Every year, I mentor a company from the?Techstars?Boulder class. ?It's been a great journey, because of that we've invested in great companies like?Next Big Sound?and?PivotDesk. ?Those two companies represented radically different ends of the startup spectrum. ?NextBigSound was still finishing up college when they started Techstars, in fact, they w...

My partner Brad recently released his latest book, Startup Boards – Getting the Most out of your Board of Directors. ?This is a great book for people looking for advice on how boards should operate in the very fluid world of startups. One of the areas that Brad focuses on are some of the legal […]

A few days ago, Gil Dibner posted what he called a VC code of conduct.? I read articles all the time where VC's write about how venture capital "should work" and the vast majority of the time I either disagree or find them a waste of time. ?I feel that most of these articles are

I recently met Andrew Shoemaker who is running for City Council. ?He impressed me in his understanding of the issues related to our startup community, but also his larger vision of the city. ?While I don't normally get involved in local politics, I decided I would vote for him. Now, how about that Vote? Oh

It's so tantalizing close that I can barely stand it… Imagine hairy legs with high heels, an epic fight at the grocery store parking lot and lots and lots of cheese dip. ?And this is only the beginning. ?See you in a couple of weeks.

I'm really excited about our latest investment in 3DRobotics. ?In short, they are developing the leading technology platform and community around Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). ?The official Foundry post is here. I think that most people hear the word "drone" and picture war machines, Terminator movies, "Big Brother" surveillance and other uses t...

I co-teach a class at the University of Colorado Law School called ?VC 360.? ?We have MBA, Engineering and JD candidates and the course deals with all things in the entrepreneurial / venture ecosystem. Each year, we have a pitch day where one entrepreneur comes in and pitches me. ?The students get to watch. ?The

With the recently announced acquisition of our portfolio company MakerBot, the conversation invariably turns to ?was this the best time for the company to sell?? It?s a question that is asked every time a company sells and it usually creates a lot of noise by people whose opinions are usually misinformed and even more so,

At Foundry Group, we take a strong interest in the policy and legal ecosystem that affects the start up industry. ?We've been among the first to support initiatives like Startup Visa and patent reform and have been active in city, state and national politics in the hopes of keeping the U.S. the center of the

Three keys to a building a strong ecosystem for startups are: (1) entrepreneurs; (2) technology; and (3) investors.?? For a long time, newer entrepreneurial communities have relied on the first two segments to attract the third.? We are now realizing that to sustain and grow a vibrant entrepreneurial community, we need to support all three.

I?ve seen the ?Transactional IQ? ? i.e., the level of understanding around startup deal making ? rise at CU over the past five years. ?This fall I finished teaching a Venture Capital course at CU for the fifth time.? And in recent years I?ve helped coach CU?s Venture Capital Investment Competition team.? It is fun

If you are involved in tech and?entrepreneurship, there are two upcoming events that you can't miss, called APIs & IPAs. The events, hosted by?Singly,?SendGrid?and?FullContact?(all Foundry Group portfolio companies), are on March 27th at Rock Bottom Brewery in Denver and March 28th at Bitter Bar in Boulder. APIs & IPAs is a tech community h...

For those of you who know me, I have always loved being a musician. ?For a while, I thought that I would make my living as a drummer, but the world conspired against me. ?That being said, I couldn't be grateful enough that I ended up as a venture capitalist. Last year, I spearheaded the

It?s clear that in-house law departments are going through a major paradigm shift. In the same way that manufacturers are testing out technologies that are allowing them to keep up productivity while cutting costs, CEO?s are asking law department leaders to trim as much as possible. Throughout the world, law departments are using manufacturing theo...

Given my background as a recovering lawyer, I'm often asked by portfolio companies, friends, other VCs, etc. for attorney referrals. ?I don't get asked too often on routine matters, but the really important "bet ?the company" stuff where counsel selection is critical. ?Fortunately, I've had the pleasure to work with a lot of good folks...

Of all the projects Startup Colorado initiated in its first year, one of the most successful was Startup Summer, a summer internship program that combined a ten-week internship at a Denver/Boulder startup with a series of evening events focused on teaching the student-participants the fundamentals of entrepreneurism. ?Last year 18 students worked w...

What is old is new. ?Entrepreneurs ?are stil being asked to pay to pitch. ?It's WRONG. Two and a half years ago, I wrote a post about a Boston group trying to charge entrepreneurs $4500 to pitch venture capitalists at an event. ?Many in the startup community were?appalled?by this especially folks like Jason Calacanis?who created

As many of you know, ?Ballot Measure 2C, to ?explore? municipalization, passed by 1.8% of the vote in November 2011. ?The idea is that Boulder would investigate taking over responsibility for our energy needs and terminate the relationship with Xcel. I can't claim that I'm an expert on all such energy matters, but it sounded

One of our portfolio companies, Sympoz has announced the launch of their programs targeting startup?entrepreneurs. ?Even better, the series stars some of my favorite people in startup land: ?my partner Brad Feld,?along with Brad Bernthal of the University of Colorado Law School and Mike Platt , partner at Cooley LLP. ?We teach you everything that...

As a venture capitalist and a professor of law at University of Colorado – Boulder, it is tough to see how many smart students are having trouble finding jobs after graduating. The Atlantic reports that?53% of recent college grads?are either un- or under-employed, especially in a market flooded with degree-holders. In Boulder, CO alone, there...

I am deeply disgusted to report that the good name of?LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbel is officially worthless. ?This institution which has built its reputation on providing accurate information to lawyers and the general public about lawyers is now nothing more than a marketing organization. ?Their ratings can not be trusted. ?How do I know? ?Simple, ...

As the knowledge economy grows, there is a new breed of information entrepreneurs or ?infopreneurs? that is emerging.?? The Internet is really just one big platform for creating these new information-based businesses.? And there is very little upfront investment or infrastructure needed. ?Unlike any time prior in history, entrepreneurs can create m...

I co-teach a class at the University of Colorado Law School called ?VC 360.? ?We have both MBA and JD candidates and the course deals with all things in the entrepreneurial / venture ecosystem. Each year, we have a pitch day where one entrepreneur comes in and pitches me. ?The students get to watch. ?The

Every day I get many unsolicited emails asking for either my time or my checkbook. ?Most of them make me feel like I'm on a mailing list, as they clearly are from folks whom have done little to no research on me or Foundry Group. ?It's not like I'm looking for entrepreneurs to do a

More and more I've been hearing about companies not filing Form D's in conjunction with their financings. ?The reason: ?We don't want the press picking up on our fundraising / we want to control the message / we are stealth, etc. This post isn't about the value of being stealth. ?I've always thought stealth mode

I've been thinking a lot recently about lawyer attendance at board meetings. ?Normally, most venture-focused law firms attend board meetings free of charge. ?And like most things in life, people value things by how much they pay for them. ?(If you don't believe me, check out the healthcare and education industries, to name a few).

The 4th?annual?CU New Venture Challenge?has come and gone and the student entrepreneurs have only gotten more impressive.? Now in its fourth year, over 40 companies entered the competition with six of these teams moving to the finals. One of the finalists received a grant from the Department of Energy and many of the finalists were

One of the cool perks of being on the National Venture Capital Association board of directors is that I get to see lots of interesting data on the venture capital industry. ?The research staff, along with?PriceWaterhouseCoopers? are constantly looking at trends and data that provide unique and useful insights into the ecosystem and publish under...

My partner Ryan and I just returned from SXSW. ?We spent a lot of time meeting with entrepreneurs, spending time with some of our companies and catching some great music. ?(In short if you don't know who L.P., Punch Brothers and Ed Sheeran are, find out immediately – amazing music). But the coolest idea that

With ongoing partisan politics fostering endless inertia in Congress,?it would be easy for us citizens to throw in the towel and assume that nothing of legislative substance will get done this year.? Yet VCs and entrepreneurs are eternal optimists and, in fact, we actually have?a bill poised to do great things for venture-backed portfolio companies...

Mark the date of February 28, 2012 as the official death of Yahoo!. Sure there are still people there collecting paychecks and day traders making a buck or two playing games with the stock price, but today Yahoo! waved the white flag. ?How so? ?Well, today it was announced that Yahoo! has become yet another

My friend, Dan Caruso, CEO of Zayo is hiring. ?And unlike many companies, he is looking for recent college grads. ?Dan is a great guy and the folks that I've meet at his company are as well. ?In his words: "Amazingly, in this economy it is hard to fill key positions. ?Zayo occasionally?looks to fill

The Wall Street Journal published an article today called "First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Law Schools." ?The basic premise is that the costs are outweighing the benefits. ?The authors claim that the total cost of going to law school is around $275,000 which leads to higher legal fees to citizens as it

I'm excited to announce a Boulder Digital Works course that will be open to the public in the Spring of 2012, StartUp: Learning Entrepreneurism. This is the first BDW course inviting community members to join? graduate students and engage in the graduate curriculum.? StartUp is immersive and transformational??both theoretical and practical. It begi...

As part of the Startup Colorado initiative, my colleague Mike Weiner and I are spending December 7th in Fort Collins.? Our goal is to meet as many people involved in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and figure out if there are better ways to tie what we are doing in Boulder with Fort Collins. As part of

Every couple / few years, I head back to Ann Arbor, Michigan to spend a few days reconnecting with my alma mater and to check out the startup ecosystem.? My visit usually includes meeting with entrepreneurs, spending time with the different organizations that support entrepreneurs and guest lecturing. I've always thought that Ann Arbor has...

Today it was intimated that Yahoo! may enter the world of patent trolling. ?If you haven't seen the article, it's here. ?In short, ?it appears that Yahoo! is increasing its patent filing activity and shopping itself, in part, based on the value of its patents. ?Their patents generally revolve around search and social networking. Now...

TechStars Cloud?launches its inaugural program in January and the application deadline is looming. If you're thinking about applying or just want to know more about the program, tune into the live stream coverage of?TechStars for a Day?on November 5th from 12:00 – 5:00 CT?here. Alumni and mentors will host a question and answer session as...

Today, it was announced that Techstars has raised a fund to provide $100,000 to each of its startups. ?This is awesome news for both participants in the program as well as the Techstars Network, in general. As a complete non sequitur, I had a lot of fun last year making an Xtranormal Video that portrayed

In this day and age where Democrats and Republicans both do their best to distort any real facts in the tax and deficit debate, I think that I've come up with a way to increase revenues (yes, increase taxes) that everyone should love. Kill IRS Section 409(A) and allow companies to issues stock to employees

David Cohen came over to my version of "the Bunker" and filmed an episode of This Week In Techstars. ?Also, featured is Coursekit, a New York Techstars team that has impressed me enough that I'm using their software in the class that I teach.  

VCs understand the reality that when we exit a portfolio company, a portion of the consideration is virtually always tied up in escrow for one to two years.? We hope that it is all eventually paid out, but sometimes it?s not and that?s difficult to plan for. What if we could sell escrow interests at

Last May, I got an idea stuck in my head that I should create a music video to promote the release of Venture Deals: ?Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist, written by yours truly and my partner Brad Feld. ?It was a germination of a conversation that I had with Emily Mendell (VP

A new academic paper seeks to destroy the myth that venture capitalists use inside rounds to dilute founders by issuing themselves cheap stock. Sure, there are plenty of lawsuits that claim this, but I've actually never seen it happen when reputable firms are involved. This paper is the first empirical study of its kind and

One of our companies Organic Motion is powering an awesomely cool exhibit at Seattle's EMP Museum. By use of their marker-less computer vision platform, one can put themselves in the middle of James Cameron's Avatar. Here is a great news report about the event including an intro from James Cameron, himself. Also, here is an

Today, the University of Colorado Law School announced that Phil Weiser will be its next Dean. This is a tremendously good day for the law school and community. Phil was previously a professor at the law school, the founder of the Silicon Flatirons and worked as a senior adviser for technology and innovation to the

Recently, the New York Times published an article called At Well-Paying Law Firms, a Low-Paid Corner. In short, the paper is reporting that some very well known firms are hiring lawyers at cut rate prices (less than half) of what associates on partner track are making at the firm. And these cheaper resources are performing