992 Posts Found

Marc Andreessen takes a look at luck and the entrepreneur, focusing on the work of Dr. James Austin, who developed a theory of four kinds of luck (chance).

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

Think Small. This slogan launched the Volkswagen Beetle back when Americans drove tanks with fins and it might well be the slogan of small business today. Small businesses often look a bit insignificant next to the Hummers of the Fortune 500, but like the Beetle, small business actually has economics on its side: it’s the bugs of the business world that are creating the most … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Emory | Subjects: Economics, Entrepreneurship

Guy Kawasaki provides a list of tips to get the attention of a venture capitalist.

Content: Article | Author: Guy Kawasaki | Source: How to Change the World | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

To deliver a knock-out pitch, an entrepreneur should have an understanding of how a potential investor’s mental model works, and frame their presentation squarely within it. This allows them to anticipate the questions that are likely to be asked. Although these mental models can vary from individual to individual, there are some basic fundamentals that apply across the board. The first step is to understand … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Josh Kopelman | Source: Redeye VC | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Even seasoned startup personnel frequently misunderstand the ins and outs of their options. This series of blog posts are intended for help employees and other people that own startup stock options. Topics to be covered include:
* How options are granted
* Vesting schedules
* Liquidation events
* Buyback rights
* Option prices & how they are set
* Early Exercise
* Multiple grants
… [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Dave Naffziger | Source: Naffziger’s Net | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Finance

Tales of groundbreaking innovation sound a lot alike. Like action-adventure movies, they have a predictable structure. Some ordinary guys, without money or power, triumph via a brilliant insight and scrappy groundwork. But what if those stories mislead us about what it takes to generate great ideas?

Content: Article | Authors: Chip Heath, Dan Heath | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Entrepreneurship

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A new playbook is helping private equity investors earn strong returns, at a time when buyouts have never been bigger or bolder. As deal prices and the cost of debt rise, private equity firms can no longer count on leverage and financial maneuvers to deliver outsized gains. To succeed in this environment, private equity firms need a different formula. As soon as a deal closes, … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Chris Bierly, Chul-Joon Park, Graham Elton | Source: Bain & Company | Subjects: Finance, Venture Capital

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Equity dilution is the curse of the startup executive. If you don’t understand how equity dilution works, you can find yourself working very hard…for very little.

Editor’s Note: nothing mind-blowing here, but it may be a good read for those who have never thought about the issue or for those who are seriously math-challenged…

Content: Article | Author: Ken Gaebler | Source: Gaebler Ventures | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

The National Venture Capital Association offers a set of model legal documents for venture capital investments put together by a group of leading venture capital attorneys. The model venture capital financing documents consist of:
* Term Sheet
* Stock Purchase Agreement
* Certificate of Incorporation
* Investor Rights Agreement
* Voting Agreement
* Right of First Refusal and Co-Sale Agreement
* Management Rights Letter
* … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) | Subjects: Free Stuff / Tools, Venture Capital

Start-ups tend to be enormously resource constrained. Typically they are not able to devote money and time to the problems of strategic uncertainty. As a result, start-ups tend to be “bet the farm” propositions: high risk, with the potential of high reward. Such firms don’t manage strategic risk, they accept it.

The degree to which you manage risk will be a function of your ability … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Guy Kawasaki | Source: How to Change the World | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Risk Management

How one VC Firm coddles its CEOs.

Content: Article | Author: Amy Feldman | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

When a company is behind plan, an investor must ask is it the market or is it the company? A frequent challenge for an investor is to isolate causality in a given investment. Isolating market (exogenous) or company (endogenous) causality is vital with respect to the appropriate remedial action. If it is the market, there is little chance that more money or new management will … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Will Price | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Cooley Godward regularly present findings on private company financings. These reports provide a summary of data, reflecting their experience in venture capital financing terms and trends. If you are an entrepreneur looking to raise money or just someone interested in venture capital, check it out. [hat tip to Ask the VC]

Content: Online Resource | Source: Cooley Godward | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

A decade-long study of Silicon Valley (California) technology startups finds that companies were three times more likely to fail if at some point they altered the founder’s blueprint for employee relations than if they maintained their original model.

Content: Article | Authors: Greta Hsu, James N. Baron, Michael T. Hannan, Özgecan Koçak | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Organizational Behavior

Matt McCall blogs about why pitching to VCs in terms of IRR rather than multiples is a mistake.

Content: Article | Author: Matt McCall | Source: VC Confidential | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Forget what you might have heard about Private Equity (PE). Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that PE destroys companies and employment. In fact, the latest statistics reveal that PE accelerates the growth of jobs and generates value (to the tune of one million over the past four years in Europe and 600,000 in the United States). Is it time for traditional firms … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Kearney | Subjects: Industry Specific, Venture Capital

Okay, you have decided to raise venture money. You have had a few meetings with a VC, presented to some partners, and you are in the pre-termsheet pipeline with a venture firm that you’re interested in. Okay, but that is a much more perilous place than most entrepreneurs understand, so here are four questions you need to get answered right away.

Content: Article | Author: Paul Kedrosky | Source: Infectious Greed | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

This report is the result of nine months of collaborative effort by 22 leading VC professionals, including CEO’s, attorneys, independent directors, and VCs. It represents the first practical guide to the basic responsibilities of board service in venture capital backed companies. This guide should also be useful to non-directors who are senior managers in VC-backed companies and to anyone associated with a VC-backed company who … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Working Group on Director Accountabilitiy and Board Effectiveness | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital