11Feb
Filed in Management | Venture capital
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 fair, biased toward neither the VC nor the entrepreneur, consistent with industry norms
present a range of “typically seen†options (again, consistent with industry norms)”
include explanatory commentary where necessary or helpful”
Finance, Management, Venture capital
23Jan
Filed in Ethics | Management | USA politics
BusinessPundit talks about this movement which according to The Economist is
One of the biggest corporate fads of the 1990s—less overpowering, no doubt, than dotcom mania, but also longer-lived—was the flowering of “corporate social responsibility†(CSR). The idea that it is not enough for firms to make money for their owners is one that you might expect to be an article of faith among anti-globalists and eco-warriors. Many bosses now share, or say they share, the same conviction.
Ethics, Management, Politics
14Jan
Filed in Economy | Management | Publishing
Stephen Downes in his predictions for 2004 suggest that a form of “non-blog blogging” will begin to emerge. He describes this as a way to tap into the views and opinions held by the vast majority of people who will not write publicly.
Downes also predicts that 2004 will be the year of personalization. He focuses this personalization around topic based feeds, which deliver only the content that is of interest to that user.
Economy, IT, Management, Publishing, Technology, web
25Dec
Filed in Technology
SPECIAL REPORT
InfoWorld’s anniversary: 25 years of technology
A look back at technology developments in the last quarter century and predictions for the future
1979 – 1985: The Dawn of the PC
Personal computers meet the enterprise
1986 – 1995: The Networked Enterprise
LAN, Ethernet, Lotus Notes, Windows 95, and a connected workforce
1996 – 1999: The Internet Era
What a lovely bubble it was
2000 – 2003: The Age of (In)Security
Grappling with worms, viruses, and a devastating terrorist attack
Plus a look at the next 25 years.
The path to pervasive computing
Consumer electronics show us the way
Computers that mimic intelligence
Do computers need ‘brains’ to function intelligently?
The invisible workforce: IT in the future
As IT becomes invisible, so do the workers who keep it that way
After silicon: Biocomputing at work
Organic processes become the model for future technology
The visionaries
IT leaders make predictions about the future
IT, Management, Technology
18Dec
Filed in Management | Technology
At a time when offshore IT companies continue to post excellent results, these firms seem to confirm there is a requirement to have good solid account relationships based near the customer. The Economist November 20, 2003 “Bangalore, Texas”
A study of the value chain suggests this is a very intelligent move by the offshore firms. The standardization of IT development processes reduces the development time and improves the quality of the code and for all players. It is clear the only sustainable superior position is to be the low-cost provider. With operating margins often in the 20% range, there is plenty of room for other offshore firms in the same region or in lower cost regions to offer lower prices.
As the process standardization has moved from programming processes to design techniques, these activities have also moved to the low-cost provider. Will this continue right up the value chain to business strategy and financial advisors? Not likely. Oh, it will happen in a few isolated situations and there will be parts of the process, such as research and graphics production capabilities, which will move to lower cost providers.
The activities from business strategy through business rule verification will continue to be provided locally with lots of interation with the client. Offshore companies must develop this capability before their current business becomes a pure commodity. Local organizations should develop offshore capabilities or build relationship with several smaller offshore firms in order to provide a range of application development alternatives for their clients. There are numerous offshore companies seeking just such relationships.
Local companies will have difficulty moving from a fully integrated model to one based on development partners, as it means slow or negative growth for their local application development capabilities. An unenviable position at best. This opens the opportunity for a new breed of IT strategy consulting which provides application development through several relationships with local and offshore firms.
Offshore IT Article
IT Careers Caught in a Cross-Current
November 10, 2003
By Sharon Gaudin
IT, Management, outsourcing, Technology
16Dec
Filed in Economy | Management | Technology
Connections: The Impact of Schooling
December 2003 – Jay Cross
Cross writes, “Most learning is informal; a network approach makes it easier, more productive and more memorable to meet, share and collaborate. Emotional intelligence promotes interoperability with others. Expert locators connect you to the person with the right answer. Imagine focusing the hive mind that emerges in massive multiplayer games on business. Smart systems will prescribe the apt way to demonstrate a procedure, help make a decision or provide a service, or transform an individual’s self-image. Networks will serve us instead of the other way around.”
This last sentence is critical. The individual taps into the network in the way she prefers. Yes, she is a part of the network, but she is not compromised by the thinking of others in the network. Not only does she not have to agree with others in the network, she does not have to “agree to disagree” with others in the network.
Let’s compare this to “brainstorming” sessions. We’ve all been party to “group think” sessions where one or two people have dominated or controlled the actions and outcomes of the group. Often resulting is sub-par results. (Remember those survival exercises where one member of the group scores better than the group collectively. Where two heads are worse than one?) It can be due to the person’s personality, debating skills, authority relative to others in the session or knowledge of the subject. It may be, but does not have to be intentional.
These “group think” sessions, usually corporate sponsored, have a limitation that the learning network does not have. They have to come to a single conclusionn. In the learning network, each member has the opportunity to take the network information and come to her own conclusions.
So just maybe two heads are better than one, and four heads are better than two and eight heads are better than four and so on and so on…
I’d like to see that happen here.
Economy, Education, Management