Andrew Bellay
on October 25, 2010 
This father and son team sent a camera into space. Yeah, I'm going to type that again: A 7-year-old and his dad sent something into space.
Materials they used to do it:
Andrew Bellay is the VC & Money editor of AlwaysOn. Feel free to send me cool content, new products you'd like reviewed, or any crazy idea and I'll check it out: andrew@aonetwork.com. 
Mark Suster
on October 19, 2010 
Anyone who works in the venture business or frankly just lives in Silicon Valley will be used to hearing a buzz word rise up out of nowhere to capture the technology zeitgeist and find its way into every entrepreneur’s product development plan or every aspiring entrepreneur’s pitch deck.
I call this “the puck at your feet” because it’s not where the industry is heading but rather where the industry is today. By the time you launch your buzz word feature we’ll be on to the next fad and everybody will be offering your buzz product so it won’t be differentiated. As an entrepreneur you need to think about where the puck is going.
Mark Suster is a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC. He joined GRP Partners in 2007 as a General Partner after selling his company to Salesforce.com. He focuses on early-stage technology companies. Follow him on Twitter @msuster and at his blog: Both Sides of the Table 
Steve Blank
on October 10, 2010 
All the Data and Not a Drop to Think
We started Epiphany to solve the “too much data but not enough insight” problem. During the 1990’s large corporations had bought different software applications to automate each part of their enterprise – finance, customer support, manufacturing, sales, etc. Yet the data these applications collected were accessed via reporting tools from the IT organization. More importantly, the data existed in “virtual silos” with each functional system walled off from the other. The finance system didn’t talk to the sales system which didn’t know the manufacturing system even existed.
After 21 years in 8 high technology companies, Steve Blank retired in 1999. After he retired, Steve wrote a book about his experiences called Four Steps to the Epiphany. Now he teaches entrepreneurship to both undergraduate and graduate students at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford University and the Columbia University/Berkeley Joint Executive MBA program. Steve also blogs here.
Mark Suster
on September 16, 2010 
I finally got around to writing it having read Fred Wilson’s post about what a CEO does. He says it basically comes down to three key functions:
- Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders
- Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company.
- Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.
Matt Blumberg, who runs one of Fred’s portfolio companies, Return Path, follows up with an additional three:
Mark Suster is a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC. He joined GRP Partners in 2007 as a General Partner after selling his company to Salesforce.com. He focuses on early-stage technology companies. Follow him on Twitter @msuster and at his blog: Both Sides of the Table 
Brad Feld
on September 14, 2010 
I was thinking more about my post from yesterday titled Addressing The VC Seed Investor Signaling Problem. There were a bunch of good comments that caused me to realize that I wrote the post from the perspective of a VC, not an entrepreneur. As I mulled the comments over, I realized something very specific.
If a VC invests in a seed round but then doesn’t invest in the next round, there is a signaling problem, regardless of what the VC does with their investment.
When I read the post carefully, I realized that I implied that the VC firm’s strategy of selling back their seed investment might address part of the signaling problem. In hindsight, it doesn’t address this at all. It addresses a different problem – the free rider problem.
Brad Feld, a managing director at Foundry Group in Boulder, Colorado, invests in software and Internet companies around the US. Brad also runs marathons, reads a lot, and writes on his blog: Feld Thoughts.
Andrew Bellay
on September 13, 2010 
Every few weeks there's a topic that just rampages through the venture capital blogosphere. Last week it was the topic of convertible notes and their future. I pulled out the most pertinent quotes so that readers could quickly see the main points. If you're an entrepreneur, investor, or just interested in more, the links have been included for more indepth reading.
Mark Suster defined the concept well: "Convertible debt is an investment that “converts” into equity in the future usually at a discount to your next funding round price and sometimes has a “cap” (maximum price)."
Andrew Bellay is the VC & Money editor of AlwaysOn. Feel free to send me cool content, new products you'd like reviewed, or any crazy idea and I'll check it out: andrew@aonetwork.com. 
Jeff Bussgang
on September 11, 2010 
I love Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It is one of the most extraordinarily beautiful settings in the world. One cannot help being in a good mood when observing the breathtaking wildlife, open sky and the awe-inspiring Grand Tetons.
Thus, reading the reports from the August annual economist confab in Jackson Hole could not have been more depressing. If the practitioners of the dismal science sound this pessimistic amidst such an uplifting setting, what will their attitude be when they trade back in their cowboy boots for green eyeshades and return to their drab offices to stare at spreadsheets?
Jeffrey Bussgang, a successful serial entrepreneur for ten years, is now a general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm with more than $500 million under management. He also writes frequently on his blog: Seeing Both Sides. 
Fred Wilson
on September 11, 2010 
Matt Blumberg, who is one of the finest CEOs I've had the pleasure of working with, wrote a follow-up post on the topic for his blog. I asked him if I could run it as a guest post here on MBA Mondays and he agreed:
What Does a CEO Do, Anyway?
Fred has a great post up last week in his MBA Mondays series caled "What a CEO Does." His three things are set vision/strategy and communicate broadly, recruit/hire/retain top talent, and make sure there’s enough cash in the bank.
I am a VC. I have been since 1986. I help people start and build technology companies. I do it in NYC, which isn't the easiest place to build technology companies, but it's getting better. I am the Managing Partner of two venture capital firms, Flatiron Partners and Union Square Ventures. I also write at A VC.
Mark Suster
on September 01, 2010 
This post was originally published in a shorter (more sensible) format in the Wall Street Journal online. If you’re short on time click on the WSJ link and read the 990 word version there. Otherwise, grab a cup ‘o coffee …
Clicking on any graph below will take you to that article.
Mark Suster is a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC. He joined GRP Partners in 2007 as a General Partner after selling his company to Salesforce.com. He focuses on early-stage technology companies. Follow him on Twitter @msuster and at his blog: Both Sides of the Table 
Bijan Sabet
on August 18, 2010 
Within 12-18months a venture backed startup will expand from the founding team, to a larger core team and then the need for management in different parts of the organization are required as the company expands.
Hiring strong executives is critical to a company’s success over time. But it’s not easy to do.
Bijan Sabet is a partner at Spark Capital in Boston and has led investments in Boxee, Bug Labs, ExtensionFM, OMGPOP, SendMe, thePlatform (acquired by Comcast), Tumblr and Twitter. Bijan is also the author of BijanSabet.com. 
