992 Posts Found

In this blog post, Dick Costolo ponders the answer to the age old question “What is your exit strategy?”

Content: Article | Author: Dick Costolo | Source: Ask the Wizard | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

What leads a person to start a company? “The impulse…to prove oneself superior to others.”

Editor’s Note: a look at the life and work of economist Joseph A. Schumpeter

Content: Article | Author: Thomas K. McCraw | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, People

One of the things we are doing in the venture capital business by raising ever larger fund sizes and amassing larger pools of capital under management is creating problems and then making them the entrepreneur’s problem.

And so we tell the entrepreneur that we need 20% of his or her company to solve our problem. I don’t think that’s right. I’ve said this before and I … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: A VC | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Dave McClure blogs about how venture capitalists and associated lawyers have failed to embrace the technological advances that have helped nearly every other aspect of the business world.

Content: Article | Author: Dave McClure | Source: Master of 500 Hats | Subjects: Legal, Venture Capital

Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Jessica Livingston | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, People

One of the most critical things a startup founder must do is develop a top-notch executive team. This is a topic that could fill a whole book, but in this post, Marc Andreessen provides specific guidelines on how to hire, manage, promote, and fire executives in a startup based on his personal observations and experiences.

Editor’s Note: another great post from Andreessen…

Content: Article | Author: Marc Andreessen | Source: Pmarca | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Human Resources

Successful serial entrepreneurs are able to recognize patterns before an opportunity takes shape. They search for ideas at the intersection of markets, industries, and emerging technologies. They look for disruptors that will “unfreeze” a stable industry and the companies that compete within them. They look for business models that worked well in one market and can be adapted and applied in another. They recognize that … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Entrepreneurship

For those entrepreneurs who want to run a company but prefer to skip the start-up stage, search funds offer a possible alternative. A specialized form of private equity first launched in the mid-1980s, search funds are becoming increasingly popular — and their supporters claim they can offer investors attractive returns and business owners a compelling exit strategy. What does this trend in private equity mean … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Mark Sinatra, Robert Befidi Jr. | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Finance, Venture Capital

Its signature orange logo has made the “easy” brand one of the most recognizable in Europe – a stunning feat given that easy made its debut as recently as 1995. What began with easyJet has expanded to include easyCar and easyInternet. Now the company’s New Ventures Team must decide whether the no-frills, low-cost concept can be successfully applied to movie theatres, explains Professor … [ Read more ]

Content: Case Study | Authors: Anita Balchandani, Yves Doz | Source: INSEAD | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Marketing / Sales | Industry: Entertainment / Media | Company: easyGroup

Content: Online Resource | Subjects: Associations / Organizations, Entrepreneurship

Marc Andreessen offers a series of blog posts on venture capital.

Content: Article | Author: Marc Andreessen | Source: Pmarca | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Marc Andreessen summarizes some research by Dean Simonton on age and creativity across many fields.

Content: Article | Author: Marc Andreessen | Source: Pmarca | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Miscellaneous

Marc Andreessen discusses the difference between “spaces” (or trends) and markets, focusing on the Web 2.0 trend.

Content: Article | Author: Marc Andreessen | Source: Pmarca | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Trends / Analysis

There is no such thing as a “space”.

There is such a thing as a market — that’s a group of people who will directly or indirectly pay money for something.

There is such a thing as a product — that’s an offering of a new kind of good or service that is brought to a market.

There is such a thing as a company — that’s an … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Pmarca | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Miscellaneous

“Rather than randomly spamming VCs, you are much better off taking a very pragmatic and methodical approach to fundraising. This method should force you to identify those VCs that are most likely to not only be interested in your start-up idea, but also to have the cash, capacity and inclination necessary to pursue it.

To that end I offer this 10 step method for getting … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Bill Burnham | Source: Burnham’s Beat | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

“Before we get too deep into this, let me clarify two things. When I say without a “plan,” I mean without a formally written business plan – not that you should be clueless about what you want to do. And, when I say startup funding, I’m talking more about early stage seed funding via angels.”

Content: Article | Author: Dharmesh Shah | Source: BNET | Subject: Entrepreneurship

In this series of blog posts Marc Andreessen walks through some of his accumulated knowledge and experience in building high-tech startups.

Editor’s Note: I especially enjoyed Parts 1 and 4.

Content: Article | Author: Marc Andreessen | Source: Pmarca | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Dick Costolo (aka Ask the Wizard) blogs about granting options or receiving an option grant.

Content: Article | Author: Dick Costolo | Source: Ask the Wizard | Subjects: Career, Entrepreneurship

Fred Wilson blogs about how VC funds distribute returns to limited partners, in particular looking at the issue of whether it is better to distribute stock or cash.

Content: Article | Author: Fred Wilson | Source: A VC | Subjects: Finance, Venture Capital

Guy Kawasaki interviews Tim Berry, president of Palo Alto Software, the principal creator of Business Plan Pro, about business plans and business planning.

Content: Article | Author: Guy Kawasaki | Source: How to Change the World | Subject: Entrepreneurship