Category: technology

• Taking the pain out of raising venture capital

  Jeff Donahue is a good friend and battle-scarred veteran of venture-backed and PE-backed companies. He has raised over $275M of funding for early and later stage startups and has been CFO of 10 emerging growth businesses. He’s worked across the table from leading investors like GRP (now Upfront Ventures), Invesco, ComVentures (now Fuse Capital), Allegis…

• Kevin Spacey on the future of storytelling

  Technology continues to shift the tectonic plates underlying the music/book/movie/TV/content industries. I’ve been learning a lot about the publishing side as I prepare to release my new book. Although the book and TV business may look very different from the outside, the fundamental dynamics of technological change are driving them all in the same direction.…

• Book Review: Nexus

  Ramez Nam spent 13 years building cutting edge communication and artificial intelligence software at Microsoft. He founded Apex NanoTechnologies, which built software for molecular design. He’s also a huge adventure fan, climbing mountains, diving reefs, etc. Along the way he must have learned a thing or two about storytelling because his debut novel, Nexus, is…

• Your next (ad)venture

  Trying to figure out your new business idea? Struggling to find the right market for your next startup? It might be time to go on vacation. Cross a pass in Nepal   We started a six-month sabbatical in March that has been entirely focused on adventure travel. So far we’ve trekked the Himalayas, rafted the Karnali river in Nepal, climbed the…

• GroundMetrics Inc. closes oversubscribed $1.5M financing round

  GroundMetrics Inc. recently closed $1.5M in a deal led by the Tech Coast Angels, representing a 2.5x valuation bump since December 2011. The round was oversubscribed even though the company raised the deal ceiling by 50% towards the end due to enthusiastic interest in participation. I’ve been working with George Eiskamp, GroundMetrics CEO, for the…

• Building a business the SXSW way

  Chad Robley is a good friend and the founder/CEO of Mindgruve, a leading digital media agency. In addition to its roaring service business, Mindgruve is also working on spinning out a few products of its own. Chad is also the founder of Mindgruve Ventures, which invests in and helps to accelerate tech startups in San…