Venture Hacks

I’m reading Randy Komisar’s book, The Monk and the Riddle.
He wrote it before he became a partner at Kleiner Perkins and I like his description of the Rocket Ship model of investing (emphasis added):
“Over the last several years… a new investment model has taken hold. Fill each startup with rocket fuel as fast as possible [...]

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The latest great quotes from the VH Twitter feed: twitter.com/venturehacks (RSS):
Kleiner Perkins
“Entrepreneurs do more than anyone thinks possible, with less than anyone thinks possible.” – John Doerr
“If the reason you’re taking on a mission is for the money you’ll make, I believe you’ll fail.” – John Doerr
“Where most entrepreneurs fail is on the things they [...]

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The latest great quotes from the Venture Hacks Twitter feed: twitter.com/venturehacks (RSS):
Boards
“Don’t let conflicts get in the way of selecting the ideal board member.” – Fred Wilson
“Avoid ‘big names.’ For the most part, they are useless.” – Fred Wilson
“I was on the Spectra board and I think I nearly drove… the company CEO nuts with [...]

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Tom Perkins from Kleiner Perkins slaps us with knowledge in this interview with Creative Capital. Here are some choice quotes from the beating:
On Timing
“It’s always a good time to be in venture capital.”
“You can’t look at the stock market and decide whether or not to invest in a startup.”
“The growth of technology has been [...]

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Brian Norgard (Newroo founder and Venture Hacks investor) recently interviewed my brother, Farbood Nivi, about his experience raising money for Grockit from Benchmark et al:
Brian: Tell me about the funding process.
Farbood: I think raising money is great fun. The bottom line is that the money has to be spent. VCs are not in the business [...]

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Suzanne Dingwall Williams is publishing M&A hacks on her excellent blog, Venture Law Lines. She call the series: ‘Selling the Startup’,
Selling the Startup: Can you sell your subscriber base?
“Recently, a new client received a very favourable takeover offer for her business, including its subscriber base. Problem: the privacy policy did not permit her to provide [...]

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Q: Is the venture capital industry doomed?
No. Venture capital invested in the U.S. is increasing and VCs are a critical part of the startup ecosystem—I’m grateful they exist.
The rate of innovation is increasing and that innovation needs capital to get in customer’s hands. Capital invested in startups is going to increase, not decrease.
It’s wonderful that [...]

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Q: What’s the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when they’re raising money?
Entrepreneurs focus on valuation when they should be focusing on controlling the company through board control and limited protective provisions.
Valuation is temporary, control is forever. For example, the valuation of your company is irrelevant if the board terminates you and you lose your unvested stock.
The [...]

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