Nesmith's Notes

Entries for the ‘Venture capital’ Category

Q3 VC Funding update from VentureDeal

During the third quarter of 2009, a total of 35 energy and environmental companies received $421 million in new venture capital financing, representing an 8% decrease in the number of companies being funded and an 8% decrease in the total amount funded to the four sectors of Alternative Energy, Clean Tech, Energy and Environmental. Alternative [...]

Venture Capitalists Deals Increase In First Quarter

The New York Times reports that Venture Capitalist invest in 922 deals in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 861 in the same period last year. The total amount invested was down 5% causing the times to lead with the headline Venture Capitalists Invest Less In First Quarter – New York Times. “We do [...]

Conviction or Discipline

No, it’s Conviction and Discipline according to Fred Wilson, “Conviction and discipline are two sides of the same coin.” I like the view.  Similar to a great strategy with weak execution, conviction without discipline will often lead you into the ditch and will never get you to the mountaintop.

Free! Why it works better today.

Chris Anderson’s at Wired discusses where, why and how free products make sense today and will make make even more sense (and cents) in the future.  Starting with the story of Gillette and bringing us to the plummeting cost of computing and networking, Anderson argues that the traditional cross-subsidy model is not required when incremental [...]

Bonderman addresses Silicon Flatiron crowd at CU

Speaking of the TXU purchase, Mr. Bonderman said the company was adept at running a profitable company and equally bad at politics from price increases to ecology to labor relations. These shortcomings lead tothe opportunity which focused on addressing these public concerns.Opportunities for private equity include exploiting public investorsfocus on short term focus, their dislike [...]

VC Wear – Good for a laugh

If your in the mood for a smile (and if not, perhaps you need to check this out even more) then head over to VC Wear to see the t-shirts these guys have cooked up. 

Build for Value

Even though the most likely outcome for a successful technology company is via an acquisition, I have never liked the idea of planning for it.  Plans and actions then often go away from what will help our customers and help us succeed in the market to what would ABC Inc. like to see in an [...]

Web 2.0 hits saturation

Buzzmeister’s beware!  The Valleywag buzzmeter shows Web 2.0 hits saturation.   That’s so 2006.  How should a capital hungry business owner create excitement among the technology captains of capital?

Web 2.0 – A Bubble, Hype, for the Lucky Few?

Tom Evslin’s post Web 2.0 – Greater Initial Investments Required suggests that early Web 2.0 companies seized the advantage of low cost technical infrastructure and low cost marketing to gain cost advantages.  These companies were able to get big cheaper and faster than the first generation internet companies.  While he agrees with Fred Willson that [...]

Web start-ups snub the big money – Technology & Media – International Herald Tribune

In Web start-ups snub the big money, the International Herald Tribune suggests this is a trend that should be expected to continue for a few if not spread to many companies in the space.“By then, Meebo was being courted by venture capitalists, but it decided to take a modest $100,000 from three angel investors, people [...]

Capital needs for web-startups in question

In Web start-ups snub the big money, the International Herald Tribune suggests web start-ups will continue to use less capital. This is a trend that should be expected to continue for a few if not spread to many companies in the space.”By then, Meebo was being courted by venture capitalists, but it decided to take [...]

NVCA Model Financing Documents

The National Venture Capital Association has prepared this set of model legal documents: Term Sheet Stock Purchase Agreement Certificate of Incorporation Investor Rights Agreement Voting Agreement Right of First Refusal and Co-Sale Agreement Management Rights Letter Model Opinion Letter Model Indemnification Agreement According to the site, “the model documents aim to: reflect industry norms be [...]

The Value of Offshoring

Offshoring – Relocating the back office Dec 11th 2003 From The Economist print edition The Organizational Implications of Offshore Outsourcing 24 October 2003 Diane Morello Acrobat Version Offshoring: Is it a Win-Win Game? McKinsey Global Institute August, 2003 The Irony of Outsourcing By Kevin Laws on November 18, 2003 09:03 PM supports the argument that [...]

Seeking the Unconventional Accurate Prediction

Bill Gurley outlines the future trends in VC investing via the ever present 2 x 2 matrix (Accurate vs. Inaccurate x Conventional vs. Non-conventional). Of course, we can all agree that inaccurate predictions are worthless. Gurley suggests the Conventional/Accurate predictions are also worth very little. The market prices the high expectations into a marketable security [...]

  

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        Cisco and Itron are joining forces to go after the smart grid together. The companies announced a somewhat far-reaching agreement under which the two will work to develop IP-based communication standards for the smart grid. Itron will then bundle and resell Cisco's technology. In short, what you have is an alliance between a company (Cisco) with experie […]
      • The Future of Sustainable Paint Manufacturing
        "You can have a Model T in any color, as long as it's black."  The automotive world has come a long way since Henry Ford made this statement while introducing the revolutionary Model T Ford in 1908.  Today, paint color and quality both play major roles in car-buying decisions. However, automotive paint is not just about looks. It is also the v […]
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        Recurve, the energy efficiency retrofitter and software developer, is getting a retrofit itself. The company has hired Andy Leventhal as its new CEO, replacing Pratap Mukherjee. Leventhal co-founded Planet Metrics, a carbon accounting company, in 2007, and sold it off to Parametric Technology in February.   The change in CEO will also usher in some organizat […]
      • The Problem With Ethanol, California’s New EE Standard, and More
        Beware the sticker price. Propel Fuels, which wants to build 75 alternative fuel gas stations in California, unveiled one in Oakland yesterday, according to several news reports. The company already operates stations in Oakland and Seattle. One of the big problems with ethanol has been the availability of pumps dispensing E85, the 85 percent ethanol/15 perce […]
      • The Biggest Green Market? Seven Reasons Why It’s Green IT
        Over the past few weeks, I've had a number of meetings with engineers, executives and investors and such, and I keep coming away with the same conclusion. The fastest-growing and arguably most attractive segment in alternative energy and energy efficiency lies in hardware, software and networking equipment. Yep, green IT. Part of the conclusion is a his […]
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      • With Arch Rock Purchase, Cisco Takes Aim at Silver Spring Networks
        The brewing competition between Cisco and Silver Spring Networks just lost its subtlety. The networking giant today bought Arch Rock, a privately held company that specializes in standards-based mesh networking technology for monitoring data centers and, more importantly, for connecting different assets on the grid (namely, AMI networking solutions). Yesterd […]
      • Independent Test Exonerates PGE Meters, Blames Customer Service
        The Structure Group, an independent organization retained by the California Public Utilities Commission to examine the smart meters installed by Pacific Gas & Electric in Northern California, issued its report today. The meters worked. Increases in bills were largely due to a 2009 heat wave, which caused air conditioning use to spike. Structure also did […]
      • In California, Large and Small Generators Tussle Over Grid Rules
        To help California reach its renewable portfolio standard goals, The California Independent System Operator (the ISO) may be aggravating a rivalry between large- and small-scale renewable energy producers. The Small Generator Interconnection Procedure (SGIP), the ISO's proposed rules governing grid connection for five megawatt to twenty megawatt project […]
      • Roundup: Coda Goes to Hawaii, Ford Adopts Liquid-Cooled Batteries, and More
        Coda Automotive, the Sino-American car company coming out with an all-electric sedan later this year, said it will bring its cars to Hawaii in the third quarter of next year. The company is already slated to bring out a limited number of cars to California later this year. Hawaii is an interesting choice. The state is seen as a growth market for PV panels, w […]
      • Ashton Stark: VW Beetle Turned Into Electric Car By 14-Year-Old
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      • Dennis Whittle: Growing AND Greening
        Historically, richer countries have grown by relying on power sources and technologies that generate massive amounts of the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming. This has posed a serious dilemma: should poorer countries stop improving the lives of their people to avoid generating the additional greenhouse gases that would cause massive damage to […]
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      • SUGAR Volt: Boeing Team Designs Aircraft That Burns 70% Less Fuel
        We recently reported on a program led by NASA that was aiming to green the future of air transportation, and now Boeing -- along with their teammates General Electric and Georgia Tech -- are following suit with their just-revealed innovative SUGAR Volt concept which is driven by an electric battery gas turbine hybrid propulsion system that can reduce overall […]
      • Ecuador National Park Uses Motion Sensors To Photograph Rare Species (VIDEO)
        In this video from Reuters, Yasuni National Park in Ecuador has installed cameras equipped with heat and motion sensors to photograph unsuspecting wildlife that walk into view. Using them to capture over 30,000 images, researchers have discovered new and rare species in this particular area of the Amazon. The nearly 2.5-million-acre park is home to thousands […]
      • Bob Ostertag: Floods, Fires, Hipsters: Mission Accomplished
        And so it unfolds: Record flooding in Pakistan displaces millions, kills 1200, and cholera is starting to spread. It is 106.3°F in the Ukraine. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev reports that in 14 regions of Russia "practically everything is burning." A drought accompanying the heat wave has ruined 25 million acres of grain (about the size of Kentu […]
      • Poo Power: VW Bug Runs On Methane Bio-Gas Or The Waste of 70 Homes
        POO POWER! GENeco, a waste treatment company in Bristol, UK set out to prove that bio-gas could be a reliable alternative transportation fuel, so they imported special equipment to help process their waste and upgraded a VW Bug to run on methane. Read more: Green Cars, Green Car, Green Vw Bug, Green Technology, Green Transportation, Methane Bio-Gas, VW Bug, […]
      • Julia Moulden: Yes, You Can Save the World at Work
        As much of the world suffers through a stifling summer, one corporate team is keeping close watch on the solar panels on their building's roof -- which quadrant is producing the most energy? It's a sign of things to come, and I want to share their story. But, first, a little background. When I began writing about the New Radicals, people who are pu […]
      • Smart Grids, Smarter H20, and Mad Science
        As IBM works towards smarter cities and a smarter planet, they've got to cover all of their bases: this means factoring in everything from water conservation, to health care, to energy and smart grids. But what is a smart grid anyway? While it sounds good to us we're not entirely sure what it is, so we checked in with IBM's resident mad scient […]
      • Louis Palmer: Solar Taxi Driver Plans Zero Emissions Race Around The World
        GENEVA — A Swiss inventor who last year circumnavigated the globe in a solar taxi says four teams will follow in his tire tracks next week. Louis Palmer says the teams from Australia, Germany, South Korea and Switzerland will fire up their electric vehicles Aug. 16 in Geneva in an effort to race around the world in 80 days without producing any carbon emissi […]