Yesterday, the New England VC Association (NEVCA) sponsored the first “Coffee Connect with a VC.” I’ve written before here about my hopes to make the VC community more accessible during my two-year term on the NEVCA Board. We led with one of our strongest folks, North Bridge’s Jamie Goldstein, who has started two companies and has
Category: Entrepreneurship
Internet Consumer: The Cycle Has Turned
There’s a silent but intense winnowing happening right now in venture capital. As the WSJ reported here, many start-ups are having a hard time raising follow-on financing: Just under half of the 165 companies in the consumer information services sector that raised first rounds in 2010 have raised a subsequent equity round and fewer than
TechStars, Demo Day and Community Buildin’
Last week was killer for the Boston/Cambridge community. There were so many great events, such as AngelHack, FounderCon, TechStars Boston’s Demo Day, and the Mass TLC’s “Un-Conference.” I attended Demo Day and the Un-Conference (and, organized a panel discussion at the latter), and also, had dinners with the MassChallenge founders and Backupify’s Rob May, as well
When Big Companies Choke
Big Companies struggle to take risk and manage for the long term. Many choke. I know that sounds like a sweeping statement. Admittedly, it is. But, I’ve seen various situations over and over, and that’s my conclusion. The latest example happened last week. An entrepreneur called with an update. A very Large and Known Public
Key Trait of Founders: Loving Ambiguity
Zynga. Internet fortunes won and lost. IPOs. VCs. Victories and colossal failures. That was my morning meal. I caught up today over breakfast with Rich Levandov of Avalon Ventures (one of the Zynga investors). He and I have so many overlapping friends and contacts, and so, it was good to meet up finally with him. We
TechStars, a Chinatown Feast, and Community Building
I had “open office hours” at the CIC’s Venture Cafe last week. It’s a great program whereby any entrepreneur can sign up for a chat with a VC. It’s an open and inclusive program. All are welcome. Andrew Singleton, the coordinator, was awesome. I ran into an entrepreneur afterwards. He asked me: “Is it worth