Cloud Stocks: Why is Salesforce Stock Down?

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) recently announced its third-quarter results that outpaced market targets. Despite the strong results, the departure of its Co-CEO, Bret Taylor, and a decline in demand sent the stock falling 5%.

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Thought Leaders in Big Data: Zetaris CEO Vinay Samuel (Part 1)

A very interesting innovation in data virtualization.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as your company.

Vinay Samuel: I’m the CEO and Founder of Zetaris. We are changing the way data analysis is done in large enterprises. The traditional model is to collect data from different source systems across the enterprise and the internet and bring it into a data warehouse or data lake.

Best of Bootstrapping: Bootstrapped from New Zealand, Scaled in the US

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

I have always said that you need to bootstrap your way to validation and traction. ProjectManager.com Founder Jason Westland did just that, and built a robust company from New Zealand. Read on, it’s a fabulous story from 2016.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Jason Westland: That’s further back in time than I expected. I’m from New Zealand in the Southern Alps. My first job was managing a project of 25 people. I was 22, just out of university. I was in project management until around 15 years ago when I became the General Manager of a software company that grew fast. I was inspired to start my own business based on reporting to a Board that I learned a lot from. This is the third business that I’ve started.

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Catching Up On Readings: The Crypties 2022

This feature from Decrypt covers the winners at the inaugural Crypties Awards Gala held in Miami recently to recognize the achievements in the blockchain ecosystem. For this week’s events, click on the paragraph links.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Giuseppe Donvito, Partner at P101 Ventures (Part 4)

Giuseppe Donvito: I can mention several exits just in our portfolio. In some, they were successful exits. What I found very interesting is, as a VC, you always need to be clever to find the right time. This is key. Otherwise, it is easy to say you’ll keep the company for 10 years.

In our case, we were able to find the right moments. In some cases, if we don’t sell the company at a particular time, the company wouldn’t exist because of other reasons. The exit is evolving. There will be more and more in the coming years.

Colors: Montara II

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Montara II

Montara II | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Brush Pen | 8  x 8, On Paper

Colors: Montara I

I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Montara I

Montara I | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Brush Pen | 8  x 8, On Paper

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Giuseppe Donvito, Partner at P101 Ventures (Part 3)

Giuseppe Donvito: When we analyze a company, we always apply our proprietary framework. We are obsessed with the quality of the founding and management team. This is the main point for us. We thought the management team could be the right people for this kind of deal.

At the same time, given our knowledge of the FinTech sector, we thought that the company had significant improvement for growth. They’re one of the largest in Europe in embedded finance. They were always able to navigate the ups and downs. It can’t always be positive. The founding team built a resilient top management team. Even in difficult times, they were able to find the solution. They proved to be resilient.