Thanks to Verne Harnish for Leading the Fortune Growth Summit. It was fun to participate as a speaker, get a chance to connect with some amazing companies and listen to a group of very talented business thinkers The link to the Gazelles TV channel on Youtube is here. My after-interview is here: (embed is sketchy, here's the link if it...

It's hard not to be impressed by David Brooks, particularly when he agrees with you. The New York Times columnist wrote a piece today called The Talent Magnet in which he discusses the type of open, dynamic environment that attracts the best and brightest from around the world: In this century, economic competition between countries is less like th...

In today's Wall Street Journal, Christine Rosen has a great review of Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?, edited by John Brockman. Article link here. She cleverly titled the article Pay Attention, Please with the equally provocative subtitle: The New Darwinian imperative may be 'survival of the focused.' Thomas Metzinger, a philosopher, ar...

Hat tip to Scott Little of Legend portfolio company Invoice Insight on his response to my shameless promotion of Built for Change:

Today's Capital Business from the Washington Post has a great interview with Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) CEO Monty Moran. (Link to the original Motley Fool Live Chat interview here.) Chipotle's had a great run of late, with the stock rising nearly 3X in less than 12 months, the pending introduction of an Asian concept and a deeper focus on using locally.....

Around this time every year, Google delivers a digital bon bon to anyone with a wisp of curiosity and a moment of spare time. Chalked full of current data on what's trending up and down in Internet searches, the Google Zeitgeist resembles a stock market of hotness, momentum, waxing or waning influence and interest. If you're dying to know whether.....

In this post on Thursday, I argued that Groupon should say no to Google's $6 billion offer. Now Chicago's Breaking Business is reporting Groupon rejects Google's offer, will stay independent. I'm sure some will say "bird on the hand..." etc. but the management and shareholders have a chance to build something extraordinary, dare I say transformativ...

I had no foreknowledge of this but yesterday I argued that letting Groupon slip away was a fatal mistake for Yahoo!. Today we read that Yahoo?s M&A Head Andrew Siegel Is Departing the Company. When a skilled high-profile executive like that leaves after about a year, it's time for anyone else with talent to start thinking of heading for the...

For nearly a month now, my VC friends have been sending me emails confirming that a Groupon deal is "Done!". Because of our investment in ideeli, a daily deal site in the fashion space, they recognize I have more than a passing interest in the outcome, particularly in the multiple of revenue the ultimate buyer is willing to pay. First...

Okay, the book's finally out. Now I can officially start the shameless self-promotion that accompanies modern publishing these days. If I happen to see you and you greet me with something provocative like "Hello," or "What's up," chances are I'll reply "Oh yes, thank you. You were asking about the book? Well, the book IS out and is available for...

Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that best selling author Seth Godin has decided to punt his publisher, Portfolio. In a post titled "Moving On," the author of such iconic marketing books as Purple Cow stated that: "The thing is--now I know who my readers are. Adding layers or faux scarcity doesn't help me or you. As the medium...

Yesterday afternoon in Washington FundingPost held an early stage VC event at the offices of sponsor Bingham McCutchen. In addition to a smaller group participating in a morning boot camp, about 100 entrepreneurs attended an afternoon panel where 7 early and expansion stage VCs (including me) offered their views on the state of the venture market. ...

Imagine that tomorrow your doctor informs you that you have a debilitating disease. Imagine further she tells you that this malady might mildly improve if you immediately underwent dramatic and invasive surgery. It also might get worse. Alternatively, your doctor tells you that your health will invariably recover--perhaps significantly--if you wait...

The Wall Street Journal On line has an article today siting the 10 Richest Venture Backed Companies of All Time. Of the finalists, we had opportunities to invest in four of them during their winding path through the capital markets. Of those four, we invested in one--a relative bust--and passed on three. Of the three, one is clearly on a...

Just wondering, If Google--Don't be Evil--owned Twitter, would reknowned media suppressor Hugo Chavez be allowed to keep his new account?

Before the holiday break I attended a State of Venture Capital Market panel at the Ritz Carlton in Tyson's Corner. Comprising the panel were leaders of some of DC's leading firms, including Columbia Capital, Valhalla, New Atlantic, and Calvert. Notwithstanding the presence of all the things that make an event like this successful-acceptable food, t...

Shameless portfolio promotion: Sezmi raises $25 million and launches commercial pilot in LA. Light Reading wrote: Personalized video services provider Sezmi Corp. signaled its intent to enter the highly competitive U.S. commercial entertainment services market today by launching a free, direct-to-consumer pilot service in Los Angeles. The move shou...

Image via Wikipedia Twenty eight years ago today IBM announced the PC, ushering in a new era of mainstream computing. Check out this post from Dan Bricklin of Visicalc fame commemorating an earlier anniversary where he shares his thoughts on what it all means. Hard to imagine life without it, although since that day our "PC's" have come untethered ...

...I had no idea how tough it really was. An investment bank that we work with shared some internal data which showed that over 85% of deals that got done in Q1 were at either flat or down valuations. That's off of approximately 50% the prior quarter. Averages are 30%-40%. And of course, the "protective" provisions got even tougher for...

In a recent seminar,friend and Legend advisor "Growth Guy" Verne Harnish offered his replacement concepts for marketing's traditional 4 P's, opting instead for the 4 E's: Product has been replaced by Experience Price is now Exchange, or lifetime value Place is Everyplace Promotion has been replaced by Evangelism The threads underlying these changes...

Today the National Venture Capital Association released its long-awaited answer towhat ails the venture capital industry. In a four pillar plan presented here: NVCA 4-Pillar Plan to Restore Liquidity in the U.S. Venture Capital Industry View more presentations from NVCA. the association hopes to jumpstart a recovery in the IPO market, which has bee...

In his Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce asserts his views on Proper and Improper Art. The latter according to Joyce appears in two styles: Didactic and Pornographic. He defines Pornographic Art as anything designed to inspire the observer to possess the object being rendered. All advertising art is by definition pornographic accor...

Today Network World, the Washington Post and several other outlets reported that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin failed to play nicely during his tenure and hurt the feelings of several members of the House Energy and Commerce committee and their staffs. The Committee report further accuses Martin of behaving in a political manner in executing the Commis...

This year instead of sending holiday cards we're sending gift cards to Globalgiving.com, a great web site that connects donors to the charity program of their choice with the least amount of friction possible. I received a gift card recently and donated to a project for clean water in Ethiopia (most folks have a climate issue that they particularly...

In his book Prisoners, The Atlantic's Jeff Goldberg poignantly describes how at the end of his duty as a prison guard in the Israeli desert he asked jailed Palestinian terrorists for their addresses so that he could come visit them were they ever to gain release. It was a distinctly American idea: if he could only spark a dialogue with...

The NY Times blog has the best summary yet of the current financial crisis here: Diamond and Kashyap on the Financial Crisis. Money quote: "A reasonable reading of the recent bailouts suggests a simple rule: if a firm is on the verge of collapse and its ties to the financial system will lead to a cascade of chaos, the firm...

?No Federal Help in Firm?s Last Hours? Sub-headline: ?Bush Administration says, ?Drop Dead?? Washington Post, February 15 ?Crisis Management Dominates SEC Chairman?s Agenda? LA Times, September ?Markets Take Worst Hit Yet on Gulf Uncertainty? Washington Post However, all dates are 1990. Reference to Drexel Burnham(not Lehman, Goldman, etc.), Dick B...