stevewoda – Page 9 – Steve Woda’s Blog

Hot Streaks! How do they happen?

On April 13, 2009

I just arrived home from a terrific, extended, overdue vacation on the beach in Florida with my family. I really had a great time as I am sure you can imagine.

While there, I was practicing my putting stroke on the beach-side putting green when I suddenly starting knocking in every putt I looked at. Since I couldn’t seem to miss a putt, I grabbed my video camera to see if I could record a bit of my hot streak, and that is when the following video was taped…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_n1Jbcwspo&w=560&h=340]

Since we are on the subject of hot streaks, I want to recommend a book to you that I read while on vacation. Rosabeth Moss Kantor’s “Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End” is a fabulous read, and it is now one of my personal favorites. The book digs into the subject of how teams, organizations and people get on winning streaks or losing streaks. What separates the two?

My favorite observation from the book, because we all know it is true, is that “failure and success are not episodes, they are trajectories.” Doing the little things well, every day, breeds success. If you think success comes from a lucky lottery ticket, you will be a disappointed person in the long-run. As my childhood basketball idol, Dr. J, once said, “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.”

“Confidence” is an awesome book, and for every current or aspiring leader, it is a must read. Enjoy!

Zenoss Closes 2008 with 100 New Enterprise Customers & $15M in Financing

By stevewoda

On January 22, 2009

In Grotech Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

Zenoss Inc., the leading provider of commercial open source systems and network monitoring, today announced tremendous momentum through the end of 2008. In addition to astounding growth in commercial enterprise sales throughout the year, the company raised an additional $15 million of financing, was recognized with many awards including being named a finalist for a Jolt Award in the Enterprise Tools category and secured twice as many downloads as its nearest competitor in commercial open source IT management for 2008.

Zenoss added 110 new enterprise customers during the year, including Carlson Travel, Tyco Electronics, Cap Gemini, Formica and iStockphoto. Others, such as UTStarcom, Medifast, OpSource, OmniPresence, Broadcom, Johns Hopkins and Rackspace, renewed their annual subscriptions. Zenoss has gained the most traction in financial services, federal government, and among leading managed service providers where Zenoss management solutions are now routinely replacing traditional products from the “Big 4” systems management vendors (IBM, HP, BMC and CA).

As a result of this significant growth, Zenoss secured an additional $4 million in new financing from Silicon Valley Bank in December bringing the total raised to $15 million for the year and over $20 million cumulative. Other funding partners include top-tier venture capital firms Grotech Ventures, Intersouth Partners and Boulder Ventures.

Technorati Tags: Zenoss,Grotech Capital,Venture Capital

Shopping Advisor approved by Mozilla for Firefox

By stevewoda

On January 8, 2009

In buySAFE, Comparison Shopping, eBay, eCommerce, Portable Trust & Reputation Signals, Trust and Safety, Web/Tech

After two months of testing in Mozilla’s developmental sandbox,
Mozilla approved the buySAFE Shopping Advisor for public distribution
via the Firefox Add-on site starting this week.

If you aren’t already using Shopping Advisor with your Firefox
browser, you should install it as an add-on today. You can check it
out on the official Mozilla Firefox Add-on site here… https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9009

I am obviously excited about this big milestone, and as always, I hope you will continue to provide us with your feedback, insights and ideas on
Shopping Advisor over the coming weeks and months.

Have fun, and happy new year!

Steve

Do you get a passing grade?

By stevewoda

On December 20, 2008

In Steve Woda, Twitter

One of my favorite Twitter-related services is TwitterGrader. If your competitive (and who isn't?), TwitterGrader will give you a sense of how you are doing as a member of the Twitter community.

Here is my grade… http://twitter.grader.com/stevewoda

What's your Twitter Grade? 🙂

Roundbox Raises $20 Million for Mobile Broadcast Software

By stevewoda

On December 15, 2008

In Core Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

RoundBox, a provider of mobile broadcast software, announced on Monday that it has raised over $20 million in its third round of venture capital funding, led by Montagu Newhall Associates. Itochu Techno-Solutions Corporation, and previous backers Core Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners and RRE Ventures also participated in the round, which will be used to invest in product development and customer delivery.

Learn more >> Roundbox Raises $20 Million for Mobile Broadcast Software – Digital Media Wire

Roundbox Secures Over $20 Million in Series C Financing

Technorati Tags: Core Capital,Roundbox,Venture Capital

How Do You Win a Business Plan Competition?

By stevewoda

On December 2, 2008

In buySAFE, Entrepreneurship, Steve Woda, Venture Capital, Web/Tech, Wharton

The short answer is that you need to be very, very good. There are a lot of terrific, aspiring entrepreneurs out there, and so a bit of luck is useful too. Having said that, winning isn't everything.

buySAFE is actually a product of the 2002 Wharton Business Plan Competition, but the plan was not the winning plan. PayMyBills.com has a similar story. The founders and my good friends, Jeff Grass and John Tedesco, were finalists, but not winners, in the 1999 Wharton Business Plan Competition. However, they went on to raise tens of millions in venture capital and they built a really nice business in the process.

Simply going through the business planning and critique process is the real benefit of these competitions in my opinion. Business plans are funny things. Business planning is a fairly simple exercise, but if you haven't previously developed a plan, the effort can seem very daunting. Business plan competitions typically provide basic advice to the entrepreneurs on how to get started. The competitions also have multiple stages with each stage presenting an opportunity to receive valuable feedback from the experienced entrepreneurs and investors that are judging and/or mentoring in the competition.

The following Business Week video does a nice job of covering the basics regarding what you need to know before submitting your business plan.

Winning a Business Plan Competition | The Businessweek Video Library

In the video, the University of Oregon's Randy Swangard talks about how to win that business plan competition — what to keep in mind before you apply, and why it's sometimes better to come in second.

The Wharton Club of New York is running a business plan competition now, and here is all the information you need to enter as a participant. I highly encourage you to participate if you can.

Also, you might find the following NY Times article interesting. "Beyond Grades: Business Students Put Their Start-up Ideas to the Test" does a nice job of covering the ins and outs of business school business plan competitions.

Have fun, and good luck!

My Resume

By stevewoda

On November 20, 2008

In Uncategorized

Coming soon…

Core Capital Partners Invests in $14.5 Million Round for Trust Digital

By stevewoda

On November 13, 2008

In Core Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

Core Capital Partners, a leading venture capital firm that invests in high-growth technology companies, announced today it is participating in a $14.5 million funding round for McLean, Va.-based Trust Digital, a leading enterprise mobility management (EMM) provider.

The funding will be used to extend Trust Digitals platform to include Research in Motions BlackBerry devices, the Apple iPhone and Google Android. The funds will also go toward expanding direct sales and channel partner support.

Learn more >> Core Capital Partners Invests in $14.5 Million Round for Trust Digital

Technorati Tags: Core Capital,Pascal Luck,Venture Capital,Trust Digital