Immersing Themselves and Enjoying It
We are investors in ProtonMedia, a company which enables advanced levels of collaboration by bringing remote people, in the form of avatars, and disparate data together in virtual meeting and learning environments. At the time we invested, it sounded like a stretch, yet there were major companies – in life sciences and in energy – […]
Full ArticleWhale Hunting – the Allure and the Devastation
“Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, […]
Full ArticleWhy $70M is Better Than $1B
I had lunch yesterday with two interesting entrepreneurs who are early in building out their vision for a business. They have a big idea, a big market, and a surprising level of support and they are attracting real talent to their team. This is a technology solution and a business to business network and the […]
Full ArticleWhy Obama Should (or Maybe Shouldn’t) Go to New Jersey
I was in New Jersey last week driving from an interesting meeting with a new investment opportunity and headed to meet with one of our CEOs when I had to stop for gas. Now, it should be noted that I almost never buy gas in New Jersey. In fact, when I know I am headed […]
Full ArticleK-12 Education – The Sector Productivity, Quality, and Innovation Has Bypassed
Today’s New York Times Op-Ed Section had a column by Nicholas Kristof entitled “Our Broken Escalator” which describes in depressing detail how the US has fallen behind other competing nations in educating our children and how continued budget costs at the local, state, and federal levels are accelerating the decline. In the article Kristof cites the Center […]
Full ArticleA Brief Adam Smith Refresher
The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life which it annually consumes, and which consist always either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchased with that produce from other nations. According, therefore, as this produce, or what […]
Full ArticleIPO – Something to Watch
I got an email from a friend the other day offering me “friends and family” stock for an upcoming IPO. Frankly, I thought they did away with this tradition after some of the scandals in the internet bubble period. I was very pleased to make the list. It also got me thinking. This friend is […]
Full ArticleAngel Funds – The Devil is in the Detail
I love the role that Angel investors play in the formation and early funding of early stage ventures. Individual angels are pretty much in every deal we do. In most cases these angels represent friends and family of the entrepreneur who have bet on the idea and on the individual. This is the easiest money […]
Full ArticleIf Only Sales Growth Was Correlated With the Size of the Sales Team
We hear it from entrepreneurs so often. “When Osage invests, the use of proceeds will be to ramp up the sales force immediately from one person (the CEO) to ten people. With a conservative quota of $1.5 million per sales rep and a six month ramp, these nine new people should generate over $10 million […]
Full ArticleStart-Up America – Will Execution Match the Vision? Let’s hope so.
So – The Obama administration has come to the conclusion – backed by credible, recent economic research, that job creation is not driven by small businesses but instead by new businesses. The research proves that many small businesses remain small, but new businesses are often funded for growth and if successful can evolve to be […]
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