Venture Capital and Angel Investors

IPO Drought for Venture Capital

This is pretty bad news from yesterday, although I guess it is no surprise. The National Venture Capital Association announced that no venture-backed companies went public in the last quarter. That’s the first time since 1978 that the U.S. markets have gone three full months without a venture-backed IPO. I say no surprise because we’re...


Some Guy telling you what to do

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Guy Kawasaki on a couple of occasions. Not that he’d remember, but they were pretty special moments for me. He’s a fantastic speaker and, as my 4-year-old niece said to me just last weekend about a story I read to her, “he writes good.” For those of you who...


All About Angel Investors

Angel investment, unfortunately, means a lot of different things. Some people talk about $50,000 from two parents and an aunt as angel investment. For others, it’s $800,000 in seed money from a 35-year-old Internet winner who sold her first dot-com before the crash. I find myself referring to it as almost any investment that isn’t...


Venture Capital Returns Up, Investments Down

Two interesting reports on venture capital last week. The first shows venture capital returns hitting their highest point since 1999, and the second says venture capital investment fell last quarter for the first time in years. The good news comes from Don Dodge in Venture Capital Returns in 2007 best since 1999, which he posted...


Angel Investment Up Slightly

Here’s a good overview of so-called angel investment in the United States. More than 250,000 active angel investors invested about $26 billion in 57,120 entrepreneurial ventures. That’s 10 percent more angels than last year and 12 percent more companies, but only 1.8 percent more money. This information comes from the Center for Venture Research at...


Aim Carefully When Seeking Investment

This story is a good argument for careful planning and targeted fundraising. Understand how much money you really need and how much you want, and do your homework to study your alternatives and what’s realistic. You have to know which knobs to turn. Spend your time on things that have a reasonable chance of success....


‘Market Not Large Enough’ Means No

In the world of venture capital and entrepreneurs seeking investment, yes means maybe and maybe means no. That’s been said before. Here’s a new angle on that, freshly put: “Over the years, I have heard many VCs say that ‘the market is not large enough’ in the first or second meeting. New entrepreneurs should know...


Are You Facing the Valuation Trap?

Stu Phillips calls it The Valuation Trap and also “the hot button of the week” in his most recent post on Soaring on Ridgelift. I call it surprising, counterintuitive and, therefore, more interesting and more important. For the record, I would have said the opposite of what he does. Here’s what he says: Never answer...


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