I’m an unabashed fan of venture capital. Frankly, I think it is a job-creation machine. You may have read about Rhode Island’s $75 million loan guarantee to 38 Studios, a video game start-up that went bankrupt. Or, you may recall the $535 million of loans to the now-insolvent Solyndra, and for which the U.S.
Category: Technology and VC
Are VCs “Gone” All of August?
There was an interesting Twitter exchange between Jeff Bussgang and Dan Primack last week. The topic: do most VCs take all of August off? Jeff said no and Dan said yes. I think people are free to take whatever vacation they want, frankly. But, I thought I’d share how we think about it at Kepha.
“Optionality” for Founders
The best start-ups, we at Kepha think, are the ones that have or can achieve “optionality.” Optionally creates founders’ freedom. Without it, you’re hosed. Here’s why. Optionally exists when you have a repeatable and scale-able revenue model. With that, you can forecast revenues, which is the best form of financing available: non-dilutive cash. When you
A VC’s Strategy and “Kill Rate”
How many investments a VC Partner makes a year is critical to know. It greatly drives a firm’s strategy–and, the “kill rate” in a VC portfolio. That’s because many VCs are already on many boards (read “The Early-Stage Financing Digestion Problem”) and need to ration time. At Kepha, we believe in being highly selective. Each
Security, Bit9, and Business Models
The persistent and recent security hacks reported in the media remind me that we are unsafe. In spite of many dollars and much effort, the arms race against black-hat initiatives continues. Security is a sector that continues to intrigue me. At my previous firm, I was a founding investor in Bit9, which recently announced a
The New, New VC Firms
Yesterday, I connected with two folks, who wanted fundraising advice. Each is making plans to start his own VC fund. Today, a friend of mine just announced that he is doing the same. I know of a number of others fundraising currently for small one-person/two-people firms. I’m sure there are quite a few others out