I posted the other day about holding an “open office hours” session at AlphaLab, and that happened yesterday and was a great success. I met with three local Pittsburgh entrepreneurs, two of whom I had met but not spent any significant time with, and one whom I had never met before. The interaction was great, [...]
In my job on the front lines of venture capital, I get to see about 3-4 business plans and pitches per day. This is the lifeblood of our firm and our industry. I always tell entrepreneurs that without them, I don’t have a job – if they don’t do the hard work of starting the [...]
I am a big believer in building the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Pittsburgh, and of building my people network.
I have to make a trip out to AlphaLab later this week, and I decided to do something fun in conjunction with that trip. I am going to hold some “Open Office Hours” at AlphaLab for anyone [...]
I have been giving a lot of thought lately to what makes for success in venture capital. I am more convinced than ever that picking the right startups is 90% of what a good venture capital firm is expected to do. That doesn’t mean that strategic guidance and mentoring is worth nothing (hey, there’s 10% [...]
Jon Cavell, aka the famous @BurgherJon, follows up to a post I made yesterday about the difference between accelerators and incubators:
@aveeck a follow up to your post this morning, how does the rise of accelerators impact the VC process? #AskTheVC
I think the proliferation of accelerators is a great boon to the entire startup economy, and hence to [...]
The first Ask The VC question of 2011 comes from fellow Pittsburgh blogger Jon Cavell: “BurgherJon: @aveeck Ask the VC: What role does place/location (city, state, country) play in a VC’s decision processes?”
Short answer: unlike in real estate (location, location, location…) the location of a startup is far from being a large factor (increasingly so [...]
Another installment of Ask The VC, and yet another question from our friend, Paul Merrill:
dpaulmerrill: @aveeck also, given equal $, which more likely to be profitable sooner – venture or self-funded?
In theory, there should be no difference between how long it takes for a venture-backed startup and another startup, backed with founder’s or friends-and-family money, [...]
I put out the request for questions two days ago, and quickly got a handful that I will be responding to over the course of the next week. Please keep them coming!
The first question is from Paul Merrill on Twitter: ”dpaulmerrill: @aveeck is there anyway a founder can actually keep controlling interest in his comp [...]
I have had more than a couple friends ask me the difference between venture capital and private equity.
Venture capital (VC) is on one end of a spectrum of investments that are broadly known as private equity (PE). Breaking down the term “private equity”, these are EQUITY investments (stock ownership in companies), not debt or other [...]
Well, the good news keeps on coming for early-stage Pittsburgh companies…. I guess someone forgot to tell these entrepreneurs to take a summer vacation.
The latest in what is shaping up to be a great season for Pittsburgh deals is Knopp Neurosciences‘ blockbuster announcement this morning that it has signed a $345 Million strategic deal with [...]