Start-up Executive Survival Tip – Live Within Your Salary
I hate to say this but if you join a start up, you need to be able to live within your salary. Not salary plus planned bonus. Not salary plus 50% more coming out of savings, justified by the value of future stock options. Live within your salary. Too many executives leave corporate America and […]
Full ArticlePneuron Finds Itself at the Center of Containers and Microservices
In 2011, we invested in Pneuron, impressed by a strong and proven leadership team behind Simon Moss and Elizabeth Elkins and a technology that was a bit mind-numbing in terms of its capabilities. While the team at Osage called it ”p”-Neuron for a while, we learned soon enough that the ”p” is silent and the […]
Full ArticlePHELAN – Entrepreneurship Runs in the Family
Mike Phelan was CEO of SevOne from 2006 until 2012. After he stepped down as CEO, we at Osage Venture Partners were lucky enough to have him join us as a venture partner. Mike has proven so valuable for us in assessing infrastructure investments and in connecting with entrepreneurs, though that comes as no surprise […]
Full ArticleDreamforce15 Reflections
Well, 170,000 people can’t be wrong – can they? Either way, San Francisco in September is a great time – even when it rains. DreamForce is a professional event and a branding statement like no other. There will be thousands of posts, blogs, tweets, and articles about the main show, the speakers, and the glitz, […]
Full ArticleTerm Debt and Venture Backed Businesses – No Thanks!
Maybe it is because I started out my career as a loan officer at what is now J.P. Morgan Chase, but I really have a hard time with debt. To be fair, not all debt, and not for all companies – I have a hard time with term debt to small, volatile, cash flow negative […]
Full ArticleHiring of Direct Reports: Responses from CEOs
Osage Venture Partners recently published a CEO survey focused on hiring and recruiting. After reading the initial results, I reached out to a group of CEOs whose hiring practices I respect to get a sense of the process they go through to hire a direct report. I asked each of 15 CEOS “How much time […]
Full ArticleRemembering David Freschman
I was saddened to learn last week of the death of David Freschman to pancreatic cancer. David was a friend to many in the venture community and was one of the pioneers of venture capital in Delaware and in the Mid-Atlantic region. As the founder and continual sponsor of Early Stage East, an important regional […]
Full ArticleAre You Ready to Run Your Business for the Next Ten Years?
I recently wrote a recommendation for an entrepreneur who I have known for a number of years. Osage never invested in his business because it was a bit out of our scope, but I used to spend time with him discussing his business, his strategy, and his challenges. His company had a less than successful […]
Full ArticleWhat a Google Car Means to My Blind Son
My son Nicholas is almost twelve and he has been blind for most of his life. For seven years he was mostly blind with a shade contrast, but he lost that five years ago and has been completely blind since then. He goes to a school for the blind, which is working on getting him […]
Full ArticleDon’t Celebrate Failure, Celebrate Learning and Perserverance
I recently read the New York Times article about the conferences celebrating failure and I had to laugh. It reminded me of the line from Jon Stewart’s unforgettable tribute to Bruce Springsteen: “And I never again felt like a loser. . . When you listen to Bruce’s music, you aren’t a loser, you are a character in […]
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