A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 11, 2017

I started Smart Bear in a recession (2002) and it went great. Instacart might be a good idea in 2017, but Webvan wasn’t a good idea in 2000. The answer is always yes. But it’s the wrong question. I’ve been explaining for eight years why recessions are a great time to start a company.

Bootstrapping 156

Bootstrapping Engineer Sales Cost 156

Gust

JANUARY 31, 2013

In 2000, the SEC adopted Regulation FD in response to growing concerns regarding “ selective disclosure.” Compressing 80 years of history into a paragraph, securities regulation here is fundamentally a disclosure-based system.

SEC 158

SEC Prospectus United States Technical Review 158

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

As a percentage of total US employment, proprietors have steadily increased every year since 2000. The US labor force gained over 10 million more working proprietors between 2000 and 2012—with over 21% of working Americans receiving at least part of their income through self-employment.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley Non-Compete API Vertical 217

YoungUpstarts

MAY 5, 2017

The early 2000’s was also when the likes of legendary serial entrepreneurs Musk, Branson, and Jeff Bezos founded their own space tourism companies. In 2000, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos established Blue Origin. Anderson, and Mike McDowell charged a wealthy Californian $20 million for eight days of space orbit. Named after Alan B.

New Mexico 138

New Mexico Albuquerque Mexico Egypt 138

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 16, 2018

” In 2000 I was co-chairman of a public company called Interliant. By the end of 2000, the stock price was at $13. ” In 2002 Interliant went bankrupt and the stock went to $0. Or we justify what’s going on today as “but it’s different this time.” ” My response was simple.

Stock 134

Stock IPO Finance Technology 134

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 9, 2021

Not in a 2021 tweet covering Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse, but in an early 2000’s magazine article forecasting a rosy future for the virtual world Second Life (SL). I hope it doesn’t get lost just because it’s ‘old’ (2002–2009). “THIS IS GOING TO BE THE 3D INTERNET” a tech reporter boldly wrote. When was this claim made?

Forecast 96

Forecast Hosting Engineer Design 96

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Angel Investment Activity, 2002-2013. In 2013, 298,800 angels invested in 70,730 entrepreneurial ventures, according to the 2013 Angel Market Analysis by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. However, those angels constitute only about 4% of the estimated 7.1 Q: What is the typical profile of angel investors?

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Technical Review Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation 114

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 14, 2018

Last night, at the Aspen Entrepreneurs event, I was asked to describe several failures and I rolled out my story about Interliant, which, for a period of time (1999 – 2000) appeared to be hugely successful before going bankrupt in 2002. A few days ago, Fred Wilson wrote a post titled Capitulation?

Prospectus 80

Prospectus IPO Cofounder Internet 80

Feld Thoughts

JULY 19, 2018

For anyone that remembers 2000-2003, this obviously ended badly. By 2002 investments at the seed level had evaporated (there were almost no seed financings happening). Suddenly every company was raising a seed financing of at least $5m, regardless of the experience of the team.

Early Stage 105

Early Stage Seed Stage Valuation Finance 105

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

In 2021, the startup landscape looks much different than it did in 2000. Digital music has also changed over time, thanks to streaming services like Spotify or Pandora, which took hold since their introduction in 2006 and 2002. For starters, there are more startups. What’s behind this boom?

Startup 127

Startup Social Media Global Incubator 127

Berkonomics

APRIL 9, 2020

And these are indeed strange times, especially if you haven’t lived through 2000-2002 and 2007-2008 recessions and difficulty in finding money from banks and investors. The simple economic truth. Here is a simple economic truth. Fixed overhead continues to eat into your cash month after month.

Differentiation 62

Differentiation Revenue Cost Operations 62

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Jeff Bezos’s private space technology company Blue Origin was founded back in 2000. In 2002, Elon Musk created Space X. You’d think that no one could recreate a product so sophisticated and advanced as space rockets, right? He was swiftly followed by Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic in 2004.

Marketing 109

Marketing Social Media Non-Compete Audience 109

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 23, 2016

2000 was the Peak of Inflated Expectations. 2002 was the Trough of Disillusionment. 1995 – 2000 was the climb up to the Peak. 2001 – 2002 was the collapse to the Trough. Ponder Gartner’s Hype Cycle for a moment. You can apply this to pretty much anything in tech. Apply Gartner’s Hype Cycle to it.

Merger 70

Merger Stock Internet America 70

David Cohen

MARCH 30, 2020

In 2000, the Internet bubble burst. By 2002 the NASDAQ had fallen by nearly 80%. We raised a lifetime grand total of $100,000 for that business in the form of advance payment from early customers. In 1999, we sold that business and I started angel investing. Starting a tech company after this? Or even working for one? You must be nuts.

Founder 174

Founder Valuation Startup IP 174

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 10, 2018

My father and I started the business back in 2002 with the following dream: “our mission is to support USA families and jobs by producing high-quality clothing, in the USA, at an affordable price. I sent out over 2000 resumes over about 3 months and got nothing. Photo Credit: BJ Nickol. In 6 months it was done and we were on our way.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Detroit Software Review Florida 99

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 5, 2013

Moreover, the American labor force gained over ten million more working proprietors between 2000 and 2011. Of course, much of the losses in wages and salaries were a result of the recession but the proprietor trend has steadily increased every year since 2000.

Silicon Valley 208

Silicon Valley API Cofounder Salary 208

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

My first startup job was as an early employee at PayPal, where I took a job at the end of ‘1999 and started a few months later in 2000. But the first real time we had a big celebration and folks felt like we’d “made it” was the party we held in the parking lot on February 14, 2002 when PayPal went public.

Startup 188

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 188

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

The Past (1985-2002). Next began the era of “spam-based&# networks of which Plaxo (founded in 2002) was the king. In April of 2000 there were fears that the AOL / Time Warner merger would create a monopoly on the Internet. What are the big trends that will drive the next phase of social networks? The Present Era.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

alexpoole.info

AUGUST 14, 2012

Bix, 2002). The difference between point size and actual letter size (Image © Bix, 2002). It is often a better indicator of the apparent size of a typeface than point size ( Poulton, 1972 ; Bix, 2002 ). 2000-2001 , Tullis et al., X-height refers to the height of the lower case “x” in a typeface. Bernard, M.,

Technical Review 85

Technical Review Software Review Design Web 85

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Danny has become the 6th Israeli to win the Nobel prize in a scientific field since the year 2002, and the 10th Israeli to win a Nobel Prize overall. Israelis have accumulated four Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, and two in Economics since 2002. They have been a part of 15% of Nobel Prize’s in Economics.

Iowa 90

Iowa Global Programming 90

View from Seed

JUNE 17, 2015

My first startup job was as an early employee at PayPal, where I took a job at the end of ‘1999 and started a few months later in 2000. But the first real time we had a big celebration and folks felt like we’d “made it” was the party we held in the parking lot on February 14, 2002 when PayPal went public.

Startup 120

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 120

Mike Michalowicz

AUGUST 8, 2016

Formed in 2000 October Kitchen in Connecticut’s Premier meal delivery service serving central Connecticut. She has owned and run 3 businesses of her own and in 2002 became a certified business coach with Action Coach, formerly ACTION INTERNATIONAL. Chef Paul Finney is the owner and creator of the October Kitchen Chef Service.

Connecticut 60

Connecticut Operations Programming Software 60

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

We went public in 2002 and eBay bought the company later that year for over $1.5 But during the year 2000, we went through three different CEOs, fraud nearly killed the company, our revenue was negligible and unproven, and at our worst point, the company was burning well over $10 million a month — A MONTH!

Cofounder 188

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

And they rolled all of this up into a set of financial forecasts with a “size of market” forecast from brand name management consulting firms that said they’d have 42 million customers by 2002. In 2000, new investors bought Iridium’s satellites and network for $25-million, or one half of one percent of the invested capital.

Business Plan 335

Business Plan Customer Business Model Customer Development 335

Feld Thoughts

MAY 5, 2016

Between 1996 and 2002 I was co-chairman of Interliant, a company I co-founded with three other people. We had just acquired a company (I don’t remember which one or in which city) sometime in 2000. While I learned a ton of finance lessons from the experience, I also learned a lot a leadership lessons.

Cofounder 70

Cofounder Founder Equity Acquisition 70

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 25, 2023

So when Lulu started in 2002, so about 20 years ago, we just celebrated our 20th anniversary. What you're referring to is the stigma that came with self-publishing. And I, I think it's even, you know, in the last five years, you don't even have to go back a decade, but you're absolutely right.

Audience 88

Audience Revenue Distribution Differentiation 88

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Jumpstart was one of Grahams first clients; it signed on shortly after he founded Arizona Bay, in 2000. And his vendors ended up with nothing when his company, OpenAuto.com , went out of business, in 2000. In 2002, he stepped gingerly into the work-for-equity arena, with a modest investment in one start-up.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 18, 2011

Pre Internet Bubble (1995 – 2000). The Internet Bubble (2001 – 2002). The table of contents, as of today, follows. The Boulder Entrepreneurial Community. Boulder As A Laboratory. Before the Internet (1970 to 1994). The Beginning of the Next Wave (2003 – 2011). Principals of a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Community.

Community 142

Community Silicon Valley Incubator Colorado 142

ConversionXL

MARCH 19, 2020

In 2002, McKinsey published a study of 1,000 U.S. The HBR study contrasts Office Depot and Staples during the 2000 recession: Office Depot cut 6% of its workforce, but it couldn’t reduce operating costs significantly. What the big studies have shown. companies covering the period 1982–99, which included a recession during 1990–91.

Marketing 121

Marketing Campaign Non-Compete Lean 121

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 12, 2015

And it’s pretty amazing for something done in 2002, which was adapted from something Philip K. Dick in 1956 to John Underkoffler in 2000 to Stephen Spielberg in 2002 making a movie about 2054, that lineage makes sense to me. Ok – got it – MIT roots in Minority Report – that makes sense.

Artificial Inteligence 70

Artificial Inteligence Technology Media Naming 70

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

My first startup job was as an early employee at PayPal, where I took a job at the end of ‘1999 and started a few months later in 2000. But the first real time we had a big celebration and folks felt like we’d “made it” was the party we held in the parking lot on February 14, 2002 when PayPal went public.

Startup 100

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 100

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2017

I was an early employee at PayPal and back in the 2000-2001 timeframe, and we ended up taking a fairly significant amount of strategic investment (tens of millions of $) from various banks in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Strategic Investors 120

Strategic Investors Post-Money Valuation Seed Stage Cofounder 120

finance.fortune.cnn.com

AUGUST 21, 2012

Overall, the fund-of-funds is 97% called for 45 funds raised between 1999 and 2002. Accel Partners VII (2000): 122% (97%). ARCH Venture Fund V (2000): 41% (11%). Commonwealth Capital Ventures III (2000): 110% (56%). HIG Venture Partners (2000): 44% (22%). Insight Venture Partners IV (2000): 169% (119%).

Naming 49

Naming Term Sheet Private Equity Equity 49

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

annually for the period 1982-1999, has since 2000 slowed to a mere 1.8%. And to pile on the misery, with budget deficits exploding from 58% of GNP in 2002 to over 100% today, all of the "free" money poured into the system over the past decade has not had any kind of meaningful stimulative effect. GNP growth, after averaging 3.6%

South Korea 87

South Korea Brazil Mexico India 87

Feld Thoughts

JULY 28, 2014

Each of the SBIC funds were raised in the 2000 – 2002 time period. ” So, while Apple, Costco, and FedEx benefited, the PR would be more credible if the SBIC was trumpeting iconic companies created after 1990 or even 2000, especially where the lead investors (rather than follow on investors) had SBIC capital.

SBIC 142

SBIC Venture Capital Colorado SBA 142

View from Seed

JANUARY 20, 2015

We went public in 2002 and eBay bought the company later that year for over $1.5 But during the year 2000, we went through three different CEOs, fraud nearly killed the company, our revenue was negligible and unproven, and at our worst point, the company was burning well over $10 million a month — A MONTH!

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Startup Employee PR 120

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. But this was early 2000 and our US competitors had already closed rounds North of $45 million. We had a $40 million round lined up to close in the Autumn of 2000. Our first big institutional round was $16.5

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley San Diego Non-Compete 308