Nate Lentz
May 2, 2013

Cash is King

We recently held our annual gathering of the CEOs of the Osage Venture Partners enterprise technology portfolio companies.  These sessions always prove valuable for us as investors and seem to be enjoyed and appreciated by the CEOs in attendance.  While there is value in the structured agenda and the content that we prepare, many of […]

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Nate Lentz
March 6, 2013

Kudos To Marissa Mayer: It’s All About the Culture, Not the Commute

There has been a lot written about the recent decision by Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, to stop letting people telecommute and require them to work in Yahoo! offices.  Suddenly she is the anti-feminist, anti-freedom, anti-Silicon Valley Satan.  I would guess that her shareholders would disagree.  On July 17th, 2012, the day she was named […]

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Nate Lentz
February 5, 2013

Raising Capital for a Venture Fund: A Lesson in Humility and Empathy

We just issued a press release announcing that we have completed fund raising for Osage Venture Partners III.  Having closed on just under $66 million, we beat our target of $60 million and surpassed the size of OVP II by more than 50%.  It feels great!  We continue to execute the strategy we have pursued for the […]

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Nate Lentz
January 8, 2013

The Power of Face-to-Face: A Resolution to Change

On December 24th, I met with an entrepreneur/ CEO in our offices at Osage.  We had issued a term sheet to the CEO’s company the prior week and we were sitting down to see if we could come to terms on valuation and a few other outstanding items.  After a good discussion, a recommitment that […]

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Nate Lentz
November 19, 2012

Quote From Stanford GSB Lecturer: “No World Changing Tech Company Has Ever Been Founded Outside Silicon Valley and None Ever Will in Our Lifetime.”

“No World Changing Tech Company Has Ever Been Founded Outside Silicon Valley and None Ever Will in Our Lifetime.” An Osage spy in his second year at Stanford GSB recently passed along the above direct quote from one very highly regarded GSB lecturer: Funny – this Bay Area world view is more common than you […]

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Nate Lentz
October 10, 2012

Enterprise Software Sales Management – Reading the Near-Term Pipeline

One of the roles I really dislike playing when I am on the board of one of our portfolio companies is the role of the pessimist.  You know this guy – Dr. Gloom, Mr. Cloudy Day.  Everyone else is sitting around talking about what is going to happen this quarter and how many deals are […]

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Nate Lentz
August 20, 2012

Startups and Interns

I recently introduced a recent college graduate to two start-ups operating in the local food distribution and marketplace business.  The college grad came from a good school, had some work experience, had been a four year varsity athlete, and had a desire to work in the booming local food ecosystem.  I had encouraged this recent […]

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Nate Lentz
July 9, 2012

Defending the Funding Gap – Economic Darwinism at its Best

As an early stage technology investor, I hear all the time about the funding gap.   People are constantly asking me: “Why is there so little money available between friends & family rounds and Series A?” “Why are even angel funds expecting to see revenue traction? “Who can I speak to in order to fund my […]

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Nate Lentz
June 18, 2012

They Are The 4%!

Everywhere I seem to turn, I run into someone starting a business, running an early stage business, or incubating businesses.   I am not talking about people I meet as a venture investor or entrepreneurs in our portfolio.  I am talking about people I know around town.  Here are some recent examples: On the little main street […]

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Nate Lentz
April 24, 2012

I Am Short on Facebook

At Osage Venture Partners, we don’t invest in consumer technology.   For those who read our occasional blog posts or who have browsed our website, it should be clear that we are business technology investors.  Personally I do not understand leading edge consumer behavior and would have a hard time guessing what the next trend will […]

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