Connie Loizos
I remember thinking that the tech bubble had truly burst the day I learned that the Industry Standard magazine had folded. (It was last in a long line of technology business mags to kick the bucket, the punctuation at the end of an era.) A letter just sent out by hedge fund manager Andrew Lahde — who was […]
Two weeks ago, Benchmark Capital sent a note to its entrepreneurs, warning that the recent downturn in the public markets meant bad news for startups, too, including less access to other forms of capital like angel and debt funding, lower valuations, and, likely, some hard decisions around headcount. Turns out the financial crisis is prompting […]
As Newsweek’s Dan Lyons busily predicts a “long overdue correction” that’s sure to doom many of the ridiculous-sounding startups to emerge in recent years — Twitter, Tumblr, Publr, Chatterous, Posterous, Yammer, Streem, Pownce, Spoink, Ning, Digg, Loopt, Zoomr are some that cause Lyon to figuratively roll his eyes — Facebook is taking a very different tack. It’s throwing a lifeline to […]
Sure, sure, we know you wouldn’t be caught dead watching “Oprah.” But let’s just say you wind up working from home tomorrow, you’re alone, and while fixing yourself a delicious cheese sandwich, you happen to turn on the television and stumble across the show’s opening credits. If you’re interested in seeing one of the most […]
UCLA Professor-turned-billionaire founder of Broadcom Corp. has another nine months to enjoy life as he knows it at his family’s estate in Corona del Mar, Calif. Today, U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney postponed sentencing Samueli — who may receive a prison sentence — until at least August 2009. Samueli pleaded guilty in June to one count […]
Amazingly, investors sometimes choose to roll the dice on someone with a shady background. Here's more proof why that's a lousy idea:
According to a study released by the U.S. Dept. of Justice in 2000, one based on data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, out of 23,970 offenders convicted of criminal fraud during the period, 13.2% returned to federal prison within three years of release from a U.S. District Court sentence --nearly the same percentage as those convicted of drug offenses (13.4%). The report is here.
It’s also worth noting that unlike law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement has no formal program to deter recidivism. (Thanks, Justin.)
Justin Hibbard's Quidnunc Group is a highly unusual combination of private investigative firm and investment research house, one that caters to everyone from venture capitalists needing background checks, to activist shareholders wanting to know just how a management team is spending its time, to hedge funds looking to concretely explain an uneasy feeling about a potential investment.
“It’s fair to say that we’re encouraging our companies to batten down the hatches, to be cautious about adding any big expenses,” Promod Haque told me earlier this week. “We tell them, ‘If you were banking on revenue of $10 million, you’ll be lucky to get $6 million or $7 million [this year].’” Haque, of […]
The Godfather of Silicon Valley, angel investor Ron Conway, is a little nervous about the economy, and he wants the many startups in which he owns stakes to be, too.
Tuesday, he sent an email with some detailed advice to more than 100 of his portfolio companies -- those that "don't have a lot of cash on hand," as told peHUB a little earlier today. ""I think innovation in the Valley will continue to thrive, and I'll continue to invest." Still, he said, it never hurts to encourage a little "proactive" behavior, just in case.
His note follows:
A lot of people are shocked that an esteemed firm like Ignition Partners might have been hoodwinked by the former executives of Seattle-based Entellium, which attracted a whopping $50 million in funding on apparently falsified revenue numbers. Ignition isn’t talking about the continuing due diligence it should have conducted and clearly didn’t. Neither are Entellium’s other […]