Graeme Thickins on Tech

Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Venture Capital/M&A/Angels (Page 39 of 54)

Stylin’ Times for ‘Tech’ and ‘Venture’

August 26, 2007 / / 3 Comments

Things may seem dull here in the dog days of summer as August fizzles away, but it’s only temporary. Signs are solid for the technology industry and the venture investment sector going forward. First, check out this post by Keith Benjamin, saying he thinks the current credit crunch will actually help the venture industry. And he reiterates his positive feelings in an op-ed piece on VentureBeat, saying technology stocks are “swinging back into favor.”

VMware’s IPO, which priced August 13, has become the latest symbol. It’s even been called “the Google of Virtualization,” as this piece from CNBC states. VMW offered its shares at $29, and they proceeded to rocket to $50 on the first day of trading — thus becoming the most successful IPO since Google. The shares are now trading around $70. For more detail on the VWware story, see this overview on Renaissance Capital’s IPOHome.com. Vmwarechart

Now, fast forward ten days and check out this AP story from August 24th: Tech Revival Predicted in IPO Market. It talks about what more is now coming in the way of tech IPOs, including NetSuite, EqualLogic, 3Par, and our own Minneapolis-based Compellent.

Look for a very upbeat fall if you’re a tech investor or a participant in the technology venture industry.

No Wonder Marc Andreessen Has So Much Time to Blog Lately

July 23, 2007 / / 1 Comment

Marcandreessen
Seems a little deal has been brewing. He just got rich — again. This just in from the Wall Street Journal:

Hewlett-Packard agreed to acquire software maker Opsware for $1.45 billion as the PC giant continues to bulk up its non-hardware offerings. Opsware was co-founded by Marc Andreessen, the young brain behind Internet pioneer Netscape.

Not that he wasn’t already rich. Why does this guy even need to work, anyway? I guess he’s still too young to know any better…. 🙂

Here’s Marc new blog if you haven’t seen it yet. Where he reminds us that the deal was for all cash. Several bloggers, myself included, have been going on and on lately at how great a job he’s been doing with his blogging — really some nice, long, thoughtful pieces, tips about raising VC, etc. (I’ve cited them somewhere on one of my blogs — forget where right now). Suddenly he was being so generous with his time! Sure, he has a great CEO running his popular new firm, Ning (which, by the way, just announced a $40M+ VC infusion).

But I say, hooray! He gets richer, and we all get to benefit more from his great writing — his new career of blogging. Go for it, Marc….

A-Conferencing I Will Go….

July 21, 2007 / / 1 Comment

Summer’s usually not a big time for me to be blogging from tech conferences, but I decided I had to get to Ad:Tech Chicago, July 31 – August 1, because nothing beats hot, old sweaty downtown Chicago in the summertime. Adtech No, seriously, I’m getting soo into ad technology and widget technology these days, how could I miss it? And I actually love being on Lake Michigan — literally! It’s being held in the Navy Pier conference center. Lots of good speakers and exhibitors at this one that I want to hear from. Please, definitely look me up if you’re there and think you have something disruptive in the world of advertising and marketing that we should all know about.

The next day, I’m back in Minneapolis for a local gig, put on by The Collaborative. It’s called Summer Venture Camp, and it should draw a couple hundred of us crazy tech startup Minnesotans looking to rule the world from the Land of 10,000 Lakes (one of which I’m sitting next to right now, and about to dive in). Venturecamp I’ll see a lot of my friends and clients at this one….including a bunch of you in my GetGoMN network, I hope!

Then, come September, I’m stoked about being able to blog from my favorite conference of ’em all, another one of the famed DEMO events — this one DEMOfall ’07”,
in my favorite other place in the world, San Diego. Demofall07 Looking forward to seeing many of my media and blogger friends at this one — and, yes, I know a lot of you VCs colleagues will be lurking about, too… 🙂 Nothing beats hearing some 70 startups, many heretofore in stealth mode, pitch their new wares. DEMO rocks! And you’ll read all about it again right here, o faithful readers….

Not sure where I might be venturing off to in October but, in November, I just have to blog from the Defrag Conference in Denver. It’s being run by, among others, my old buddy Eric Norlin, with sponsors including the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association and Colorado’s CTEK organization. Defregconf Guys like Brad Feld, VC extraordinaire in Boulder, are involved, too. I just gotta find out more about the the brand of startup mojo those guys have going’ there — it’s awesome! And how can you miss an event with a sales pitch like this:

“Defrag is the first conference focused solely on the internet-based tools that transform loads of information into layers of knowledge, and accelerate the ‘aha’ moment. Defrag is about the space that lives in between knowledge management, social networking, collaboration and business intelligence. Defrag is not a version number. Rather it’s a gathering place for the growing community of implementers, users, builders and thinkers that are working on the next wave of software innovation.”

Hurry up and register for this one. The buzz is building, and they only have room for 300 — which is a great size for an event. You can get to know people a lot better in a group of this size, and there will be mucho heavies in attendance here.

What events are on your radar in the next few months? Tell me in the comments….

Written from the shores of the Whitefish
Chain, north of Brainerd, Minnesota.

Want to Create Buzz and Raise Bucks?

May 3, 2007 / / 1 Comment

An alert about a great event coming up on June 5 at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, CA, called “Launch: Silicon Valley,” co-presented by Garage Technology Ventures and SVASE.

I just became aware of a great event coming up on June 5 at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, CA, called Launch: Silicon Valley. And I hope to get there to blog about it. If you want to present, you can still apply by today, May 3rd, by just submitting a two-page executive summary. Launchsvlogo

The event is co-presented by Garage Technology Ventures and SVASE, the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs. The latter is dedicated exclusively to helping early-stage entrepreneurs across all technology sectors build successful companies. The event’s theme is “Create the Buzz, Raise the Money, and Build your Business.” It’s actually the second of these events, after a very successful first one in November 2006. Some of the other sponsors of the upcoming event are Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Band of Angels, Sand Hill Angels, The Angels’ Forum, and some other heavies, as you’ll see if you click the link above.

So, if you think you have a cool technology or startup concept and want the world to discover you — and can get to Mountain View — this would be a great platform. It gives you the opportunity to meet, network, and showcase your startup to some key movers and shakers in the Valley. If your application is accepted, you’ll get to present directly to an audience of VCs, angel investors, M&A execs, senior corporate biz dev execs, bloggers, press, and potential business partners. The CEOs of the companies voted “most promising” in each of the six sessions at the event will also receive invitations for two to attend the prestigious Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” dinner on June 29 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

Again, to apply, submit your two-page executive summary by end of day today, May 3rd. Or email LaunchSV@svase.org for more info.

UPDATE: The submission deadline has been extended to May 13.

Web 2.0 Expo: My Recap on Read/Write Web

April 23, 2007 / / 1 Comment

Just saw the post up on Read/Write Web that includes my recap of the Web 2.0 Expo event last week in San Francisco. Web2expo Richard MacManus published his take earlier, then followed with this one that includes my thoughts and those of two other writers that contribute to R/WW and happened to be at the event.

By the way, congrats to Richard on the fourth anniversary of Read/Write Web! He’s come a very long way since those early days — from spare-time sideline to media property. Quite an entrepreneurial story, and one with a international component, too, since Richard has more of a global bent being based in New Zealand. Readwriteweblogo
Richard also used to blog for ZDnet, but now is fulltime on R/WW. What makes the blog so well followed is that it does analysis, not just news bursts about the latest deals and startup launches (though it covers its share of those, too). It’s been amazing to watch its growth.

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