Archive | October, 2005

Beware of fishing expeditions

Oct 31, 2005
in Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

A number of our portfolio companies have been fielding calls from strategic buyers expressing an interest in acquisition.  This is great news since many of the better acquisitions come when companies are bought and not sold.  For a startup, it can be quite flattering to have a large competitor or suitor express an interest in buying [...]

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VC Blogs – the old and new

Oct 28, 2005
in Venture Capital, Web/Tech

I was in California 3 weeks ago when Jeff Nolan told me he was leaving SAP Ventures and moving to a new group within SAP desgined to "Kill Oracle."  We talked about all of the great innovation happening on the web, much of which is consumer-focused, and why it was a good time to make [...]

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Web 2.0 Bubble

Oct 19, 2005
in Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

I had an enjoyable lunch with Jeff Jarvis today catching up on a number of things and brainstorming about value in the next generation web.  During the conversation I vented a little frustration at the use of buzz words and bubble-like mentality with terms like Web 2.0.  I am starting to get extremely tired and [...]

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TiddlyWiki

Oct 15, 2005
in Web/Tech

Angus Bankes, CTO of Moreover, recently introduced me to Jeremy Ruston, the creator of TiddlyWiki.  I honestly did not really get it at first, but I have been using TiddlyWiki since last weekend and have really grown to like it.  According to Jeremy, who I spoke to this week, Tiddlywiki is a reusable, non-linear, personal [...]

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Verisign acquires Moreover

Oct 11, 2005
in Web/Tech

Like Nick Denton and David Galbraith, I can’t comment on the acquisition.  What I can say is that Moreover was a pioneer in the early use of weblogs via newsblogger, news search, and content syndication via XML and RSS.  That being said, we had to make some choices when the economy cratered in 2000 and [...]

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Order takers versus order makers

Oct 7, 2005
in Entrepreneurship

I have to admit that hiring excellent sales people is not an easy task.  Any sales person worth his weight can pitch with the best of them, articulate a strong value proposition, and demonstrate a nice track record of success.  I like to look at past experiences on a sale person’s resume and a history [...]

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Next-generation web

Oct 5, 2005
in Web/Tech

I am out in the Bay area the next couple of days but unfortunately will not be at Web 2.0.  That being said, I suggest staying up-to-date on next-generation web applications and services through Emily Chang’s eHub.  It is great to see all of the innovation out there but we must remember while it takes [...]

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