Corporate investors and acquirers are showing more interest in potential deals after a difficult economic downturn, but start-ups can improve their chances of a favorable exit by taking some steps of their own.
A group of top executives from technology companies speaking at the Dow Jones VentureWire Technology Showcase on Wednesday gave their suggestions on do’s and don’ts when seeking an investment or acquisition from these companies.
by Scott Austin, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Here in New York, there’s no shortage of networking opportunities for entrepreneurs. The “city that never sleeps” is teeming with conferences, happy-hour meet-ups and business-plan competitions for start-ups.
by Jessica E. Vascellaro, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
About two dozen companies building applications on Facebook went fishing for cash from Silicon Valley investors on Tuesday.
The companies, ranging from music discovery software to mobile virtual worlds, have all received a small amount of funding from Facebook’s fbFund, a $10 million seed fund that Facebook and two of its backers–Accel Partners and Founders Fund–dole out annually.
by Pui-Wing Tam and Jessica E. Vascellaro, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal
As Silicon Valley’s stock-driven wealth machine sputters in the recession, technology start-ups are exploring new ways for employees to tap their holdings.
by Scott Austin, Lead Editor, Venture Capital Dispatch, The Wall Street Journal
International Business Machines Corp. is on a mission to expand its partnerships in Brazil in response to the country’s growing information-technology market.
by Jessica E. Vascellaro, Tech Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Many things are down during the recession. But there’s a boom in click fraud, the tricks used to make online ads seem more effective than they are. And companies that police the practice are seeing fresh business as Internet concerns seek to hold onto advertisers during the downturn.
by Lise Buyer, Founder and Principal of the Class V Group
The numbers are startling; one technology IPO last quarter, only six in 2008. Is innovation dead? Did Google/Microsoft/Cisco consume all the promising start-ups? Did Sarbanes-Oxley render IPOs too hard and costly? Yes, if you believe columnist, conference and collective wisdom. They’re wrong.
In 2001, the first dot-com economy collapsed. New companies couldn’t raise funds to continue operating. Existing companies couldn’t go public or get bought.
Umair Haque wrote recently that the reason there aren’t more Googles is that most start-ups get bought before they can change the world. “Google, despite serious interest from Microsoft and Yahoo–what must have seemed like lucrative interest at the time–didn’t sell out,” Haque said. “Google might simply have been nothing but Yahoo’s or MSN’s search box. Why isn’t it? Because Google had a deeply felt sense of purpose: a conviction to change the world for the better.” This has a nice sound to it, but it isn’t true …
by Matt Richtel and Brad Stone, Staff Writers, New York Times
Housing prices in Silicon Valley remain defiantly high. New BMWs and Saabs cruise Highway 101. But for the first time there are signs that the current economic downturn is taking its toll on the country’s cradle of technology and innovation. Job growth has slowed, start-up companies are hiring and spending more cautiously, and early-stage investors who nurture the start-ups with money and expertise are growing more frugal.
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