Bootstrapping is One Answer

The VC-Entrepreneur Compensation Disbalance post has generated great discussion. In it, a theme that emerges over and again, is Bootstrapping. You have read a few of my prior writings on Bootstrapping [Is Bootstrapping Becoming Sexy and Again? and Protect Your Dilution]. There is no doubt at all anymore that bootstrapping is, indeed, becoming sexy again.

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Yaniv Ben-Saadon, CEO of FixYa: Using the Social Web for Technical Support (Part 1)

How often have you bought a new DVD Player, and have had difficulty making it work with your existing TV set-up? In our Entrepreneurship Case Studies series, this week, we talk with Yaniv Ben-Saadon, founder and CEO of Fixya, a community site focused on providing after sales technical support on consumer products. SM: Please describe

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VC Compensation & Returns

As part of the VC-Entrepreneur Compensation disbalance discussion, my friend Sunil Bhargava of Tandem Entrepreneurs (check out what they do) sent me the following chart, showing some concrete data on VC compensation, and Private Equity industry performance: VC Compensations: Rising

Sharat Sharan’s On24: Lead Generation Through WebCasting (Part 6)

SM: What are some of your key learnings from this journey so far? SS: The journey has been very interesting. More technology start-ups didn’t survive the dot-com bust. We were able to weather the downturn and adapt to the environment. We adjusted the management team, adjusted the focus on applications and with a bit of

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The VC-Entrepreneur Compensation Disbalance

We started discussing the leadership development problem in my previous post referring to Prof. Khurana’s new book about Business Schools losing sight of their mission of grooming leaders capable of building and running sustainable enterprises by following the money trail. So, what’s happening in the Venture Capital / Private Equity world? The compensation disbalance here

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Rakesh Khurana’s Business School Mission Critique

I read an interesting piece in the WSJ this week called Business Schools Forgetting Missions. :: Business-school professors are masters at critiquing everyone else’s work. They pick apart Microsoft Corp.’s strategy; they rebuke Enron-era companies for ethics breakdowns. They are so busy gazing outward that it’s unthinkable for them to rip into their own institutions.

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Sharat Sharan’s On24: Lead Generation Through WebCasting (Part 5)

SM: Describe some of your team building experiences. Is your management team complete now? SS: Our management team is more or less complete. With that said, I’m always looking to add 1-2 more people. From a people perspective, I am constantly looking at roles to fill in to support the growth of the company. At

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Sharat Sharan’s On24: Lead Generation Through WebCasting (Part 4)

SM: What stage are you at now? Revenue? Profitability? Traffic? Customers? SS: We’re at a very good stage. We have more than 600 global organizations in publishing, technology, life sciences, government, and financial services that rely on us. These are large companies that have a need for our solutions, such as Business Objects, Cisco Systems,

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