December 2010
24 posts
“Apple will be the number one platform for a long time from a developer...”
– Peter Vesterbacka, Creator of Angry Birds
My take aways from this quote:
Apple provides a platform and leadership that developers may not like, or even agree with, but respect. And, respect enough to confidently base their businesses around, If you’re deciding between starting on the iPhone...
Anonymous asked: What do you want to get out of your blog (and us)?
Also: Stoked you're writing more. Keep it coming.
Also: Stoked you're writing more. Keep it coming.
“Being an entrepreneur is like being a juvenile delinquent. The more you tell us...”
– Elim Chew
Know when to hold 'em
Six months ago I was catching up with a friend of mine when the conversation turned to the woes of fundraising. They were seeing growth, but not the kind of growth that gets traditional VCs very excited. They had dipped their toes into the fundraising waters only to be met with loads of critiques and no termsheets. Fast forward to yesterday as we celebrated the recent sale of his company for low...
“Venture capitalists also continue to see their investor base eroded, the survey...”
– Feels like a shortsighted move by road weary LPs. My data suggests the road ahead looks different, but much more promising.
Full article here
WatchFirst- thanks for all of the great questions on our inaugural FREE ADVICE FRIDAY! We barely scratched the surface on some truly great asks as I was only able to respond to two of them. Some were meaty enough that I plan to turn them into full blown posts, others I’ll hold off on answering until next FREE ADVICE FRIDAY. Overall, it seems the response was strong enough to warrant another run...
newspeedwayboogie asked: Do you ever invest where the founder/team has only an idea - hasn't built anything yet?
If not, why not? If so, are there different criteria you use for those?
If not, why not? If so, are there different criteria you use for those?
reecepacheco asked: Given that your investment thesis somewhat centers on the "alpha geeks" - who are inherently young, tech explorers - how heavily do you weigh experience of the entrepreneurs when considering a company for investment?
FREE ADVICE FRIDAY
We’ve been having a good run here at bryce.vc over the last few weeks. Traffic is growing, follower count on Tumblr is up 3x and great comments are being left by thoughtful readers. Admittedly, I haven’t done a good job engaging with our new little community so today I want to change that with a new thing we’ll call- FREE ADVICE FRIDAY (caps lock, natch).
Here’s how...
WatchFive years ago today, December 15th, we held the first close on OATV fund I. It was an amazing day, and from a fund perspective, it was the first day we were actually open for business- free to make investments, hire employees and pay ourselves a salary. It was an important milestone. As I’ve been reflecting on the significance of December 15th, I was reminded that I’d promised a...
WatchI had a post all tee’d up for today. Then I watched this video.
When one of the greatest venture investors of the last decade speaks this candidly, I think its worth taking the time to listen. Fred is in fine form here and covers a range of different topics. But, if you want to see what makes Fred special as an investor, hold on for the last two minutes of the video. He goes from astute and...
If Groupon is NSync, who will be the Rolling...
At the Web 2.0 Summit a few weeks back I heard John Doerr say something that made me pause. While on stage, he said that Zynga was the fastest growing and most profitable business Kleiner Perkins had ever funded. I’d heard him make the same claim during the press blitz for the sFund, but this time it struck me. Here was a firm that has backed some of the truly great companies of our time-...
“We do see deals that are so bad, you want to turn them down twice. You feel like...”
– Marc Andreesen
Now is a great time to be unfundable
Every single company we’ve ever funded has heard “no” multiple times during most of their fundraising efforts. From us at OATV, from other funds, from angels. “No” is painful for anyone to hear, but especially so for an entrepreneur who believes the only thing standing between them and world domination is the cash to fuel their rocketship.
Reality is, at the seed...
A New Generation of Entrepreneurial Heros
News broke tonight that Groupon turned down a $6B offer from Google. Its a pretty gutsy move on their part but one that I’m pretty excited about. Not that I’m a huge fan or user of Groupon but its more about the signal the company is sending.
Over the last few years the start up world has gotten a rap for being in the quick flip business. Take as little money as possible, try to grow...
“S: You’ve interviewed over 300 entrepreneurs now. Do you see any common...”
– Interview with Mixergy’s Andrew Warner
(via rafer)
Suspending Disbelief
As we’re going through our investment process at OATV we do a a bunch of polling in our networks to get people’s opinions on the companies we’re looking at backing. We talk to current and potential customers, we check references, we ask for input from our friends, spouses, parents, kids, you name it. What we’re looking to gain from these interactions is information that...
