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Author: Bonnie

The Tortoise and the Huh???

The Tortoise and the Huh???

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How often have we heard that slow and steady wins the race? We’ve been looking at funding reports lately and there’s no doubt that this has been a banner year for both funding – and exits. Win-win for both sides of the table, and all the better when seemingly everyone wins, what, eh? Or do they? And funding, in some cases, seems to be happening at incredible speeds.

 

According to Pitch Book, Venture capital rewrites the record books, with “Venture-backed companies having attracted $150 billion in 2021, more than 90% of last year’s record total…IPOs and SPACs helped to drive the exit value of venture-backed companies to $372.2 billion in the first half of 2021. That was 30% higher than 2020’s all-time record…Firm-level fundraising also (took off), with investors closing funds worth $74.1 billion, about 91.5% of 2020’s record-breaking amount.  And Deals, exits, funds—US VC’s records for value are going to get even bigger Read More...

The New Global Tech Ecosystem: Why There’s No Going Back

The New Global Tech Ecosystem: Why There’s No Going Back

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It’s right about mid-summer, the halfway mark, and we hear more and more about how two of the tech capitals – New York and Silicon Valley – are ‘back.’ We also hear a lot of debate online about when events should be scheduled again where people will meet in person, at an actual venue. September? October? Some have already started, although in many cases, we see that the number of attendees is somewhat, if not greatly diminished, which was not necessarily true when the events were being held online.

 

We also wonder how many startups – and how much new funding – was a result of the new borderless ecosystem.  Do these new friendships/affiliations simply go away when the world goes back to in-person events and meetings? We regularly attend a now-online, formerly in-person event whose attendees span multiple states and several continents due to the lockdowns. As venues reopen and some people return to the tech hubs – not all will – and in-person events, will the online participants be cut off? So long and thanks for all the fish? Read More...

The Heat Is On…Big Tech

The Heat Is On…Big Tech

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It may be summer, but we well know that tech – and rust – never rest. Last week, “Former President Donald Trump, who has been banned from most major social media platforms, announced a class-action lawsuit against tech giants Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, along with their respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai,” Yahoo reported. “…In court documents, Mr. Trump’s legal team argued that the tech firms amounted to state actors and thus the First Amendment applied to them. Legal experts said similar arguments had repeatedly failed in the courts before,” said the New York Times.

But Palace Intrigue noted a while back that in April, 2012, “Barack Obama himself admitted that the government helped Google and Facebook get off the ground. The government was present at the beginning when both companies were created.”

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Summer Reading: Lessons from the Pros

Summer Reading: Lessons from the Pros

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We’re full on into summer, when people kick back a bit and even take some time to read. If you’re looking for recommendation and are in the midst of raising capital or plan to very soon, one our readers have suggested Foundry Group founder and Techstars co-founder Brad Feld’s Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist. As well as former New York Angels Chairman and NY Venture Partners founder Brian Cohen’s What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know: An Insider Reveals How to Get Smart Funding for Your Billion Dollar Idea. Finally, there’s angel investor Jason Calacanis’s Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups–Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000, and as one reviewer noted: Should have titled this book: ‘The ABC Angel: Arrogant, Brilliant, and Confident!’ Then again, for those of us who know him well, that’s Jason, what, eh?

 

Feld also offers a free Venture Deals course that “demystifies venture capital deals and startup financing to give both first-time and experienced entrepreneurs a definitive guide to secure funding.” Sign up and make sure that you’re notified as to when the next session is starting, which will most likely be Fall. Read More...

Why We Need to Stop Calling NewCos Startups

Why We Need to Stop Calling NewCos Startups

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In case you haven’t notice, the lockdowns have led to an uptick in entrepreneurship and as many newly-minted founders are discovering, starting a business is easy. Building one, not so much. Instead of ‘startups,’ we prefer to call them ‘newcos,’ as you’re building a new company, and a company is about doing business. Startup? You start up a car, you’re off to the races. Or to the grocery store or wherever, provided that you’ve maintained the car, it’s charged or filled with gas, etc. Eventually you will have to get it serviced, and if something goes wrong, you call in a specialist. In tech, they’re called mentors/advisors/consultants. Like the mechanic, they do expect to be compensated for their time and expertise. Like a mechanic, they may do a free assessment. But if you need some work done, well, you have to pay them. Otherwise your vehicle won’t…startup.

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The Latest Global Moonshot

The Latest Global Moonshot

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As more cities and states ease up on lockdown restrictions, and the emergency-use only Covid vaccines are becoming more readily available, the concept of requiring vaccine passports for travel, attending events and who knows what all else is getting a lot of press – a cause for concern, whether you’ve been vaccinated or not. According to the Cleveland Clinic: Already Had COVID? Vaccine Provides No Added Benefit. In fact, according to the study, “Of all infections during the study period, 99.3% occurred in participants who were not infected previously and remained unvaccinated. In contrast, 0.7% of infections occurred in participants who were not previously infected but were currently vaccinated. Significantly, not one of the 1,359 previously infected subjects who remained unvaccinated had a SARS-CoV-2 infection over the duration of the study.”

 

We’re hearing more and more about events where proof of vaccination is required.  What about the deaths and serious injuries resulting from the vaccines themselves? Again, they were approved for emergency use only, as they did not go through the usual rigorous testing. Yet Reports Indicate Vaccines Causing More Injuries, Deaths Than Natural COVID-19 Infections. This is not about conspiracy theories. It’s a heads up to you, entrepreneurs and important to pay attention to everything: every coin has two sides. Read More...

This Summer, Read the Tea Leaves

This Summer, Read the Tea Leaves

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Image by Please Don’t sell My Artwork AS IS from Pixabay

The Memorial Day Weekend is fast approaching – the official kick off of summer, despite the fact that the official start of the season is still a few weeks away. Given all of the restrictions on our movements and impediments to travel, and since different rules apply in different places, we know that many of you can’t or aren’t traveling and perhaps haven’t been able to go see friends and loved ones for quite some time now, but not to worry: in the event that we’re ever in a lockdown situation again, Google is on the case.

 

As Futurism says, “they’re now debuting a new video chat system they’re calling “Project Starline,”… a dystopic 3D prison-style video chat… So basically, they’ve re-invented the virtual prison visitation phone booth.” Read More...

Why Preparedness Matters

Why Preparedness Matters

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There was a time when penny loafers were very popular, especially for school children. The shoes had a slot up top in each, into which perfectly fit a penny, and many children actually did insert a pennies. Of course, was also once such a thing a candies and gum balls which also cost a penny, so if perchance you were passing a store that did sell penny candies, you were prepared.

True story: we once knew a guy named Kurt had worn penny loafers ever since his mother had gotten him his very first pair upon entering kindergarten. Much to her chagrin, Kurt insisted on placing dimes into the slots. Why should she fork over dimes instead of pennies to a child who didn’t understand the value of money, but little Kurt was adamant. His mother had drilled it into him that he should always be prepared, and since he was not a big fan of candy – what to speak of the fact that penny candy had gone the way of the dodo – where would a penny get him despite the somewhat eponymously named shoes, but in those days, public telephones abounded and cost to make a call? Ten cents. Even little Kurt knew that, having witnessed his mother using said phones. At least with dimes, he reasoned, he’d be prepared for something. Exasperated, she gave in.

Penny loafers eventually went out of style with seemingly everyone but Kurt, who wore them into adulthood and continued to place dimes in the inserts of each new pair. To place a call from a public phone was still ten cents, and one just never knew… Read More...