Tag Archives: venture capital

May. 25.

Five tips for failing smart from August Cap’s David Hornik

By TheValleyByte | Posted in VentureBytes |
Comments (0)

If you want to learn a thing or two about failure, just talk to a venture capitalist. As August Capital’s David Hornik recently told an entrepreneurship class at Stanford, for every 1000 pitches he gets, he meets with 100 entrepreneurs and invests in about two companies.

“The odds suck,” he volunteers.

So, since the numbers show that you’re probably going to fail, what’s the best way to do it? We recently caught up with Hornik at his office on Sand Hill Road. Here’s what happened:

1) It’s a good time to fail: “It used to take a long time to figure out that something was a bad idea,” Hornik said. “Particularly in the consumer internet today, you can determine it was a bad idea on hundreds of thousands of dollars and months rather than millions of dollars and years.” (more…)

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

May. 21.

Damn it feels good to be a VC

By TheValleyByte | Posted in VentureBytes |
Comments (0)

I had a chance to sit down yesterday with a friend who recently joined a top-tier venture capital fund. He humored me by sharing tidbits from his first months on the job.

What’s your favorite example of money being thrown around in the VC world?

We went to dinner and a colleague ordered a really expensive bottle of wine. He had a sip, didn’t like it, and ordered another. Again he tried it but didn’t like it. He ordered one more. The total wine bill for the night was over $30,000.

Walk me through your most extravagant work experience. (more…)

Tagged: , , , ,

May. 19.

Catching up with Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck’s of Woodside

By TheValleyByte | Posted in SocialBytes, ValleyBites |
Comments (0)

 

Breakfast at Buck's: Tales from the Pancake Guy

Our devoted readers (all both of you) will remember that we profiled Buck’s of Woodside during our week of articles about where the tech elite eat. Since then, we got a chance to keep talking with the owner of Buck’s, Jamis MacNiven, who’s had a ringside seat to the past 20 years of tech gambles and innovation. Here’s what happened:
On Buck’s rise to fame

The restaurant, a now-renowned VC hotspot for breakfast, brunch, and lunch, opened in 1991, and the attention started not long afterwards. In 1992, Bob Metcalfe (who was the CEO of and a columnist for InfoWorld Magazine) mentioned Buck’s in his popular tech column. In 1994, Jamis says, one TV crew showed up to interview him. By 1995, he estimates that 100 TV crews came to visit.

On stupid pitches and ideas

Some of the many entrepreneurs that filter through Jamis’ restaurant even try to pitch him, the self-proclaimed “pancake guy,” which he discourages. “You’re probably pitching the wrong person. But I listen to a lot of restaurant pitches.” (more…)

Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

May. 11.

The Daily Byte: Wannabe… a VC?

By TheValleyByte | Posted in DailyBytes |
Comments (0)

 

Interested in the history of venture capital education at Stanford?  The GSB Library is hosting a panel.  Speakers include John Glynn, Franklin ‘Pitch’ Johnson, Peter Wendell and Professor Charles Holloway as the moderator.

  • Noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, May 14, Cemex Auditorium, Knight Management Center

 

Stanford’s GSB VC Club is hosing Getting Real: an event with three GSB startups on how they decided to forego a regular pay check and job security to pursue their startups full-time after they graduate.  The entrepreneurs will include: Courtney McColgan of Crowd Jewel, Ivan La Frinere-Sandoval of SolarFirst and Charlie Kubal and Dylan Keil of Chronos.

  • Tuesday May 15, noon – 1 p.m., Knight Management Center M105

 

Like Hackathons?  And Data journalism?   A Stanford Knight Journalism Fellow is hosting a hackathon to analyze campaign finance data and shine light on money flows in politics.  The event is co-sponsored by Knight-Mozilla Open News, The Sunlight Foundation and MongoDB.

Tagged: , , , , ,

May. 05.

Guy Kawasaki: if investing were online dating…

By TheValleyByte | Posted in VentureBytes |
Comments (0)

“Think of venture capital as crack: it makes you feel great, but it will kill you,” venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki said to a group of Stanford students last week.  He was referring to what happens to startups when they receive VC money and see it as a cue to spend all the money trying to scale too quickly.

Instead, the best time to raise VC money is when you don’t need it.  Rather than show up at a VC meeting with just a powerpoint, bootstrap for a while and show up with a prototype “the dogs are eating.”  Prototyping is a process rather than an event, so start user-testing early, and don’t visit a VC until users actually want the product.

While many VCs say they invest in teams rather than ideas, Kawasaki said it’s much easier for them to say this in hindsight.  ”I’d rather invest in an asshole who made me money than a nice person who lost me money.”

If investing was like online dating, it wouldn’t be eHarmony to find your soul mate, he said.  ”It’s hot or not.”

Tagged: , , , ,

May. 02.

The Rosewood Sand Hill: where the VCs go to play

By TheValleyByte | Posted in ValleyBites |
Comments (0)

Sand Hill Road is best known for its many venture capital offices.  But the road is also home to a luxury resort—The Rosewood.  VCs and entrepreneurs are often seen meeting at the resort’s bar and restaurant, the Madera.

Usually Madera’s atmosphere is relaxed and professional.  But not Thursday evenings.  That’s when the bar’s legendary happy-hour scene attracts a large crowd, infamous for the abundance of “cougars.”  A high-end escort service is rumored to operate out of the bar. (more…)

Tagged: , , ,

photo-3
May. 02.

Quattrone, Hornik and walking the dish

By TheValleyByte | Posted in VentureBytes |
Comments (0)

Frank Quattrone at ETL

“I was accused of a bunch of stuff I didn’t do,” tech investment banker Frank Quattrone said at Stanford last week as a part of the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar Series.

Quattrone was referring to his prosecution for interfering with a government probe into Credit Suisse First Boston’s behavior in allocating “hot” IPOs in the 1990s tech boom, but the case was eventually dropped. (more…)

Tagged: , , , , , , ,