Deal Radar 2008: Seeking Alpha

I covered Seeking Alpha a while back. It is a one-stop shop for financial news and analysis. Founded in early 2004 by David Jackson, it focuses on opinions, analysis and portfolio management tips from contributors, many of whom are finance professionals, Hedge Fund managers and newsletter authors. The incentive for most contributors is the exposure,

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A Real Blockbuster Story

By Richard Laermer, Guest Author We threw Blockbuster into the collective dustbin years ago, along with The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Contempo Casuals. The glory days of Blockbuster are long gone … long, long, long gone. Once upon a time it was actually cool to have a Blockbuster card. That Cookie Monster Blue and

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Stardoll for Little Girls: Mattias Miksche (Part 1)

I covered Stardoll in the Deal Radar series. Here’s the story from CEO Mattias Miksche. SM: Please describe your personal background : Family, upbringing, early career, etc. leading up to this venture. MM: I have a multicultural background. Austrian dad, German mom – they came to Sweden during/following World War II. I was born &

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Media Industry Worth Watching in 2008

2007 was a not a pleasant year for the Media Industry. Most of the Media stocks including IAC, Walt Disney, News Corp. and Time Warner have undergone correction between 10% to 40%. Except Walt Disney, all other stocks are trading close to at their 52-week lows. Most of the companies have reported below the Street’s

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Financing & Exit

If you are a very early stage entrepreneur looking for financing, chances are you need a lot more than help with financing. Most likely, you need help with Positioning, as well as overall strategy. For the moment, I do not have the bandwidth to take these projects on on a pure equity basis. I do

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Vertical Travel Ad Network CEO Cree Lawson (Part 10)

SM: What are your thoughts about exit? CL: I don’t think Elvis will leave the building for a long time yet. We’ve certainly had offers that would have made me a very wealthy man, or at least a guy with a very loud car stereo.

Deal Radar 2008: PlayFirst Plays Casual Games Well

PlayFirst is a leading publisher of casual computer games. Based out of San Francisco, it is focused on creating shared casual game experiences around “lasting original brands” with emphasis on “rich story and character”. Few of the more popular PlayFirst titles include the Diner Dash series, Wedding Dash, Chocolatier and Dream Chronicles. My interview with

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Deal Radar 2008: Facebook Woes Coming?

Facebook is the most popular social networking site providing an interactive space that helps members communicate with “friends”. The site features like ‘Wall’ and ‘Poke’ have created a vernacular amongst the youth population. It was started in February 2004, by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. “Are we Facebook friends?” has now become a social phenomenon! Angel

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