article thumbnail

M&A or IPO?

Reid Hoffman

The fundamental choice that venture-backed entrepreneurs face is simple: M&A or IPO? It could be a user base, a dataset, a unique technology, or some combination of the above factors. Google began by building a better search engine, which mystified financial investors who had already concluded that search was low value.

IPO 36
article thumbnail

Why good people leave large tech companies

Steve Blank

The CFO asked me to stay as one of the engineering directors came in for a meeting. The director had complained to his boss, the VP of Engineering, who admitted his hands were tied, as this was a “facilities matter,” and the VP of facilities reported to the CFO. The company is still one of the hottest places to work in tech.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Early-stage Regional Venture Funds–part 2 of 3 of Bigger in Bend

Steve Blank

Dino Vendetti a VC at Bay Partners, moved up to Bend, Oregon on a mission to engineer Bend into a regional technology cluster. Today with every city, state and country trying to build out a technology cluster, following Dino’s progress can provide others with a roadmap of what’s worked and what has not. ——-.

article thumbnail

Why Has LA Suddenly Gotten So Much Attention from VCs and Entrepreneurs?

Both Sides of the Table

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. billion in venture capital to LA’s technology startups and 2014 will shatter that figure. When you begin to peel back the onion some surprising data presents itself.

article thumbnail

The top 10 companies investing billions in the Metaverse

VC Cafe

Is there an early mover advantage for being early on a technology trend? In the first five months of 2022, more than $120 billion have been invested in building out metaverse technology and infrastructure, according to McKinsey. The largest and most popular 3D engine has big plans for the Metaverse. Fortnite generated $5.8

IP 206
article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: Customer Development Engineering

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, September 7, 2008 Customer Development Engineering Yesterday, I had the opportunity to guest lecture again in Steve Blank s entrepreneurship class at the Berkeley-Columbia executive MBA program. Its a nice complement on the product engineering side to his customer development methodology.

article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: The engineering manager's lament

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. This engineering manager is a smart guy, and very experienced.