Story of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Raj Vaswani (Part 8)

EIR programs are all different, and with Foundation Raj was able to come in based on the recommendation of a personal acquaintance. Accordingly, there was not much in the way of a formalized agreement, rather it was a working arrangement which benefited all parties. SM: What were the formal vs. informal parts of the EIR

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Story of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Raj Vaswani (Part 7)

Raj accepted an EIR position with Foundation Capital. Such arrangements typically have the EIRs reviewing business plans and providing their own technical expertise to any of the VC’s portfolio companies, while incubating a new startup of their own. Below, he explains some of the general terms for being an EIR, including his role with Foundation.

Story of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Raj Vaswani (Part 6)

Raj now provides some insight on his time with Epinions, and then sets up the transition into the Entrepreneur-in-Residence program. We begin discussing the EIR program at a high level to prepare for more specific and detailed discussions. SM: Was the move to Epinions the right move for you? RV: With Epinions I felt that

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Story of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Raj Vaswani (Part 5)

Here Raj details some of his lessons learned with @Home, and then discusses his transition to Epinions.com. SM: How long did you work with @Home? RV: Well, about 3.5 years into my time with @Home, it was “grown” rather than “rapidly growing”. The merger with Excite was complete, and the 30-person company I’d joined now

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Story of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Raj Vaswani (Part 4)

Like many PhD students, Raj left prior to completing the degree because he found a passion to pursue. In this case, that was the Internet. His first venture was with @Home, the company striving to bring hi-speed broadband internet access to residential areas. Raj details some of that experience, including some key differences between the

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Story of an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Raj Vaswani (Part 3)

Raj initially began his time at the University of Washington as a PhD student in their computer science department. He credits this environment as his first real encounter of the entrepreneurial or startup culture. This is also in the timeframe when the Internet began to pick up steam. SM: What was that like, being a

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Some Wise Words for Entrepreneurs

By Cal McElroy, Guest Author A friend and advisor of our company, Sean Wise just published a new book… “Wise Words – Lessons in Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital.” You can download or buy the printed book [here] I have known Sean for many years and used his counsel on many occasions. He has been successful

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It’s a Marathon, not a Sprint

By Dharma Kuthanur, Guest Author Starting this column on a personal note, it so happens that both my former company (a VoIP infrastructure provider) and my wife’s former company (an optical networking company) are planning to do their IPOs this year. In the tech IPO-starved times in which we live, this probably counts as both

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