had just embarked on a down-to-the-studs renovation of his home in Natick, Mass. when he and a colleague, Sean Conta, quit their jobs to launch MyPunchbowl.com, an event-planning Web site. "My wife and I were living in one 12-by-8-foot room, along with the refrigerator, stove and two cats," Douglas recalls. "Sean would come over around 8:30 every morning. Then we'd sit at our two little desks with construction noise in the background."
In the 1970s microchips helped jump-start the economy. In the 1980s personal computers unleashed a wave of consumer and business spending. And in the 1990s the Internet gained steam just when the economy was at its bleakest, creating new companies, jobs, and investment opportunities.
Harold Bradley manages $2.1 billion for the Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. If you are a venture capitalist looking for a new limited partner, he's got something to tell you. "Don't stop in here," he says. "Don't try and sell me on a new fund, and good luck trying with everyone else."
The economy may be slumping, but the venture capitalists are still spending.
Competing for federal grants can make a small-business owner feel as if she has stepped into a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Larger, better-funded firms are always ready to pounce on little guys and snatch their tiny portion of the government cheese. What's worse, some politicians have now decided that it's Tom who needs some help. The U.S. House has passed, and the Senate is considering, legislation that would dramatically alter the definition of "small" business and expand access to set-asides now reserved for independent entrepreneurs. The bill's Orwellian title: the Small Business Investment Expansion Act.
Dear FSB: I am considering investing money into a friend's company, that recruits college students to mentor and influence middle and high school students how to become better leaders. The company is for-profit and generates revenues through speaking engagements and leadership conferences. I believe this company will be very successful in the future. I know that venture capital firms get their returns by selling their businesses or in initial public offerings (IPOs). I don't foresee either any time soon for this company. If I were to invest my money, how would I get a return on my investment?
Think of it as Silicon Valley's seven-year itch. That's about the length of time needed for the typical investment, employment, and emotional bubble to inflate and then burst in the global center of the technology industry. The last bubble, known forever as the dot-com craze, started and ended in the Valley.
The Senate, convening today for its brief December session, has a lot on its plate - top priorities include a free trade deal with Peru, new fuel economy standards, and a bill to immunize phone companies from liability for wiretapping. But Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate's small business committee, hopes to find time for a floor vote on the Small Business Venture Capital Act, which would entitle VC-backed startups to apply for federal research and development grants.
Venture investment in energy technology firms reached new highs this year, more than tripling the investment recorded for 2005, according to data released Wednesday by Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association.
Angel investors operating in organized groups are seeing average returns on investment similar to those enjoyed by venture capitalists, according to a new study.
Dear FSB: I am considering a few business concepts but don't know if I should try to finance them on my own or try to make it big by seeking the assistance of a venture capitalist. What are the pros and cons of working with VCs?
No matter how groundbreaking your idea for a new business, you won't get past the starting gate without funding. While there are many ways to find money, most are generally more appropriate for more established companies. Still, there are some smart tacks for startups. Here's a look at seven options:
First Round Capital, one of the most successful angel investing firms focused on early-stage Internet startups is moving up the food chain. The company is looking to raise its first venture capital fund backed by $75 million to $100 million in institutional money.
When it comes to funding your start up idea, a well honed business plan may get you in the door, but for most venture capitalists it's the person behind the plan that makes or breaks the pitch.
On a late May morning when I visit Danny Rimer at his London office, he puts on a big grin every time either of two subjects comes up.
No longer thinking of it as science fiction, some investors are betting on space tourism as the next big thing
At first glance, private equity and venture capital are kissing cousins - same partnership structure, same investment pool, same pedigreed MBAs. But ever since the Senate Finance Committee this spr...
Dear FSB: I would like to join a group of angel investors, especially in biotech, but I don't know any. How can I find them? --Anup Salgia, MD, Copley, Ohio
Venture capital is sexy: The glamour of bringing a new business to market, the promise of big returns, the risk of losing it all.
1. Cell-Phone Giants Start Courting Coders
It's getting crowded on the Web 2.0 frontier, but there are still some startups that truly stand out. Business 2.0 Magazine identifies the ones most likely to strike gold in 2007.
If you're a would-be startup founder with a killer idea but no cash, you might be in luck: Landing seed funding is about to get a lot easier.
LinkedIn, a company that runs a popular online service that allows people to share business contact information, announced Monday that it has raised $12.8 million from two prominent venture capital firms.
U.S. venture capital investments climbed to a five-year high in 2006 as investments in biotech and Internet-related firms soared, according to a report issued Tuesday.
If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your brilliant business plan off the ground, now is the time to turn those ideas into dollars - and it may be easier than you think.
Dot-com mania is back...kind of.
Immigrant entrepreneurs have had a dramatic impact on the corporate landscape in the United States, a study said Wednesday.
As fighting between Israel and Hezbollah drags on, venture capitalists invested in Israel say they're going about their business as usual - at least for now.
If you cash out of a flourishing small business, what's next? Another startup is likely to be all-consuming, yet retirement would probably bore you. For an increasing number of entrepreneurs, the m...
U.S. venture capital investments reached the highest level since 2002 in the second quarter, boosted by growing enthusiasm for biotech companies and continued interest in the Internet sector.
Web 2.0 may be a buzz word, but it's still attracting big bucks.
Venture capitalists still see a lot that interests them, but it's mostly not in glamorous, sexy industries like the Internet.
Small companies going public are facing more and more obstacles in the United States, prompting venture capitalists to look to London.
Seven out of 10 Americans fantasize about starting their own business (often after a bad day with the boss), and many act on that dream: More than 550,000 small businesses are launched each year. U...
(FORTUNE Small Business) - If you cash out of a flourishing small business, what's next? Another startup is likely to be all-consuming, yet retirement would probably bore you. For an increasing number of entrepreneurs, the middle ground is angel investing, in which wealthy individuals give financial backing to budding companies.
It's the spring of 2006, and the sweet scent of entrepreneurship is in the air. Growing numbers of Americans are pursuing their startup dreams. According to the National Venture Capital Association...
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - It's the spring of 2006, and the sweet scent of entrepreneurship is in the air. Growing numbers of Americans are pursuing their startup dreams.
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - Investing in healthcare startups has long been a specialized business. It's one thing to kick the tires on an Internet startup; you just go to the website and start clicking away. It's another matter altogether to try to figure out if a biotech startup really has come up with a cure for cancer.
HEAR THE PHRASE "woman-owned business," and what pops into your mind? Chances are it's a tiny enterprise, probably a sole proprietorship, maybe even home-based, whose customers are strictly local--...
NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - Only three venture-capital-backed technology companies succeeded in going public during the first quarter, and the National Venture Capital Association is not happy about this state of affairs.
Venture capital investors are flocking to clean energy technologies, a market expected to grow to $167 billion worldwide in the next decade, but some in the sector worry about too much money chasing too few deals.
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - To everything there is a season - including venture capital.
While there's nothing magical about $1 million in sales, that number has taken on symbolic importance to small-business owners --both male and female--who desire to grow big. Yet why is it that fem...
Hear the phrase "woman-owned business," and what pops into your mind? Chances are it's a tiny enterprise, probably a sole proprietorship, maybe even home-based, whose customers are strictly local--...
At a mahogany conference table in a big-windowed room high above Boston's financial district, Janet Kraus and Kathy Sherbrooke sit opposite two stone-faced venture capitalists: an older man and his...
At a mahogany conference table in a big-windowed room high above Boston's financial district, Janet Kraus and Kathy Sherbrooke sit opposite two stone-faced venture capitalists: an older man and his younger male colleague.
Hear the phrase "woman-owned business," and what pops into your mind? Chances are it's a tiny enterprise, probably a sole proprietorship, maybe even home-based, whose customers are strictly local--a real estate office, say, or a clothing store.
Like most venture capitalists, Jim Armstrong, managing director of Clearstone Venture Partners, receives dozens of business plans every week. But when we stopped in recently, he was more interested...
Launching a Web startup is easy these days, thanks to a heady mix of new software, cheap hardware, and ever-more-ubiquitous broadband. But getting a startup to take off as a business is as challenging as ever.
You're among the 70 contestants chosen from more than 700 hopefuls who tried to get onto this stage. For months you've prepared for this moment. You've shelled out tens of thousands of dollars to b...
You've come up with a world-changing idea, or at least an industry-changing idea. You have a business plan. Maybe you've even written some code or built a prototype. Now all you need is those few thousand bucks--or a few tens or hundreds of thousands of bucks--to get your new venture up and running. All that stands between you and your startup, in other words, is an angel.
Two rubbery-looking potted plants adorn the lobby of 285 Hamilton Ave. in downtown Palo Alto. The five-story building sits across the street from City Hall and is a short bike ride from Stanford Un...
It's a terrific time to be an entrepreneur. The availability of cheap computer hardware, free software, and high-speed Internet access has created a powerful new base from which to launch new busin...
Back in the days of the tech bubble, the enormous checks that venture capital firms sent to their investors canceled out the enormous uncertainty that went along with backing brand-new companies. N...
Venture capitalists love to repeat a popular refrain: "I invest in people, not business plans." That may be, but they still want to see a plan. Not that a business plan will secure millions in fund...
A LITTLE OVER TWO YEARS AGO, in March 2003, I wrote the very first Face Time—a column that asked if Silicon Valley was turning into the new Detroit. In support of this suggestion, I cited a bunch o...
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Tech stocks had a second straight winning year in 2004 and the IPO market came back with a vengeance.
The forecast for entrepreneurs during the next few months? It'll be raining—cash. Consider Flickr, a popular photo-sharing-meets-social-networking site based in Vancouver, British Columbia. When it...
Miles from the rarefied enclave of Sand Hill Road, Jason Green is launching a new VC firm—and rethinking the venture capital business. Along with his two co-founders, Green runs Emergence Capital P...
The turning point on Iain Lamb's unlikely road to riches may have come at that depressing moment when he was forced to part with his car. It was 2002, and Lamb and Ethan Diamond, two in the vast mi...
The all-time greats of Silicon Valley venture capital can pretty much be counted on one hand. There's Arthur Rock, who was present, checkbook in hand, at the creation of Intel. Don Valentine seeded...
Bubble Madness Is Over (Hallelujah!)
Innovation may be the lifeblood of business, but money is what gets that lifeblood pumping. And money has been tight in recent years. Venture capital investment has declined every year since 2000, ...
Sure, the likes of Yahoo and Amazon.com are all the rage this year on Wall Street. But venture capitalists appear to be over their online obsession. According to the most recent MoneyTree Survey--a...
There's full disclosure, partial disclosure, and the disclosure some venture capital firms are seeking: none.
In the world of private equity, there are two distinct types of money men: bankers and venture capitalists. Thanks to his unusual business model, Rick Stubblefield enjoys the advantages of both.
Valuing a publicly traded company is hard under the best of circumstances--that is, when a company files complete, timely, and truthful (what a concept) financial information. But at least it's gro...
Steve Longoria's resume isn't what you'd expect from a man whose title is CEO. He was a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He was trained by the Israeli Defense Force. He calls himself a certif...
Remember all the money those larger-than-life VCs made in the dot-com-bubble days? Well, they may have to give some of it back.
One of my editors asked me why Silicon Valley wasn't producing major startups anymore--companies like Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corp., and Apple Computer.
If you could assemble the world's most perfect board of directors, whom would you put on it? You'd probably want some theoreticians from the business schools, a venture capitalist or two, maybe a s...
The venture capital business has a size problem. A monstrous, staggering, stupefying one. Brobdingnagian even.
One point seven percent," snaps Kay Koplovitz, author of the new book Bold Women, Big Ideas. "In 1997, when I started looking at the statistics, 1.7% of the total amount invested by venture capital...
DEAR ELLYN: My weekly staff meetings are a real disaster. I'd prefer them to be a forum for exchanging ideas and keeping everyone abreast of any new developments, but my employees wander in late, t...
Some of my best friends are venture capitalists! Sure, venture capitalists are now seen as villains. My colleagues and I are charged with being inept, corrupt moneychangers who are only interested ...
In the go-go '90s venture capitalists were compared, favorably, to the junk-bond merchants of the '80s. Now, saddled with startups worth no more than a bottle of Advil, and with fewer opportunities...
For most of last summer ramesh Harjani and Jae Moon scoured Silicon Valley looking for signs of life. Their new company, Bergana Communications, which makes chips for wireless handheld devices and ...
Maybe you're getting your teeth cleaned when it hits. Or sitting at home watching Regis trying to extract that final answer from yet another aspiring millionaire. When that eureka moment strikes an...
If you've dodged the recession, sidestepped consumers' gloom, and kept your business going during 2001, you probably think you've escaped the worst. But the biggest threat to your future may be one...
Let's join in a (brief) moment of pity for Silicon Valley's venture capitalists, the Masters of the Universe of the late '90s. They shuttered their failed investments, inflicted deep cuts on the su...
Li Yifei, 37 MTV China CHINA
A Private Backer
A few weeks ago, Shaun Holliday was flipping burgers. Now, flush with venture capital, he's searching Oak Brook, Ill., for loftlike digs for his high-tech startup, eMac Digital. But this isn't anot...
Roberta Chicos was elated after her meeting with a venture capitalist. She was looking for $5 million to start Booming.com--a financial services site for aging baby-boomers--and she thought she'd s...
Jerry Michaud isn't afraid of risk. As managing director of GATX Ventures Inc., in Farmington, Conn., he lends money to startups between their first and second rounds of venture financing, a time t...
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