Investors and serial entrepreneurs usually entertain some good and many not so good investment memories respectively. Angel investors, who usually previously either worked as VCs or (serial) entrepreneurs therefore tend to be biased towards certain investment targets, certain technologies, certain types of business model etc. Their previous roles as investors (fund managers) or (serial) entrepreneurs make angels believe they have … Read More
Guy Spier’s Personal Investment Checklist as Master for Venture Investments
Earlier this year my friend Alexander Groß introduced me to Guy Spear’s autobiographic vade mecum on value investing: The Education of a Value Investor, My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom and Enlightenment, NY, 2014. I feel most indebted to Alexander for the simple reason that this is a wonderful book written by a wonderfully modest, humorous, genuine and yet most … Read More
Management Gurus on “Digital” and “Social” Science Fiction is Fiction, Not Science
Individuals, who seemingly buck the trend and give themselves the air of unconventional, “brave” and, of course, politically incorrect opinionizing are a fairly common phenomenon: Officially, civic, political and business worlds alike are very liberal with praise for those kicking against the pricks, while, in reality, they endeavour to maximise homogenous mass behaviour and conformity. It is a phenomenon characteristic … Read More
Rich Man’s Lottery (Part II) The Mystery of the Blind Hunt for Maximum Risk
Verdad Capital founder and (small cap) public equity crusader Dan Rasmussen recently published a report authored by his last summer Harvard intern Blake Patterson. The melody of the article matches Rasmussen’s bias towards public – and his highly critical attitude towards private equities as reported last week among other sources by the NY Times. So, is he right? In Venture … Read More
“Rich Man’s Lottery”? VERDAD CEO Rasmussen questions VC Business Model – Is he right?
Verdad Capital founder and (small cap) public equity crusader Dan Rasmussen recently published a report authored by his last summer Harvard intern Blake Patterson. The melody of the article matches Rasmussen’s bias towards public – and his highly critical attitude towards private equities as reported this week among other sources by the NY Times. The newsletter report The Lure … Read More
“The Only Thing that Matters for a Start-Up”? Product Market Fit or: When Truisms and Misnomers Replace Judgement
Like everybody else in the venture scene, I do admire Marc Andreessen for his remarkable achievements in both the tech and venture territories. Yet, admiration is no adulation. If justified, criticism might pay a better tribute to the man than endless quotations of some of his more questionable thoughts. On October 12, 2009 Marc posted a, now famous, article to … Read More
The VC Business Model: Pareto Driven to Extremes
Virtually all venture capitalists agree that only a very tiny fraction of their targets accounts for the positive overall return of their funds, while most investments produce either no significant contribution or even result in complete losses, thus producing negative effects on fund returns. Depending on the individual fund, alternative target industries, investment stages, regional priorities, etc. the statistics vary, … Read More
In B2B its’s 2D, not 3D, Dude! Check Lindera!
Considering my modest financial means, I am actually quite heavily invested in 3D and VR. However, I must admit that now and then I ask myself: Where does all this craze about 3D and VR come from? Our “real” world is already 3D, is it not? And frankly: I do prefer a real reality to a virtual one. True, it’s … Read More
Digitalisation
Ever heard a native speaker spell out “di-gi-ta-li-sa-tion”? I guess almost everybody has and almost everybody could have noticed then, that the syllable following the “l” gets somehow swallowed up the same way as the preceding “a” gets mumbled away. The word does have a tongue twister capacity. This is presumably the main reason why people – unless they refer … Read More
Business Model
What is your business model? Ask any founder. The likelihood that you will have to listen to a fairly long-winded recap of the start-up’s 100-page business plan or at least its pitch deck is larger than 80 per cent. Why is that so? First of all: There is no uncontested definition of what exactly amounts to a business model. Second: … Read More