STARTUPS
SITES
ARTICLES
A Dot-Com Disaster
A former employee of Urban Box Office Network, a minority-oriented entertainment portal, talks about why the startup failed. (9/7/2000 at Salon.com)
"A" for Effort
Web portals aimed at Asian-Americans are getting hits, attention, and plenty of funding. (1/3/2000 at The Industry Standard)
ArsDigita Founder Responds to Closing
Slashdot discussion of one of ArsDigita's founder's recap of the rise and fall of the open-source content-management-system company. (2/9/2002 at Slashdot.org)
Brazil Long On Cash, Short On Ideas
While money continues to pour into venture capital pools in Brazil, the number of entrepreneurs looking for funding there has decreased dramatically. (4/20/2001 at TechWeb)
Business Plans Trampled in Internet Gold Rush
In the rush for investment capital, many entrepreneurs are writing sub-standard business plans. Some advice from SCORE: 1 - consider the plan a declaration of strategy; 2 - describe the corporate managers in detail; and 3 - be ready to defend your idea. (1/5/2000 at Forbes)
Consumer Web Sites Face Tough Venture Capital Environment
Content-based and business-to-consumer websites are finding it harder to raise venture capital money; both sectors saw significant declines in funding in the fourth quarter of 2000. (2/11/2001 at SF Gate)
The Content Quandary
Venture capitalists may believe that "content" will be a large part of the Internet, but they are shying away from content-based startups. (3/27/2000 at The Industry Standard)
Countdown to a Launch
Short profile of a wireless phone marketer, and the tense scene at the launch of their website. (1/24/2000 at Forbes)
Crusoe: Revolution or Anticlimax?
Links to articles and commentary covering Transmeta's release of the Crusoe chip, designed to reduce computers' power use. (1/20/2000 at The Industry Standard)
Death Valley
As Internet company valuations come down to earth (or down to the floor), the author finds that the founder of one former high-flyer has gone fishing, and another CEO refuses to talk about his company's demise. (12/1/2000 at eCompany)
Divide? Just Conquer
African-American-oriented websites are popping up across the Internet. After proving their ability to draw millions of visitors, both old and new black websites are drawing the attention of venture capitalists. (1/3/2000 at The Industry Standard)
Dot-com Dogs
A look at three upcoming Net IPOs that defy all logic, even in a rational market; none of them have either a chance of seeing profit soon, or even a respectable business plan. (12/9/1999 at Salon.com)
Faux dot-coms Just Don't Sell
Advice from an investment banker on selling your company - knowing your company; when (and why) to sell; pricing your efforts; and the goal of confidentiality. (12/29/1999 at The Boston Globe)
From the Trenches: Entrepreneurs Find Financial Roadblocks
A case study of three Internet entrepreneurs, tracking where they stand now, 6 months after their initial interviews with the LA Times. Two are still hoping to make a go of it; one has given up, and is working for another dot-com. (12/27/2000 at Los Angeles Times)
Go2Net Worker Sues for Stock
A former Go2Net employee is suing the company, alleging that they fired him to keep him from being able to cash in his stock options. (12/2/1999 at Wired News)
Google's Larry Page: Good Ideas Still Get Funded
Google CEO/co-founder Larry Page talks about how Google started and where it's going, the climate for investing, and his role in starting eGroups. (3/13/2001 at Business Week)
Hacker Startup Joins E-security Market
L0pht Heavy Industries, a well-known security "think tank," is merging with AtStake to form a computer security firm; they already have $10 million in funding. (1/6/2000 at ZDNet)
How To Impress a Venture Capitalist
A series of articles in which venture capitalists disclose what they want from you - in preparing your company, in your approach to them, in a pitch, in payoff for yourself and investors - before they'll fund you. (3/1/2001 at Fortune)
Inside the Cult of Kibu
One young VP's experience participating in the rise and fall of Kibu, the failed online community for teenage girls. (12/18/2000 at The Industry Standard)
The Internet Brain Drain
Traditional corporations, newspapers, law firms, law schools, med schools, and even undergraduate institutions see their best and brightest fleeing for opportunities at small, nimble, exciting Web companies. (12/6/1999 at Newsweek)
Internet Incubators Heat Up
Incubators, companies which help a startup with everything from office space and technical expertise to a cash infusion, are popping up everywhere from Los Angeles to London. (11/5/1999 at Fortune)
Internet VC Funding Up Sharply in 1999
A PricewaterhouseCoopers study says that U.S. venture capital funding in the US last year increased 150% over the previous year, to $35.6 billion. (2/14/2000 at ECommerce Times)
IPO Dropouts Keep Piling Up
From October through November of 2000, more companies abandoned planned IPOs than actually debuted on the stock market. (11/24/2000 at Wired News)
IPO, IPO All Day
For the first 9 months of 1999, there were 65% more IPOs than in the same period a year earlier; and for each company that goes public, bankers see biz plans from 10 more. (10/29/1999 at Wired News)
Job Seekers Flock to Net Start-Ups
A quick look at the ins and outs of getting a job at an Internet startup. (10/27/1999 at The Salt Lake Tribune)
Judges at a Parade of Ideas
At the monthly FastPitch event, DC-area entrepreneurs get to make one-minute business presentations to venture capitalists and experienced startup experts. (2/14/2000 at The Washington Post)
Loudcloud's Silver Lining
Internet-sector investors hope that the IPO of Loudcloud, Marc Andreesen's new "infrastructure" company, will kick-start the IPO market again; but Loudcloud's prospects for eventual profitability are no better than those of its Net-based customers. (9/28/2000 at Salon.com)
Money Talks
Details on the biggest IPOs, and the biggest venture capital deals, of 1999. (12/17/1999 at The Industry Standard)
New Valley Rules
The new Silicon Valley startups are leaner, have a much lower burn-rate, and generally aren't expected to IPO for over three years. (3/12/2001 at MSNBC)
The Offroad Stock Market
Offroad Capital raises money for startups by allowing a limited set of investors to bid for shares in the companies. (1/21/2000 at The Industry Standard)
Palm To Dole Cash To Handmaidens
Palm Computing is starting a venture fund to invest in companies building hardware and software for the Palm platform. (9/13/2000 at Forbes)
PayPal Files IPO Plans
PayPal, the unprofitable online payment service, plans to IPO. (9/28/2001 at The New York Times)
Predictions Of a Coming Storm
"71 percent of the companies funded by venture capital since 1998 are still alive." But experts say most of those companies are about to go out of business, and the tech forecast will stay gloomy. (10/3/2002 at The Washington Post)
Rewarding Startup Quitters
Startup companies are offering huge incentives not only to hire good people, but to keep employees who plan on quitting. Doubling a salary to keep someone around until an IPO is not unheard-of. (11/29/1999 at Upside)
Rounding Up Returned Merchandise
Startup ReturnBuy Inc. has received venture funding for its business of collection items returned to retailers and determining how best to liquidate them - via auction, return to manufacturer, etc. (4/20/2001 at The Washington Post)
Salon and Slate: A Tale of Two Webzines
A comparison of Slate and Salon, two high-minded Net zines hoping to make money off of content. (11/3/1999 at Business Week)
Seattle 'Bootcamp' Helps Internet Start-Ups Boot Up
Some advice from Garage.com's first Bootcamp for Startups: get a good attorney; social networking is key; and incorporate in Delaware. (2/29/2000 at Seattle Times)
Silicon Valley Investors Cool to Silicon Alley
New York-area start-ups had a harder time raising venture capital this year at the Alley to the Valley conference; there were venture capitalists, and more struggling CEOs, than usual. (3/16/2001 at The New York Times)
Start-ups Dream of a Web That Talks
A handful of start-ups want to bring the Web to people not on the Web by having computers read information to them over telephones. (2/8/2000 at News.com)
Storage: Suddenly the Hottest Game in Town
Online storage start-ups - companies that store your data remotely for a monthly fee - may be the next big thing; but they have to get potential customers to trust them. (3/16/2001 at ZDNet)
Summer Interns Weigh Options
After summer internships with Akamai turned some MIT students into paper millionaires through the magic of stock options, summer-job-seekers are keener on finding Net companies that will give them stock. It's not paying off for most, though. (12/25/1999 at Wired News)
To Do: Ace Classes, Raise $10 Million
Tale of a venture capital fund started by a college student, and set on investing in dorm-room businesses - high-tech businesses founded by college students. (12/20/1999 at The Industry Standard)
Transmeta Exposed (or, Silence Is Golden)
Just as interesting as the product they eventually produced - a computer chip that uses very little power, and so can increase the battery life of mobile devices by several multiples - is the way Transmeta, through secrecy, handled a press hungry for deta (1/20/2000 at The Industry Standard)
The Trials of a Comic Book Hero
Stan Lee, the comic-book genius who invented heroes such as SpiderMan and the Incredible Hulk for Marvel Comics, has seen his online venture, Stan Lee Media, fall prey to the illegal dealings of his business partner Peter Paul. (3/9/2001 at The Industry Standard)
VC System Protects Profits in Downturn
Despite the downturn in the tech market, venture capitalists in general are doing fine, financially. (1/1/2002 at SF Gate)
VCs Weather the Perfect Storm
Venture capital funds are losing money not only on their pre-IPO companies, but their public companies, as well; and so are requiring startups to have solid business plans for funding. (1/5/2001 at Red Herring)
Venture Capital Firm Shares Blunders
Bessemer Venture Partners posts an "anti-portfolio" on its website, a list of companies it could have, but didn't, invest in; the list includes Apple Computers and Gateway, two very successful companies. (8/21/2000 at News.com)
Venture Capital Funds Attract Money Even in Tough Times
Despite the bad press about technology investing, $24.4 billion was pledged to private equity funds in the first quarter of 2001, compared to $18.4 billion in the first quarter of 2000. (4/22/2001 at SF Gate)
Venture Capital Investment Remains Steady
Despite technology market volatility, venture capital investment in the U.S. doubled in the second quarter of 2000 compared to the same quarter a year ago. (8/8/2000 at The New York Times)
Venture Capitalists Pour Billions Into Start-Ups
In the first quarter of 2000, venture capitalists invested $17.22 billion in startups, 63 percent of them Internet-related. (5/14/2000 at Mercury Center)
Venture Funding Slows To Near Standstill
Because of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the WTC and Pentagon and stock market trouble, deals are being put on hold and venture capital funding is slowing down. (9/24/2001 at Siliconvalley.com)
Web Encounter Opens a Portal to Big Profits
The story of how a biz school grad and a coupon clipper built two huge online coupon sites together without ever meeting. (5/15/2000 at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
What's That Rumble in Venture Capital Funds?
A number of venture capital investors are asking for money back from the funds they've invested in, or lower management fees; some are suing for mismanagement. More bad news is expected in the next few months. (3/3/2002 at The New York Times)
Why You Can't Get Funded
According to venture capitalists at Red Herring's NDA 99 Conference, many unproven entrepreneurs are going funded because there are too many people with good business plans looking for money. (11/3/1999 at Red Herring)
Women on the Verge of A Funding Breakthrough
Women still get much fewer venture capital dollars than men, but that's changing, with the help of female-oriented venture-capital forums and greater networking opportunities than before. (2/5/2001 at The Christian Science Monitor)
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