Houston Is Recession-Proofing Its Economy With Wind Power
January 7, 2009
When Vestas, the world’s largest wind-turbine manufacturer, announced plans for a new U.S. research center, 42 states lined up to make sales pitches. The winning location would be rewarded with hundreds of jobs, millions in tax revenue, and green-business cachet. Finn Strøm Madsen, president of the Danish firm’s tech division, wanted a site near big-name universities, so Massachusetts (MIT) and California (Caltech, Berkeley) seemed obvious choices. Portland, Oregon, was already home to Vestas Americas’ headquarters. But in June, Vestas picked Houston. read more
Facebook Tries To Buy Twitter
December 8, 2008
There are two kinds of companies in the Valley: those that make money, and those that don’t have to. As the economy worsens, the former group behaves like firms in other sectors, making cuts and revising earnings expectations. For the latter group, living in a VC-backed candyland, it’s as good a time as any to spend half a billion dollars on something fun. read more
Venture Capitalists Get Creative
December 4, 2008
As venture capital funds face a cash crunch driven by the financial downturn, they are taking extreme measures to ensure they can fund their investments. read more
Venture Capital Financing Slows Amid Economic Downturn
October 27, 2008
Silicon Valley technology startups are adopting a new business plan: deferral.
MerchantCircle Inc., a Los Altos, Calif., Internet startup, typifies the trend. Last month, company founder Ben Smith was in New York talking to media companies about raising $50 million, with which he planned to make acquisitions to fuel MerchantCircle’s growth. But as the financial markets tumbled this month, Mr. Smith canceled two trips to New York and a roadshow to Europe to raise the capital. For now, the fundraising is on the backburner.
“When we started the year we were pushing really hard for growth,” says Mr. Smith, who in 2005 founded MerchantCircle, which provides online advertising services for small businesses. “That’s just not as important anymore. Now it’s all about cash flow.” read more
Entrepreneurs Feel Squeeze as Venture Capital Gets Scarce
October 21, 2008
Venture capitalists are reining in spending amid the financial downturn, a shift that has implications for entrepreneurial activity.
According to two sets of data pegged for release Saturday, venture capitalists did fewer new financing of companies and spent less money in the third quarter than they did a year earlier. Venture capitalists typically put money into young companies, with the aim of profiting later when those start-ups go public or are acquired. read more
How Much Is Your Company Worth?
October 17, 2008
After a string of rough years and falling values for private companies, here’s some good news: Now just might be the best time to sell a business that we’ve seen in quite some time.
Why? Jay C. Jester, marketing director of Audax Group, a Boston-based private equity and mezzanine firm, explains that many private equity companies and venture capital firms raised money for investment funds with capital-deployment time limits several years ago, and now the clock is ticking ever closer to midnight. “There’s a ton of private equity with a fuse on it,” Jester says. “You’ve got pent-up supply and pent-up demand coming together. There’s activity in just about any sector you can think of.” read more
Angel Investors Guide
July 4, 2008
They are the true believers in the world of start-ups. Inc Magazine presents a guide on searching for and courting these diamonds in the rough.
Inc Magazine Angel Investors Guide
Also, check out Jason Nazar’s Guide to Raising Money for a Startup Company. Jason is the CEO of Docstoc.com, an online community for document sharing.