When negotiating a term sheet or a biz dev deal, it’s important to keep in mind that the end goal of the negotiation is establishing a partnership. This is very different from, say, buying a house, where post-closing, you (hopefully) have nothing to do with the seller. For a partnership to get off to a good start, it helps for both parties to feel good about the process of the negotiation. I have found that an important ingredient is to set realistic expectations about how long it will take you to respond to a new draft or a set of questions.
by Alana Semuels and Michelle Quinn, Staff Writers, Los Angeles Times
In recent months, some start-up technology companies have died or gone into comas after running out of money, a possible early sign that the resurgence in venture investment may be coming to an end. File123 is counting its days. Edgeio was edged out. TripUp has fallen. BrightSpot went dark. Firebrand flamed out and Ezmo is no more. Industry analysts say this year will bring a big wave of start-up deaths as the credit crisis gripping the financial markets makes investors cautious in other areas.
TheFunded, a site that lets entrepreneurs rate and comment about venture capitalists, has drawn a lot of attention from folks eager to learn salacious gossip about bad VCs.
Over recent months, though, there’s been an odd development: Certain posts by entrepreneurs critical of VCs are being quietly removed and then replaced with more favorable comments. On its face, it looks like a whitewash. Or maybe it’s not so troubling. You decide.
Throughout the course of the year, IBM’s Venture Capital Group meets with hundreds of VCs and portfolio companies here in the United States and around the world. Our ongoing conversations with all of these groups has given us quite a bit of insight into what the VCs see as attracting more attention in 2008. This time of year, there are as many predictions lists as there are VCs; nevertheless, here are the top technology trends (not in any particular order) we believe you’ll be hearing more about in 2008.
by Ben Worthen, Blogger, Business Technology, The Wall Street Journal
Expect more calls from startups promising to reduce the amount of energy your business consumes and fewer about getting your work done faster. That’s because venture capitalists say they’ll invest less in old standbys like software and semiconductors in 2008 and more heavily in environmentally-friendly tech.
It’s becoming customary among VC bloggers to make predictions for 2008. At the risk of educating my competition, here are my technology predictions for 2008.
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