The aerogel materials that Aspen makes have a particularly thorny IP landscape dominated by incumbent chemical company Cabot Corporation , and the S-1 recounts $38 million in fees that Aspen has signed up to pay Cabot as part of a cross-licensing agreement. tl;dr: Good company; tough road in the rear-view mirror. not licensing plays).

CEO Scott Thompson alluded to their plan a couple weeks ago but the IP lawsuit itself was only official late afternoon yesterday (and now public). ’s claims of IP infringement or offer a litigator’s perspective of Yahoo!’s Thompson reportedly dealt with this IP lawsuit personally along with Yahoo!’s

What's the consensus on how to disclose IP when one is nearing retirement? The IP is unrelated to my job/work. 2) Retire and seek private IP protection and marketing afterwards? Publication also neutralizes IP protection. They also own right of first refusal to release the IP to the author for personal use.

" We launched with Prodigy, but fortunately had designed it with a TCP/IP infrastructure, so we could move it to the web. WayTooEarly. work with companies at two stages, too early and way too early. This weblog is about working at this early point in a company or technologys life cycle. « China - Way Too Early - Not! TrackBack.

Anyone who knows me reasonably well knows that I tend to be a structured (albeit non-linear) thinker and that I have a penchant for semantics. Words have meaning and are not to be trifled with. Words with different meanings should not be used interchangeably; they have different meanings for a reason. do however invest in SaaS. His response: SaaS.

We want to enable people to buy & sell IP in the same way that buy & sell cars. He’s involved in this project to sort out unique identifiers for owners of IP (e.g., Image via Wikipedia. The speakers were: David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and. this year.

So, without further ado, here are the Top 10 Software Stocks of 2006: Interactive Intelligence Price Change : 340% Ticker : ININ Comment : Pioneer in enterprise IP Telephony saw rapidly increasing sales as enterprises started to take VOIP seriously, especially call centers. Burnhams Beat. Articles on Technology and Finance. About Bill. Blogs.

Then I asked if that same reasoning applied to entrepreneurs, i.e., should entrepreneurs that invest time/effort/IP have to pay ordinary income on the profits from sales of their stock and he once again said "yes" because, just like VCs, this was compensation for services provided, not capital. Burnhams Beat. About Bill. Blog Roll.

Specially, traditional search technology and architectures suffer from several glaring weaknesses: Crawl-based : Current search architectures collect information to index primarily by employing massive farms of "crawlers" that systematically crawl IP address spaces. Burnhams Beat. Articles on Technology and Finance. About Bill.

Packet 8 Price Change : 219% Ticker : EGHT Comment :  This provider of SMB focused hosted IP PBX VOIP systems became solidly profitable in 2009 and benefited from investor enthusiasm for all things SaaS. Burnhams Beat. Articles on Technology and Finance. About Bill. Archived Posts. Blog Roll. IPO/M&A Lists. By Category. By Month.

  Not only are page ranks reduced but in many cases pages, sites, and even entire IP address ranges receive what has become the information age’s ultimate punishment: banishment from the Google index. Burnhams Beat. Articles on Technology and Finance. About Bill. Archived Posts. Blog Roll. IPO/M&A Lists. By Category. By Month. and won. 

skip to main | skip to sidebar. aweissman.com. Maximizing the serendipity around you. Apr 16, 2008. betaworks, vc. Paul Graham : The exciting thing about market economies is that stupidity equals opportunity. And so it is in this case. There is a huge, unexploited opportunity in startup investing. Combinator funds startups at the very beginning.

Common examples include papering founders’ stock issuances, catching up on Board minutes, and ensuring that all members of the team have entered into IP agreements with the company assigning rights in their work to the startup. What seem like boilerplate provisions can be meaningful in some situations. Convertible Promissory Note(s).

Pure technology companies focus on IP, and need to compete with emerging markets, offering cheaper labor and potentially better economies of scale. Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don’t tell the whole story. The latest IVC report reveals that in 2011, 546 Israeli high-tech companies raised $2.14 million.

Distribution and retail divisions were already consulted on how to sell merchandise for non-existing IP based on a vision for a new blockbuster interactive product category. ) - Testing vs. Brand: Does testing hurt a brand? Can large corporations be “Lean”? Managers were concerned of false advertisement and negative brand impact.

Idea theft, reputational risks: During the collaboration period, dominant partners can learn about proprietary IP, eventually negotiating to bury Dropbox in white label deals, which will destroy its nascent brand and commoditize future services. The challenge of doing business development Two case protagonists (e.g.,

Sales Partnerships- a lean way to scale startups? By Aditya Dhanrajani Recently we have been discussing the challenges startups face managing sales as they scale. We have covered some of the theory developed by David Skok on the cash flow trough created and the effect that hiring sales people have on it. First is cost. Second is product.

Oracle has already shown itself ready to take aggressive action in its pursuit of protecting its IP in the Google Android lawsuit.  enterprise technology tech Oracle startups IP lawsuits business acquisitionsOnce upon a time, Oracle was an industry leader because they provided an innovative product. 

It is very clear that they are interested in IP but not our s/w and probably for this reason they have been waiting. Licensing gurus: Appreciate if any one can give me some insights into the following situation: We are "cash-strapped" startup (which startup isn't?, initially). We recently got a patent issued from USPTO. Licensing Issues

Protect IP (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are a step towards a different kind of Internet. This is why I put a hold on the Protect IP Act and its predecessor over a year ago and introduced a bipartisan alternative last month.  Some have called this a stunt. These are bills that should give us pause.

This is where the Postal Service could play a role, by transitioning the workforce and organization to send electronic packets to IP addresses instead of physical envelopes to mailboxes.  Postal cuts to slow delivery of first-class mail via Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The recent announcement about service cutbacks should come as no surprise. 

If you read yesterday’s Tech Tuesday post on networking or are familiar with the history of the architecture of the Internet you know that a lack of global control was a core principle behind the design of TCP/IP.  Everywhere we look hierarchical control systems are being replaced by decentralized networks operating on the Internet. 

innovation. Despite our current economic troubles, the United States continues to lead the world in Internet. Tea Party values. Consumer groups, legal scholars, venture capitalists, leading entrepreneurs, Internet scientists and YouTube users

And it's why more than 50 major venture capitalists argue "PIPA will ultimately put American innovators. felt not just by users, but by U.S. networks and businesses, including banks and credit. of China has no place in the United States of America. Repeating the assertion that PIPA

A breakthrough technology project needs to show clear IP ownership, and ideas for making products out of the technology. I frequently get asked:  what should my investor presentation look like?  There’s no unilateral answer, because every situation is different. Good reading if you are pitching a project. Entrepreneurship

I’ve written before about how the future of TV is IP-delivered.   As more video comes on-line, cable packages will get unplugged just like analog phone lines.  It’s no longer “if”, but “when”, and 2009 is looking like a good year. Hulu, TV networks, Comedy Central, etc.). It’s all coming together!

Not really:  cable companies spent billions building infrastructure, both for broadband/IP and for proprietary cable distribution. Since IP is open access (in theory), the IP TV player don’t need to duplicate that investment — they can just ride on the back of it. Ramblings

I tried (unsuccessfully) to convince him that TCP/IP would be the winning network infrastructure for the fancy interactive TV services everyone was talking about.  [ A longer than usual blog post, summarizing some strategy ideas I've been working on. ]. In the early 90s at DEC, I had a colleague that worked with the cable industry.  Softwar

Sometimes, IP can be the core asset, when there’s real technology with high-quality, issued, in-force patents, and relevant expertise in the team. If you’re one of the five people that read this blog, you know I’ve become negative on many pure-software/Internet/mobile entrepreneurial projects. Entrepreneurship Software

The book will describe how to build a House of IP that will protect the company’s key IP assets. Women entrepreneurs face unique and specific obstacles to scaling their companies including lack of funding and lack of an IP strategy that would make their companies more attractive to investors. 8MJkemAmmk*VJBLQd3BY4g.

Contract Law Copyright Law IP Basics IP Mistakes & Blunders Patent LawFor Happy Business Marriage Part 1: The Background Check. Although the Secret Third-party Infiltrator is a huge threat, the individuals to a collaboration have several other things to iron out before dancing through the daisies hand in hand.  Heather N.

biotechnology patent matters, with particular focus on U.S. and international patent procurement, strategic patent portfolio. she represented emerging growth technology companies and venture capital firms in various transactions including mergers and. major business and technology centers across the United States: Palo Alto, CA, New York, NY, San

have gone on sale yet. By mid-June, U.S. firms had raised $22.7 billion through IPOs. A lot of private equity funds and venture capitalists have been holding their investments for a

The plugin records makes a record of the IP address every time someone attempts to login to the WordPress admin. After 3 unsuccessful tries (number is configurable), the IP address is locked out from any further attempts for an hour (also configurable). You, the admin, can unblock an IP if needed. Tweet. What comes next?

corporate and private buyers, IP attorneys and venture capitalists who wish to maximize the value of are available online for viewing at the U.S. About IpAuctions Established in 2000, www.ipauctions.com.

Congrats to all of the entrepreneurs selected to present at this year's Florida Venture Capital Conference. The announcement press release is here (list with descriptions included below). Given how many entrepreneurial hotspots exist in the state, it was interesting to see the list broken down by geographies. ClearSky Mobile Media , Inc.

key hope, by both sides is that whatever result will be narrowly tailored to avoid whacking IP value across the spectrum of startup and conglomerate patent portfolios. This week should be a fun one for diagnostic companies and the venture funds who back them. On Tuesday, March 21, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in LabCorp v.

Imagine: understanding your visitors as people with faces and demographics, rather than pagevisits per unique, bounce-rates or IP addresses. So, today's the day Sparky is let out of his private alpha chains. This is a seriously powerful platform for bloggers and advertisers, the likes of which hasn't been seen before. Sparks. What else?

There's been a running debate in IP circles whether software patents would hold long-term, and as more online innovation focuses on just collecting and combining data in new ways, the attacks on software patents are getting more precise. If you're in the software business, this is a topic worth watching.

On another note of importance to Florida life sciences—Ed Baxa, partner and member of Foley's Management Committee, and chair of the firm's National Pro Bono Committee announced that the firm will be contributing pro bono legal services (IP, regulatory, health law, etc.) relating to the development of therapies in the “orphan drug” space.

www.cybervault.co.za. We have developed an fully working online /offsite backup solusion. Need to sell it all have no longer time for the product or able to support clients. Cant do marketing at all. My product is stuck without an prober bussines Running with it. Took 2 Senior C# developers 2 years of coding to build it. Product realy works great.

Yet this attitude--indifference to ownership and IP, a disinterest in monetization--would seem a poor fit for the model of venture-backed s-corps that nearly all of these companies pursue. If this turns out to be an amazingly big business at the same time, well, that's an added bonus." Indeed he even wrote his NYU thesis on the subject.

Home About Lightspeed Team jump to navigation Social Gaming Summit coming up in June May 4, 2009 Posted by jeremyliew in conferences , games , games 2.0 , gaming , social games , social gaming. trackback Last years Social Gaming Summit was well received so Charles Hudson, David Sachs and I are doing it again this year. How about a cookie or a snack?

Sell-outs are often myopic on technology or IP development, rather than on customer needs or PMF. Launching Tech Ventures This blog collects student, guest, and instructor posts from Launching Technology Ventures, a Harvard Business School MBA elective course that examines lean startup management practices. really was. He got too bored.

The response we heard was “well before you could start development, you would need cross-licensing IP agreements with either company D, E, or F, and such an agreement typically takes at least 10 months to put in place.&# My project for the course involved a “science-based&# hardware business. VCs: Angels or Demons?

I had a vision for a new type of open innovation intermediary that stemmed from my exposure to IDEO , Innocentive , Gen3 Partners , contests like GE’s Ecomagination Challenge , and other platforms that enable corporations to externally-source ideas and IP/technology. just need to think more about it.&# 5) Ask for their concerns.

Regards, IP. Hi, Now that technology is advancing everyday and Apple launching the iPad2 now the questions that arises is that will iPad2 truely replace the use of Laptops by Business Professionals. What are the Pros and Cons of a Laptop against iPad2, or will iPad replace the use of Laptops. Strategy and Leadership

Need Help to Selling Software IntellectDue to our focused strategy, we Need Help to sell some of our product Software Intellectual Property (IP). Does anyone know an interest buyer or a first that can do this service?ual. M&A and Financing

While technology is important - innovations like broadband and wireless kick-started the remote revolution, after all, and advances in virtual private networks, voice over IP and mobile devices have fuelled its continuation - it is not the whole story. Good working practices are at least as critical to success. Human Resources

SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. Contact Us Submit News Contact Us Write for Us Spark of Genius Series Mashable | The Social Media Guide Business Mashable on Facebook Join Us! Follow her on Twitter @corpnet and Facebook. When should you incorporate? But there are a few other considerations that may influence the timing of your decision.

SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. Contact Us Submit News Contact Us Write for Us Spark of Genius Series Mashable | The Social Media Guide Dev & Design Mashable on Facebook Join Us! Learn more here. Designing and critiquing logos for web-based companies and startups is a pursuit of endless fascination for many of us. Fun With Opacity!

SCVNGR Makes Major Enhancements to iP. Contact Us Submit News Contact Us Write for Us Spark of Genius Series Mashable | The Social Media Guide Business Mashable on Facebook Join Us! The venture capital industry is facing real competition for the first time in decades. Specifically, he said the funding world has been turned upside-down.

You don’t need to worry about any Intellectual Property (IP) issues. The next week another team, working on a new type of solid oxide fuel cell, remarked, “Professor Blank, in our industry there’s a ton of patents and stuff and people tell us we shouldn’t be out there unless we start patent protecting all our IP.” link] ; [.]

They are much better then the alternative at the time they were created, which was IP addresses. Home About Kevin Lean Startup Resources Subscribe From the Start-up Trenches Kevin Dewalt's experiences as a DC tech entrepreneur Is Google Chrome Making the URL Obsolete? There is no need to type in www or.com any longer. That has to stop.

The Google route is good, but as mentioned in the comments, Google may block the IP; but we’re not profiting from Google. The obstacle however would be google banning the IP that does the scraping. realize no filter will be great, but I’d like to have an initial filter. have a great domain for this idea (IMO), FiltURL.

It can be argued that the present advertising pricing structure is built upon a house of cards, which the TCP/IP protocol  crushes. Market By Numbers on Twitter | Entries RSS | Comments RSS Market By Numbers High-Tech Marketing and Customer Development Home What is Customer Development? Hence, Market By Numbers.  But I daresay, much is new. 

Other than that, you know their IP address, maybe their browser version or what country they are in. Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, January 11, 2009 CPI > CPC Google revolutionized advertising by popularizing pay-per-click. Social network page views are much more likely to be internally focused; ads are more of a distraction. for H.

few big takeaways: There is no ip in casual games. Immersive Web Home About Social Gaming Summit 2009 Kudos to Charles Hudson for a splendid job running the Social Gaming Summit. It was a great turnout, over 500 folks showed up well north of the 200 or so they expected. FB Connect is still unproven as a viral channel. outs and.

But as both are finding, if you don’t have the DNA to build great games or cars, you will suck wind and eventually die License exclusive IP This is an area of exploration as there is a clear barrier to entry if you are using unique, branded IP. The latest social gaming stats shows who are he haves and have nots. outs and.

Software by Rob Passionate about Startups and MicroISVs Lessons Learned by a Serial Entrepreneur home about press micropreneurs archives ← WordPress Headaches with Closing HTML Tag – Any Ideas? Join nearly 6,000 startup entrepreneurs by subscribing to my RSS feed. Unbelievable. WordPress? DreamHost? Check out my book Like this post?

Consumers see and adoptwireless IP connections as just another point where they can connect,and dont want the complexity of a separate service that they must subscribe to. Fjogstad stressed that the business implications of IP going wireless should bedramatic. And from the vendors side, the current wireless IP market is messy.

« The Impact of Voice/VoIP on MMOGs | Main | Sprints ILEC-Hosted IP Centrex Deployment Strategy » How the Big Guys Support VoIP Through Mesh Network Transitions Seamless transition between mesh network sites is a tough challenge for data access. Christine (.net) net) technology and society Tweets follow me on Twitter Snaps www.

« How the Big Guys Support VoIP Through Mesh Network Transitions | Main | Why Sling Media is Protecting Consumer Freedom » Sprints ILEC-Hosted IP Centrex Deployment Strategy How are ILECs and CLECs propping up their market share in traditional TDM voice services? Leverage years of IP Centrex learnings immediately 2.

« Sprints ILEC-Hosted IP Centrex Deployment Strategy | Main | Transforming Video on the Net » Why Sling Media is Protecting Consumer Freedom "Bits are bits." Are the networks and production companies going to take issue with sending a stream to an IP where it can easily be ripped and stored/forwarded in digital format?

The stacks disappear, and instead you have broadbandconnections, IP, and an application services infrastructure (ASI)directly supporting any number of applications. Christine (.net) net) technology and society Tweets follow me on Twitter Snaps www. Quick Followup: VCTips at Web 2.0 Expo Whats the Secret Success of MINT.com? Please try again.

« Transforming Video on the Net | Main | Mobile IM and IP: the Web Portal Killers » Are the Girls at VON? Christine (.net) net) technology and society Tweets follow me on Twitter Snaps www. flick r.com Recent Posts Rentalic and appbackr Win $150,000 PayPal Challenge Last Chance for First Round Office Hours in 2009!

Main | How the Internet is Transforming Television Distribution » Mobile IM and IP: the Web Portal Killers Mobile presence, availability, and community were the central issues brought to Spring 2006 VON by Borough Turner of NMS Communications. Christine (.net) net) technology and society Tweets follow me on Twitter Snaps www.

« Mobile IM and IP: the Web Portal Killers | Main | Whats Really Happening Around IPTV » How the Internet is Transforming Television Distribution The global video market adds up to $350B, including industries such as theatrical film, retail purchase/rental, and cable and satellite subscriptions. Christine (.net) Please try again.

The idea was to discuss whats real about video over IP, and what well continue to wait for. Akimbo delivers video content over IP to the living room, and isprimarily focused on niche programming. Christine (.net) net) technology and society Tweets follow me on Twitter Snaps www. Quick Followup: VCTips at Web 2.0 United States License.

Christine (.net) net) technology and society Tweets follow me on Twitter Snaps www. flick r.com Recent Posts Rentalic and appbackr Win $150,000 PayPal Challenge Last Chance for First Round Office Hours in 2009! Quick Followup: VCTips at Web 2.0 Expo Whats the Secret Success of MINT.com? United States License. Your comment has not yet been posted.

CVM is now in the process of moving to Ciscos Unity platform (whichis SIP-compatible), and setting up a centralized, private IP network.They didnt want to use a public IP network, so they are using anational VoIP vendor that charges them a flat rate per number, ratherthan per-minute toll charges. Christine (.net) United States License.

Of course, like IP rights, you are only really protected to the extent that you can enforce your rights, something most bloggers have little ability to do. Christine (.net) net) technology and society Tweets follow me on Twitter Snaps www. Quick Followup: VCTips at Web 2.0 Expo Whats the Secret Success of MINT.com? United States License.

Prior to the event, I collected questions from the registrants through the registration process and directly through my blog and email. then added my own questions and spent some time with the panel going through them prior to our session. Industry Stats & Trends Q : What investment sectors are hot for investment? A : It depends on who you ask.

Is the technology defensible from an IP perspective? Answers to these questions will help VCs determine a number of other risks (eg financial) as well as what the value of the company may become based on its innovation (IP). IP, labor, contracts, securities, regulatory matters, litigation, etc.)? How long are the sales cycles?In

To prepare the venture for this type of exit might be as simple as sorting out the IP. Your resources will focus instead on creating additional IP and scalability, making contact with potential buyers and building the deal team. had two occasions recently to review products which had clear market leadership. pre-money valuation. 

To prepare the venture for this type of exit might be as simple as sorting out the IP. Your resources will focus instead on creating additional IP and scalability, making contact with potential buyers and building the deal team. had two occasions recently to review products which had clear market leadership. pre-money valuation. 

To prepare the venture for this type of exit might be as simple as sorting out the IP. Your resources will focus instead on creating additional IP and scalability, making contact with potential buyers and building the deal team. had two occasions recently to review products which had clear market leadership. pre-money valuation. 

To prepare the venture for this type of exit might be as simple as sorting out the IP. Your resources will focus instead on creating additional IP and scalability, making contact with potential buyers and building the deal team. had two occasions recently to review products which had clear market leadership. pre-money valuation. 

This may not seem like a big deal when the value of unassigned IP is hard to determine, but it can become one if the IP turns out to be critical to the company’s business. Worse yet, if a founder leaves a company his IP goes with him, which may make it impossible for the company to continue to do business.

Why am I even talking about contract formation in an IP law blog? When I was in law school, I hated contract law. My professor seemed primarily interested in discussing the history and philosophy behind the law. I felt mired down in the complexity and didn’t understand why more time wasn’t spent talking about the basics.

We got around it by carving out some IP that was not part of our core product line. don’t think they bought the extra IP because they had a business plan for it. Now, don’t feel bad for Club Penguin’s founders. They still made $ 350M (the company had no outside funding). Why are earn-outs bad?

At an IP specialty firm, I would hire either a senior or junior partner to lead the case.  Over the last decade that I’ve spent doing IP litigation, it has be interesting to watch the variety of personality types and action styles of attorneys who love litigation verses those who would rather walk over hot coals. Are they curious?

When selecting a head attorney for a typical patent case, I would look at both general and IP specialty firms.  This is where an IP specialty firm may have an advantage. Consequently, you want to hire the best lawyers without bankrupting your company.  But what are the characteristics of the best lead patent litigation attorney? don’t.

In my career as an IP attorney,  I’ve also seen where software patents have helped a startup negotiate better deals and gain leverage with a mega-company. In his blog Menddelson’sMusings , Jason refutes this stat  and discusses how it has been misreported as indicating that VC’s care about patents.

There are two primary types of law firms who do patent litigation:  big, general firms and intellectual property (IP) specialty firms, which may or may not be large. An IP specialty firm understands that intelligence and competence doesn’t necessarily correlate with the prestige of a top law school.  The biggest cost is losing.

When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most people think only of patents. In reality, patents are only one of at least seven items that should be in your IP portfolio. Some of the other items may cost a lot less, and may be worth far more in the long run. Here are some specifics: Company name. Internet domain name. Patents.

To prepare the venture for this type of exit might be as simple as sorting out the IP. Historically our angel investment criteria have always focused on the ability of a management team to prove they can deliver on a high growth business concept. Basically, we just need to go find someone else who can execute on the potential.

Your resources will focus instead on creating additional IP and scalability, making contact with potential buyers and building the deal team. I’ll admit to having a bias towards exits and focus my review of a potential investment on the exit potential.  What I look for is high growth potential which will support a strategic value exit.

Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Continuous innovation is required to survive in business, beginning with your startup, and increasing in importance as your business matures. This is an imperative. No risk, no innovation. Ownership.

This may not seem like a big deal when the value of unassigned IP is hard to determine, but it can become one if the IP turns out to be critical to the company’s business. Worse yet, if a founder leaves a company his IP goes with him, which may make it impossible for the company to continue to do business.

found the list instructive: technical innovation with impact protected IP (patent portfolio) market understanding engineering excellence alignment with sales capacity (can you sell it?, Last week, I attended Microsoft's VC Summit in Mountain View. found Steve's answer very telling. do you know how to sell it?)

Operating systems and applications are hard to change independent of powering down the server, servers are bound by their LAN IP addresses and require reconfiguring and often recabling to be available to other network resources, and servers, via HBAs, are hard-bound to certain LUN segments on the storage network. Well said

Dave Rosenberg , CEO of Mulesource , recently published an informative article on Sandhill.com regarding his experiences in starting an open source company - from looking for funding, to legal and IP issues, to community development, and pricing, Dave's article is good food for thought.

We are beginning to see, however, Short Tail Tail content moving across IP networks. When people read the words "Internet video," they quickly think of Youtube. Today, Internet video is associated with short-form, relatively low quality video clips (90-200 seconds, somewhat grainy and often jittery). Note: use IE to watch the shows.

IP rights retained by C-corp established to commercialize project. Also, potential buyers will discount a company’s value if IP remains unclear. Anyone who follows politics knows that one man’s given is another man’s question. However, outside of the software VC market, open source remains an enigma wrapped in a mystery.

How do you plan the selling of your IP to a large company? Happy St. Patrick's Day. Please find below my guest post on start-up company M&A from Ask the VC. Question: How do you plan for M&A? but many people we met told us ("shouted") that we should plan for a strategic partnership/ M&A, how do you do that? Plan for Independence.

Use Slave Labor Rates to Become the Low-Cost Producer of All Goods and Services Sell Stolen IP Back As Global Exports Industrial Policy: Subsidize Key Industries Prevent (or Restrict) Unwanted Imports Use Currency Manipulation Price for Export, Suppress Domestic Consumption Create the Appearance of Free and Fair Trade, Without the Fact.

The shift that is clearly taking place, however gradually, from on premise data centers to centrally-run cloud computing utilities, is enough to capture any IT geek's imagination. The trend is so massive and at the same time so logical, analogies are drawn between the shift to cloud computing and the shift to the electrical grid. What do you think?

Furthermore, it's rare that features have deep enough IP to be protectable or valuable. The notion of raising venture capital is appealing to most entrepreneurs because it means millions of dollars and very smart people are validating and backing their businesses. However, very few businesses are actually fundable with venture capital.