Tag: Acquisition
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CES and Grifting the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Grifting in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem I just returned from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I have been going for many years, and I thoroughly enjoy the show in many respects, but the grifting…
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Strategic Partnerships are often Neither
Strategic Partnerships are a polite way of saying “we don’t own the most important parts of our business.” Every founder loves to brag about their “strategic partnerships.” The name sounds impressive, but hides a glaring…
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The Company as the Product
Building a company that can be sold is building a different product for a different customer. Serving two masters – but they are compatible. The first master is the customer who buys your product, and…
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Nobody Buys Technology – They Buy Solutions
Nobody cares about your technology. Entrepreneurs love to talk about their technology. Endlessly. Ad nauseam. And when it’s time to raise money or sell the company[1], they make the same mistake: they lead with the…
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Build Your Company Backwards: How to Align With Angel and VC Expectations
If you can’t explain why someone will pay 10x to buy your company, you’re not ready to raise a dime. When you’re raising outside capital — especially from angels or venture funds — you’re not…
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When Your Capital Strategy Kills Your Commercial Value
How “licensing-only” businesses can get caught in the angel/venture minefield. Let’s walk through the math that every angel investor does. This company is raising money at a 15 million dollar post-money valuation. For us as…
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Bad Advice – Non-publication Requests for Patents
How incompetent patent attorneys hide their work product from public view. Occasionally, I run into patents where the patent attorney talks the client into a non-publication request. This is always a bad thing. Non-publication requests…
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How accelerators and angel groups lose their way.
Riding on the back of the entrepreneur. Ever drive by a construction site and see dozens of “supervisors” standing around, while one guy with a shovel is actually working? This is the perfect metaphor for…
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Pitching Investors is Not “One-and-Done”
Spend some time “riding the bus” in the Minors before getting to the Big Leagues. I have the enviable position of seeing lots of inventors who bootstrapped their companies along before they take outside investment…
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Patent Ethics: Is it Ethical for the Patent Attorney to list themselves as an inventor?
The hallmark of a sleazy patent attorney is one who lists themselves as an “inventor” on patents that they write for a client. There is the “legal” definition of an inventor, and there is the…