BeyondVC

APRIL 12, 2004

Lee Gomes from the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting piece (sorry, not a free site) in his Portals Column about Project Avalanche which is essentially a software co-op for businesses to share their applications and code. Current members include Jostens, BestBuy, and Cargill. According to Lee, the Avalanche Project was started because the founders kept asking themselves the following questions: “Why were they writing such big checks to their software companies, but getting so little

Software Review 60

Software Review Software Open Source Detroit 60

BeyondVC

APRIL 1, 2004

I was with a banker today talking about the influx of new IPO filings and the end result of our discussion was the following: 1. Filing does not mean anything, the companies may never go public 2. Performance is key-revenue visibility is of utmost importance because the street does not forgive. Case in point-if you miss your numbers within the first two quarters after you go public, forget about it.

Software Review 60

Software Review IPO Merger Revenue 60

BeyondVC

APRIL 13, 2004

I have written about linux on the desktop in the past ( here and here ). Today, my partners and I installed the latest version of Xandros 2.0, and I have to admit we were blown away. It installed in about 10-15 minutes with a couple clicks of the mouse, and we had a full working version of a linux desktop which looked and felt like a Windows machine.

Networking 74

Networking Partner Cost Management 74

BeyondVC

APRIL 26, 2004

There have been a number of IPO fillings recently, but the one that intrigues me most is the filing by Lindows. As many of you have read, Lindows/Linspire just filed an S-1 to raise $57 million in an IPO. WR Hambrecht is the lead underwriter and will utilize its dutch auction methodology to raise money from individual investors. In my mind, what happens with Lindows will be a barometer of the psyche of the individual investor.

IPO 60

IPO .Net Revenue Operations 60

Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic

Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in

Startup

BeyondVC

APRIL 22, 2004

There are a number of good posts about founder transition in light of the recent changes at Friendster and Plaxo. If you are an entrepreneur, I suggest reading Ross Mayfield’s words of wisdom on this topic. What makes it so interesting is that Ross is a founder, was replaced at a prior company, and is back again as CEO of another company, Socialtext.

Founder 60

Founder Early Stage Entrepreneur Management 60

BeyondVC

APRIL 20, 2004

I met with an entrepreneur this week who had a fantastic background and great technology. However, it was a technology in search of a problem to solve. Why? Because he could not readily answer some fundamental questions like what problem are you solving, who is the buyer of the product, and what is the amount of pain the buyer has without your product or solution.

Elevator Pitch 60

Elevator Pitch Security Sales Technology 60

BeyondVC

APRIL 9, 2004

It was just a matter of time before an investment bank launched a nanotech index. During the bubble years we had an index for everything ranging from Internet ad-related companies to Internet commerce companies. Now we have a nanotech index. Is this a sign of another bubble? Well, it is true that nanotech is overhyped now, but I have no doubt that it will one-day be a pervasive technology that will drive growth in alot of industries ranging from materials to semiconductors to health care.

Intellectual Property 60

Intellectual Property Internet Technology Marketing 60

BeyondVC

APRIL 7, 2004

If you are wondering about why Microsoft settled with Sun, I suggest reading David Kirkpatrick’s excellent piece on the deal. In the article, David surmises that the power of the open source movement is really the driver behind the deal. Open source’s influence is far greater than its current market share in software might suggest. The open-source model increasingly defines what’s possible in technology.

Open Source 60

Open Source Architecture Software Demand 60