Steve Woda's Blog

… Ecommerce, Internet Security, Economics, and Entrepreneurship

Category: Venture Capital Page 2 of 4

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

By

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

V.i. Labs Secures $4 Million in Additional Funding

By

On October 23, 2008

In Core Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

V.i. Labs, a provider of software protection solutions, received $4 million in additional funding to accelerate its product development efforts and expand platform support for its CodeArmor software protection and intelligence solutions. Existing investors, Core Capital and Ascent Ventures, participated in the expansion round.

Learn more >> V.i. Labs Secures $4 Million in Additional Funding

Does Your VC’s Fund Have the Capacity to Do Follow-on Rounds of Financing?

By

On May 1, 2008

In Core Capital, Entrepreneurship, Grotech Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

Another great post on TheFunded.com….

When considering a term sheet from a prospective VC, it is key to understand whether they have have the means to fund follow-on rounds. Most VCs will not do cross over funding and often startups find themselves in trouble when their VCs can not provide subsequent financing. So, it is key to determine…

If your VC’s fund is having problems (financial, political, hiring or retention, etc..) or if your VC’s fund is at the end of its lifecycle, you may ultimately experience artificial, unnecessary problems that you will have to navigate in the future while running your business.  For entrepreneurs, this is a very serious issue to consider before you allow an investment, not after an investment has already taken place.

Read the rest of this article at TheFunded.com: Fund Diligence Item in order to learn the three critical questions you should ask your prospective investors before taking their venture capital dollars.

Post Funding Advice for VC-backed Entrepreneurs

By

On April 30, 2008

In buySAFE, Core Capital, Entrepreneurship, Grotech Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

If you have ever raised venture capital, you know how important the post-funding relationship is with your venture capital investors.  Your pre-money valuation and financing terms are all important needless to say, but to be candid, the post-funding relationship you have (or are likely to have based on a VC’s previous track record) is probably the most important issue for you to consider as an entrepreneur.

An experienced entrepreneur posted a great article on the subject on TheFunded.com, and here is an excerpt of the article…

There are a lot of postings here about getting the initial term sheet and getting the VC on board. However, just like marriages, many of these courting periods can be quite different from the month to month evolving operations and business that we face a year or two down the road. Remember that often these VCs will sit on your board, and direct your business in different ways and depending on your dilution can dictate how operational decisions should be made. Thus, it is important to get an early feel from your VC dialogue, especially how they would respond if the actual business is less than the wonderful picture we sometimes paint in our pitches.

If I can give you piece of advice that you need to follow religiously in your quest for venture capital, it is that you MUST speak to the entrepreneurs and CEOs that have previously taken money from and worked with the VC firm and the VC partner that you are considering.  Do not limit your discussions to the entrepreneurs and CEOs of the successful deals, but rather, you should talk to the entrepreneurs and CEOs of the unsuccessful deals as well.  In my experience, the VCs play a critical role in both outcomes, and you need to make sure you get the full, unedited scoop before you take money from a VC.  This is absolutely critical to your success or failure as a startup.

Speaking of which, I am always happy to share my insights on this subject with folks that are interested, so don’t hesitate to email me with your questions.

You can read more of the original article here >> TheFunded.com: The post funding experience

Grotech Ventures Leads a $6.6 Million Series B Round of Funding for Collective Intellect

By

On April 29, 2008

In Grotech Capital, Social Networking, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

TechCrunch reported last week that Grotech Ventures has led another round of financing for Collective Intellect.  The following is an excerpt from TechCrunch.

Collective Intellect, a service that can be used to track what people are saying around the net about certain topics, has raised an additional $6.6M in a Series B round led by Grotech Capital Group with participation by Appian Ventures, Croghan Investments, and Crawley Hatfield Capital.

You can read more about the financing here >> More Money for Collective Intellect to Keep Fingers on Pulse of Internet

From Messes To Successes

By

On April 27, 2008

In Venture Capital, Web/Tech

One of my favorite VC bloggers is Fred Wilson, and he wrote another great post this past week.  "From Messes to Successes" is an interesting article about his experiences with "problem" portfolio companies.  As you would hope would be the case with any good venture capitalist, he and his team have helped turn many of these "problems" into fabulous outcomes.

Here is an excerpt from his article…

When I look back at my 20+ year history of venture investing, it’s certainly true that the biggest successes have been big messes at some point in their life. My most successful venture investment at Euclid, Multex, almost went bankrupt before the Internet came along and provided a cheap way to get it’s service to its customers. Geocities, which was our most successful investment at Flatiron, was a total mess in mid/late 1997, about a year after we first invested. And our most successful investment to date at Union Square Ventures, TACODA, was a mess multiple times including when the first build of its software totally failed on them. Delicious also had plenty of messy moments in its brief period in our portfolio.

The core point of Fred’s article is that startups are often messy due to the hyper-focus on the product and the market.  He goes on to argue that this may be what ultimately makes them companies great companies once they finally get their act together on process and operations.

I agree.  Building a great product is a pre-requisite for success.  When you get the product right, you can build a company around it.  Without a great product, you will end up throwing a lot of money at something that won’t ultimately succeed.

Start with the product.  Make it great.  Build the team the processes and operations around that great product.  That is how you build a great, successful business.

You can read more of Fred’s article here >> A VC: From Messes To Successes

Daily Roundup for 2008-04-17

By

On April 17, 2008

In Bookmarks, Online Advertising, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

  • Targeting, Ad Network Spending Increase – eMarketer
    More than nine out of 10 US advertising agencies and advertisers buying online media plan to work with ad networks in 2008, according to Collective Media’s "Ad Network Study 2008."  Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that they planned to spend more with ad networks in 2008 than they did in 2007.

  • ISPs meddled with their customers’ Web traffic by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
    In a paper, set to be delivered Wednesday, the researchers document some troubling practices. In July and August they tested data sent to about 50,000 computers and discovered that a small number of ISPs were injecting ads into Web pages on their networks. They also found that some Web browsing and ad-blocking software was actually making Web surfing more dangerous by introducing security vulnerabilities into pages.

Read More

Daily Roundup for 2008-04-16

By

On April 16, 2008

In Bookmarks, eBay, eCommerce, Facebook, Marketing, Microsoft, Online Advertising, Online Fraud, Social Networking, Venture Capital, Web/Tech, Yahoo!

  • Does Your Company Need a Chief Blogger? – Advertising Age
    It’s a question marketers are still grappling with years after the first waves of corporate blogging flooded the web. But for better or worse, it seems corporate blogging — and the title of chief blogger — is beginning to hit its stride. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Marriott and Kodak all have recently recruited chief bloggers, with or without the actual title, to tell their stories and engage consumers.

  • Brands Partner With Consumers Online – eMarketer
    These days, online consumers and companies are collaborating on a range of activities, including R&D, marketing and after-sales support.  Here are a few examples of how brands and consumers are working together online.

Read More

Daily Roundup for 2008-04-08

By

On April 8, 2008

In Bookmarks, eCommerce, Entrepreneurship, Google, Online Fraud, Trust and Safety, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

  • Just What We Needed, Google on Speed – Google Everflux
    Is it just me or has Google gone into overdrive? As a professional full-time online marketer I have to keep my mind firmly placed on what Google is doing. As much as I try not to because Google has probably driven more people around the bend than Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz put together. Like any professional marketer, I monitor my numerous keywords on a daily basis – especially my major targeted keyword phrases that bring in the most sales and subscribers. For years now, I have had top rankings in Google for my chosen phrases; they move up and down, but mostly they don’t leave the first page.

  • Beam it up: Tiny projectors to magnify cell-phone cinema – Technology Review
    Recognizing that it is not much fun to watch movies on a tiny cell phone, a number of companies are racing to develop gadgets that project what’s playing on the small screen onto walls, table cloths and other handy surfaces. ”Pico projectors” that are small enough to carry around in a shirt pocket are expected on the market later this year. Eventually, the technology will be tiny enough to be built into phones and portable media players, the companies say.

Read More

Daily Roundup for 2008-03-25

By

On March 25, 2008

In Bookmarks, Marketing, Online Advertising, Online Fraud, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

  • Region’s Venture Capital Rank Slips – washingtonpost.com
    Regions of the West Coast and Midwest moved ahead of Washington as top destinations for venture capital in recent years, as the local venture economy grew more slowly than the national average, a Washington Post analysis shows. In 2001, the year the technology bubble popped, Washington ranked sixth among top destinations for venture capital, after Silicon Valley, New England, the New York metro area, Texas and the Southeast. Last year, it was ranked 10th, overtaken by the Northwest, San Diego, the Midwest and Los Angeles/Orange County.

  • Hammering out Wikipedia’s financial future, argument by argument – Technology Review
    Scroll the list of the 10 most popular Web sites in the U.S., and you’ll encounter the Internet’s richest corporate players — names like Yahoo, Amazon.com, News Corp., Microsoft and Google. Except for No. 7: Wikipedia. And there lies a delicate situation. With 2 million articles in English alone, the Internet encyclopedia ”anyone can edit” stormed the Web’s top ranks through the work of unpaid volunteers and the assistance of donors. But that gives Wikipedia far less financial clout than its Web peers, and doing almost anything to improve that situation invites scrutiny from the same community that proudly generates the content.

Read More

Page 2 of 4

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén