VC Non Admissions | A VC

Fred Wilson is a VC and principal of Union Square Ventures. His wife is Gotham Gal and his daughter Jessica Wilson blogs too.

Special Note - Even though I'm re-designing a new ReadingMaterialforEntrpreneurs in WordPress that won't be ready for awhile, I thought this presentation by Fred Wilson was too much fun to ignore.

Reading Material for Entrepreneurs Back Soon

Reading Material for Entrepreneurs is suspended temporarily while it is redesigned and reconstituted in a new Wordpress format. Check back for news about the relaunch.

Milton Glaser 10 Life Lessons

In 2001 Milton Glaser revealed the following "Ten Things" to an AIGA audience in London . Must reading for all entrepreneurs.

1. YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
2. IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
3. SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
4. PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
5. LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
6. STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
7. HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
8. DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
9. ON AGING.
10. TELL THE TRUTH.

Milton Glaser a famed graphic designer "had a major impact on contemporary illustration and design. His work has won numerous awards from Art Directors Clubs, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Society of Illustrators and the Type Directors Club. In 1979 he was made Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and his work is included in the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Israel Museum and the Musee de l'affiche in Paris. Glaser has taught at both the School of Visual Arts and at Cooper Union in New York City. He is a member of Alliance Graphique International (AGI)."

Looking for Failed Entrepreneurs!

In Technology Review Brad Feld wants "the experienced entrepreneur whose last company was a failure 100% of the time. The cliche “you learn more from failure than success holds true”, but more importantly the dude that just came off a failure and is ready to go again is super-extraordinary-amazingly hungry for a success."

Feld shows and reviews the video of Zynga's Mark Pincus about his lessons from Tribe – fail fast. Watch it to learn what the best entrepreneurs learn from both failure that they don't learn from success.

See this video on Vator.tv »

Brad Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years. He is co-founder of Foundry Group and currently serves on the board of directors of Gnip, Oblong, and Zynga Game Network for Foundry Group. The posts published here originally appeared on www.feld.com.

Best career advice in 6 words?

Pete Johnson, Portals and Applications Chief Architect at Hewlett-Packard posed this question on Nerd Guru via his LinkedIn page.

Great fun to read and you should add your own contributions.

Two Venture Capitalists Help Entrepreneurs

Here are two "must view" videos for all early-in-their-entrepreneur-career entrepreneurs!

Venture Capital Crash Course with Jason Mendelson from Andrew on Vimeo.

Jason Mendolson opens the door for any entrepreneur to see the inner workings of a real live venture capitalist in the extended presentation.

Jason Mendelson and his partner Brad Feld and are the co-authors of AsktheVC. Brad and Jason have been working together since 2000 when Jason joined Mobius Venture Capital, a venture capital firm that Brad co-founded. They started writing together on Brad's Feld Thoughts blog in 2005 with their Term Sheet series. After several other series about issues facing venture capital backed companies, Jason and Brad decided to start AsktheVC. Brad and Jason, along with three other partners have recently founded a new venture firm, the Foundry Group located in Boulder, Colorado.

In nine videos which are all on YouTube Fred Wilson describes his history and development as a Venture Capitalist to a group of students from InSITE (Investments from Student Interaction with Technology and Entrepreneurs).

Fred Wilson is a VC and principal of Union Square Ventures and publisher of A VC, Musings of a VC in NYC

Venture Capital "Walking Dead" Lists

Alert to entrepreneurs: Do your own due diligence! Here is a good question to ask the VC you are pitching. Ask them whether they are actually capable of funding your venture?

In March Dan Primack of PE Hub blogged a list of venture capital firms he termed the “VC Walking Dead” — firms that by all indication appear to be still in business but lack the cash to bring new investments on board. Camille Ricketts of VentureBeat just published The VC walking dead: Extended edition a fresh look at the Venture Capital industry that tries to sort those that merely appear dead from those that are in fact "among the walking dead".

And this just in from the National Venture Capital Association as reported by Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch - Venture Capital Fundraising Is Down Nearly 40 Percent In First Quarter of 2009. Schonfeld had recently reported on poor Venture Capital results across the board in Q1.

Are you working for a startup and don’t know when to quit?

By devbloke | CodeLathe Blog

"If it has been more than 5 years and the company has not become profitable, quit. Take your losses. Invest your experience and time in another company. Even better, start your own company."

Google Ventures Launches with “We May Steal Your Idea” Caveat

Andy Beal of MarketPilgrim warns of a dark lining behind Google's new $100m venture fund.

"If you’re a start-up that’s making moves despite the recession, Google wants to hear from you. Specifically, Google Ventures–the newly launched venture capital arm of the search giant–wants to hear from you."

He notes the disclaimer language on the site with his own emphasis added

"We welcome new ideas. However, please do not send us information that you consider to be confidential or proprietary. Because of what we do, we receive a high volume of business plans, presentations, pitches, memos - you get the picture - and because these materials are often similar, because they come to us in a variety of forms, and because we read a ton of stuff, we cannot and do not accept responsibility for protecting against the misuse or disclosure of any information unless we have expressly agreed (in writing) to do so."

Beal says, "In other words, send us your business plan but if we don’t invest and instead launch a competing service, you’re, er, SOL buddy."

Entrepreneurship Less Risky Than Jobs?

Entrepreneurship Less Risky Than Jobs? - For more amazing video clips, click here

Startups Less Viable but Winding Them Down Is a Booming Business

PUI-WING TAM and BEN WORTHEN report of in the Wall Street Journal that investors are investing less and startups are worth less as the recession hits Silicon Valley. In More Tech Start-Ups Call It Quits the authors describe a dire economic environment for entrepreneurs but also point out that firms such as Sherwood Partners, a Mountain View, Calif are profiting by "specializing in winding down start-ups...averaging three start-ups a week, up from just one or two closures a month in September", according to their managing director Martin Pichinson.

Martin Pichinson, Sherwood Partners

CEO and Venture Capital Required Reading Alert!!!

From extraordinary entrepreneur Mark Cuban comes The Mark Cuban Stimulus Plan - Open Source Funding. Every entrepreneur and financier, whether professional VC or angel investor, of early stage ventures should stop what they're doing right now and read this plan....and then read it again and again!

As Cuban says "So here it is. Some people will love it, some will hate it. It is what it is."

I love it!

Guy Kawasaki Speaks Out About Venture Capitalists and CEOs

You can always count on Guy Kawasaki for the balanced truth!

In Top 9 Lies of Venture Capitalists he warns entrepreneurs to check carefully to see from which side of their mouth a venture capitalist is speaking. Guy says "Venture capitalists are simple people. But we're not necessarily forthcoming, so if you think it's hard to get a "yes" out of a venture capitalist, try getting a conclusive "no." The game is to string along entrepreneurs in case something miraculous happens to make them look better."

In 6 Helpful Clues for CEOs he updates the list he started in October and asks CEOs to check whether they "stack up" and to show they "are clued in and on top of things".

Special thanks to west coast beat reporter Jeff Saunders for his contributions to this.

The Secret to Start-Up Success: Save Customers Money

By Claire Cain Miller | NYTimes.com

"These days, venture capitalists are ever more cautious with their money. The way to catch their eye? Pitch a company whose mission is to save customers money."

Why Stock Option Compensation Will Kill Your Company

Anne-Marie Fink | Silicon Alley Insider

"Anne-Marie Fink is the author of "The Moneymakers: How Extraordinary Managers Win in a World Turned Upside Down" and runs the Money Makers site. Here's an excerpt from the book:

Paying as many employees as possible in stock is an article of faith to both corporate leaders and people in the investing community. I risk being branded as a heretic, therefore"...

Startups Critical for Job Creation in U.S.

By Scott Allen, About.com Guide to Entrepreneurs since 2002

"A new U.S. Census Bureau study funded by the Kauffman Foundation strongly suggests that it is not just small businesses, but new businesses, that hold the key to reversing the current record unemployment trend. The Business Dynamic Statistics (BDS) indicate that without job creation from new firms, the U.S. net employment growth rate is negative on average."

Google Next Victim Of Creative Destruction? (GOOG)

John Borthwick | Silicon Alley Insider

"Search is fragmenting into verticals. In the past year two meaningful verticals have emerged — one is video — the other is real time search."

Ctrl-Z: a return to the Supreme Court's software patent ban?

By Timothy B. Lee | Ars Technica

"With the USPTO and courts cracking down on software patents, Ars looks closely at the Supreme Court's software patent decisions. Yes, the Supremes really did say that algorithms can't be patented. In spite of the fact that their rulings have been functionally ignored for almost 20 years, the tide may be about to turn."

Angels Flee From Tech Start-Ups

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER and BRAD STONE | NYTimes.com

"During normal economic times, several years after a start-up raises angel financing, it seeks larger amounts of money from venture capitalists to grow. But as venture capitalists also cut back on investments, many angels are wary of investing in a start-up without the assurance that the company will be able to raise more money to keep growing."

The Economics of Giving It Away

By CHRIS ANDERSON - WSJ.com

"What about the oldest trick in the book: actually charging people for your goods and services? This is where the real innovation will flourish in a down economy. It's now time for entrepreneurs to innovate, not just with new products, but new business models."

Chris Anderson is the editor in chief of Wired magazine, and the author of "The Long Tail" and "Free," which will be published in July.

Use or Lose To "Creative Destruction"

Creative Destruction is a persistent drive used by entrepreneurs and feared by traditionalists.

The economist Joseph Schumpeter popularized the notion of Creative Destruction while noting that "innovative entry by entrepreneurs was the force that sustained long-term economic growth, even as it destroyed the value of established companies that enjoyed some degree of monopoly power".

Thanks to Mike Masnick of TechDirt for applying this to current market conditions. He warns those who are wary of trying new business models that Creative Destruction Happens Quickly; Those Who Wait End Up In The Rubble. In his own review of End Times in the latest edition the Atlantic Masnick reminds us of how the newspaper and recording industries were damaged by a delayed response to new digital technologies.

Searching for Work at the High End

The Wall Street Journal follows eight out-of-work M.B.A.s as they search for jobs in a post-meltdown world in its blog Laid Off And Looking. "Each writes about his or her own personal experiences with all of the ups and downs that go into a job search in a difficult market. Profiled last week was Matthew Vuturo, whose post Launching a Business While Unemployed reveals that "faith" in his own ability is a requirement born of necessity.

P.S. Reader comments to this blog are worth reading.

10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design

Whitney Hess explains how she makes "stuff easy and pleasurable to use as a "user experience" or UX designer. That’s the repeatable one-liner, but it’s a gross oversimplification and isn’t doing me any favors.

Whitney is an independent user experience designer, writer and consultant based in New York City. She authors the blog Pleasure and Pain.

Fast Track to Starting Your Business

Tim Berry and Sabrina Parsons of Entrepreneur.com say that "starting a business doesn't have to take weeks or years" This three part guide lays out a day-to-day progression to "get your business running in less than a month"

• 3 Weeks to Startup: Week 1
• 3 Weeks to Startup: Week 2
• 3 Weeks to Startup: Week 3

The Start-Ups We Don’t Need

By Scott Shane — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

"Policymakers believe a dangerous myth. They think that start-up companies are a magic bullet that will transform depressed economic regions, generate innovation, create jobs, and conduct all sorts of other economic wizardry. So they provide people with transfer payments, loans, subsidies, regulatory exemptions, and tax benefits if they start businesses. Any businesses."

7 Secrets to Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media

by Dan Schawbel | mashable.com

"Between current economic conditions and the technological evolution of the Internet, the traditional approach most job seekers have taken in the past is no longer viable."






Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog.

Why products fail

Most gadget and software makers don't understand what users want most: Control

By Mike Elgan | Computerworld

"The problem is that there are too many technologists in technology. The technology is only half the equation. The other half is the human, that irrational, impulsive, impatient, power-hungry gratification machine."

The End of the Financial World as We Know It

By MICHAEL LEWIS and DAVID EINHORN | NYTimes.com
Published: January 3, 2009

"Good God, the world seems to be saying, if they don’t know what they are doing with money, who does"

Why your web startup will fail

Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience | ideasonideas

Eric shares "a few obstacles that you should be mindful of before starting out."

HOW TO: Raise Money in a Down Economy

by Eric Ries | Mashable.com

Eric Ries serves as a venture advisor for Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and is the author of the blog Lessons Learned."

Venture Capital's Coming Collapse

Rebecca Buckman |Forbes Magazine

"The swashbuckling risk takers in venture capital have been laying giant eggs for a decade. Could this finally be Sand Hill Road's day of reckoning?""