The Startup Velocity Question: What Hinders Acceleration in VC Funded Companies?

I have been running 1Mby1M since 2010. I find myself saying to entrepreneurs ad nauseam that VCs want to invest in startups that can go from zero to $100 million in revenue in 5 to 7 years.

Startups that do not have what it takes to achieve velocity should not be venture funded.

Experienced VCs, over time, have developed heuristics to gauge what constitutes a high growth venture investment thesis. 

Who Said Women Entrepreneurs Don’t Raise Venture Capital?

A blog post that I wrote on the subject in October 2010 still garners readership and discussions. Meanwhile, our 1M/1M virtual incubator continues to work with women entrepreneurs actively, and I am happy to report that women ARE starting up companies, and building interesting businesses ranging from healthcare IT to e-commerce, and everything in between. >>>

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Women ARE Running Startups

There has been tremendous sensationalizing of the women and entrepreneurship issue. Self-proclaimed (male) pundits pontificate on how women entrepreneurs face tremendous obstacles and huge prejudice.

I disagree.

A blog post that I wrote on the subject in October 2010 still garners readership and discussions. Meanwhile, our 1M/1M virtual incubator continues to work with women entrepreneurs actively, and I am happy to report that women are starting up companies, and building interesting businesses ranging from healthcare IT to e-commerce, and everything in between. >>>

Startup Lesson: Talk to Customers Before Building Anything

In our One Million by One Million (1M/1M) global virtual incubator, we always advise entrepreneurs to talk to customers before building anything. We ask them to do as much research as possible. Some listen, some don’t.

Gülin Yilmaz has listened. She is a classic example of the tenets that it pays to talk to customers, and that it pays to do your research. >>>

TrendSpotting: Love and Startups

The Other 99% (Entrepreneurs)

In my recent piece Reengineering Capitalism I highlighted a phenomenon that the global entrepreneurship ecosystem is paying very little attention to: Over 99% of entrepreneurs who seek funding get rejected. Yet, the entire world is focused on the 1% that is “fundable.”

The media, when pitched a startup story, is interested in who funded the venture. They seldom ask how much revenue the company has or if it is profitable.

Incubators take pride in how exclusive they are and how many “deals” they “reject.”

Angels and VCs, of course, discard most of their “deal flow.”

And entrepreneurs? They seem to have confused the definition of entrepreneurship altogether. Entrepreneurship, they mistakenly believe, equals financing!

This is wrong.
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The Next European Renaissance (Part 1)

Some of you may have read my recent piece Silicon Valley: The Next Decade in which I discuss the evolution of Silicon Valley toward a place that has a spirit that is more in tune with the liberal, performing, and visual arts, a sharper focus on human-centric computing, and a vision for a new renaissance that fuses ideas from information technology with those from the arts. The piece has triggered many interesting discussions, both online and offline, the latest of which happened in France over a lovely lunch at a small village called La Garde-Adhémar in Drôme during our recent trip to Provence.

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Silicon Valley: The Next Decade (Part 1)

Amidst incessant talks of bubbles and baubles, it is clear that Silicon Valley is back. With a vengeance, no less.

Innovation is back. Leadership is back. IPOs are back. The technology industry has shaken off the post-dotcom malaise and is once again exciting.

Now is perhaps a good time to stop for a moment and reflect on what this coming decade will be all about for the Valley and its denizens. >>>

Top 10 Online Advertising Trends Of The Decade

Following up on the Top 10 Tech Trends Of The Decade and drilling down on trend item five, in this post we’re going to look at the evolution of online advertising and what we might expect to see in the coming decade. At present, the online advertising industry is at $55 billion, and mobile advertising is at $2 billion. With the rise of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, mobile advertising will gain momentum. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Top 10 Vertical And Local Web Trends For The Decade

I have long been a fan of the verticalization trend on the Web. It led me to define one of the most referenced frameworks for Web 3.0.

It has become increasingly possible to reach people in faraway places using the Web. And it has also become possible to hyper-target, and access and offer highly localized, specialized, and verticalized services. Both trends will continue, but to make money, the verticalization and localization trends look more promising to me, although cases like Facebook and Groupon speak to the contrary. Let’s put it this way: there will be a few large, global players. But there will be millions of smaller, niche, localized and/or verticalized businesses that will continue to open up entrepreneurial opportunities around the world. The latter is directly in line with our One Million by One Million work, and a trend that powers our mission for the next decade. Also relevant is my Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS) formula. In particular, niche e-commerce is a vibrant trend that will continue to grow. Sub-trends like group-buying and daily deals will be layered on top of any niche to create more traction. Let’s take a look at the top 10 trends driving the vertical and local Web. >>>

Forbes Column 08: Deconstructing The Cloud

My new column Deconstructing The Cloud attempts to demystify the various nuances of cloud computing and offer you a framework, yet again. >>>