Writing

So you start a web service with some friends. They do the programming. You do everything else. Suddenly the service takes off. You are thrilled and getting ready to pop open the bubbly. But then things start to sputter as [...]  Read more

I had a cup of coffee yesterday with Craig Newmark. Toward the end of the conversation, I told him that one of the most important things I learned by studying Craigslist was the importance of customer service. Craig is, famously, [...]  Read more

Paul Graham recently wrote an essay on venture capital and startups called How To Be Silicon Valley and I recommend everyone who works in the technology, startup, and venture businesses give it a read. It’s an excellent analysis of the [...]  Read more

Stowe Boyd has an interesting post on the idea of advisory capital (as opposed to venture capital).Stowe observes correctly that many tech startups don't need nearly the amount of startup capital that they used to need to build a business. [...]  Read more

Is it just us, or is there really a sea change in the nature of research and development.For my entire career in information technology, research was all about cracking very hard technical problems. How to move more bits from here [...]  Read more

Early stage venture capital investing is not really a numbers oriented business.Its much more important to have a feel for technology, markets, and people than numbers.But there are times when numbers are important.Two of the most important times you want [...]  Read more

We like to make our initial investment sometime between the formation of a business and the first dollar of revenue coming in the door. Sometimes that time period lasts a while. In the interim, how do you monitor how an [...]  Read more