It's never a dull week in venture capital. Things may be happening behind the scenes, but somehow it eventually comes out. We pick the best stories, blog posts and other intel inside the VC ecosystem in the USA and in happening places around the world. Onward dear reader…
MINDSETS THAT KILL STARTUPS
Having the right approach when starting your new tech company is critical. This article comes recommended from a prominent northeast VC:
TriNet: 3 Mindsets That Can Kill Your Startup
There are probably more than just 3, but there are lots of good nuggets in this short but sweet piece on what not to do when starting out.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
With the recent passage of the JOBS Act, the Wall Street Journal did a little bit of detective work to find out who is behind it and who was opposed to it, from a lobbying standpoint.
Wall Street Journal: Who Was Behind the JOBS Act?
Not surprisingly, the venture capital industry was among many that supported the bill. Tellingly, the Consumer Federation of America, an investor protection group, was opposed.
MID STAGE FINANCING
Venture capital financing is a continuum of development stages. The Washington Post has a sobering article on how tough it is getting mid stage VC financing right now.
Washington Post: The Barbell Effect
"There’s a desert you have to walk through," said James Quigley of Canvas, referring to the current difficulty of finding middle stage venture capital.
THE BRITS ARE COMING
Britain was once the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, but it hasn't done so well in the technology revolution. Nic Brisbourne of DFJ Esprit thinks that may be changing:
The Equity Kicker: Britain's Growing Entrepreneurial Culture
He credits the current Cameron administration for "being the first UK government to really champion entrepreneurship."
THE ART AND SCIENCE OF FUND RAISING
This is a long and detailed post on how to raise a seed round of venture capital financing, but is well worth the read:
Bubs Monsef: The Art of Raising Seed
Bubs has some recent and relevant experience in successful and unsuccessful seed round financing and says that in order to succeed: either your company is already hot or you need to make your own heat.
Professional Career Resource Partner:
JUST SEMANTICS?
VC David Beisel of NextView Ventures asks if you are an Inventor or Founder?
Genuine VC: Ideas or Action?
He goes through eight qualities of each type and compares and contrasts them. Interestingly, he doesn't make a value judgment as to either distinction. Rather, he believes that only "true Founders…should be starting companies."
EMERGING MARKETS GO SOUTH
I'll bet you didn't know that there was an Emerging Private Equity Association (EMPEA). Well there is and it tracks the private equity activity in a wide variety of emerging markets.
PE Hub: EM Activity Drops
According to the post, only US $4.8 billion was invested in Q1 2012, versus US $8.5 billion in 2011, a huge drop.
FRED DOESN'T DO MEDIA
Successful Internet venture capitalist Fred Wilson doesn't put money into media companies, and here's why:
GigaOm: No Media for Me
He says that he doesn't invest in media because he hasn't done very well at it in the past and hasn't found something that really scales well.
UNIQUE VCS
There's this image of a typical venture capitalist investing in the next new disruptive technology just over the horizon. Successful VC Peter Thiel says it happens less than you might think:
Infectious Greed: Unique Investing
Thiel has been giving a series of Stanford lectures and former VC Paul Kedrosky discovered some great nuggets from Thiel about VCs following the crowd.
INCUBATORS AND STARTUPS
I've always believed that incubators are not necessarily helpful to the startup world, since most tend to offer little value and don't have a track record of creating big companies.
ReadWriteWeb: Are Incubators Really Necessary?
RWW has a post up on how there's some value in helping a startup "get up off the ground quickly."
LIFE SCIENCE VCS UPBEAT?
Congress is making progress on legislation that may help speed up the FDA review process for medical devices and drugs.
PE Hub: FDA To Move Faster
It's also nice to see that even FDA officials are recognizing their role in part of the drug development slow down, without concomitant increases in drug safety.