Pretty sure these “battles” between Angels and VCs and the evolution of the funding side of the start-up ecosystem is good news for the “do’eurs”…
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/15/venture-capital-super-angel-war-entrepreneur/
With LeBron’s brand taking a MASSIVE hit with “The Decision” circus, here comes the dyanmic Steve Nash with a big time Madison Avenue heavyweight in Deutsch’s Michael Duda launching a competing venture which I’d bet on…
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=145303
http://www.fastcompany.com/1676896/moneyball-for-startups-invest-before-productmarket-fit-double-down-after
The INTERNET has changed life DRAMATICALLY for BILLIONS around the globe — yet most VCs & lawyers still close deals via fax & snail mail.
Most consumer internet investors, large or small, have no goddamn clue what they are doing. They are getting killed on IRR, and most of them should be put down & put out of their misery… NOW. Their investment thesis is suspect, their domain-specific skills are limited or non-existent, and their desire & ability to innovate is minimal. They are simply collecting fees, waiting for the next tee time.
Well ATTENTION K-MART SHOPPERS — you, Mister VC 1.0, are about to be DECIMATED… and it’s a Schumpeterian Fate that is both deserved and overdue.
Indeed: most VCs are Dinosaurs, and the World Wide Web is an Asteroid that hit the planet in a slow-motion cataclysmic explosion 15 years ago. It may take another 5 years for the ash clouds & nuclear winter of Browsers, Search Engines, Social Networks, & Mobile Devices to kill all the T-Rexes, but it’s a done deal. The marsupials are taking over and in 2015 there will be a lot more investors that look like Jeff Clavier, First Round Capital, Y-Combinator, TechStars, Betaworks, & Founder Collective than any Sand Hill VC (funny how all the innovation is from non-valley investors, isn’t it?).
To create, build and exit 1 is AWESOME…but 4!!!???
“Mike, great to meet you…can I carry your bag? Get you a cup of coffee? Clean your pool? Detail your car? Whatever I can do…just get me in the game and on your team”
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-08-03-cassidy03_ST_N.htm
Thanks to Brett DeBord of PROtential, a big hitter in the making, for forwarding this article to me because he knows a thing or two about Serial Entrepreneur ambitions…
“Like WHOA”…what else can you say about this one…absolutely incredible to consider the implications of what we’re experiencing right about now Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003, according to Schmidt. That’s something like five exabytes of data, he says. Let me repeat that: we create as much information in two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003. “The real issue is user-generated content,” Schmidt said. He noted that pictures, instant messages, and tweets all add to this. Naturally, all of this information helps Google. But he cautioned that just because companies like his can do all sorts of things with this information, the more pressing question now is if theyshould. Schmidt noted that while technology is neutral, he doesn’t believe people are ready for what’s coming. “I spend most of my time assuming the world is not ready for the technology revolution that will be happening to them soon,” Schmidt said.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/
The new Giants Stadium includes 100M investment in technology…including some in-stadium day of game App powered by Cisco and Verizon…interesting…VERY interesting
Why limit the app to just the day of game? Imagine what else you could do…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/sports/football/29stadium.html?_r=2&ref=technology
Aka “Advertising is Next”
Every once in a while…well, maybe not “every once in a while” because that sounds like it doesn’t happen all that often so I’ll go with “sometimes”…
Sometimes you read an article that speaks to you in a profound and powerful way. Kind of like that Maxell commercial from back in the day when the guy in the chair is getting blown away by the “high-fidelity” of the Maxell tape’s sound quality…
Yep, this commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DP89iMe0BY
That’s kind of how I felt after reading the coverage of the Conde Nast announcement about how they’re shifting “their fundamental business strategy” including the Business Insider piece below.
Some pretty thought provoking stuff that includes:
Instead of using content to attract consumers and inserting ads by 3rd parties looking to sell them stuff, is “content” going to become the online version of a mall’s Cinnabon stand where the publishers will enter into the fundamentally different world of retail commerce and selling stuff directly to consumers, skipping the “ad thing”?
“The age of the ad sales guy is over because the age of the ad is over.”
A “no big deal” list of publisher needs to do this including new talent/skills, financial structure, new compensation model, new understanding of very different competitive landscape, new “retailer’esque” embrace of efficiency etc.
A complete “restrategizing” (not sure if that’s a word but it was in the article and sounds cool) and address of a “calcified” corporate culture.
And last but certainly not least…”Welcome to Bob Garfield’s Chaos Scenario”
Wow…
For those of you who actually read my post (outside of my family that’s probably in the 2-3 person range), I try not to use the “It’s a Brand New World” type stuff too often…but this might be a good time to just throw it out there.
For those of us not married to “the way things were”…awesome
http://www.businessinsider.com/advertising-is-next-jarvis-2010-7?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+businessinsider+(Business+Insider
The work of an awesome catalyst in the NYC Start-Up world profiled in the NYT. Keep doing what you’re doing!!
I’m a Foursquare guy…but this is a SMART move here by SCVNGR in partnering with the New England Patriots. Smart…Real Smaaaaaaaaart
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/15/help-vince-patriots-scvngr/
When I think of the New England Patriots, I think of Boston…Boston and “smart” reminds me of the “smart kids” line in “Good Will Hunting”, one of the best movies of all time…
CHUCKIE
Stop brushing me back.
WILL
Stop crowdin’ the plate….Which one’ll it be?
CHUCKIE
You’re gunna’ get charged, you know that.
WILL
You think I’m afraid of you, you big fuck? You’re
crowdin’ the fuckin’ plate.
CHUCKIE
Hey, uh…Casey’s bouncin’ up a bar, uh..at Harvard next
week. We should up there.
WILL
What’re we gunna do up there?
CHUCKIE
‘dunno. Fuck up some smart kids. You’d probably fit
right in….What’re you doin’? Hey, What’s up? You still
tough? Com’on!
