Exam, Project, Review April 29, 2007
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A brief review of what we discussed in class:
May 3rd: Make-up class (review session) at the conference room in 161/163 William St., 21st Floor.
May 10th: Final exam.
May 14th: Project due (last day of finals).
Hooray! IP Powerpoint works now April 20, 2007
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Scroll down for the link.
Project reminder April 19, 2007
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As we’ve discussed in class, what you choose to do for the final project is up to you. The aim: to give you a chance to use a class requirement to help you become a better entrepreneur. Generally, the project should be 15-20 pages long. Remember, though, that this is an entrepreneurship class, so if you want to create a website, podcasts or video, go to it.
Examples:
You project could be . . .
- As in the original course description, a 15-20 page business plan for a real or imagined venture
- A marketing plan
- A detailed section or sections of a marketing or business plan
- An analytical assessment of potential new strategies for an existing business
- Research on a particularly interesting or problematic issue
- An analytical assessment of your goals + the prospects for meeting them or
- Whatever else you think might add value to your development as an entrepreneur.
If you have any uncertainty or questions, email me at jeff.trexler@gmail.com.
“Tonight, tonight . . .” April 19, 2007
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I’ll spare you my West Side Story renditions since we meet on the East Side, but I won’t spare you a sneak peak of what we’ll be doing in class tonight.
(1) Going over business plans in detail
(2) Discussing your individual projects.
IP & business plan Powerpoints April 16, 2007
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UPDATED UPDATE: It works. The Powerpoint works.
UPDATE: For reasons I can’t quite figure out, the IP Powerpoint isn’t loading. It’s on my server, but, well, who knows? I’ll keep at it & will let you know when it’s up.
Last week’s overview of IP is here. Really.
And to prep for next week, here’s the set re business plans.
Super Angels and Angelic VCs April 12, 2007
Posted by jefft in Trends, Venture capital.add a comment
From Business Week:
Jaxtr’s tale illustrates the new calculus governing high-tech venture capital. For years, angel investors and traditional venture firms existed in a sort of symbiosis. Wealthy tech-industry veterans willing to open their checkbooks for $100,000 or so—the angels, as they’re known—could bootstrap promising young companies before serious money, to the tune of six or more figures, from venture firms arrived. Angling for a slice of Jaxtr, however, were both groups: Mayfield Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Richards, and the Founders Fund on one hand; angel investors Ron Conway, Reid Hoffman, and Rajeev Motwani on the other. “The company was a bit in the driver’s seat,” one investor says.
Angels with Deeper Pockets
What put Jaxtr in the driver’s seat is a turnabout in traditional roles for angel investors and venture capitalists. Venture capitalists are responding to the emergence in recent years of what have come to be known as super-angel investors, who sink multimillion-dollar investments into Web startups and other tech companies, often carrying them further into their life span before they knock on VCs’ doors. Professional angels and boutique angel funds have been a driving force behind emerging Web companies including Kevin Rose’s Digg and Revision3, Marc Andreessen’s Ning, search engine Powerset, and online music site Last.fm, to name a few (see BusinessWeek.com, Slide Show: “Tech’s Next Gen: The Best and Brightest”).
“We have the flexibility to invest like an angel or a later-stage venture capital firm,” says David Weiden, a general partner at Khosla Ventures, an angel-investment fund headed by Sun Microsystems (SUNW) co-founder Vinod Khosla. “Because we’re investing our own money, we can scale down to whatever we want.” Khosla investments range from $100,000 to $25 million, in areas including Internet technology and clean energy.
Venture capitalists and nondisclosure agreements April 12, 2007
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Last week, Professor Scafidi explained why venture capitalists tend not to like signing nondisclosure agreements. Here’s more on that topic.
Friendster founder’s new startup April 11, 2007
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Could it be . . . Enemyster?
When is a startup not a startup? April 11, 2007
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Click here for the answer.
Startups and business plans April 11, 2007
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Helpful insight from Paul Graham’s useful talk, “How to Start a Startup“:
Some angels, especially those with technology backgrounds, may be satisfied with a demo and a verbal description of what you plan to do. But many will want a copy of your business plan, if only to remind themselves what they invested in.
Our angels asked for one, and looking back, I’m amazed how much worry it caused me. “Business plan” has that word “business” in it, so I figured it had to be something I’d have to read a book about business plans to write. Well, it doesn’t. At this stage, all most investors expect is a brief description of what you plan to do and how you’re going to make money from it, and the resumes of the founders. If you just sit down and write out what you’ve been saying to one another, that should be fine. It shouldn’t take more than a couple hours, and you’ll probably find that writing it all down gives you more ideas about what to do.
