Viva Las Vegas!

The Iperium end of year trip is almost upon us…  We are combining business and pleasure to take in the sights and sounds of Las Vegas!  Whilst also going to see a certain Fight of the century – Floyd Mayweather Vs Ricky Hatton – tickets sold out in under 20 minutes and it should be an awesome spectacle.

Both fighters are at the pinnacles of their career and both fighters are undefeated – Mayweather 38-0, Hatton 44-0.  The bookmakers are definitely siding with Mayweather, but Hatton is in great shape and hasn’t travelled all the way to Vegas for the fun of it – unlike us, who’s wallets will undoubtedly be slightly lighter than when we left…

Walls Come Tumbling Down….

Radiohead once more strike a critical blow into the cold dark heart of the record industry. You can only get there new album on download only and you decide how much to pay. I still paid £5, this shows how conditioned I have become by overpricing, I actually felt guilty about paying 5p. Hopefully this will drive the industry into an even further lowering of music prices; mind you does anyone actually buy CD’s anymore?

Linked In……time to take the lead.

There is no doubting that Linked In is a fantastic site, probably the best business network there is. However in my opinion so much more could be done now that they have such a loyal and large user base. They recently took the huge step of allowing you to upload image files to your profile so perhaps they are now ready to embrace further innovation. I believe that an integrated IM client would be a fantastic addition, obviously proper privacy and status settings would be appropriate to ensure it was not abused. This would bring a very immediate nature to the network and connect ideas and concepts globally.

Huzzah!

What is going on, there is an unusually optimistic and sunny vibe around English Sport at the moment. Heskey and Owen seem to have shown the way to form an effective partnership, who would have thought a big man and a little finisher could work, i mean come on…..As for Paul Collingwood, they make em tough up North and when you ally that to the most talented English sportsman of his era in KP then this team could go places.

Geekgasm

Two new Ipods, one that is black, shiny and touch screen…….wallet…..getting……lighter

Better Late Than Never

Congratulations to Apple; as much as I geekily respect the shiny nature of their produce, the time it has taken them to allow TV content to be downloaded on iTunes UK now seems longer than the average Kevin Costner movie.

Where to go now?

Mark Cuban has commented that the internet has stopped evolving and that the platform has little room left for innovation until the connections into our home are able to achieve far more bandwidth. One of the ideas that has always kicked around in my over active imagination has been the choice to view cinema releases at home. I think a window of exclusivity of anywhere from two weeks to a month would enable the cinema chains to still achieve revenue, but then again why are we loyal to these inept and soulless multiplex monsters, gone are the days of getting into Rocky IV on my hands and knees between the legs of the usher after queing for 2 hours at my local one screener. After that we should be able to stream the latest and greatest straight to our own high def heaven, without the rage inducing noise of one hundered or so chavs texting and struggling to understand Scary Movie XI.

Taking Stock

Now my in depth knowledge of this space realistically extends to listening with some irritation to Henk Potts in the morning, however I would appreciate some feedback on people’s thoughts on the vicious volativity of the market at the moment. What does the rapid fluctuations on all exchanges actually mean to the VC and Pre-Ipo community and do people feel a dark cloud hovering or will the continuing influx of new companies power us through.

Nothing Ventured….Nothing Gained

“It has been remarked before on the proliferation of social networking sites and the enthusiastic response to them by many venture capitalists. There is clearly money to be made in the segment, as any early investor in Myspace will affirm. But now there is a twist on the theme. A new(ish) website has been set up that invites companies and entrepreneurs to comment and rank investors. TheFunded, launched by an anonymous entrepreneur, has gained traction in the US with the same kind of momentum as Facebook or Youtube, albeit among a smaller user-group. It ranks based on their professionalism, approachability, knowledge, track record and so on. Just as one might “Google” a business contact before an important meeting, US entrepreneurs now routinely check TheFunded before seeing investors.

Currently, Mangrove Partners, a Luxembourg-based VC firm, tops the rankings with a score of 4.6 out of 5. It is closely followed in second place by Leapfrog Ventures, OpenView Venture Partners in third and Masterhead Venture Partners in fourth. While these firms will be happy they are highly rated, the rankings are probably more relevant for those at the bottom. According to comments on the website, entrepreneurs will avoid investors that are routinely late or miss meetings, appear to have little grasp of their subject and, worst of all, are openly rude in meetings. This last accusation was levelled at a (named) partner of a (named) firm in San Francisco, who was classified as “rude and arrogant”. The accused was so taken aback by the comment that he corralled friends and colleagues into posting ripostes. Whether the perception that had already been created was altered by the posts from his supporters is as yet unclear.

But the episode and the website do provide telling insights into the evolution of the VC world. Investors have long held the upper hand – they instigate the investment process and organise pitches at which investors dutifully turn up and, in all but a few cases where the company is clearly exceptional, eagerly pitch their wares. Now it seems companies have a little more information – and power – at their disposal with which they can start to pick and choose the investors they believe will be most helpful to their cause. Of course, the balance of power will not immediately change radically and most investors should not feel threatened by this process. Far from it. But the subtle implication is that no investor should feel or appear to feel superior to the companies they meet, regardless of their opinion of the business model.”

Source – Library House

The Soundtrack to our Blog

The Modern Day Beethoven

Soothing

Legendary

Spine Tingling

Inspirational

Back to the old Skool