That’s what we teach in business schools and classic entrepreneurship: you develop a business plan, you get financed, and then you start. And my own company, Palo Alto Software, might not have survived the dot-com crash in 2001 if we’d had more money to spend in 1999. Be your own boss. Forget it. That’s a myth. MORE >>

But if you can apply lean to hiring, sales, marketing, customer service, finance, and everything else, you will be rewarded with a fast, nimble company. We shuttered Flatiron in 2001 and I took over the entire portfolio with the help of Jerry and Bob. I've been reading Eric's book which I am very much enjoying. That's it. MORE >>

At the time, in 1996, I had no finance director, no production director. Martin McCourt became CEO in 2001. We were growing fast, but in 2001, we were denied permission to expand our existing building. That's "Sir James" to You Dyson, shown outside his research and design center in Wilshire, England, was knighted in 2006.'> MORE >>

They made great introductions, they helped you get financed, the put in more money themselves, they helped you strategically and they helped you with your exit. My chips were down in late 2000 / early 2001. This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. often tell people that raising money is worse than getting married. MORE >>

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet  bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. MORE >>