Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 14, 2018

I spent the weekend with a friend from the last 1990s who was the lead banker on the Interliant IPO (I was a co-founder and co-chairman.) If you like to read IPO prospectuses, here’s the final S-1 filing after INIT went effective and started trading on July 8, 1999. But that’s not when I learned the lesson.

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Prospectus IPO Cofounder Internet 80

Austin Startup

JANUARY 31, 2018

Presenting in the Entertainment and Content Technology category at 3:30 pm on Sunday, March 11, Sceenic will talk about its Watch Together SaaS solution, which enables media companies to create interactive co-viewing experiences for dispersed viewers. Sceenic is the result of the learnings to do with co-viewing of SayYeah back in 2013-15.

Startup 48

Startup Germany Poland Argentina 48

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. I set up my laptop, connected to the Internet, opened the compulsory 15 page PowerPoint deck and waited for my adoring fans. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Ben's Blog

JUNE 28, 2011

Before my partner Marc Andreessen and his friends at the University of Illinois invented the browser in 1993, most people thought only scientists and researchers would use the Internet. The Internet was thought to be too arcane, insecure and slow to meet real business needs. The implications of the propriety vision were not good.

CTO 78

CTO Internet Illinois Cofounder 78

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 17, 2013

The company, which the founder cleverly named “Stitch Fix,” had a remarkably unique offering compared to other women’s fashion experiences. I immediately reached out to the founder and CEO, Katrina Lake , who had previously worked for another Benchmark portfolio company in the fashion space, Polyvore. https://stitchfix.com/gifts.

eCommerce 62

eCommerce Technical Review North America San Francisco 62

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

It is basically a return to the type of VC that was done 20 years ago long before the craziness of the Internet boom that skewed things so greatly. This is exactly what happened in the broader VC industry between 1999-2001 as many people without the requisite skills entered the industry. I could obviously go on.

Silicon Valley 306

Silicon Valley Deal Flow Angel Investor Cofounder 306

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 12, 2014

We invested in the company in 1999 during the ascension of the Internet bubble. We loved the two founders, Michael Beaudoin and Rodney Rice, but knew very little about marketplace businesses or the home improvement category. We learned this dynamic in the early 2000’s with our investment in ServiceMagic.

Seattle 149

Seattle Metrics Cofounder Finance 149

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

I was building a new startup in 1999, and wanted to do it right. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. I had heard that all great companies built their applications on Oracle.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Technology Continuous Deployment Lean 68

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 16, 2011

What’s different this time around (as opposed to the tech bubble of the late 1990s) is the widespread use of technology, “digital natives” (millennials who grew up with the Internet and mobile phones) coming of age, and a cultural shift towards self-employment and risk taking (again, powered by stark economic realities).

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Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

Feld Thoughts

JULY 12, 2016

This is dangerous, especially for founders. The last was dinner with Alex Rigopulos, the co-founder of Harmonix, which he co-founded with Eran Egozy in 1995, sold in 2007, bought back in 2010, and is still running today. Its founders sometimes give the impression of still being a bit shaken.

Boston 70

Boston Cofounder Early Stage Founder 70

Feld Thoughts

JULY 31, 2014

The prior fund that I had co-founded – Mobius Venture Capital – had blown up after having a very successful first fund in 1997. He was a partner and co-founder of Centennial Funds and he and Steve Halsted basically created the VC industry in Colorado in the early 1980s.

LP 155

LP Advisory Board Venture Capital Early Stage 155

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 7, 2017

I am the founder/coach of Never Settle Coaching, LLC a coaching business. So I cut the corporate cord and co-founded Finespun Clothing. Thanks to Dean Cycon, Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Co. ! #19 Thanks to Adam Hergenrother, Hergenrother Enterprises ! #12 12 – It was Just Time. Image Credit: Jane Scudder.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur LLC Cofounder Green 91

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Internet and Online Business. Before Roving Software could receive its first round of financing from professional investors, in early 1999, he had to put all the stock arrangements in writing. Chip Morse , cofounder and partner with Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton P.C., Leadership. Strategy and Planning. Human Resources (HR).

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

David Teten

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Karen Bantuveris, Founder and CEO of VolunteerSpot. She is the Founder and CEO of Volunteer Spot an online coordination app that facilitates volunteering. Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Dahl served as co-head of healthcare investment banking in North America at Credit Suisse First Boston. Includes drinks and hors d’oeuvres.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity North America Cofounder Angel Groups 114

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

He focuses on investments in fintech, the internet, and software. So, think of the typical two founders with a pitch book in a garage. And this is one of the pillars we talk about internally, but also to our founders. Our advice to our founders is that they’re underpinned by a few pillars we discussed.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Fortunately, the rise of the Internet, and specifically Internet marketplace models, act as accelerants to the productivity benefits of the division of labour AND comparative advantage by reducing information asymmetry and increasing the likelihood of a perfect match with regard to the exchange of goods or services.

Internet 88

Internet Matching Vertical Hosting 88

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 29, 2013

One of the thoughtful notes I got was from Scott Petry – one of my good friends and co-founder of Authentic8 (we are investors). Scott co-founded Postini and a bunch of email stuff at Google after Google acquired Postini in 2007. If they’re not, the Internet community will do it for you.

Oauth 151

Oauth Security Cofounder API 151

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

I joined a financial services tech startup in 1999. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. May 14, 2009 5:23 AM David said. It was a disaster.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

Start Up Blog

AUGUST 25, 2013

NetMind: Alan was a cofounder of this startup, which he said never really made money. They made a trade sale in late 1999. Sydney has the 10th biggest Google engineering team in the world, yet it is the only the 28th biggest internet population. . Back then he thought, how hard can it be? Really hard.

Australia 80

Australia Startup Valuation Cofounder 80

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2013

I was a founder/CEO during the period when cash seemed more like a serf than a king in 1999 and 2000. Investors loved anything Internet and could not care less about profits. Investors hated anything Internet and wouldn’t fund anything that couldn’t fund itself. It was the era of “go big or go home.”

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Finance Internet Founder 78

Ben's Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2013

I was a founder/CEO during the period when cash seemed more like a serf than a king in 1999 and 2000. Investors loved anything Internet and could not care less about profits. Investors hated anything Internet and wouldn’t fund anything that couldn’t fund itself. It was the era of “go big or go home.”

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Internet Finance Founder 78

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 3, 2012

Interestingly, the company’s founding vision was not a lean idea, but rather a big idea: to accelerate and manage Internet traffic on a global, highly scalable, highly distributed scale. The first year of revenue (1999) was $4 million – a remarkable achievement. Founding Akamai. Akamai found itself truly inside the tornado.

Distribution 49

Distribution Lean Massachusetts Cofounder 49

Campus Entrepreneurship

MARCH 19, 2012

I was at the University of Chicago when a bunch distinguished professors created UNext.com during the late 1990s — BIG BUST just like the startup I joined in 1999). Michael Moe, co-founder of the investment-advisory firm GSV Asset Management, said the first ed-tech wave had been based mostly on euphoria that anything digital would work.

Indiana 54

Indiana Cofounder Chicago Venture Capital 54

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 30, 2015

In January of 1999, I co-founded a marketing agency with a former boss. I was searching the internet for hours hoping to find the perfect gift to commemorate a special date in the life of my fiancé, Steve. Working directly with other CEOs and founders, I receive immediate feedback and appreciation for my expertise.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Australia Software Review LLC 48

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

In the summer of 1999, I started working on a startup from my college dorm. Id been on the internet since I was playing MUDs as a kid, but by 1999 I felt Id already missed the boat. You can even see the humiliating evidence of my smug incompetence in this absurd article from 1999.) I pretty much missed all the trends.

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

ConversionXL

JANUARY 16, 2019

As detailed in a co-authored book , Brian Halligan, a recent MIT grad in 2005, observed startups failing with “‘tried-and-true’ marketing techniques that he had seen work throughout his career; techniques such as trade shows, telemarketing, e-mail blasting and advertising.”. An eponymous book (e.g. More than just ‘Content Marketing.’”.

Naming 119

Naming Conversion Flash Cofounder 119

Reid Hoffman

MAY 16, 2020

At the same time, I was beginning to realize that the Internet was fundamentally different from closed, proprietary online services like CompuServe or eWorld. Because of the Internet — and especially because of the World Wide Web — things were starting to move very quickly in Silicon Valley in 1995. It was 1999.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Internet Networking Salary 69

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I discuss category creation with one of the co-authors of Play Bigger , Christopher Lochhead, in episode #232 of Legends and Losers if you would like to really delve into that (it is a very important topic). Sure, there are many other events, including eTail and Internet Retailer. But Shop.org is where you go to learn and network.

Software Review 48

Software Review Sales Cofounder Analytics 48

online.wsj.com

JULY 11, 2012

The Wall Street Journal is phasing out support of the Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser. Internet Explorer. Andreessen Horowitz is telling entrepreneurs it prefers situations where the founders have controlling stakes, reckoning that theyll be better able to resist outside distraction and focus on making great products.

Silicon Valley 42

Silicon Valley Founder Software Review Technical Review 42

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Not only does the country have a higher percentage of homes with high-speed Internet than the U.S. How To Pick A Co-Founder , by Naval Ravikant (Venture Hacks). Want to start up in France? Top free resources for startups - StartupCFO , September 28, 2010 It took me a while to warm up to it but I am loving Quora more and more.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

SVPG

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

But back in 1999, a then very young Netflix based in Los Gatos with less than 20 employees, was on the edge of going bust. They had a couple experienced co-founders, including the now legendary Reed Hastings, but the problem was that they were stuck at about 300,000 customers. The title is not important; the work they do is.

Product 60

Product Technical Review Software Review Engineer 60

Seeing Both Sides

MAY 26, 2009

Amid the hoopla a few weeks ago at the annual NVCA meeting, where the focus was rightly on improving liquidity, it was barely noticed that a new chairman was elected – Polaris co-founder and managing general partner Terry McGuire, one of the leading life sciences investors in the industry.  4)      Boston.

Private Equity 20

Private Equity Boston Massachusetts IPO 20

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 27, 2022

And a lot of experts and a lot of CEOs and company founders tell me that those shareholder letters were models of simplicity, which kinda led me in that direction. Think of it as a mantra in 1998, in a second shareholder letter, or 1999 Yeah. (20:43): And that, to me, that is simple as the new superpower. (07:36):

Seattle 63

Seattle Silicon Valley Conversion Naming 63

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 18, 2011

He worked his way up the corporate ladder; in 1998 he became VP of the Digital TV platform strategy, which did not pan out, and in 1999 he found an opportunity in Microsoft Internet (MSN) international. His ability to lead large teams of engineers had made him one of the most influential executives at Microsoft and the world.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital New Zealand Startup 100

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Out of over 70 companies that we have invested in since 1999, about 20 are in our home city, New York. A number of the funds we studied use an origination approach that allows them to proactively co-create companies or opportunities. Some VCs monitor Internet traffic reports or job boards to see which companies are growing.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

You may feel as I did in 1999 that the more smart people around the table the more intros you’ll have, the more sage advice you’ll receive and the more impressive you’ll seem to outsiders. Hopefully each lead or co-lead their round so there is more harmony in the configuration. The Perils of Many. The Pitfall of One.

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Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

And now all of a sudden you have got this global market of all these early adopters that have smartphones connected to the Internet, and they can just pick up their things and run with them. So it would seem like they are an antidote to, or at least less offensive than, social/consumer Internet companies are to the public markets.

Software Review 22

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Stock 22