In March, I noted that venture capital is moving “up the ladder” – more money was flowing into latter stage investments, with only about 10% of VC deals going to start-up stage investment (as compared to 25% in 1995). In August, I examined venture capital investments by financing round which revealed that Series E round… [Read more…]
May 2, 2008
Now the results from the 2008 University of San Francisco International Business Plan Competition: Grand PrizeCarnegie Mellon University – Dynamics“Dynamics has invented a low-cost paper-thin, flexible computer. The platform technology is piloting as a security card solution. A proven credit card solution eliminates $22.5 billion of fraud annually by changing a portion of your credit… [Read more…]
April 30, 2008
Mark Cannice, Chair of the University of San Francisco Entrepreneurship Program, provided some great insight about how venture capital and venture capital activites may foreshadow overall financial market activity. In his video interview on The Wall Street Journal Online, Mark pointed out that venture capital operates at the “intersection of public and private finance,” providing… [Read more…]
April 25, 2008
I spent the day today at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco, serving as a coach to aspiring young entrepreneurs and companies in developing their “elevator pitch” and venture capital presentations during the University of San Francisco International Business Plan Competition. Although the competition is a compilation of student-led groups that have been vetted at… [Read more…]
April 10, 2008
Quick update on a great event upcoming – April 24 – 26 – Hotel Kabuki (San Francisco’s Japan Town) The University of San Francisco Contest will feature 20 graduate student entrepreneur teams from around the world (MIT, Hong Kong UST, Cambridge, USF, Stanford, etc.) pitching their new venture proposals to panels of venture capitalists, top… [Read more…]
March 20, 2008
Congratulations to Tom Monaghan (University of San Francisco, EMBA 2007) and Tesh Khullar (University of San Francisco, EMBA 2006) for their outstanding achievement in winning 3rd place in the National Seed Business Plan Competition in Santa Barbara last weekend. Tom and Tesh were one of 10 teams invited from among the 72 applications for the… [Read more…]
March 17, 2008
An astonishing train wreck. That’s all that comes to mind in reading about Bear Stearns’ collapse and J.P. Morgan’s purchase of the Wall Street mainstay since 1923. According to the Wall Street Journal – “J.P. Morgan Rescues Bear Stearns.” “Rescues?” Seems more like Cousin Vinny bailing out the “two youts” somewhere in Alabama after being… [Read more…]
March 10, 2008
Just a quick mention of the Univeristy of San Francisco’s “Venture Capital Confidence Index.” This index is maintained by Mark Cannice, head of the Entrpreneurship program at the University of San Francisco. The Index was recently mentioned in an article by Rebecca Beckman in The Wall Street Journal – “In Silicon Valley, Start-Ups Begin Hitting… [Read more…]
February 20, 2008
The Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) is a unique opportunity for university students to act as investors, instead of the standard competition where students present their business plans. In an obvious attempt to be a homer, I’d like to congratulate the University of San Francisco Graduate Student Team for their outstanding performance at the February… [Read more…]
February 11, 2008
A common way to value a company is to look at the company’s total revenues and then take a some multiple such as “1x” or “2x” in conservative industries, with “10x” as an acceptable standard in the technology industry, and an incredible “100x” as witnessed in Microsoft’s valuation of Facebook. We’ll call this the “Revenue… [Read more…]
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December 27, 2008
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