Just before Christmas, Paul Graham of YC-fame wrote a wonderful short essay called "How To Be An Expert in a Changing World." 2015 is my sixth year as a full-time VC. I started out in 2007 as an analyst at Atlas Venture and made it to Principal there before that firm consolidated to the US in 2010. In 2012 I spent some time at Accel Partners, havin...

We're looking to hire a full-time Investment Analyst in our Copenhagen office. Full profile is here. Whomever we hire will work closely with me on sourcing new investment opportunities (seed & Series A), analysing specific technology verticals ("deep dives"), conducting due diligence and managing the day to day activities of the firm. We're thr...

I wish this post could be as enthusiastic as the one I did from Paris. Madrid in spring is equally beautiful and the particularities of the madrile?o are despite their reputation very endearing. But the amount of people on the street and in front of bars is troubling. It feels like a nation that is boiling underneath the calm exterior. Unemployme...

So you've decided to cold email someone. Preferably me, if it's a Series A. Here's how to do it well in five easy steps. 1. Pick a good subject. "Re: Hello" is a bad subject. A good subject is "Company name, Series A, location." 2. Write a descriptive first sentence. "We have a mobile app for Star Wars enthusiasts" is a good one. "We are revolu...

Anonymity is a powerful tool. The ability to technically deny the establishment of identity can serve to bring about behaviours that due to existing power and economic structures have hitherto been unlikely. This is what allows things like Wikileaks and Mega and Tor/.onion and Bitcoin to flourish (though Bitcoin is not inherently anonymous). The As...

I took a few meetings with founders in Paris and Berlin over the course of this week. I'm not sure whether the right people sent me the right type of companies or whether everyone has been reading a ton of VentureHacks lately. I listened to a few pitches that were just excellent. A delightful clarity about what the business does, an infectious pass...

And suddenly it is upon us. That clear cool morning, the softened light, the buds on the trees, the asphalt still cold to the touch and the whole world feels like a giant promise. Buds is Knospen in German, which is a very pretty word. It is bourgeon in French, and its verb bourgeonner is equally nice. I am sitting in a caf? in Paris, waiting fo...

If you run a SaaS business, this video by Gail Goodman, CEO of ConstantContact, is a must-watch. It drills into the detail of attaining that "magic" number of customers, where your monthly recurring revenue (MRR) finally matches your burn rate. You may have been cash-positive before, since you charge for a few months upfront. But this is the point ...

Over the last few months, I've seen several instances of founders throwing in the towel. Sometimes prematurely, sometimes perhaps with good reason. But I'm always saddened by that outcome. Entrepreneurship ?should be about persistence. Once you have taken someone else's money, once you have hired people, once you have customers and suppliers, there...

I am fascinated by our new way of looking at the world as we start to be constantly accompanied by technology. The ubiquity of the connected mobile device - the Hypernet - means many of us are living our offline lives through the lens of technology. For some this means through the lens of a digital camera (see the Instagram/Nickelback parody). More...

We had a Sunstone strategy offsite a few weeks ago in a charming Danish town called Tisvildeleje. It's on the Danish riviera, with long sweeps of sandy beaches, sumptuous open sandwich lunches (pronounce "sm?rrebr?d", I dare you), and naturally some overnight snowstorms. My new partners keep reminding me that it's the coldest Danish spring in 26 ye...

I'm thrilled to be joining Sunstone Capital in Denmark as a partner. I will be focusing on investments in technology-enabled services. That means internet and mobile, consumer as well as enterprise. Continued focus on large networks of engaged users. I hope to share some of the journey with you on here. You can stay in touch via Twitter (@maxnieder...

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Plainly shows the folly of currently proposed CGT rise in UK. Download now or preview on posterous capital-gains-tax.pdf (495 KB) Permalink | Leave a comment »

A horse, a rifle, accusations of theft, weirdly grandiose background music and passive-aggressive posturing with an Alabama twang. We are better than that, indeed. (via http://twitter.com/pkedrosky).> Permalink | Leave a comment »

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Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo. Permalink | Leave a comment »

I have been blogging off and on since 2002. Late 2002, I started my own blogging company, now called myblog.de. Blogging felt natural for a few years, but it?s always been an off/on type of activity for me. Lately people have been commenting that I need a home on the web. So I started this place. I doubt I?ll update it frequently but if I do, I wil...

At MOO we?re nerds for business cards so this was particularly funny. Via Lisa Rodwell, VP Marketing at MOO.

Worth reading [Independent].

My good friends from Guidewire are looking for some more startups to apply to their European events? should be great fun. Note the London event was moved so you can still get in there! ?- Innovate!Europe is looking for Europe?s top startup, and the deadline to apply is March 23rd. Innovate!Europe will be hosting Going Global workshops and networkin...

For everyone upset at YouTube blocking music videos in the UK, allow me to pimp Dailymotion?s Music channel. Some great stuff on there. From Autumn To Ashes-PioneersUploaded by vergesia

I took a meeting with an entrepreneur that went kinda like this today. It was pretty awesome :)

Was just installing Latitude on my Blackberry and wanted to share loc with my friends? and FB has really won out over OpenSocial in that respect. It?s the de facto standard. GOOG is sitting on $15B+ in cash. Somewhere in there is a Facebook deal.

Via Zero Hedge: How close we came? Money quote at 2:20. On Thursday (Sept 18), at 11am the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw-down of money market accounts in the U.S., to the tune of $550 billion was being drawn out in the matter of an hour or two. The Treasury opened up its window to help and pumped a $105 billion in the system and quickl...

?The banker line now is that it?s not the return on your capital that you should be worried about, it?s the return *of* your capital.? - http://www.skrenta.com/2008/11/thank_heaven_for_tax_refunds.html

There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures. Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218?224

London in the snow? (Source). It?s chaotic, but beautiful.

As you may have gleaned from Techcrunch UK (thanks, Mike), Atlas Venture has raised a new fund of $283M. I am v excited to be part of the Atlas team. While we?ve lost some good friends because of our smaller fund size, the core team is extremely strong. It?s a true pleasure to work closely with Fred Destin, who is one of the smartest early stage ve...

Guidewire Group?s Innovate! Europe is returning with a three-part program designed to identify Europe?s most promising startups and accelerate their drive into the global technology market. Listen to what my good friend Mike Sigal and Chris Shipley are offering entrepreneurs: ?Going Global Workshops Across Europe in Early 2009 The first step is to ...