vcs

Venture capitalists expect greater investment next year, while CEOs of VC-backed firms are looking at more work and more hiring, according to a report (PDF) released today by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Dow Jones VentureSource.

Among the venture capitalists polled for the "2011 Venture View" survey, just over half (51 percent) are looking for investment to pick up next year. Only 24 percent expect it to stay level, while the same percentage believe it will decline. CEOs running venture-backed companies were also optimistic, with 58 percent eyeing an increase in venture investing next year and … Read more

The weak economy of 2009 took its toll on venture capitalists, though the year ended with hints of a recovery in store, says a new MoneyTree report.

VCs spent only $17.7 billion on 2,795 different deals last year, the lowest dollar amount and number of investments since 1997, according to the report released Friday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data from Thomson Reuters.

The numbers amounted to a 37 percent drop in dollars and a 30 percent fall in the volume of deals from 2008, marking the second consecutive year of declines. … Read more

With the market for initial public offerings in a deep freeze and a dwindling number of potential buyers, start-ups have fewer opportunities to exit and retire to Costa Rica.

This is worrisome to entrepreneurs, but if anything, it should be of even greater concern to the venture capitalists that fund them, a point made by TechFlash's John Cook. Venture capital firms simply aren't structured to invest efficiently in this market.

VCs raised billions of dollars during technology's boom, and it's unclear where they can now profitably invest those dollars. IBM, Oracle, Cisco Systems, and Microsoft can … Read more

With venture-backed companies failing to launch IPOs and with mergers and acquisitions lagging, liquidity for venture capitalists fell 65 percent in the first quarter, according to a report released Wednesday by Dow Jones VentureSource.

During the first quarter, $3.2 billion in liquidity was generated--a sharp contrast with $9.1 billion from a year ago and around the level seen in 2003. Because no initial public offerings took place in the first quarter, all of the $3.2 billion was generated from venture-backed companies selling themselves to the highest bidder.

Those two types of transactions are how VCs and investors … Read more

Hey buddy, can you spare a dime?

Venture capitalists put a virtual lock on their funding during the fourth quarter, doling out a mere $3.4 billion, according to a report released Monday by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association.

The meager performance pales in comparison to the $11.7 billion distributed to start-ups a year ago during the same period. That's a decline of 71 percent. Funding is down nearly 60 percent from the previous quarter.

During the fourth quarter, venture capitalists launched 33 follow-on funds and 10 new funds, resulting in a 3-to-1 ratio for … Read more

Venture capital investments in IT companies plunged 40 percent to $2.18 billion in the fourth quarter, their worst level in a decade, according to figures released late Friday by VentureSource.

The data further confirms concerns entrepreneurs have already been raising about a funding pullback by VCs over the second half of the year and dire warnings by the VCs themselves, such as Sequoia Capital's infamous R.I.P. PowerPoint presentation.

IT Venture capital dropped to $11.64 billion for all of 2008, down 14.5 percent from the previous year, according to VentureSource. During the past year, IT … Read more

I spent the last two days in the Silicon Valley talking to IT vendors about the economy, IT spending, and near-term marketing plans. From San Jose to Redwood City, Calif., the ever-optimistic Valley is scared and somewhat frozen.

Venture capitalists are telling their portfolio companies to establish a hiring freeze and hoard cash. More troubling, VCs are running scared from sound investments like Identity Engines and others. In the meantime, large IT vendors are freezing budgets and developing contingency plans. So far, eBay, Qwest, and Yahoo have laid off employees; look for others to follow soon.

It's strange to … Read more

Every morning, each one of us wakes up a ragged mess and eventually, presumably after cleaning up a bit, exits the house dressed in attire that expresses his or her inner feelings.

Don't believe me? It's true; ask a shrink. The way you dress is a window into the subconscious. Of course, it helps if you know how to interpret the data. Sometimes the conscious mind overrules the inner self, so what you get is the opposite of what the person is feeling. It's complicated.

Okay, enough psychobabble. The premise here is that the way you dress matters and it matters in the workplace. Over the course of my career, I've noticed a lot going on with clothes, but nobody talks about it. Case in point, people have been commenting on the way I dress for decades, and I have no idea why.

Way back in 1981 - when I was an engineer designing chips for Texas Instruments - my manager told me I might consider dressing differently if I wanted to get ahead. I was wearing torn overalls at the time. Hey, I was just an engineer ... and it was Texas!

Anyway, he did have a point. Years later I read Dress for Success and began taking this stuff a bit more seriously. When I became a sales executive calling on customers, I began wearing a jacket and tie or a suit.

However, when it comes to really working, i.e. in the office, I'm strictly a blue jeans, untucked shirt, and sneakers or other comfy shoes kind of guy. I guess that's what comforts my neurotic subconscious.

When I worked at microprocessor upstart Cyrix in the mid-90s, Jack Kemp - quarterback turned politician extraordinaire - sat on our board of directors. That didn't entirely make sense to me, but he was a great guy and really fun at dinner parties.… Read more

Most start-ups fail. There are lots of reasons, but in my experience, the most common cause is that they develop technology and not products. Lots of people confuse the two terms, but the distinction is critical in start-ups. Here's why.

According to the book Marketing High Technology by the field's godfather, Bill Davidow, "Marketing must invent complete products and drive them to commanding positions in defensible market segments." Bill called this the Strategic Principle.

In case you've never heard of him, Bill Davidow was senior vice president of marketing and sales at Intel, where he helped the Santa Clara company to become the chip goliath it is today. Later, he founded Mohr Davidow Ventures, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The man has credibility.

Let's break down the Strategic Principle.

The first part means this: it's one thing to develop technology that does something cool, perhaps even something that's never been done before. It's another matter to deliver a complete product that meets a critical market need better than the competition. And by "complete product," I mean hardware, software, infrastructure, sales channel, promotion, customer service--the whole nine yards.

The second part means that if your product does not have what it takes to be a market leader, then you might consider segmenting the market more narrowly. Perhaps the product will then have a chance at sustainable market leadership. The catch is that the narrower segment still has to be big enough to be of interest from a business standpoint.

Now tell me, who can argue with Bill's logic? What company, start-up or otherwise, doesn't need marketing?… Read more