The Archives

• 03.16.08
  Irony or Tragedy? The Venturescape and Bear Sterns
  Tech'nomics

  As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I just returned from SXSW. The atmosphere among most attendees seemed one of optimism, bordering on carefree exuberance. Companies like Facebook, Digg, Etsy and Google threw great parties and spoke about how they would ‘revolutionize’ this or that. Many other earlier-stage startups I spoke with were confident they would soon score substantial investments at great valuations. And why not? AOL just bought Bebo and may go for Kickapps. Union Square Ventures just launched a new fund. Microsoft is buying, apparently not deterred by its Facebook investment. Even articles on the Spitzer debacle ...
  
  
• 10.17.07
  NY Times on Facebook: “Funny Name, Few Customers, Little Revenue”
  Tech'nomics

  The New York Times has a nice link bait piece this morning stating that Silicon Valley is in a bubble and we should all be worried for the poor companies overpaying for startup acquisitions. In addition, it states, “Internet companies with funny names, little revenue and few customers are commanding high prices… Consider Facebook, the popular but financially unproven social network, which is reportedly being valued by investors at up to $15 billion. That is nearly half the value of Yahoo, a company with 38 times the number of employees and, based on estimates of Facebook’s income, 32 times the ...
  
  
• 10.12.07
  The Google Effect: Suppliers Beware
  Tech'nomics

  An interesting trend is taking shape within the world of venture capital and web 2.0 startups. During the last bubble, the liquidity event everyone hoped for was the IPO. Now it seems to be an acquisition by Google (though ipo’s may be on the horizon) and who else besides Google is really in acquisition mode? With only one primary buyer in the market, the issue becomes similar to that of Walmart, in that Google now has the power to command favorable pricing from suppliers. The latest example is Jaiku. I have heard a lot of folks question why Google didn't buy ...
  
  
• 08.24.07
  Techcrunch vs. Creditcrunch
  Tech'nomics

  The New York Times is running a contrarian article today, highlighting a few Valley VCs who believe the credit crunch could be a boon to tech investing ’“ not a hindrance. "When the credit crunch happened, it almost immediately led to a better mood for tech bankers...the latest events will create critical momentum for the investors tempted to return to technology start-ups. The credit crunch pushes these people over the edge." - Keith Benjamin Partner at VC firm Levensohn Venture Partners
  
  
• 06.18.07
  The Other Bubble
  My Experiences

  While freely flowing venture capital and hedge fund money has arguably created a new financial bubble, there is another bubble expanding at an even greater rate. It is a bubble that remains largely unmentioned and it normally does not affect most of us. However, I unfortunately experienced the consequences of this ’other bubble’ today. Around 1pm I was jumped in a grocery store, two blocks from my apartment in one of the nicest areas of Washington, DC. It happened completely out of the blue. The guy was the stereotypical ’thug’ depicted on crap shows like cops. A large black man. I wasn’t ...
  
  

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