Ultra-cool friend, former fantastic business partner and all-around Green Energy dude, Bryan Hassin, (@guido23) gave a TEDx talk on entrepreneurship as seen through the lens of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. No kidding. This is must-watch TV:
Sometimes, when I’m evaluating a startup for a potential investment with a group of other investors, we’ll hear an investor say afterwards, “Well, that looks great as a lifestyle business, but how is it going to scale?” What the heck are they talking about and
Check out this post from Paul Graham at YCombinator about the difference between a schedule this is optimal for bosses versus optimal for people who make stuff: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html I struggle with this sometimes, because I’m required to be the boss, but I like to make
Check out this article: http://texasceomagazine.com/features/funding-startups-or-scale-ups/ Very interesting debate about funding start-ups versus funding scale-ups, what the differences are, what the outcomes tend to be, and where the money comes from for public-private partnerships. The article rambles a bit, but there’s a lot to learn
Consider this a draft, but I wanted to get these ideas out there, because I find myself talking to both startups and investors about them, a lot, as I go about my VentureSpur business. It won’t come as much of a surprise to my typical
So, you want to “do a startup”? First big, huge, life-changing question: Should you bootstrap it, or VC it? And I’m about to say something entirely heretical. In a world where that question typically gets what I call a “religious” response – on par with
I was very interested to read about this recent interview with Larry Page from Google: http://www.ceo.com/news_and_insights/larry-page-why-companies-fail/ Highlighted especially is the fact that Google doesn’t really focus on or try to compete with anyone, for good reason. They’re trying to be a unique solution for their
Here’s the latest entrepreneurial interview from a VentureSpur mentor, Renzi Stone. Renzi is the CEO of Saxum Strategic Communications in Oklahoma City. Saxum is the leading integrated full-service communications firm in the region, and Renzi has interesting things to say. Mentor Renzi Stone, Chairman and
David Matthews, co-founder of VentureSpur and Managing Partner of Trailblazer Capital, has recently completed a brief interview with VentureSpur as part of their mentor interview series. Recently we interviewed David Matthews, VentureSpur Co-Founder, Mentor and Managing Partner at Trailblazer Capital. Read on for David’s take on mentorship and
Here’s the entrepreneurial interview that VentureSpur did with Bill Paiva. Bill is probably the most senior venture capital investor based in Oklahoma, and he’s a partner in one of the nation’s most storied and accomplished VC firms, Sevin Rosen Funds. It really is an extraordinary opportunity